Is this light any good?

[ajedproduction]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170921748101?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

I'm looking to invest a little bit more in lighting as at the moment I only have an LED light and a reflector for lighting lol.

This one seems fairly affordable, do you think it's a good deal and a decent looking light by the specs/features? It would mostly be used for short films.

 

[darty]

what you will get is 75 pounds worth of lighting gear.
to be honest 75 pounds does not buy you a lot of quality when it comes to film lighting.

i find it slightly disturbing that they have to state in their advertising that it is fully earthed.
all class 1 electrical products have to be earthed to meet electrical standards before they can be sold.

from my experience these lights are not worth the money. do a search of this site on cheap asian
redhead knockoffs.

cheers

 

[gorillaonabike]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170921748101?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

I'm looking to invest a little bit more in lighting as at the moment I only have an LED light and a reflector for lighting lol.

This one seems fairly affordable, do you think it's a good deal and a decent looking light by the specs/features? It would mostly be used for short films.

I have 3. There are a few elements you will need to understand.


1. One, by itself is useless. You will need 3. A 3 point lighting kit is good. A one-point lighting kit is useless. You will have zero depth etc...
2. Fire hazard. Don't expect them to be UK etc... certified and you will need to take great care when using them unless you enjoy burning buildings down.
3. Build quality. This is pretty random and I have one where parts of it fell off after a few weeks. I have two others which have lasted for a couple of years. If you compare them with 'real' kit, these are terrible.
4. These are 3.2k so colour your picture orange. You will need to learn to adapt (gels, filters, WB etc...) because if you don't, all your footage will be orange.
5. Naturally, you can't use these outside without a generator and if there is natural sunlight around, they are useless.
6. If you buy them, DO NOT TOUCH THE BULB WITH YOUR SKIN EVEN WHEN COLD. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TOUCH THE BULB WITH YOUR BARE FLESH EVEN WHEN COLD. DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT... point made? Otherwise, the oil from your skin will transfer to the bulb and when they heat up... KABOOM!!!!!
7. The amount of power they consume to produce the light is quite astonishing.
8. Heat. Jeez, they get hot. You can quite literally cook an egg under the heat of these lights.
9. If you are crazy enough to use these outdoors, you will need to buy a generator. At your budget, this will mean lots of noise meaning you will need to get good at ADR.
10. They are not portable in the sense that you cannot manouver them Al Mariachi style.

Now I have experience with this kit, given the same circumstances I would have preferred to save my money and buy better kit, especially as one by itself is pretty useless. However, this is just my experience from owning and using these lights / stands.

I fantasise about LEDs...

 

[jax_rox]

I fantasise about LEDs...

Don't fantasise about LEDs unless you're specifically talking about these:
http://www.arri.com/l-series/

 

[Will Vincent]

I built up a kit of about 6 fresnels in various wattages via ebay. Deals can be found, and unless you buy the spendy LEDs that jax mentioned, fresnels are probably your best bet.

 

[gorillaonabike]

I built up a kit of about 6 fresnels in various wattages via ebay. Deals can be found, and unless you buy the spendy LEDs that jax mentioned, fresnels are probably your best bet.

...now you tell me... I think this is the better way of picking up lights. If I'd have known...

 

[wheatgrinder]

I have 3. There are a few elements you will need to understand.


1. One, by itself is useless. You will need 3. A 3 point lighting kit is good. A one-point lighting kit is useless. You will have zero depth etc...
2. Fire hazard. Don't expect them to be UK etc... certified and you will need to take great care when using them unless you enjoy burning buildings down.
3. Build quality. This is pretty random and I have one where parts of it fell off after a few weeks. I have two others which have lasted for a couple of years. If you compare them with 'real' kit, these are terrible.
4. These are 3.2k so colour your picture orange. You will need to learn to adapt (gels, filters, WB etc...) because if you don't, all your footage will be orange.
5. Naturally, you can't use these outside without a generator and if there is natural sunlight around, they are useless.
6. If you buy them, DO NOT TOUCH THE BULB WITH YOUR SKIN EVEN WHEN COLD. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TOUCH THE BULB WITH YOUR BARE FLESH EVEN WHEN COLD. DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT... point made? Otherwise, the oil from your skin will transfer to the bulb and when they heat up... KABOOM!!!!!
7. The amount of power they consume to produce the light is quite astonishing.
8. Heat. Jeez, they get hot. You can quite literally cook an egg under the heat of these lights.
9. If you are crazy enough to use these outdoors, you will need to buy a generator. At your budget, this will mean lots of noise meaning you will need to get good at ADR.
10. They are not portable in the sense that you cannot manouver them Al Mariachi style.

Now I have experience with this kit, given the same circumstances I would have preferred to save my money and buy better kit, especially as one by itself is pretty useless. However, this is just my experience from owning and using these lights / stands.

I fantasise about LEDs...

