DIY Lighting

[Jay Gladwell]

That's two 500W lights. You have to make certain you're not pulling it all off the same circuit. In the US it's 120, and, so far, I 've not have any problems using that much light. <fingers crossed>

[Jeff Donald]

I don't know how it is in Canada, but just about everything built in the US (last 35, 40 years) has 15 amp circuits at a minimum and many building codes now require 20 amps. But plug two 1000 watt fixtures into one 15 amp circuit and you'll trip the breaker for sure.

Jeff

[Nathan Gifford]

When I was talking about using banks of lights, that applied to fluorescent lights. Fluorescent lights are even more sensitive to using a dimmer.

[Dylan Couper]

<<<-- Originally posted by John Locke : Dylan...did you find out anything about the different wattages of compact flourescents? -->>>

Almost. I'll post the results of what I've found shortly.

One general question, what optimum colour temperature range should I be looking for in bulbs?

The other thing I've been looking at is VHO flourescents. 110w per 4 foot bulb (as opposed to 40), and runs cool. Seems to be a lot more info out there on VHO floursecent bulbs than compact flourescent.

[pineapples10]

I recently "acquired" a Dual 500watt Halogen Worklight for my dv films. One light by itself pumps out more than enough light...and I was thinking I could put a dimmer between the cord, and each light. The light I "acquired" can be seen at www.homedepot.com, its SKU # is 624616. It has one cord that splits and goes to each light. If I bought a 600w Rotating Wall dimmer (home depot sku 991290) , and attached it between one of the sections of cord, and then connected from the dimmer to the light, would it work? WOuld I put anyone in serious danger? Could something explode? Should I just make my movie about the lights/myself exploding? Any help would be appreciated.
TF

[John Locke]

Hi TF,

Do a quick search for "DIY Lighting" in these forums and you'll find a thread covering your question.

[Aaron Koolen]

Yes, check out that link as there are several of us who have recently bought work lights for our video stuff. And one suggestions was not to use dimmers as that changes the colour temperature of the light (Which you might have to adjust for to get matching temperatures) - Just use lower wattage bulbs, or move the lights back.

[Marcus Farrar]

OK

for the guys who want to follow in the footsteps of major home builders. Who has pictures of their lights they want to share. I have been looking at all the post ans sites and I wonder if I can make some good barn doors.

Whats the easy good looking way?
Anybody with a good sucess story?

I have made a cool light box for some work lights using PVC pipe, velcro and material. It works great for diffusion, and can break down easy with the PVC pipe conections and velcro.

[Aaron Koolen]

I'll definately post pictures once I get my barn doors on and I'd like to paint mine cuse the light housing is some yukky blue-grey colour :) Are you keen on posting a howto and some pictures of your light box?

Cheers
Aaron

[Marcus Farrar]

More than willing to post my pics. I am a master in video and editing but I have never posted pictures on the web. Not sure how. I can email you some pics. Maybe someone can share with me how to post pics on the wed. I just never needed to.

Marcus

[Alex Dolgin]

Cool Lux introduced an AC dimmer for about $50 US, I saw it at a show a few weeks back. It looks like a walkman in size, and is rated at 500W (I think). They do not have a pix on their site...
http://www.cool-lux.com/ecommerce/itm00075_alt.htm

[Don Parrish]

Home depot had dual 500 watt lights for 69 bucks, one tripod and a bracket with two 500 watt heads on it. I told the lighting guy I wanted two, thats a total of two tripods, four 500 watt lamps. The guy says, ya know it's funny, these are $69 but the ones on sale are $59 and they are nicer. The lights he pointed to had the same lime green tripod and two seperate light heads, but each head has a 500 watt lamp and a 250 watt lamp, each lamp with it's own waterproof switch. So I bought two. two tripods, four light heads, each with a 500 watt and a 250 watt lamp inside. Also tried my white translucent photo umbrella's in front of the lights and it was unbelievable, all the harsh shadows and angles from the lamps and reflectors were removed. The light was a pleasing white and when positioned right the camera shot had zero shadows. What a great job the umbrella's did of difusing the light. The umbrella's were very expensive at the local photo shop but I found them for 18 bucks if anyone is intersted. Also found the 3200 kelvin GE lamps at Ace Hardware for $5 each.

[Jay Gladwell]

Any ideas as to what you're going to do with all that light?

[Don Parrish]

My needs were not the total wattage, my thinking was the 250 watt lamps would give me more options without adding a dimmer.

[Peter Wiley]

Reading through this interesting thread a couple of things ocurred to me -- just my 2 cents.

Using household dimmers on large wattages is problematic. If you run these solid-state devices (opposed to resistive dimmers) close to the maximum rating they get hot and the heat will break them over time (you'll note in some installation instructions that you have to reduce the load if you cut the AL heat sink when ganging a number of dimmers in the same space). The unstated assumption is that most household applications don't reach the maximum rating of the dimmer and that there is an allowed overhead -- in most installations of a couple hundred watts under the maximum load (for example the average household chandelier which is a typical application is often well under 500w).

Years ago I was involved with a little theatre that used household dimmers for lighting control. We were replacing them all the time because we were running them at max rating all the time. So what can seem inexpensive at first and be expensive in practice. Theatircal SCR dimmers are expensive because they have to stand up to such abuse.

Dimming also introduces the color temp issue. Video cameras are engineered to produce accurate color reproduction when illuminated with the standard 3,200K, although some cameras can compensate a bit on either side (white balance), and many have a "daylight" setting (5,600K or so). If you want consistent color shot-to shot, you need consistent color temp. And this will work if you are sure the dimmer is set at exactly the same place each time -- but then the low-cost dimmers "drift" as they get hot and as they wear out the settings change. What was 50% last week won't be this week.

In any case, the color temp of the tungsten lamps you'll find at home depot is usually 2,950K (check the manufactuers web sites) or more yellow than the 3,200K standard. There are some 3,200K floursescents sold for retail display use (by GE and others I think).

One other thing. The intensity of the light is really only one aspect of its look and feel. Changing intensity is not going to change the quality of the light as much as one might think in terms of hard vs. softer looks. What you may really be after is the look of an instrument you can focus hard to soft (i.e. a fresnel). Changing intensity is not the same thing as changing focus.

Before using dimmers I'd suggest three other things to experiement with. First, move the lights back or closer to change intensity. The inverse square law is your friend here: doubling the distance halfs the intensity. Second try ND filters on your lens to reduce the effective intensity. Third, mix the first two. I think the results will be more consistent and less expensive in the long run than messing with household dimmers. Unless you need a sudden brightening effect, I don't see a good reason to use them.