I'm starting to think a par HID would be ideal for my upcoming shoot. With the latitude I'm getting out of my combination of V1U, Brevis, and filters, I just need some daylight fill for some stuff I plan on shooting in the forest here. I might have to get by with reflectors, but I know how nice it is to have a daylight fixture for where reflectors don't work. A small kit with light and battery would be the only thing practical for taking into the woods.

I hear you loud and clear! Lots of people going out into the sticks and they need light. I think 70 to 150w is doable. Above that the battery requirements start to get ridiculous. But 13000 lumens of long throw light running off a battery should light a pretty good area.

Sorry, I think I abused the terminology there. Anyways, 3200K lights can have the problem of not being powerful enough after you gel them.

Thank you all for the helpful info,
I'll try to get my hands on that HID gun, thanks :)

So where can I get this portable lights?
Did I overlook the link?
Thanks!

I buy mine at samsclub..... down to $65 now....

samsclub.com shows them by searching HID... at only $47!

I think I'll order a few more today as well!

Well, since I can't find any shop selling thse lights in Europe (ordering from the US doubles the price), I'll try looking for something similar in our local shops, so question: Is there a way to tell the colour temperature of a light when testing it in shop?
What specs could indicate the temperature?

Thanks

Most 200W HMI's can be powered with 12V Anton/Bauer Batteries, or other types of camera batteries.

Reflectors can work pretty well on overcast days, unless it's really dark. As someone said, negative fill also works, using Duvetyne, or anything black to block/eat light.

You can get Beadboard reflectors, or make your own.

Buy, or rent larger frames. 4'x4', 6'x6', 8'x8', 12'x 12', 20'x20' are standard sizes. You can gets nets, silk, or grid cloth for diffusion, solids for neg fill, various materials are available for bounce too.

Mirrors can also work well, especially if you need to relay light from outside, into a building.

You'll need lots of grip gear to hold all this and probably a person at each reflector to aim them.

Smaller Honda 2Kw silent generators work pretty well and can wired parallel, so you have 4Kw of power. Just be sure that it's way the hell away from set and bring things to create a sound blimp. Be sure that the intake and exhaust aren't blocked.

Not really. You could use a Gossen Color Meter 3F but they're really expensive at around $1400 unless you can pick one up cheaper off Ebay where you see them from time to time. Most of these HID type 35w bulbs will be in the range of 4200K to 6500K so you can pretty much guess it'll be in that area.

Sam`s Club says they are only available "in club" - I guess that means local outlets, no mailorder...?
Any other US distributers of that light that take online orders?
Thanks!

I did a quick check and couldn't find a similar model anywhere for a reasonable price.

What would really be cool would be a pistol grip version of this thing with a stand mount at the end of the grip. Now that would be a sungun.

For closeups on overcast days, you can often get a substantial "air bounce" with a 4x4 piece of beadboard held next to or under the subject's face--more than a few feet away the effect will disappear, hence the ability to do this only with closeups! The larger the bounce, the more the effect, but at this level you are unlikely to be working with griffs and ultrabounces on large frames. The nice thing about the under-the-face bounce for overcast day work is that it will restore some value to the underside of the face, reducing the top-heavy look of overcast skies, and because it is so soft it will look quite natural. And to echo what has already been said several times, neg fill is a powerful weapon also.

One issue with a small battery powered light is that it will more often than not produce a "lit" effect. Adding diffusion at the light will not improve things much--you would really want to use a larger frame of diffusion closer to the subject to help things out. What is good for the evening news is not good for narrative filmmaking (unless it's supposed to look like the news!)

here's another company selling them besides sams...

http://boatandrvaccessories.com/SLH100P

looks like there made by vector

Even better price on that one too. $49 is a bargain.

But unfortunately out of stock...