I thought this might interest some of you...

I was just at my neighborhood Pier1 Imports store and found 30" chinese lanterns on sale for $5! So I picked up two.

You can order them online from their site too... this is the cheapest I've ever seen one this large...

http://www.pier1.com/store/productdetail.asp?catalog%5Fname=Pier1&strStoreNavDept=&strStoreNavClass=&search=true&multipleresults=true&strSearchDescr=lantern&intSearchPriceRangeID=0&intSearchCategoryID=0&intSearchTypeID=1&category_name=GROUP+Paper+Globe+Lanterns&intPageNumber=1&intSetNumber=1

Great tip! Thanks!!

Went out last night and bought a few of the 30 inch and the 14 inch ones.


Great deal. Thanks for the heads up!


There was a site out there I saw once about making a boom for these, anyone know where that was? thx

Chimera (http://www.chimeralighting.com/) makes lantern-style soft lights and also makes the booms to support them. I don't know if they could be adapted for use with the paper lanterns.

<<<-- Originally posted by Ken Tanaka : Chimera (http://www.chimeralighting.com/) makes lantern-style soft lights and also makes the booms to support them. I don't know if they could be adapted for use with the paper lanterns. -->>>

Go to Home Depot and in the lumber dept. get a piece of 1x2, at least six feet in length, more like 8-12'. In the electrical dept. get about twenty feet of zip cord, a 150w bulb, a male plug, and a porcelin socket. Mount the socket about six inches from one end of the lumber, and run the zip cord the length of the board and save the excess. Attach a male plug on the end of the zip, and you have a crude "boom light." You can "thread" the socket end of the 1x2 between the edge of the latern and the wire (can't think of the name) that holds the lamp in shape. Add a couple of staples to secure it if you like. Not very elegant, but extremely handy, especially at night for exteriors, and anywhere that it may be easier to move the light with the camera. You can choreograph your own scenario. You can add a dimmer in line if you like.

At the very least you'll have a lot of fun watching the audio boom person dueling it out with the lantern boom person.

And you will save a lot of money over the Chimera. But it won't look as "cool."

Wayne

1/4/03 Just to follow up on the above post on the Chinese lanterns; I went to Pier 1 and checked out the 30" lamps that are on sale, and they are a bit large and ungainly for what I suggested in creating a "light boom." You'll have better luck with the smaller 14" mounted on the 1x2.

But I bought a couple of the big ones because it is a good deal.