Wedding lighting

[Chris Harding]

Hey Randy

Church ceremonies have slow deliberate movement so 1/30th (mine is 1/25 for PAL) is still usable but dancing has movement so you will get blur...they are usually drunk by then so you can just clamp on your biggest and nastiest LED light and they won't say anything!!! With bridal entrance the secret there is not to stand in the middle of the dance floor with your tiny light... get somewhere so you can film the bridal party walking in and past you fairly close and then follow the couple up to their seats. That way you are never more than 10' away and get decent lighting as opposed to a huge dance floor.

Chris

[Randy Johnson]

I have no problem dropping the shutter to 1/30 in the church its the reception that I dont like. I do like the idea of the lights on stands. Taky would you recomend a comer 1800 on a light stand and a smaller LED for on camera lights?

[Taky Cheung]

I use both. I still need an on-camera light that I can run around, interview people, or some quick lite up during the day. At reception, the off-camera light (on light stands) gives great result not only to the recorded footage itself, it also enhances the event.

I was shooting a 25th anniversary event last Friday. One of the guests did a Saxophone performance. I turned on my Comer light on light stand in spot light mode. It puts a shine on her. It gives a focal point of where the audience will be looking at.

[Randy Johnson]

Cool well I am definatley going to order at least one from you next month maybe 2 depends on some stuff though. is there anyway to run them off AC?

[Taky Cheung]

That's great! The light doesn't come with AC adapter. But you can bring it to Radio Shack and have them match an AC adapter for you. Otherwise, the NP-F970 batteries we have runs the light for 3.5 hours. It's so much easier than looking for AC outlet and wiring all the cord at wedding reception.

[Randy Johnson]

well I figured if I ran it off AC I could leave the light stand up and just plug it in when I wanted to turn it off and on.

[Geen White]

Originally Posted by Taky Cheung

Occasionally I ran into some drama queens at weddings. They made a squinting face staring at the light and said "the light is too bright". I told them, not looking at it.

LOL. I have the same issue in some weddings. A couple of times I have been told to turn off the light. I let them know what would happen If I did that. Once I got a "Well turn it off anyway"
Well, we all know how that part turned out on the DVD.

[Randy Johnson]

The issues I have been having is just seeing peoples reaction. No one actually approaches me.

[Randy Johnson]

o.k. I am thinking of getting one 250 watt and shoot it into the ceiling OR a 100 watt and tilt it down into the croud.Or maybe both and get a wireless controller to turn one on and one off as needed. This is in addition to a on camera light, what do you think?

[Michael Liebergot]

Randy we have been doing this for the last 2 years.
Our latest rendition uses:

(2) Coolights LED 256 (CL-LED256 256 LED Spot - Cool Lights USA)
(2) Receptionlight remote controls (The Wireless Wedding Reception Video Light - HOME)
(2) Doglin V-Doubler (vDOUBLER [VD-14] - $179.00 : Dolgin Engineering, Camera Power Solutions)
Sony NP batteries

What we do is mount the LED256 on a light stand and have the Receptionlight remote control sit between the LED256 and the V-Doubler (power source). The V-doubler and extra batteries are kept in the LED266 bag attached to the light stand.

It's compact and convenient and I can move the stand anywhere when needed at a moments notice.
It takes me only 10 minutes to setup two lights and position where needed.

All of the lighting equipment is kept in one Kata bag for easy transport, with the light stands traveling along with my mic stand(s) and tripods.

We used to use large Becor batteries in this setup as opposed to Sony NP batteries. But I got sick and tired of dragging along 40 lbs. in batteries.

BTW two Sony batteries can power the LED256 for over 6 hours at full blast. It might even run longer, as I have never had one run out of power at a reception yet.

I only use the lighting at receptions, and turn on the lights before the reception starts, so everyone gets used to them. I turn them off during dinner, and back on just before the reception stars back up. If needed and someone gives speeches during dinner, I can simply turn them back on with the remote.

The lights themselves are placed as tall as possible (on 13' light stands), and usually positioned right next to the DJs PA stack by the dance floor. Guests think it's part of the DJs or bands setup.

[Michael Liebergot]

Randy we have been doing this for the last 2 years.
Our latest rendition uses:

(2) Coolights LED 256 (CL-LED256)
(2) Receptionlight remote controls (The Wireless Wedding Reception Video Light)
(2) Doglin V-Doubler (vDOUBLER)
Sony NP batteries

What we do is mount the LED256 on a light stand and have the Receptionlight remote control sit between the LED256 and the V-Doubler (power source). The V-doubler and extra batteries are kept in the LED266 bag attached to the light stand.

It's compact and convenient and I can move the stand anywhere when needed at a moments notice.
It takes me only 10 minutes to setup two lights and position where needed.

All of the lighting equipment is kept in one Kata bag for easy transport, with the light stands traveling along with my mic stand(s) and tripods.

We used to use large Becor batteries in this setup as opposed to Sony NP batteries. But I got sick and tired of dragging along 40 lbs. in batteries.

BTW two Sony batteries can power the LED256 for over 6 hours at full blast. It might even run longer, as I have never had one run out of power at a reception yet.

I only use the lighting at receptions, and turn on the lights before the reception starts, so everyone gets used to them. I turn them off during dinner, and back on just before the reception stars back up. If needed and someone gives speeches during dinner, I can simply turn them back on with the remote.

The lights themselves are placed as tall as possible (on 13' light stands), and usually positioned right next to the DJs PA stack by the dance floor. Guests think it's part of the DJs or bands setup.

[Randy Johnson]

It looks like a nice setup, I have a question The Wireless wedding remote cost $300 and doesnt include a stand or a light, what does it include?

[Michael Liebergot]

Randy, when I built my Receptionlight setup a few years back the price of the remotes wasn't nearly as high. All I purchased from Receptionlight was the remotes, as I already had lights and lightstands that Iw as able to use for my setup. Since then my lights had changed (to LED256) and also added the V-Doubler to replace the large battery belt. But that's what I originally started with.

I recall seeing the remotes themselves somewhere on the net, but don't remember currently sorry.
Something like this will most likely work, but you will have to wire the XLR connections yourself.
12V WIRELESS REMOTE CONTROL 0V OUTPUT SWITCH RP100 | eBay

With the Receptionlight setup it takes him time to wire the XLR connections and he also includes some fuses as well.

[Randy Johnson]

cool thanks I have enough parts around to build my own if it works out i'll buy another.