I needed a cheap light that wouldn't throw a lot of heat or tax my breakers. I spent an hour wandering around Home Depot and built this monstrosity.

http://www.kirkdraut.com/lighting/spider_softbox.jpg

Eight CFLS on a 4" PVC clean-out housing, attached to a reducing tee for mounting on a light stand. My PCB Octobox attaches to the back and gives a nice, even output.

http://www.kirkdraut.com/lighting/spider_tapped.jpg

I used 1" lamp nipples threaded through the wall of the pipe to mount the sockets. PVC is soft enough that a steel nipple can be used to tap the pipe.

http://www.kirkdraut.com/lighting/spider_wired.jpg

All of the wires are connected with twisties so that I can replace sockets with out any tools.

http://www.kirkdraut.com/lighting/spider_lit.jpg

It's not the most elegant fixture, but it works and cost me less than $50 (not counting CFLs).

Very inspiring. :)

You might check here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/photon-management/103161-d-i-y-900-watt-cf-lighting-units.html

They've come in real handy for me on several shoots. So handy, in fact, I've picked up some larger stainless steel trays to make some 1.5 KW versions when I get the chance.

Martin

Martin - I saw your light and was very impressed. I thought about adding some switches to vary the output of my light, but all of my shoots are at a fixed distance and setting.

Very nice work Kirk. I have 2 fotodiox housings that use (9) 100 watt CFLs and I often wondered how much increase in output would occur if the bulbs were mounted sideways.
The upside to my setup is that it is only 8 inches square and is easy to put into a case. I made a housing frame with mylar on the inside to help through the light a little more efficiently. What I really like about your fixture is that you are not limited to bulb size of wattage. You could easily put in any kind of wattage bulb to increase the output more.
I'm particularly impressed with your clean work.
Gary

Thought I'd resurrect this thread for a bit, and let Kirk know I found his design an inspiring starting point. I made a pair of 800-watt CFL umbrella lights, shamelessly copying Kirk's basic design and methods. They should complement the two 900-watt units I made previously.

The pictures pretty much speak for themselves. Starting point was a 3-1/2" PVC pipe adapter and a handful of spud sockets. I bought a pair of 36" silver umbrellas and a pair of inexpensive light stands to complete the kit. The last photo shows the carrying case, made from a half-height footlocker I picked up cheap because it was scratched. I decided to make the case large enough to hold the heads with the lamps installed, because usually when it's time to strike the set, I'm too beat to want to take the time to unscrew and pack away sixteen CFL lamps. Everything is held snugly with foam packing.

The umbrella lamps are great for lighting large areas evenly, freeing up my other lamps with the barn doors for specific lighting.

Regards;
Martin

Nicely done guys. Do you know a source where one can get high CRI rated CFLs?

Dave Burckhard

I use the 100-watt Daylight CFL lamps from Bright Effects, rated at 6500K, bought from Lowes Hardware Centers. They sell them in packs of four at around $12.00 a pack, bringing the cost per lamp to a shade over $3.00 each (the cheapest I've found). No color issues at this point. I white-balance off a card once everything is set up. They mix well with natural daylight coming in from windows, no gelling required.

The box says Bright Effects 100W Replacement, #0076275.

Martin

This is amazing. I've been looking for a low-cost CFL, and this seems perfect. I'm a bit worried I don't have the DIY skills necessary – I've never done anything like this. What would you rate the difficulty of a project like this? Is there anyone who makes things like this for sale?

Thank you for sharing this, it really seems like exactly what I've been looking for!

While the construction phase isn't particularly difficult, the PLANNING phase can make or break you. The biggest issues are when you get around to actually wiring the lamp sockets up. You need to leave enough room to make the connections safely and securely. Doing things in a half-assed manner will mean either your lights don't work reliably, start falling apart, or they will shock the crap out of you.

Other than that, it's just a matter of patience and reasonable hand-to-eye coordination with tools.

Martin

"The pictures pretty much speak for themselves. Starting point was a 3-1/2" PVC pipe adapter and a handful of spud sockets."


