Yet another fluorescent lighting thread

Richard Andrewski · March 14th, 2008, 05:40 PM

Yeah, I think so. Better to make it strong and you can water it down if need be.

We are looking at two models also, but both with 512 LEDs and two dimmers (each dimmer handling 256 or half the LEDs on the panel): 1 model all 512 daylight LEDs and another model with half daylight and half tungsten LEDs (256 each).

The two dimmers would allow you to turn on all daylight or all tungsten or both. In practice, you won't like mixing color temperatures so you wouldn't have both the colors on at once in most cases, but the idea is to make a simple panel that will allow either color temperature to be on and thus you can have either 256 LEDs as tungsten color or 256 LEDs as daylight without having to worry about gelling.

The all daylight version is for those that don't care about a tungsten version at all, need all the more output or don't mind gelling.

Matt Gottshalk · March 14th, 2008, 08:09 PM

I look forward to what you'll come up with Richard.

Konrad Haskins · March 26th, 2008, 09:16 AM

Hi Richard

On the 24th I tried to make a purchase on your website. The site wanted to charge almost as much USPS shipping for a spare bulb as the whole kit cost to ship UPS. I used the email form on the website. Did not get a response and the bulb got $20 more expensive in the last two days.

Is combined shipping possible?

Thanks.

Richard Andrewski · March 26th, 2008, 08:35 PM

I already got back to you via email and I think your issue is solved now.

Dave Pecunies · April 1st, 2008, 04:12 PM

So here are my initial impressions with the Dynaphos fluorescent banks from Amvona.com.

ORDERING
Their web site isn't all that great. Maybe it is because I use Safari but navigating to look for what I needed was not as easy as other sites. For the products I was looking for (lights and stands) there isn't exactly a wealth of information. Ordering is relatively easy but tracking orders is next to impossible. I live in Maine and they are in Mass. so the free ground shipping is basically overnight, however it takes them about 2 days to put the order together and ship.

LIGHTS
The overall build quality of the lights is very good, better than I expected. The cases appear to be quite solid and are no more than 2 inches thick so they will be quite portable. The barn doors are plastic but the rest of the light is metal The bulbs are Osram Dulux L, as far as I know that is good. The lights come with a fabric diffuser, it is pretty cheap but does the job if you need it. I don't think it will be more than a few shoots before I either loose or destroy them. The only minor issue I have found is that you can only situate the lights vertically. I think the Coollights can be situated in any number of positions, vertical, horizontal, diagonal. I don't think at this point rotating the lights will be of much use to me so it is just an observation for those who might care. You can turn on/off individual light pairs. So on my 6x55w lights there are three switches (4 if you count the main power) to control the 6 bulbs. The lights setup fast. Plop them on the stands, plug 'em in, open the barn doors and turn them on. Pretty much idiot proof. I have only really had time to set up the 6x55w banks and test out the overall look on camera. As I said in a previous post, I am not a lighting expert, I know just enough to keep myself out of trouble. The light looked nice and even, had a good throw, overall I was impressed. So much so I just ordered 2 of the 4x55w banks to go along with 2 6x55w banks.

STANDS
After a lot of looking around at MANY stands I decided for the sake of ease I would just order the Amvona stands as well. They were inexpensive so worst case, I just upgraded my background stands. I bought two of these:

http://www.amvona.com/?page=shop/fly...roduct_id=3438

The things are bomb-proof. If they were not so tall they could be used as jack stands for a car. And for under $30 these have to be the best deal out there. It says they are rated to 13 lbs but I would trust them to about 25 +. This particular model is tall and not very compact. They are about 40 inches folded. I just ordered 4 of the shorter version:

http://www.amvona.com/?page=shop/fly...roduct_id=3442

I needed lights that weren't so hot and that set up/tore down and moved easily. I think for a total of $1318 it is not too bad of an investment for what I received . I have a shoot later this week where I will be moving the lights quite a bit so I will report back on their "real world" use.

