Our local Home Depot has adjustable (up, down, & titl) twin-headed halogen worklights. Each head has both a 250W and a 500W bulb providing adjustability from 250 only, to 500 only, to 750 per head. Through 6 steps/adjustments, that's a total of 1500W. Is that overkill? Am I likely to ever need that much light? I like the ability to adjust the wattage, though I'm not terribly knowledgeable about lighting.

One kit costs $ 70. I'm considering getting 2 kits. One drawback is the sickly yellow color. If I spray-paint them black or aluminum and remove the protective wire grating, I think they'd look acceptable. The other drawback is that the individual heads cannot be separated much, so the 2 stands supplemented by a floor light might be required. Obviously no barn doors, but I have an upcoming job that will involve shots in a machine shop (think grinding, sparks and metal particles, oily surfaces, and lots of noise) and I think these kits should work well given the potentially harsh environment.

Other than the need for heavy-duty extension cords, what am I overlooking?

All input invited.

There are instructions out there for making barndoors for these kinds of lights cheaply.

This light would be great for lighting outdoors from a distance...especially if you throw the light about 10 feet away from a bedsheet stretched out and placed about 5 foot from the subject...the light dispersion before it gets intercepted by the sheet will make a large, close light which gives a nice soft wrap around to the light :) The light ends up about 15' from the subject which requires space...but the results are very nice.

One drawback is the sickly yellow color. If I spray-paint them black or aluminum and remove the protective wire grating, I think they'd look acceptable. All input invited.

Who cares what "they" look like, what matters is what your "video" looks like!

If Home Depot lights are all your budget allows for then so be it.
Just be prepared before your shoot so you know what to expect from the lights.
Make a run to the hobby/craft store and pick-up a couple of pieces of white foamcore to reflect the light for a softer look.
A trip to your local lighting/stage store to pick-up a roll of black foil to control light spill.


A good way to put together a light kit is to buy used Pro lights one at a time when your budget allows.

Good Luck with your shoot!

Two things I REALLY hate about halogen worklights are the relatively short stands and the incredible heat they produce. Working indoors in Hawaii with these things is murder. Outdoors, they need full CTO and that kills the brightness. Indoors, the stands are too short and hit people straight in the face. I think lights need to be at least 7' off the ground (the lamp itself) to be useful. A 5' or 6' stand with a lamp 6" above that is too short. If you are in a professional situation, big yellow lights look cheap.

If you live in a cool climate and can get tall worklights and paint them with black hi-temp paint, they would be a nice addition to an affordable kit if they fit in your vehicle.

coleman makes a set with 7' stands! And flat black spray paint is cheap :)

Cole: I hadn't thought about dispersion, particularly about the size of the reflective surface. Now you've got me considering that size as another way to use/control the light. I hadn't checked the height, but WILL check out the Colemans.

David: I agree looks alone don't affect performance, but I want to achieve/maintain a professional appearance", even if my lights aren't. I'm hoping this gig will lead to others (don't we all share that hope?) and want to make a good "first impression", even though the completed project will speak for itself. I've been skeptical of buying used. What's your experience with that? Is the equipment usually in good working order? Or is it really a crap shoot?

Marcus: Good tip on the height and spread. (I'd settle for 7', even though I think the textbooks suggest 12'. For this particular shoot, the ceilings are only about 10' high, though who knows what future shoots will provide). I was aware both would be factors, but hadn't considered the "in your face" factor, particularly at face level. Thanks for that. As for heat, I have this idea of fashioning an aluminum box housing a whisper fan to attach to each head. I realize that won't vent the heat from the room, but it should help direct some away from the lamps and shot.

Thanks again for all the advice.

I've been skeptical of buying used. What's your experience with that? Is the equipment usually in good working order? Or is it really a crap shoot?


Every Pro light I own was purchased used.
With the economy like it is today, there is always some video production facility going under and selling off their gear.
Or some wanabe indi film maker selling their light kit to buy a better one.
Not to mention rental houses that sell off gear.

I have purchased everything from little Lowel L-Lights and Mole 1Ks to 575 HMIs, and everything in-between.
As long as the gear has been taken care of, you should be good to go.
Although I always like to purchase new lamps for each light I buy.

And I like to purchase my softboxes new, as they can yellow over time.

I think the Home Depot solution is a pretty good one. I know exactly which units you mean; I've used them from time to time.

