Is this a decent basic lighting set up?

[afaloth]

I only have about £250 to spend on lighting (i know not much but its all i can do :\) but Ive found this nice redhead lighting kit on ebay.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3x-800W-24...#ht_3449wt_968

In addition to that im looking to get a set of diffusers/gels which will be my last £50.

Would this be ok for a basic setup?

[jax_rox]

Redhead lights are certainly very useful, though the cheap knockoffs tend to suck power and not give you quite the same output strength as you'd normally expect. That said, they're certainly not a bad choice, and will give you options for lighting a scene.

Remember that redheads suck 800w (or ~7 amps) so keep that in mind when plugging them into a household circuit.
Also, they are very hard, directional lighting. You may want to look into a chimera or scrim to soften them a bit. I've also never seen redheads with built in dimmers, but as with any light dimming it warms it up - you're better off keeping it at full strength to keep the colour temperature at 3200k, and then softening/diffusing/scrimming to 'dim' your output, unless you want a warmer look/feel.

Also some safety tips to keep in mind with open-face lights: They get really, really hot. You may (see: should) want to invest in some gloves to allow you to move the light, and move the barn doors while it's on. Be careful of moving the light when it's on - it's better to turn it off, move it, and then re-strike to save issues with the bulb.
Always attach gels to the barn doors, and put as much distance between the gel and the face of the light as possible - the barn doors I generally use have clips on them that you can attach steel coat hangers to, and then peg gels onto the coat hangers. If you're pegging to the barn door itself, peg the gel so it hangs around the outside, rather than gelling close to the face of the light (as I've seen inexperienced gaffers do).
Always put a sandbag on the light stand, and run the cable underneath the stand so as to avoid 'clothes-lineing' of the cable. Always run cables clean, even if it means you have to buy extra stingers (power extension leads), and never have a light cable clothes lineing.
If you're using a chimera or softbox, make sure you don't cover the back of the light, especially the vents at the back, also try and allow as much 'breathing space' as possible. If you leave a softbox attached to a redhead for a longer period of time, it's quite likely that it will start to burn. It's pretty much happened to all of us, so don't get too disheartened. Do keep it in mind, however. It can sometimes be good practice to turn a hot open face light off when not in use so that the light and accessories, as well as the room itself doesn't heat up too much. That said, on a cold night shoot, we like to keep the hot lights on to warm us up. Keep in mind that a hot light (especially multiple hot lights) do warm rooms up, so on a particularly hot day (or even just an average day in a smaller room) you might want to take into consideration the extra heat that the lights will create - you don't want to have your crew sweating the whole day.
Don't touch the face of the light, or the bulb itself with your bare hands - oil from your hands will warm the bulb up at different speeds causing it to blow. If you are moving the light head, make sure you use the black knob on the back to turn/move it, rather than trying to hold the light itself.
Redheads make great reflected lights - it's much safer (and creates a much softer, more natural looking light) to reflect them off a surface rather than aiming them directly at an object or person. Also, try and aim them away from people as much as you possibly can - they're finicky things and when the bulbs blow (as they often do), I've seen them completely explode, sending glass flying everywhere. If you've got them behind a scrim, or pointing up to a ceiling it's going to cause much less potential damage than if it was pointed directly at a person. I've also seen fresnel globes explode, but because of the lenses in fresnels, all the glas was kept inside the light itself.
Always allow at least 5 minutes for the light to cool after turning off before packing the light down. After that, the cable should be removed from the power outlet first, before removing the other end from the ballast or light head.

[afaloth]

Sweet! Thank you very much for the detailed reply also!

Taking what youve said into account, would it still be worth the money getting these? Or would you recommend that I save my money and wait to get something better (ideally i need them something quite soon as Ive got a shoot coming up)

Would it just be easier to get some clamp lights to compensate for them or would these produce much better results? Also, is there any lights around the same price you could recommend which might be better?

[jax_rox]

It really depends what you're shooting.. the build quality on these cheap knock offs is certainly not the same as an Arri, Ianiro or a Photon Beard, but I know people have used them with success. Redheads are always useful to have in a lighting arsenal.