Dave Pecunies · April 7th, 2008, 10:22 AM

Just back from 2 shoots and the lights worked great!! Didn't have a ton of space to shoot in on the first shoot so to be able to turn pairs of bulbs off to adjust the intensity was a big help. Not to mention not having to contend with the 2 big softboxes I normally use. I had a marketing crew standing behind me and they commented on how the light looked very nice on the person we were videoing. BTW, they did not know I was using new lights. The other shoot, I was helping a photographer friend with an interior shoot. The house had these massive 2+ story front windows with a view of a ski area. These lights did not stand a chance of balancing the exposure. The other rooms they were fine but the room with the windows was like staring at the sun. Overall, in relation to the lights, I would consider the shoots a success. Huge wattage hard lights is the only way I see to balance the inside/outside light in this case.

One issue I have been dealing with is finding a case that would fit the lights, not an easy task mind you. The 6x55w are 22"x28". I wanted a Pelican but I also really want to keep the $400 in my pocket too. Since I had not found a case for the lights yet I just laid them on top of my equipment in the back of my car. The roads are quite bumpy this time of year in Maine and the lights now look broken in. So after noticing this I went to Home Depot and bough a big Stanley Job Box for $60 then went to Walmat and bought one of those egg crate cushions for under your bed sheets, a little slicing and dicing and $80 later I have a fairly heavy-duty wheeled cart that holds the lights, wires, extensions and the shorter stands. I don't think the short stand will live there because of weight, but they fit. I think a snowboard bag is what I will use for the light stands.

Tim Polster · April 7th, 2008, 11:00 AM

Thanks for sharing your results!

Henry Cho · April 7th, 2008, 11:53 AM

thanks dave. they're attractively priced lights, and i'm glad they worked well for you. i have to say the company does come off just a little bit shady, tho.

http://www.photoflex.com/News___Even...ion/index.html

Dave Pecunies · April 7th, 2008, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Henry Cho

thanks dave. they're attractively priced lights, and i'm glad they worked well for you. i have to say the company does come off just a little bit shady, tho.

http://www.photoflex.com/News___Even...ion/index.html

No doubt on the shady part. Like I said, they are easy for me because of proximity. If I had the extra money and could have waited for Coollights to have the 6x55w in stock I would have gone with them. I think their product is better than Amvona but I could not wait until May. The $$ savings was nice too.

William Wilson · April 7th, 2008, 01:22 PM

Dave,

Do you have any idea what your new case weighs with the lights and foam?

Thanks!

Bill

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Pecunies

One issue I have been dealing with is finding a case that would fit the lights, not an easy task mind you. The 6x55w are 22"x28". I wanted a Pelican but I also really want to keep the $400 in my pocket too. Since I had not found a case for the lights yet I just laid them on top of my equipment in the back of my car. The roads are quite bumpy this time of year in Maine and the lights now look broken in. So after noticing this I went to Home Depot and bough a big Stanley Job Box for $60 then went to Walmat and bought one of those egg crate cushions for under your bed sheets, a little slicing and dicing and $80 later I have a fairly heavy-duty wheeled cart that holds the lights, wires, extensions and the shorter stands. I don't think the short stand will live there because of weight, but they fit. I think a snowboard bag is what I will use for the light stands.

Dave Pecunies · April 7th, 2008, 07:39 PM

I'm not a good estimator of weight but I would guess 60-70 lbs. It is not light. It does have wheels and a big handle so as long as you are not driving some jacked up truck you can wrestle the thing in the back of a car pretty easily. l did just bust out my back window with the case but that was my fault more than the cases.

William Wilson · April 7th, 2008, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Pecunies

I'm not a good estimator of weight but I would guess 60-70 lbs. It is not light. It does have wheels and a big handle so as long as you are not driving some jacked up truck you can wrestle the thing in the back of a car pretty easily. l did just bust out my back window with the case but that was my fault more than the cases.