Where did you get the 3-1/2" PVC pipe adapter? The Home Depot and Lowes in the SF Bay Area doesn't have these...

Jaime:

Try going to a "real" plumbing supply store, one that specializes in (mostly) plumbing supplies. Some of the smaller non-chain hardware stores (forget anything from Ace Hardware) might have them as well. If you were local here, I'd send you either to Turner Hardware or Apex plumbing, but since you're not, you'll have to look around.

Nothing says it HAS to be a plastic pipe adapter. You could cut a short section of 4" PVC pipe and use that instead. I went with the adapter because that was what Kirk used ( I may steal my ideas, but I steal from the truly inspired) and because it had eight flats on the flange that made it easy to drill eight perpendicular holes, evenly spaced. Anything ring-shaped and suitably sturdy would work.

Start hunting. What you need will be where you find it, and probably in a very unlikely place when you DO find it.

Martin

Try going to a "real" plumbing supply store, one that specializes in (mostly) plumbing supplies. Some of the smaller non-chain hardware stores (forget anything from Ace Hardware) might have them as well. If you were local here, I'd send you either to Turner Hardware or Apex plumbing, but since you're not, you'll have to look around.

Nothing says it HAS to be a plastic pipe adapter. You could cut a short section of 4" PVC pipe and use that instead. I went with the adapter because that was what Kirk used ( I may steal my ideas, but I steal from the truly inspired) and because it had eight flats on the flange that made it easy to drill eight perpendicular holes, evenly spaced. Anything ring-shaped and suitably sturdy would work.

Martin

I figured I had to go to a real plumbing store. The 8 flat flange idea makes the job of installing the sockets a lot easier.

BTW...Where can I get those silver supports for the light stand and the umbrella?

Thanks to you and Kirk, you have inspired me too!

Jaime

The mounting hardware I made from aluminum. The bracket holding the umbrella is made from 1" wide x 1/8" aluminum bar (which you CAN get a Lowes). The actual mount to the light stand is made from a chunk of 1" x 2" aluminum bar (which you CAN'T get at Lowes, unfortunately), along with a threaded knob. I just threw the mount together out of what happened to be handy in my scrap box.

Martin

Hey all,

Great thread and some wonderful posts!
Just wanted to share my completed design based off of your light, Kirk. Here's a picture, I can take more if anyone wants but I've just finished it so I only took a quick snapshot before I started in on some video tests.
This is taken with my 5DmkII @ f/5, iso 100, 1/2500th:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3406/5778413487_7fafb86604_b.jpg

I've been wanting to use my PCB 47" octabox as a video light with CFLs for a while and couldn't figure out how until I stumbled upon this thread. I have the newer version of their octa and so had to work around the hardware used to keep the thing open.
The light has 4 medium sockets, placed so the bulbs can be angled up and out through the 4 sides of the square cage and past the umbrella poles.
I can put any bulbs in with a medium base that I want as long as they fit. In the picture, you can see I have 4 105w CFL bulbs rated at 5000K in the light, putting out the equivalent of about 1600w of tungsten. This thing is bright!
The sockets don't extend past the side of the light housing and so I only need to unscrew the lights to be able to pull it out.
I wired in 4 switches (one for each socket) so I can up the power by a quarter with each light.

I haven't used it for any work yet but my tests are very promising. This thing is wonderful! Thanks so much for the inspiration, Kirk!

Very cool stuff guys! I experimented with CFLs but eventually decided they were too fragile and fussy. Having to store eight CFL bulbs in their padded packaging meant the worst of both worlds: lots of space to store all the bulbs in their packaging, plus the need to install/deinstall all the bulbs every time I want to use the lights.

What I really like about Martin's designs is that they look like they can be stored away with the bulbs in place. And those flat octopods can handle any bulb size... imagine CFLs that use 75 watts each (actual), times eight. Two of those fixtures would be about the most light you could get out of a 15A breaker. That's really the best use case for CFLs: lots of light for cheap.

However when I tested CFL power usage with my Kill-a-watt meter, I found that they are all overrated. They use much less power than what they are rated to use. The worst used about half their rated power, and the better ones used a quarter or a third less than rated. So you don't get as much light as you would expect relying on the manufacturer's data, and you may need to use bigger bulbs.

