Eos Lighting

[Calvin Bellows]

I have been looking at lighting kits and I was going to go with a Lowel kit. I was surfing the net and found Eos lights. I googled them, searched on dvinfo and haven't found out much info on them. Does any one know anything about the lights?

Film Lighting,Indie Filmmaker - 4200 Watt Deluxe Edition - Eos Lighting LLC

[Nick Hiltgen]

i haven't heard of them either but thats a pretty impressive looking kit fir the price, if it works!

[Tom Sherwood]

I asked about the same kit a week or two ago.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/photon-ma...nsidering.html

[Calvin Bellows]

I read that one. Everyone said to build your own....for what I need the kits work just fine. I am guessing since no one has said anything no one has tried them OR they suck. I love the price, I just don't know the quality.

[Stan Snyder]

What is the difference between Fluorescent & Halogen?

This is a commonly asked question.

There are two types of light source in Photography and Filmmaking (be it Film or Video filmmaking). They are Soft and Hard light. A great example of Hard Light is a bright sunny day without a cloud in the sky, like so many here in the desert.

An example of Soft Light is an overcast day. On a cloudy day there are very little shadows, that is because the light is dispersed by a giant “scrim” or “softbox” that the clouds create. Photographers like soft light, and use light modifiers, such as softboxes, to create that because it casts no shadows.

Soft Light is very forgiving because it evenly lights a scene or subject without having to sorry about shadows or eliminating those shadows with fill light. Fluorescent lights produce a nice soft even light that is perfect for Photography, Film or Video. It is also an ideal light for folks just starting off in the craft for the same reason. You don’t have to worry about complicated set ups. Just set up a couple of lights (usually three or more are adequate) and you can begin shooting without setting up ratios or worrying about shadows.

In addition, the nature of Fluorescent Lighting is to really produce nice skin tones and the fact that our bulbs are balanced to the daylight color temperature of 5500-5600 degrees Kelvin make them perfect as fill light when shooting outdoors.

With all this so great about Fluorescent why would anyone even consider Tungsten lights?

As a beginner becomes more gifted in the craft of lighting, you want to achieve or set moods. An example of this in photography is a subject that is lighted very heavily on one side of the face and minimally on the other. Often this is done because all of us have a good and a bad side (well most of us anyway).

This dramatic portrait would be impossible with soft light.

A portrait like this it is very compelling and quite dramatic. Here, the photographer has painted the subject, to his artistic style, with the use of light or more accurately ratios of light. One side being at 100% and the other at say 30%. (above is closer to probably 10%)

In film and video it is the same way. Certain dramatic scenes require the “impact” of light to make clear to the audience what the director is trying to say. Given one example is a person, in a dramatic scene, walking down a back alley. Creating a realistic mood for this shot would be virtually impossible with just soft light. That is where hard light has to be used in order to create the dynamic effect the director is trying to achieve.

Tungsten or Halogen (it means the same because it uses a tungsten filament and the bulb is filled with halogen gas) lights produce a hard light, yes it can be softened with reflective or multi-purpose umbrellas or softboxes (both are called light modifiers), but the inherent source of the light is hard.

Finally Tungsten light fixtures will often have the availability of barn doors. These are another light modifier that allow the user to shape and mold the light. The use of barn doors on Fluorescent lights would be fruitless and totally impractical given the size of most fluorescent fixtures.

The same holds true with filters, gels and scrims. Size precludes the use on Fluorescents but is easy and very useful and practical on Halogen fixtures. You would use a gel to add color to a light. For example a moonlight night could be created by gelling a light with a blue filter, red would create another dramatic lighting effect.

Filters change the color (a little bit) but serve a far more technical application. The most common is a Bluish color filter called a CBT filter that actually changes the 3200 Degree Kelvin color temperature of Tungsten light to the same as daylight or Fluorescent.

So by using CBT filters, you can easily blend a combination of Fluorescent and Tungsten light sources. In theory you could do the same the other way (5600K to 3200K) but, again, because of the size of fluorescent lights, it is simply not practical, though it has been done.

So in summary here are the key points:

Fluorescent: (5500-5600 Degrees Kelvin – Daylight)

PROS: Soft light, near daylight in a cool operating fixture that produces very little heat. Good light output (usually 4.5 to 5 to one) for power consumption. Bulbs last a very long time, usually 10,000 hours.

CONS: Large fixture, not much way to create artistic lighting or lighting ratios, but can be used in combination with Halogen or Tungsten lights where that may be a requirement.

USES: Photography and Video primarily. Can be used with film but because most true filmmakers who use film movie cameras want more dramatic lighting, it is hardly ever done. Fluorescents are used widely in news applications where they are on all day because of the low power consumption to light output equivalent. Ideal for beginners, because it is so forgiving.