Okay thanks. I was thinking more about the weight limit for airlines. I fly with my gear at times and have been thinking about a case to carry flourescent lights in. The trouble is airlines charge extra for cases that weigh over 50lbs.

Thanks!

Bill

Dave Pecunies · April 8th, 2008, 07:41 PM

The case is pretty light, I can't imagine finding anything lighter that would actually protect the gear.

William Wilson · April 8th, 2008, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Pecunies

The case is pretty light, I can't imagine finding anything lighter that would actually protect the gear.

Okay - Thanks!

Bill

Dave Pecunies · April 8th, 2008, 07:48 PM

16lbs.

This is this case:

http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/s...atalogId=10051

March 14th, 2008, 05:40 PM	#31
Richard Andrewski Major Player Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Shenzhen, China Posts: 781	Yeah, I think so. Better to make it strong and you can water it down if need be. We are looking at two models also, but both with 512 LEDs and two dimmers (each dimmer handling 256 or half the LEDs on the panel): 1 model all 512 daylight LEDs and another model with half daylight and half tungsten LEDs (256 each). The two dimmers would allow you to turn on all daylight or all tungsten or both. In practice, you won't like mixing color temperatures so you wouldn't have both the colors on at once in most cases, but the idea is to make a simple panel that will allow either color temperature to be on and thus you can have either 256 LEDs as tungsten color or 256 LEDs as daylight without having to worry about gelling. The all daylight version is for those that don't care about a tungsten version at all, need all the more output or don't mind gelling. __________________ Richard Andrewski - Cool Lights USA - RED #114 http://www.coollights.biz

March 26th, 2008, 08:35 PM	#34
Richard Andrewski Major Player Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Shenzhen, China Posts: 781	I already got back to you via email and I think your issue is solved now. __________________ Richard Andrewski - Cool Lights USA - RED #114 http://www.coollights.biz

March 14th, 2008, 08:09 PM	#32
Matt Gottshalk Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Potomac Falls, VA Posts: 215	I look forward to what you'll come up with Richard.

March 26th, 2008, 09:16 AM	#33
Konrad Haskins Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 148	Hi Richard On the 24th I tried to make a purchase on your website. The site wanted to charge almost as much USPS shipping for a spare bulb as the whole kit cost to ship UPS. I used the email form on the website. Did not get a response and the bulb got $20 more expensive in the last two days. Is combined shipping possible? Thanks.

April 1st, 2008, 04:12 PM	#35
Dave Pecunies Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Albany Township, ME Posts: 95	So here are my initial impressions with the Dynaphos fluorescent banks from Amvona.com. ORDERING Their web site isn't all that great. Maybe it is because I use Safari but navigating to look for what I needed was not as easy as other sites. For the products I was looking for (lights and stands) there isn't exactly a wealth of information. Ordering is relatively easy but tracking orders is next to impossible. I live in Maine and they are in Mass. so the free ground shipping is basically overnight, however it takes them about 2 days to put the order together and ship. LIGHTS The overall build quality of the lights is very good, better than I expected. The cases appear to be quite solid and are no more than 2 inches thick so they will be quite portable. The barn doors are plastic but the rest of the light is metal The bulbs are Osram Dulux L, as far as I know that is good. The lights come with a fabric diffuser, it is pretty cheap but does the job if you need it. I don't think it will be more than a few shoots before I either loose or destroy them. The only minor issue I have found is that you can only situate the lights vertically. I think the Coollights can be situated in any number of positions, vertical, horizontal, diagonal. I don't think at this point rotating the lights will be of much use to me so it is just an observation for those who might care. You can turn on/off individual light pairs. So on my 6x55w lights there are three switches (4 if you count the main power) to control the 6 bulbs. The lights setup fast. Plop them on the stands, plug 'em in, open the barn doors and turn them on. Pretty much idiot proof. I have only really had time to set up the 6x55w banks and test out the overall look on camera. As I said in a previous post, I am not a lighting expert, I know just enough to keep myself out of trouble. The light looked nice and even, had a good throw, overall I was impressed. So much so I just ordered 2 of the 4x55w banks to go along with 2 6x55w banks. STANDS After a lot of looking around at MANY stands I decided for the sake of ease I would just order the Amvona stands as well. They were inexpensive so worst case, I just upgraded my background stands. I bought two of these: http://www.amvona.com/?page=shop/fly...roduct_id=3438 The things are bomb-proof. If they were not so tall they could be used as jack stands for a car. And for under $30 these have to be the best deal out there. It says they are rated to 13 lbs but I would trust them to about 25 +. This particular model is tall and not very compact. They are about 40 inches folded. I just ordered 4 of the shorter version: http://www.amvona.com/?page=shop/fly...roduct_id=3442 I needed lights that weren't so hot and that set up/tore down and moved easily. I think for a total of $1318 it is not too bad of an investment for what I received . I have a shoot later this week where I will be moving the lights quite a bit so I will report back on their "real world" use.