Tom:
I recently built two more of the eight-lamp fixtures simply because they put out more usable light than the nine-lamp units I built first (with the barn doors). While I was at it, I reworked the carrying cases (a pair of half-height under-the-bed footlockers)with a pair of 5/16" metal rods mounted inside. The lamp assemblies slip over the rod and are secured with the thumbscrew normally used for mounting the umbrellas, holding the unit with lamps firmly in place during transport. I had a couple assistants get a bit too frisky with the cases and break a couple of lamps. When mounted on the rods, the units "float" on top of the egg-crate foam with a good half-inch clearance between the lamps and the case walls.

I agree, at the end of the day it's just too much trouble to unscrew and pack away a couple dozen CFL tubes. It's nice just to drop them in the case, close up, and scram.

Martin

I have several lights from cheap kits that use multiple 85w spiral CFL bulbs. Transporting my big ones which have 32" softboxes and 6 bulbs each is a pain.
When I was building my studio, I researched kino bulbed fixtures and decided they were a too expensive due to the fact I needed 4 of the 220watt (4 bulb) fixtures to light the greenscreen i was building.

I ran across a thread that discussed using fish tank ballasts from Compact Fluorescent Lighting Kits (http://ahsupply.com/)
I ended up buying one 2-ballast kit and 4 kinflo bulbs and used a 3"deep cake pan and bingo! My homemade light was born. I now have all 4 fixtures on a grid and they work unbelieveably well spreading even light across the screen. They are dead silent, generate very little heat and are instant-on which is nice. I built all four for under $1k which is less than one kinoflo fixture the same wattage would cost.
I now have all my video friends bugging me to build them some but my clients won't leave me alone long enough to do it! Check out the studio pics on my website to see them in place, I will post some closeup pics soon.

DUDE, THIS IS AWESOME!

subbing

This is really great to see others inspired by my cheap-o lights. I'm building a new one right now. I should have pictures up tomorrow.

Good technology never rests...

Besides my four 800-watt CFL fixtures and the two 900-watt CFL fixtures with barn doors, I made a pair of 200-watt CFL fixtures I call "mud lights," because they use a polished stainless steel drywall compound pan for reflectors, commonly known as a "mud pan" in the construction industry. Essentially, it's two 100-watt CFL lamps mounted end-to-end. I put two mounting points where I can mount the lights either "tall" or "sideways," depending on the need. They've found a lot of use as hidden lights, placed out of view behind the arm of a sofa or shooting up from a low shelf to light a bartender behind the bar.

One overlooked source of off-the-shelf lights are the 8-1/2" utility clamp lights with the polished spun-aluminum reflectors. I found them on sale for $6.00 each at Harbor Freight, and bought five of them on the odd chance I might need them somewhere. They're handy because the reflector completely covers a 100-watt CFL, so no light leaks out the side. We were shooting in a dark bar with an overhead half-mezzanine, and needed more light along the bar itself. We just clamped all five lights to the upper floor railing and aimed them straight down and slightly away from the camera, and they worked perfectly. I was so impressed, I went out the next week and bought five more (at the normal price of $8.00).

The clamp lights are particularly handy in that the reflector unscrews from the socket-and-clamp assembly. You can stack the reflectors one atop the other, put them in a five-gallon plastic bucket, then put all ten socket-and-clamp assemblies on top of that, and still have room for several extension cords on top of that.

Martin

Hi Guys

My biggest pain in the butt was erecting and dismantling the softbox plus it was bulky...I made a fitting with 8 x 55W lamps is a circle and then one in the middle just to fill in the space. The head is fine but connecting to a softbox was annoying me so I removed the middle lamp and inserted a plastic tube and I now drop a bounce umbrella into the tube. Works really well and there are no reflectors needed and the umbrella is super quick to install. I also like the fact that the lights are pointing away from the subject as at weddings they are quick to complain about "the bright light in my eyes" Using 8 instead of 9 lamps didn't make a huge difference either

Chris