Lighting power - 1000w too much?

[Drew Curran]

I've spoted a used set of Lowel DP 1000w lights, and a Lowel Tota 800w light for good money.

I was wondering if these are too powerful for Drama film production?

Whats the ideal power for this type of work?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks


Andrew

[Brian Drysdale]

Originally Posted by Drew Curran

I've spoted a used set of Lowel DP 1000w lights, and a Lowel Tota 800w light for good money.

I was wondering if these are too powerful for Drama film production?

Whats the ideal power for this type of work?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks


Andrew

These are good workhorse lights. However, for drama Fresnel spots are usually better because they're more controllable than the open faced lights. The size goes anything from small Dedos up to 18K HMIs. With the larger lights you can put on ND or scrim to reduce the light output - something that saves time instead of changing to a smaller light.

Some 500 watt, 1k and 2k spots (it varies, but often you won't need as many 2ks) will allow some basic drama - bear in mind that you lose quite a bit when you put CTB filters on when converting to daylight - not forgetting the diffusion. Kinoflos are also popular.

[David W. Jones]

There is no correct answer... It just depends on the situation!
Sometimes a 300 watt lamp is too much, other times 4 5K's are not enough.

[Richard Alvarez]

It really does depend on the nature of the scene. I've got a kit with a couple of fresnels, (1k, 300) THREE DP lights, (1k), TWO Omni's, (750) ONE Tota, (Three bulbs for it, 1k, 750, 300) I have Barndoors, scrims, Glass diffusion filters, glass dichroic daylight filters, TWO softboxes, assorted gels, and..... A DIMMER. (I also have a kit full of spiral flows that go in small light sources for fill in office settings.)

I reach for what I need. A 1k DP in a good sized softbox can be great in a room to give a good soft 'source' light... as if from a window. So yeah, it can work. I've used a 1k DP as 'filler' when I was in an office. I used a HUGE window light as the key,and put the DP in as fill, with the Lowel DIchroic Daylight filter in front plus a bit of frost clipped to the barndoors, on a dimmer. As the light changed during the day, I dimmed down or up on the Lowel.

They are not the 'be all' or 'end all' of a good kit. Just one more tool. If you are building a kit, and find a good price on an instrument, buy it. But yeah, look for deals on fresnels as well.