What are you shooting? If you need to colour match with daylight, redheads may not your best option, as CTB gelling them is going to reduce your light output by 75% (bringing it from 800w to 200w output, even though you're sucking 800w of power.)

Personally, I'm used to dealing with rental lights, some of which can cost that price for a single day of rental. Perhaps others can chime in with some ideas. I have seen a DP that I know use softboxes with multiple CFLs inside them, as well as some cheap LED panels. It gives mixed results, and I can't say I'm a big fan, but it cna get decent results.

You might also want to look at china lanterns, they are a great soft light and are relatively cheap.

[afaloth]

well the main scene is almost like an interrogation, i aiming for it to look quite similar to this scene in the Dark Knight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnOLhXmhkyA

I dont really have much experience with lighting before, because ive mostly shot during the day outside and so this is going to be my first big challenge haha. I need as little spill as possible, ive already got 2 500w portable worklights, but they're not ideal because the light just goes everywhere

[knightly]

How big is the room... a smaller room will become a sauna with these... and the actors will probably get a tan.

Make some barndoors for the work lights (coollights.biz has some templates)... and buy some black wrap to control spill from the back of the units (remember they do have to vent their heat, so don't just wrap them up completely).

The 800s will be quite a bit hotter than those work lights. Buy gloves with thick leather palms/fingers that wrap more than half way up the finger (the sides of your fingers will burn just as easily if there's flimsy material there with just the palm side of the fingers in leather. I've gotten contact burns from 1K light barndoors -- just tapping the barndoor for a quick adjustment, instant 2nd degree burn. WEAR GLOVES!

[micster]

Those are the exact same lights I own. Literally, same seller and same item. They do get hot but the build quality and amount of light are perfect. Really great kit.

[afaloth]

thanks for the info knightly, gonna look into those DIY barndoors, where on the website does it show how to do it?

oh sweet micster are they worth the price? do you have any work that you used the lights in which you could show me?

[PaulGriffith]

Not to nitpick, I hate when people pounce on errors but as it's concerning electricity I'll point it out: In the UK on 220v, those fixtures will pull closer to 3 amps as opposed to US and similar 110v countries where you're right, about 7 amps.

[afaloth]

so is that ok to use in household mains without the risk of blowing?

Knightly, the room is quite large and ill be able to vent out it quite easily so that shouldnt be a problem

[jax_rox]

Originally Posted by afaloth

so is that ok to use in household mains without the risk of blowing?

You'll be able to use the three on the one circuit as long as nothing else is plugged into the same circuit

[micster]

I used a combo of two to three using household mains and they were fine, just use different sockets. The short I used them with is still in post, but heres a few screencaps.

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...54450178_n.jpg

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...37214846_n.jpg

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...03066470_n.jpg

[knightly]

More of a consideration with the room size is where to put the lights... the cone of photons shooting out of the light at your scene is very narrow to begin with but, as all good cones do, it widens as it gets farther away from the origin.

Too close to the talent, and you'll get a hot spot that screams "LIGHTING" Getting it farther away from them and putting some diffusion gel in front of it to spread it out a little bit more makes that go away and gives a much more natural look to the light.

I love photons.

[knightly]

for simplicity on set, divide the wattage by 100 to get the amps. Technically, it's 120 for a household circuit, but 100 gives you a built in safety margin by estimating the amperage higher. Most house hold circuits are 20a. Your lights are never the only thing on the circuit. Even if they are, assume their not -- this is the reason for the safety margin. What sucks is being on a set with no access to the breakers, and tripping one.

[PaulGriffith]

Again, *cough* UK. Solid advice from Knightly, but divide by 200 instead for UK operation.

Every circuit is different. Most in the US are 20-30 amp, but there are plenty of exceptions. Not sure what most of your circuits are rated at.

Good new is, it's just a breaker. If it trips, it's not a huge deal. Unplug something and reset it.

Extension cords come in handy here. You can run from other rooms if you don't have enough power in the room you're shooting in. Pretty much all kitchens and bathrooms built in the last 20 years and most older ones as well each run on their own circuit. Sometimes other rooms share them.