Response to Lighting

OK, I've been here once or twice and I've read the suggestions posted. There are some great lighting solutions here for the budget minded videographer and believe me I understand what it means to shoot on a budget but I also want good professional results. I went the halogen shop light route with 500 and 300-watt lights after seeing the 10 and 15 dollar price tag on such lighting. I white balanced my camera, diffused my lighting, moved, repositioned, scrimed and barn doored them. No matter what I did my lighting still looked harsh and yellow or muted and yellow. My studio only has an 8 ft. ceiling so shadows were always a problem. It got to the point where I started telling clients "Oh that's the effect I was going for". Yea, right! I finally start looking at fluorescent lighting. I read articles that stated that you could find and use 3200K bulbs. The problem was when I priced professionally made light fixtures the companies selling them wanted 5-8 hundred dollars for just one fixture! Now lets be honest folks. What could possibly be different in a fluorescent light fixture used in film and video than any other light fixture found in virtually every office building on planet Earth? ANSWER... There is no difference! At least not a 5-8 hundred- dollar difference. If your spending $50 on 1000 watt halogens that will never be anything but extremely hot, harsh and yellow. Listen to this. I bought a 4 bulb T-12 fluorescent fixture on sale at a home improvement store for 30 bucks. Most of your professional light companies who sell fluorescent lights boast that their lights don't hum and are tuned to 3200K and are scientifically matched for film and video. The simple fact is if you put a T-12 bulb in any fluorescent T-12 fixture it's gonna work! As for the hum. Have you walked out a modern office building lately because the hum from the lights was driving you crazy? I think not. Now the issue of the bulbs. I did discover that 3200K fluorescent bulbs were a little difficult to find. Fact is when I did find them the company selling them wanted $16 per bulb. What a rip!!! Now the question arises. Is there something special about 3200 Kelvin fluorescent bulbs? ANSWER... There’s not a dam thing special about them! In fact I found that the manufacturers of the bulbs made 3000, 3400, 3500, 4100 and 5800. Kelvin lights Where's the 3200 Kelvin? The average prices of all the other color temps were 5-6 dollars but the missing 3200K were $16. “You think maybe they know you’re using 3200’s for film and video”? Duh! I'm sure you get my point. So what's a budget minded videographer to do? Simple. Buy the 3400 Kelvin bulbs you'll barely notice a difference. 3400-kelvin lights are generally used for aquariums and growing plants. Bottom line people. Don't believe the hype! Manufacturers make grand claims about the technology and complexity of their products. Maybe a confused mind will reach deeper into his pocket not believing he could ever out do the big manufacturers years of experience and R&D. Then again it could be just to justify the outrageous prices they charge for simple ideas with no real technical merit. Fluorescent lighting does produce warm looking, even lighting with very little shadows. Gels are easily used because the lights simply don't get hot. But the best and obvious advantage is the cost. A single light fixture you build yourself and adapt to a stand (I suggest using a professional music speaker stand) can cost as little as 90-100 bucks a piece. Sure it's a little more expensive than 10-dollar halogen shop lights but you'll love the results.

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