The "scalability" of these is a nice touch. To help with dispersion and to eliminate blinding people, I generally just bounce these off the ceiling.

Color of the light shouldn't be an issue as long as you do a white balance prior to shooting (assuming these are your primary light source.) I guess you'd have a problem if you mixed these with other lights or with sunlight coming in through the window.

Outdoor is obviously another story.

One caveat: even one of these can blow a household circuit-breaker if there's other stuff being used on the same circuit. I've had it happen to me. If you use two, try to put them on different circuits, as many household circuits are only 15 or 20 Amps.

I'd leave the protective grating on. It's there to prevent a nasty burn, and given how low these things will stand it makes sense to leave them, I think.

Give the "continuous lighting" section of eBay a look, too. Keep in mind that, except for HMI's, there's just not a lot "to" many lights, making used stuff a potential bargain. Check out the wiring, tighten up connectors, and get a replacement bulb.

Pyramid Films sells tons of studio lights on eBay; they seem to drop 'em in waves, last week there were plenty of smaller moles & softlights. The market for cheap fresnels, pars, and scoops seems to have gone through the roof in the last 18 months, with tons of manufacturers importing a wide range of stuff. Quality may be an issue, but I'd think a 600w fresnel with a gel frame and barn doors and a matthews-size stand adapter for $100 or so would be worth considering over a work light, black paint, foil, and home-made tin barn doors any day (and all that TIME to tweak it all up). (I'm referring to this one: http://tinyurl.com/2pbrrk)

If you're handy with the black paint, give this a try:
http://tinyurl.com/yvtakl
(You'd need a couple spud adapters at $15 a pop or so...)

Theatrical fresnels can be a great bargain. they usually need paint, a spud, and you'll need to wire a switch and a plug to 'em. Take the lens out and slide the bulb tot eh front (Flood) position and they're almost as broad as a work light.

In reference to barndoors for halogen worklights, I just happened to be working on my first VLOG entry on my site teaching people how to add barndoors to their worklights. I saw someone mentioned they might want barndoors. So here you go. There's even a free template download for cutting out the pattern on a piece of sheet metal.

http://www.coollights.biz/wordpress/archives/category/cool-lights-video-magazine

Enjoy...

Wouldn't it be better to make yourself an egg crate if you're using a soft source like that??

(I've never used a light like that, so I'm just curious.)

I think the Home Depot solution is a pretty good one. I know exactly which units you mean; I've used them from time to time.

...

I'd leave the protective grating on. It's there to prevent a nasty burn, and given how low these things will stand it makes sense to leave them, I think.

And leave the glass on too! Its meant for UV protection. Those halogen bulbs emit a lot of UV. Only take the glass off if your converting to a fluorescent fixture like the one I showed in the picture.

Wouldn't it be better to make yourself an egg crate if you're using a soft source like that??

(I've never used a light like that, so I'm just curious.)

I really like the barn doors and an egg crate (as we know them) would just be too large and ungainly for such a small light. Perhaps the thinner, silverized plastic egg crate used in commercial lighting fixtures might work--then need a method to attach it. Haha--another DIY project. Maybe I'll try that and see if I like it better.

I love putting these all around my studio both hung on the ceiling and especially on stands to get them closer in when necessary. Its just so convenient and puts just the right amount of light (using a 30w bulb) out on the subject--whatever that may be.

I'll vouch for these guys' power and versatility. We hung a thin white blanket from two light stands and put the 1000w tower with two of these halogens, and taped another 500w one, and aimed them all at the blanket directly behind it, creating this huge diffuse wall. This was for a music video, and we absolutely loved the results. Total $ spent? About fifty bucks.

Take a look at these screengrabs.

I have a couple of these 500w hallogen lights from Home Depot. By themselves, they have a pretty fast falloff. I have no problems coming up with ways to diffuse them, but how would I go about making them even harsher? Does anyone have any ideas for how to convert one of these lights into some sort of Fresnel? I'm looking into low-budget ideas here.

Dan, making it harsher is quite easy. You want to make the light eminate from as small a source as possible. Remove all diffusion from in front, of course, then remove the reflector from inside the light. If it is still light-colored inside, paint it with high-temp black paint like that used for backyard grills. I suppose you could just paint the reflector black instead. With the insides black, the light will be eminating from just the lamp itself which is a thin line. Move the light a bit farther back and it will have harsher shadows as it becomes relatively smaller than the subject as distance increases. The opposite of this is a huge white diffuser placed just off-screen from the talent with even light across the diffuser. I think this is essentially what Ben did for his music video shots.