April 7th, 2008, 10:22 AM	#36
Dave Pecunies Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Albany Township, ME Posts: 95	Just back from 2 shoots and the lights worked great!! Didn't have a ton of space to shoot in on the first shoot so to be able to turn pairs of bulbs off to adjust the intensity was a big help. Not to mention not having to contend with the 2 big softboxes I normally use. I had a marketing crew standing behind me and they commented on how the light looked very nice on the person we were videoing. BTW, they did not know I was using new lights. The other shoot, I was helping a photographer friend with an interior shoot. The house had these massive 2+ story front windows with a view of a ski area. These lights did not stand a chance of balancing the exposure. The other rooms they were fine but the room with the windows was like staring at the sun. Overall, in relation to the lights, I would consider the shoots a success. Huge wattage hard lights is the only way I see to balance the inside/outside light in this case. One issue I have been dealing with is finding a case that would fit the lights, not an easy task mind you. The 6x55w are 22"x28". I wanted a Pelican but I also really want to keep the $400 in my pocket too. Since I had not found a case for the lights yet I just laid them on top of my equipment in the back of my car. The roads are quite bumpy this time of year in Maine and the lights now look broken in. So after noticing this I went to Home Depot and bough a big Stanley Job Box for $60 then went to Walmat and bought one of those egg crate cushions for under your bed sheets, a little slicing and dicing and $80 later I have a fairly heavy-duty wheeled cart that holds the lights, wires, extensions and the shorter stands. I don't think the short stand will live there because of weight, but they fit. I think a snowboard bag is what I will use for the light stands.

April 7th, 2008, 11:00 AM	#37
Tim Polster Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Arlington, TX Posts: 2,231	Thanks for sharing your results!

April 7th, 2008, 11:53 AM	#38
Henry Cho Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: NYC Posts: 516	thanks dave. they're attractively priced lights, and i'm glad they worked well for you. i have to say the company does come off just a little bit shady, tho. http://www.photoflex.com/News___Even...ion/index.html

April 7th, 2008, 07:39 PM	#41
Dave Pecunies Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Albany Township, ME Posts: 95	I'm not a good estimator of weight but I would guess 60-70 lbs. It is not light. It does have wheels and a big handle so as long as you are not driving some jacked up truck you can wrestle the thing in the back of a car pretty easily. l did just bust out my back window with the case but that was my fault more than the cases.

April 8th, 2008, 07:41 PM	#43
Dave Pecunies Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Albany Township, ME Posts: 95	The case is pretty light, I can't imagine finding anything lighter that would actually protect the gear.

April 8th, 2008, 07:48 PM	#45
Dave Pecunies Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Albany Township, ME Posts: 95	16lbs. This is this case: http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/s...atalogId=10051