DV lighting

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Eventually, I want to get a decent pair of lights, preferably for DV, but all my lighting training has been for 16mm. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good, portable kit? I used to borrow a couple of redheads from the place where I worked, and they were okay, but nothing special.

Any tips on lighting for DV would be very welcome, too. Does it help to have a more diffuse light?

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Thursday, 1 May 2003 15:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

Don't have much time to write here, but I'll just say Kinoflos are worth a shot.

― s1utsky, Thursday, 1 May 2003 20:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

good fill & you can stick 'em right up next to the camera w/no buzz.

personally with DV I'm a big fan of sticking with practicals though--but I've had some bad experiences with over-ambitious DPs.

― slutsky (slutsky), Thursday, 1 May 2003 23:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

I was bored in French class tonight and was doodling a lighting scheme for a restaging of the Death of Marat--then I realized the paper I was doodling on the back of, I had to turn in at the end of class. I bet my teacher thinks I'm a psycho now.

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 2 May 2003 02:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

1) You can't afford Kinos, and they're really not worth it unless you have a REASON to have them.

I don't light DV soft. Fill is for wussies, esp. in DV, where things go flat FAST. There is the fact that you lose your blacks and whites more quickly in DV than in film, which is true, but it depends on what you want to do with the light -- I don't mind losing a few highlights now and again. Just pick your spots.

Also, don't trust the DV flip-out monitor for contrast. Sometimes the monitor will show hotter highlights than are really happening. Then you end up underlighting when you correct.

― jm (jtm), Friday, 2 May 2003 03:03 (twenty-one years ago) link

... and a good portable kit is probably an Arri ENG kit or something similar. 3 lights, one heavily diffused and dumbed down for slight fill. 250w x 3 is about all you need for basics.

― jm (jtm), Friday, 2 May 2003 03:04 (twenty-one years ago) link

I knew someone would come along and call me on my ignorance (though I have had good experiences with rented Kinos, I swear!)

― slutsky (slutsky), Friday, 2 May 2003 04:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

Kinos are great. I love 'em. But they're an as-needed kind of luxury.

― jm (jtm), Friday, 2 May 2003 04:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

Well, this is I Luxe Film.

― slutsky (slutsky), Friday, 2 May 2003 04:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

right?

― slutsky (slutsky), Friday, 2 May 2003 04:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

I Luxor Film...

― jm (jtm), Friday, 2 May 2003 04:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

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