Outdoors, they need full CTO and that kills the brightness.

You'll want CTB to use a tungsten light for outdoor.

Sorry about that, thanks for the correction.

And leave the glass on too! Its meant for UV protection. Those halogen bulbs emit a lot of UV. Only take the glass off if your converting to a fluorescent fixture like the one I showed in the picture.

Didn't realize UV was so strong with these. Your warning sparked some research that pointed out even more things I didn't know about lighting.

Thanks.

Didn't realize UV was so strong with these. Your warning sparked some research that pointed out even more things I didn't know about lighting.

Thanks.

Yes and those worklights looks so innocent too don't they. Little did you know a potential danger lurks therein. This was just one more reason I decided I didn't like conventional lighting anymore and went for "Cool Lights". Now I never use hot lights for anything.

I have a couple of these 500w hallogen lights from Home Depot. By themselves, they have a pretty fast falloff. I have no problems coming up with ways to diffuse them, but how would I go about making them even harsher? Does anyone have any ideas for how to convert one of these lights into some sort of Fresnel? I'm looking into low-budget ideas here.
Crumple up tinfoil and fit into the reflector. Crumpling breaks up some of the really harsh spectral qualities and, you get a 10-15% boost in brightness.

but how would I go about making them even harsher?
See Jason's Berman posts in the following thread.
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=84963&highlight=molette

I would not try that with a worklight! The glass is probably there for your safety, i.e. so that you don't accidentally touch the bulb (extremely hot) or get fingerprints on the bulb (it will break/explode). Try it first with a normal household incandescent bulb (people have these hanging bare all the time; they are hot but not ridiculously so)... you probably already have one. Then look at higher wattage stuff like photofloods.

Be careful, use some common sense, actually read the instructions, and wear gloves if handling hot lights.

2- I don't believe the glass is to protect you against UV.

Does anyone have any ideas for how to convert one of these lights into some sort of Fresnel?
I don't believe that is possible. A fresnel needs a lens to focus the light into parallel beams. Look for a deal on a fresnel light... see the low budget lighting sticky at the top of this forum.

Glenn,

Please don't provide misinformation. A quick check around the web will backup that halogen quartz lights emit UV radiation. And it says clearly on the glass cover of many of these worklights that it is UV PROTECTION. In addition it also helps to keep people from accidentally touching the bulb too while running.

Here's a quote from a website:

http://members.misty.com/don/uvbulb.html

"Halogen bulbs are made of quartz or sometimes a form of "hard glass", both of which usually let through most UVB wavelengths. Undoped quartz passes all UVB and most UVC (not including most "vacuum UV"). Although halogen lamps rated to last 2,000 hours or more have filaments not hot enough to produce much of these wavelengths, it is usually recommended to use a glass shield. In addition to UV hazards, the more compact quartz halogen bulbs operate under great stress and have a slight risk of exploding.
Shorter life photographic and projection halogen lamps have substantially higher filament temperatures and emit significant amounts of UVB. It is important to block this, usually with a glass shield appropriate for the amount of heat encounteded."

Why would you tell someone it's not a problem? Have you done massive research on the subject? Wouldn't it be better to be safe in any case?

I've been reading these photon posts and was thinking.......

Many of the posts talk about this and that light and some even show their results....but....

I worked for 1.5 years at an ABC news affiliate and watched and listened as a tungsten bulb exploded in a Desisti light fixture. Part of the glass ended up in the anchor's eye as he was doing the evening news. The fixtures were supposed to be professional units, but the bulbs went out right and left. I saw a pile of the burned out ones.

I've seen what happened when a hot light was left face down on a new chair in a new office in a new building and someone turned on that fixture.

I was impressed by how fast an old smith victor movie light with a 600 watt bulb could set on fire the protective paper box the bulb came in-about 3 seconds when held close.

I worked on a movie with a 20 million dollar budget when I had to burst into a "hot set" to tell
the director that smoke was rolling off the side of the rented house because their pars were melting the paint.

I watched a 2 year old fall off a table headfirst onto the floor when a photographer (not me, I was looking at cars) turned his back for a second as he was making a portrait of the child at an auto dealership.