Tungsten: (3200 Degrees Kelvin – Also known as indoor)

PROS: Smaller fixture capable of accepting all sorts of light modifiers; gels, scrims, filters, barndoors, softboxes, for total control of lighting. Fresnel style fixtures are focusable, allowing the user to spot (higher intensity) or flood (lower intensity) the fixture. Great for setting up lighting ratios and ideal for more dramatic scenes.

CONS: Require a bit of experience to use effectively. A lot of lights will use a lot of electricity and usually require multiple circuits when using several lights in a room. Can be dangerous for an inexperienced user, because they do get hot.

USES: Can be used for still photography when trying to create lighting rations as seen above. Great for filmmaking and more advanced video making. A must for dramatic film or video work.

Here is a link to my website: imageWest.TV

Glossary of Terms:

Lighting Ratios – setting up a balance of light to create a particular mood. Combines art and science to actually reduce this to percentage ratios using a light meter as called for by the director in a professional setting.

Light Modifiers – any device that changes the light from the light source, such as softboxes barndoors, gels, filters, gobos or whatever.

Fresnel Fixture – Previously thought to incorporate both the coke bottle bottom style lens and be focusable, but has now given way to any fixture that can vary the intensity or beam spread of the light. One with no lens or without the Fresnel Lens is also called an open faced fixture, or more recently an open faced Fresnel (to let it be known it is focusable).

Soft Light – Even diffused light that produces little, if any, shadow. (Cloudy day)

Hard Light – Harsh direct light that produces lots of shading when desired in the art. (Bright Sunny Day) May be softened, however, using light modifiers.

Gels – A colored transparent acetate material to add color to the light source.

Filter – Similar to a gel, but to a more scientific end, such as daylight conversion.

Scrim – a small light diffuser that can be added directly to the fixture (in this example)

Barndoors – 2 or 4 panes that mount directly to the light to control the beam spread.

Umbrella – a reflective rain umbrella looking modifier to reflect light and have a softening effect. Mullt-purpose umbrellas (also called a poor man’s softbox) are capable of having the reflective material removed so that you can actually shoot light through a translucent material, thus softening the light (note – this is a form of scrim).

Ballast – Required in Fluorescent Fixtures to arc the gas in the tube of the fluorescent bulb and thus cause the fixture or bulb (in self contained bulbs) to create light.

[Bill Davis]

Originally Posted by Stan Snyder

What is the difference between Fluorescent & Halogen?

This is a commonly asked question.

There are two types of light source in Photography and Filmmaking (be it Film or Video filmmaking). They are Soft and Hard light. A great example of Hard Light is a bright sunny day without a cloud in the sky, like so many here in the desert.

MUCH OF THE ORIGINAL POST SNIPPED OUT HERE

Ballast – Required in Fluorescent Fixtures to arc the gas in the tube of the fluorescent bulb and thus cause the fixture or bulb (in self contained bulbs) to create light.

Wow. Where to start.

While it's difficult not to appreciate all the effort that went into this post - and good portions are both accurate and undoubtedly helpful - there are some descriptions and assertions that are simply not true.

One example would be describing any particular type of light as "soft."

A more accurate explanation of "soft light" is a combination of light emitting surface area AND proximity to the object being lit that results in photons hitting the object from many different angles of incidence.

This is a function NOT of what kind of lamp is generating the light (e.g. fluorescent verses tungsten) but rather the sum of the area generating or reflecting the light PLUS the geometric relationship between that light source and the object being lit.

Even a 6 bank Kino Flo set up 30 feet from a person generates not soft light, but HARD light - because of the distance involved.

Think of it this way... the SUN is very, very, very, very big. But it's also very, very, very far away. So on a cloudless day, you get harsh (point source style) shadows.

Also, blanket assertions like "the nature of Fluorescent Lighting is to really produce nice skin tones and the fact that our bulbs are balanced to the daylight color temperature of 5500-5600 degrees Kelvin make them perfect as fill light when shooting outdoors." is a bit cringe worthy, IMO.

Many types of Fluorescent tubes produce Ghastly skin tones, due to their lack of full spectrum discharge. (the classic "green tone" fluorescent look.?)

And I don't know a lot of professionals I've ever worked with who reach for even properly color balanced fluorescent instruments for outdoor daylight work. Their fall off characteristics and inability to project a beam very well make them a mediocre choice for daylight fill - particularly when compared to HMI sources or even higher wattage fresnels with appropriate color correction.

Again, I appreciate the effort Stan put into his post. And applaud the desire to contribute. But hope the newbies here who might read the post listen to other voices as well and take everything you read on DV info with the suitable a grain of salt.

(including this very post!) ; )