Most of those rules are good advice for ANY light, a more expenise fixture does not let you handle the lamp less cleanly..

1. One, by itself is useless. You will need 3. A 3 point lighting kit is good. A one-point lighting kit is useless. You will have zero depth etc...

TRUE FOR ANY ONE LIGHT..

2. Fire hazard. Don't expect them to be UK etc... certified and you will need to take great care when using them unless you enjoy burning buildings down.

TRUE FOR ANY HOT LIGHT.. "certifed" does not mean fireproof.. it means that it works as expected.. it gets hot...

3. Build quality. This is pretty random and I have one where parts of it fell off after a few weeks. I have two others which have lasted for a couple of years. If you compare them with 'real' kit, these are terrible.

VALID POINT FOR CHEAP GEAR\KIT

4. These are 3.2k so colour your picture orange. You will need to learn to adapt (gels, filters, WB etc...) because if you don't, all your footage will be orange.

CASE WITH CHEAP LAMPS. Not caused by the fixtures. An Arri kit with cheap lamps will do the same thing..

5. Naturally, you can't use these outside without a generator and if there is natural sunlight around, they are useless.

TRUE FOR ANY PIECE OF ELECTRICAL POWERED EQUIPMENT.
ANY TUNGSTEN LIGHT WILL NOT BE BALANCED TO SUN LIGHT, EASILY FIXED

6. If you buy them, DO NOT TOUCH THE BULB WITH YOUR SKIN EVEN WHEN COLD. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TOUCH THE BULB WITH YOUR BARE FLESH EVEN WHEN COLD. DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT... point made? Otherwise, the oil from your skin will transfer to the bulb and when they heat up... KABOOM!!!!!

TRUE FOR ANY LAMP except maybe LED's.

7. The amount of power they consume to produce the light is quite astonishing.

TRUE FOR ALL HOT LIGHTS, even $10,000 kITS

8. Heat. Jeez, they get hot. You can quite literally cook an egg under the heat of these lights.

TRUE FOR ALL HOT LIGHTS.. they are hot

9. If you are crazy enough to use these outdoors, you will need to buy a generator. At your budget, this will mean lots of noise meaning you will need to get good at ADR.

REPEATING YOUR SELF.. ALSO, extension cords work.

10. They are not portable in the sense that you cannot manouver them Al Mariachi style.

DONT KNOW QUITE WHAT YOU MEAN. MOVING ANY HOT LIGHT IS A RISK TO BREAKING THE BULB

 

[jax_rox]

4. These are 3.2k so colour your picture orange. You will need to learn to adapt (gels, filters, WB etc...) because if you don't, all your footage will be orange.


Quote:
CASE WITH CHEAP LAMPS. Not caused by the fixtures. An Arri kit with cheap lamps will do the same thing..

This is simply a fact of tungsten-balanced lighting, not necessarily cheap or hot lamps. Realistically, daylight-balanced lighting is a lot more expensive, but you can pay a heck of a lot of money for tungsten-balanced lights, and they're 'orange' even though they're not cheap.
Also, they will not colour your picture orange if you white balance correctly, except in the case you're mixing them with daylight and you have your WB set to daylight temp.
Also, sometimes I like to have a bit of warmth from tungsten lamps, and conversely a bit of cool light from daylight lamps. Colouring your picture orange isn't necessarily a bad thing.

5. Naturally, you can't use these outside without a generator and if there is natural sunlight around, they are useless.

Most lights are useless with sun around - you're starting to look at 4k HMIs if you want to really try and compete with the sun..

6. If you buy them, DO NOT TOUCH THE BULB WITH YOUR SKIN EVEN WHEN COLD. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TOUCH THE BULB WITH YOUR BARE FLESH EVEN WHEN COLD. DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT... point made? Otherwise, the oil from your skin will transfer to the bulb and when they heat up... KABOOM!!!!!

Quote:
TRUE FOR ANY LAMP except maybe LED's.

This is good practice for most lamps, however kino tubes and LEDs this is not an issue. Also, this is less of an issue with HMIs and fresnels, thought partly also because there's protection between you and the exploding pieces of bulb glass with such lights.
Open-face lights you should never touch with your hands.

7. The amount of power they consume to produce the light is quite astonishing.

Quote:
TRUE FOR ALL HOT LIGHTS, even $10,000 kITS

Not really - HMIs are 'hot' lights in that they are warm, and also cost $10k+ but are also quite efficient power-wise, when comparing with their tungsten equivalents. You can get similar output out of a 4k HMI to a 10K tungsten light. That's <1/2 the power consumption. HMIs are the most efficient lights for their output. Kinos are more efficient, but they also can't output the same power as an HMI.