Accidents do happen. Sometimes they are not controllable despite best interests of everyone involved. Sometimes people don't use common sense.

It pays to be cautious.

It's one thing to have this or that type of light, but what's equally important is to know what to do with the light once you have it.

As a still photographer, I leaned how to create butterfly, split, rembrandt, dracula, whatever lighting effects for portraiture to make the subject look great.

The same techniques apply if you are photographing a computer, band, beauty queen or anything else.

You can use the same principles with $$2,000 fixtures or $3.00 bulbs, bedsheets or silks, direct sunlight and the use of scrims, relectors, trees, building overhangs, light bouncing off the sides of buildings....

Just having lots of lighs and throwing up something to diffuse it to create a "wall of lighting power" isn't going to make your subject look any better if you don't pay attention to the balance between your fill and key lights, if you are using a fill at all. It actually could make them look worse.

Most cities have a group like the Professional Photographers of America or similar organizations. Lots of lighting information can be learned from these groups which directly transfers to video lighting.

Just a thought.

Technique and talent will override any equipment's deficiencies. Lack of these will make the best equipment in the industry useless. I absolutely agree. I like to encourage people to learn with a minimum of investment. Sometimes this means making your own equipment from what you can find cheaply. I use very low light levels to shoot. This allows me to open my iris all the way and regain some control over DoF.

I've spent about $200 on lighting so far.

I have 10 fixtures:
-5 clearanced Craftsman work lights ($5/ea)
-5 $15 ACDelco 8.5 inch reflector clamp lights
-I've thrown away 4 clamp lights that weren't ACDelco's due to the difference in joint construction, they just fell apart.
-using GE Softwhite spiral flourescent lights (careful with your sound, they're buzzy, but almost no heat generated).

I'm building up my collection of gels (donations accepted).

4 stands I either had or were given to me (2 are microphone boom stands).

Various light control implements:
-A large sheet of white fabric from when I used to make ren fest costumes
-A large black semi see through strectchy fabric from a fabric store's wedding section
-3 large (slightly damaged - price reduced) sheets of white foamcore
-1 side of one painted silver, 1 gold)
-1 medium sized black foam core.

Scrap wood, self drilling screws, gumption and ingenuity.

I use careful placement of objects and subjects in the set to use the falloff of lights and bounce as flag to eliminate spill. I have some large cardboard scraps to cut into cookies if I need to texture a background or a subject.

This kit allows me to play around and screw up alot before investing tons of money in stuff I won't have a clue how to use. This is my alternative to film school (family and mortgage preclude my ability to attend and/or pay for film school elsewhere in the world than my little slice of heaven here).

I spent money on a decent camera (XL1s - used, good condition, known owner) and final cut studio (corporate discount and upgrade price on an earlier version of FCP) and shake (same corporate discount) for my G5 (I'm a certified mac tech - so that's a write off).

Hey, I'm a certified PC tech. Wanna fight?

Hey, I'm a certified PC tech. Wanna fight?

Sure, you come up with an antiquated reason you don't like macs, I'll tell you why I don't like 286's and then explain that both platforms have moved beyond that point and we should all just get along. :)

...That was sarcasm, BTW.

I've been reading these photon posts and was thinking.......

Many of the posts talk about this and that light and some even show their results....but....

I worked for 1.5 years at an ABC news affiliate and watched and listened as a tungsten bulb exploded in a Desisti light fixture. Part of the glass ended up in the anchor's eye as he was doing the evening news. The fixtures were supposed to be professional units, but the bulbs went out right and left. I saw a pile of the burned out ones.

I've seen what happened when a hot light was left face down on a new chair in a new office in a new building and someone turned on that fixture.

I was impressed by how fast an old smith victor movie light with a 600 watt bulb could set on fire the protective paper box the bulb came in-about 3 seconds when held close.

I worked on a movie with a 20 million dollar budget when I had to burst into a "hot set" to tell
the director that smoke was rolling off the side of the rented house because their pars were melting the paint.

I watched a 2 year old fall off a table headfirst onto the floor when a photographer (not me, I was looking at cars) turned his back for a second as he was making a portrait of the child at an auto dealership.

Accidents do happen. Sometimes they are not controllable despite best interests of everyone involved. Sometimes people don't use common sense.

It pays to be cautious.

I've never heard of fluorescents blowing up. Sure they have some of their own issues if you break them but people generally don't get burned by them.