lights in Australia

[Bill Parker]

I'm going to be shooting some interviews in Sydney Australia this December. I'm thinking it would be cheaper to just rent an Arri kit there than take mine with me (after swapping the bulbs to 230 or 240V). I'm sure the added baggage charge both ways would be more than the cost of the rental. Does this make sense and does anyone have a recommendation for lighting rentals in Sydney (or even have their own gear to rent)? Then I can just take my camera and some other grip stuff. Are there problems with customs with cameras (it's an EX1). Also - I'm assuming I'll just need some power adapters for my battery charger, no?

Thanks.

[Chris Soucy]

You are correct, it will be cheaper to rent than lug your gear all that way. Can't help with details of rentals but there are a LOT of production and pro rental places in Sydney, do a Google, I'm sure they'll pop up.

There should be no problems with Customs no matter what you take (leave the weed and speed at home, tho') and forcryingoutloud don't take any foodstuffs of any nature, not even a banana (the sniffer dogs go nuts and you will be the centre of attention, you don't want to go there!).

Check chargers for voltage ratings, most nowaday will run on anything from 110 Volts 60Hz to 240 Volts 50Hz, all that's required (usually) is an el cheapo adapter to get those Yank pins in Oz holes.

Have a great trip, Oz is a terrific country.


CS

[Bill Parker]

Chris - thanks for the reply. Weed and speed stay put and I'm glad to hear customs won't be a problem. If I'm only taking my EX1, will I have any problems related to working in the country? I'm only going to be there two days and it's a pretty small job. I'll just say I'm a tourist with a big camera.

[Chris Soucy]

Play dumb, works wonders.

Forgot to mention:

Unless there has been a root and branch clean up (which I doubt) stay out of "the 'Cross" at night.

Last couple of times I've been there it's been the totally corrupt policing the criminally insane on an industrial scale.

One scary place, and boy, I've been in some scary places in my time.

Maybe some of our Sydneyites can provide an update.


CS

[Bob Grant]

I work for a rental company in Sydney, drop me a PM and we can take care of your lighting needs.
Just be aware that tungsten lighting has pretty much gone the way of the dodo down here, we're all fluro or HMI. We have a lot of 4x55W and 6x55W fluro lights, a couple of 200W Joker Bugs, one 400W Kobold, an iS3 and a Creamsource. Don't leave booking kit down here to the last minute at this time of year.

As for The Cross, good grief. The only reason I advise visitors to stay away is the place is plain boring. Unlike LA your chances of witnessing any gun play is extremely remote. The police might turn a blind eye to the deals being done on the streets but packing anything including a blade can quickly land you in serious trouble.

[Ian Dart]

hi bob

i just have to politely disagree in the nicest way with your statement about incandescent lights going the way of the dodo.
there is a time and a place for all the lighting types in our industry.
you just cannot get the subtle control of light with hmi's led;s and flouro's
that is possible with incandescants.
as a professional gaffer i carry a range of these lights from blondies down to
150 dedo's and would be laughed off the set if i only turned up with
my flouro's and led's.

let the discussion begin....

hey bill.... pity you are not coming to melbourne...i could have lent you some gear....at a reasonable price of course...........

cheers
ian

[Bob Grant]

Originally Posted by Ian Dart

hi bob

i just have to politely disagree in the nicest way with your statement about incandescent lights going the way of the dodo.
there is a time and a place for all the lighting types in our industry.
you just cannot get the subtle control of light with hmi's led;s and flouro's
that is possible with incandescants.
as a professional gaffer i carry a range of these lights from blondies down to
150 dedo's and would be laughed off the set if i only turned up with
my flouro's and led's.

let the discussion begin....

hey bill.... pity you are not coming to melbourne...i could have lent you some gear....at a reasonable price of course...........

cheers
ian

Hi Ian,
I'm all ears, please educate us. We used to have blondes and redheads so I am fairly familiar with them, I used to spend a bit of time repairing them. The only thing I can think of that you can do with them that you couldn't do with our HMIs is start a fire.
Our 200W Joker Bugs can be fitted with softboxes, soft tubes, can be changed between daylight and tungsten, and can run for hours off batteries. There's a choice of four lenses and they come with barn doors. If you prefer a focussable fresnel we've also got those as 150W HMIs. The reality is the only difference between a HMI and a tungsten light is how the light is generated. Both are point light sources and can be reflected and focussed in exactly the same manner.

Yes, we still have crews from the USA asking for the older lights but we're yet to have any of them find any limitations getting done what they needed to get done with what we have. All of those crews have been overjoyed at the saving in transport costs, ease of use and not having to worry about finding enough power to run their lights. Remember travelling crews don't have the luxury of two guys and a couple of trucks.

Of course this is a conservative industry and I can understand why you'd still have such lights on hand. On the other hand from what I've seen all of our TV studios have switched to fluro lighting. The ABC seem to have sold off all of their tungsten lights, I bought one as a prop a couple of years back.

[Allan Black]

Bill, pack the EX1 etc. in a big Pelican or similar in the a/c hold and carry its sales receipt and some info about the job you're on and your return ticket .. all for local customs getting in and out .. if you need them. All to say you're not going to flog the cam here.

Make sure you pack the big cam batteries in the hold too. Lock all bags. Qantas should have fixed its A380s by then.

Same going home, but carry your recorded tapes on board, our scanners are safe. Don't want to Jonah the gig but remember we're PAL here, you might want to check where you can rent a local NTSC cam. just in case.

If it's close to Xmas, we all start partying about the 23rd and don't stop till Jan 5 or 6.
So try and stay for NY, the Syd harbour bridge fireworks are something else. Some nice girls live in the Cross, very friendly but keep walking.

Cheers.

[Brian Drysdale]

It depends on what you're shooting, but tungsten Fresnel spots can do things that fluorescents can't do they're soft lights and nothing else. A 200 watt joker is pretty small for a lot of things.

Redheads etc are less the work horses that they used to be, but it's good to have the odd one in your lighting kit for throwing a spread of 3200K light in tight spaces.

In the end, it really depends on the clients you're servicing.