10. They are not portable in the sense that you cannot manouver them Al Mariachi style.

Quote:
DONT KNOW QUITE WHAT YOU MEAN. MOVING ANY HOT LIGHT IS A RISK TO BREAKING THE BULB

Most lights aren't really portable, unless you're talking about small LEDs. Most lights can be moved relatively easily - HMIs and Kinos etc. even when they're on. Open-face lights should be turned off before moving, but you can move it while it's warm and shouldn't have too many issues, at least if you use ones with relatively decent build quality.

 

[PaulGriffith]

Watch eBay for used Lowel Omni lights. Better than a redhead and used prices go for about the same. It'll last you long into your career where you'll be wanting to replace a redhead pretty quick.

Add in $8 for a white umbrella and $10 for a stand (also on ebay) and you'll be covered for a lot of situations. Obviously you'll need more, but it's a great first-fixture.

Get at least two, then build up to 5 or 6 so you're covered in many situations. Then start buying extra grip stuff. Gels, diffusion, clamos, C-Stands etc.

 

[gorillaonabike]

Watch eBay for used Lowel Omni lights. Better than a redhead and used prices go for about the same. It'll last you long into your career where you'll be wanting to replace a redhead pretty quick.

Add in $8 for a white umbrella and $10 for a stand (also on ebay) and you'll be covered for a lot of situations. Obviously you'll need more, but it's a great first-fixture.

Get at least two, then build up to 5 or 6 so you're covered in many situations. Then start buying extra grip stuff. Gels, diffusion, clamos, C-Stands etc.

This is good advice (based on my own experience).

As a note, please pay attention to what I have written about 'fire hazard.'

I own these three and in terms of being a fire hazard, if it is not certified (i.e. CE approved), it is probably better to leave it alone. This is my personal, experience. You can ignore it if you like but would you put a non-CE approved piece of kit in your house? I wouldn't.

 

[ajedproduction]

Umm I think I'll leave it for now then....I'd rather not burn my house down, electrocute anyone or get put in jail for manslaughter.

Maybe later on I'll slowly buy some second hand brand name lights off ebay or some Fresnels.

 

[gorillaonabike]

Umm I think I'll leave it for now then....I'd rather not burn my house down, electrocute anyone or get put in jail for manslaughter.

Maybe later on I'll slowly buy some second hand brand name lights off ebay or some Fresnels.

I believe this is a good decision. As a note, I just want to reiterate:

Tungsten lights eat power - around 500% more than an HMI and these babies are not exactly energy efficient. In addition, HMIs and LEDs are physically cooler and LEDs can be moved around El Mariachi style.

Also, if you buy used lights which are EU certified, you will have significantly less risk of burning you, your crew and the talent to death. Being burnt to death can really ruin your day.

This is why I believe used, quality lighting is the way forward. Significantly cooler, in some cases manouverable (LEDs), consume less power, less colour balancing issues depending on the light, less likely to fall to pieces and significantly less likely to kill / main / disfigure you - used quality gear is a better option. The downside is that it will take you a little longer to source used quality gear than the new, cheap, Chinese stuff you are looking at.

I would suggest that if you really know what you are doing, you could just about 'get away' with buying these. However, I own three of these lights and would take the 'used quality' route given the opportunity to 'take back' the buying decision.

 

[PaulGriffith]

I actually did just pick up some lights for a friend, found a used lowell kit with 3 fixtures, stands, umbrellas, gel frames, diffusers, cables and a case for $320 buy it now on eBay. Figure in an extra $30 for a handful of spare bulbs and it's a legit starter kit for a price thats hard to beat!

 

[ajedproduction]

I believe this is a good decision. As a note, I just want to reiterate:

Tungsten lights eat power - around 500% more than an HMI and these babies are not exactly energy efficient. In addition, HMIs and LEDs are physically cooler and LEDs can be moved around El Mariachi style.

Also, if you buy used lights which are EU certified, you will have significantly less risk of burning you, your crew and the talent to death. Being burnt to death can really ruin your day.

This is why I believe used, quality lighting is the way forward. Significantly cooler, in some cases manouverable (LEDs), consume less power, less colour balancing issues depending on the light, less likely to fall to pieces and significantly less likely to kill / main / disfigure you - used quality gear is a better option. The downside is that it will take you a little longer to source used quality gear than the new, cheap, Chinese stuff you are looking at.

I would suggest that if you really know what you are doing, you could just about 'get away' with buying these. However, I own three of these lights and would take the 'used quality' route given the opportunity to 'take back' the buying decision.

I actually managed to buy a second hand Ianebeam 800w redhead light(made in germany) for £35. On it's own I can probably use it for photoshoots bouncing off a reflector. When another one pops up and I have money I can slowly complete my set of 3 lights.

It's definitely a very hot light, when I turned it on the dust on it got turned into smoke. After just 10 seconds the metal mesh in front of the bulb was already quite hot(I unplugged it before I touched it just in case!)

When you say LED do you mean these sort of ones and not those cheap battery powered ones that go on top of DSLRs?