It’s a point that could be argued for days, and with no resolution—what
is the most impressive change in video production since the 1950s?
Sure, there is videotape, camera portability, satellite newsgathering,
nonlinear editing, hi-def—the list goes on. But if you make a living
hauling a camera to a location and making that location look good, I
bet you would agree with me that the biggest advance in video thus far
are the ever-increasing levels of light sensitivity. It’s easy to
forget that the original TV cameras were largely studio-tethered
beasts, which required tens of thousands of watts of light to make an
even recognizable picture. As recently as the late 1980s, even the best
of the tube cameras were still quite light-hungry. My last tube camera
was the estimable Ikegami HL-97D, yet I never left the shop with less
than 3000 watts of light—a big improvement over what preceded it, but
it was still, by and large, afraid of the dark.
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LEFT: Dedolight Basic Compact 3 Tungsten
Light Kit includes three fresnel-equipped luminaries, a softbox, power
supplies, stands, filter holders and a soft case. ABOVE: The Cyan Pepper Pak includes a 100-watt fresnel, a
300-watt fresnel, and a 650 watt open-face
instrument
Lowel’s DV Pro 55 ViP kit includes a 500-watt Rifa 55 light.
Comments (2) for "Have Lights, Will Travel"
1.
I believe the camera you are refering to at the top of the article is the Ikegami 79-D (not 97), which I used at IBM in the mid 1980's: http://www.chalkhillmedia.org/Museum/camera%20museum.htm
Posted by Geoffrey on Monday, January 29, 2007 @ 06:05 AM
2.
i am interested in buying video lights
can you send me more details on lights which are above 500 watts
Posted by aarti on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 @ 06:20 PM
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