Grip Kits

[Jason Knoll]

How many of you carry grip kits, is it included inside your light case or a seperate case?
If you do carry a grip kit, whats in your kit?

[Seth Bloombaum]

I go pretty minimal, like to keep things to where I can fly on a plane:
Some 20x24 sheets of CTB.
Half a dozen C-47.
A handful of party gels.
A 3x6' piece of tough spun.
A Lowel Lobo and arm, sort of a mini grip head and arm for a light stand.
A 36" 5-way photoflex-style reflector.
A 24" photoflex-style diffuser/reflector.
2 scissor-clips with 5/8" spuds for t-bar ceilings.
2 25' 14ga. extension cords (my hottest lamp is 500w).
2 cube taps.
A door stop.
A Lowel bigfoot.
A Lowel tota clamp.

I guess it's a long list, but all this stuff is small and light and fits in a tote bag. If I know I'm going to need them, I also have a couple of heavier light stands, two lowel full poles, and two lowel "grips", all of which can be used to boom lights, or as a background stand.

[Nino Giannotti]

The problem with grips that it’s a lifetime investment, they don’t break and never go out of style or become useless. The only time that you’ll find used ones is if somebody goes out of business. I also suggest that you stick to established products; the last thing that you want is for things to start falling down.

Over the years I had some good luck finding overstocked grips at B&H in their used equipment section but that’s kind of a hit and miss. Otherwise you’ll have to buy them new. These are not high ticket items and therefore not subject to big discounts but it always add up and every saving is important. So the best that I can tell you is to shop around.

[Dan Brockett]

Hi guys:

Just wanted to give a couple of heads-up on some good low cost options for grip gear.

1. If you need A-clamps (aka grip clips), my advice is to visit Home Depot. They have the most common size 2" grip clips in this sickly green for a mere .99 ea. Go to any film place like Moletown or FilmTools and they want $3.00 to $4.00 for the same thing. At .99 ea., I picked up 20 of them today. Home Depot also has the very hard to find 1/2" grip clips, which were, I think .49 ea. They are very tiny but handy for gels, diffusion and holding small things.

The 3" A-clamps were actually not a very good deal at Home Depot at $5.49 ea. BUT I found the same clamps at Harbor Freight today for $3.99. It pays to shop around.

2. Also from our buddies at Harbor Freight, they have these great router speed controls http://search.harborfreight.com/cpis...rol+&Submit=Go
for a mere $9.99 on sale. For those of you who don't know, these router speed controls make great variable dimmers for smaller lights. The speed controls are rated at 1,500 watts and I have used them on many different lights. Just make sure that you listen for buzz through your camcorder's headphones if you are shooting audio. A few times, I have had a small buzz but most of the time, they are fine and cause no buzz. I own three of the Mole Richardson Levitron $110.00 dimmers and these Harbor Freight Router Speed Controls really do the exact same thing at less than 1/10th the cost. I own six of them and they are great.

3. From Home Depot, I also picked up an 18 gallon silver Rubbermaid tote for $6.00. This thing holds a LOT of grip gear.

4. For Mafers, Cardellini Clamps, etc. Nino is right, they are rare to find used. I would shop Ebay, www.filmtools.com and B&H and compare costs. I would also tend to use name brand stuff. I would avoid stuff like the Amvona C-Stands, they are cheap and kind of junky. I personally own all Norms and American Grip gear as far as C-Stands and Lighting stands. This stuff will last you decades if you take care of it so it pays to buy good stuff. I have had seven of my Norms C-Stands since 1997 and they are still going strong.

Good luck,

Dan

[Jeff Anselmo]

Thanks Nino and Dan for the advice and tips!

By the way Dan, we just finished editing our first doc on Monument Valley (to be shown at Goulding's Lodge's small theater). Unfortunately, we really had a barest of minimum of lighting and grip equipment (which is to say we used a couple of daylight balanced practical bulbs, and home depot scoops), but otherwise we're happy with the result. Oh well, I guess next time...

--Jeff

[Craig Irving]

http://efplighting.com/images/grip%2...%20reduced.jpg

Where can I buy or build something like this?

I saw more of a DIY solution on Jerry Day's "Light Like A Pro". It seemed like it was just a stick nailed on a piece of wood. I'd be more than happy just rigging up something like that but I have no idea what kind of parts/measurements would be needed.

[Craig Irving]

Is there a DIY/Home Depot solution that avoids having to buy a baby plate from Matthews or Manfrotto?

[Richard Andrewski]

Not really. The nice thing about a baby spud 5/8" male adapter is that it has a machined, recessed area around the top to allow adapters that attach to it to not slip as long as their thumbscrew is completely tightened into the recessed area.

This is especially important when equipment is being hung upside down with the spud pointing toward the floor. Even when it's horizontally mounted, its just that extra bit of security.

It's hard to find an existing "something or other" just like that in a home improvement store or elsewhere for that matter.

[Nino Giannotti]

Actually there's a way and I had to do it a few times as a last minute solution. Buy a 5/8 OD double threaded galvanized pipe 4 or 6 inches long and a flange with the equivalent thread. Some Home Depot might not have the flange in stock but I found it in any good plumbing supplies stores or even in hardware stores. The flange has four holes that you can screw on a piece of plywood and then screw the pipe tight into the flange. The thread on the other end will prevent the light from slipping from the pipe. Of course you will be using it on a floor so there no need to use safety cables.

[Craig Irving]

Hmmm. That's too bad that this site is subscription based now. I remember loving it when it was up. Maybe when I can afford $50 :(

Anyone know when it switched over?