Have Lights, Will Travel

By Bruce A. Johnson

August 1, 2006    Source: Studio Monthly

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.

My, how things have changed. My cameras are now CCD-based Ikegami HLV-79s and Canon XL1s and XL2s, and I don’t carry anywhere near the amount of light I used to. For one thing, it is much easier to use environmental light to great advantage today—for example, the desk lamp that was once just a pesky prop now does very useful service as a backlight or to brighten up a background, and mixing in window light with tungsten doesn’t create the havoc it used to. But while you may not need to haul around 3000 watts, you still need some high-quality lights. For the sake of this article, I’ve limited the scope to tungsten-based lights.

Lowel’s Flexible ViP Kits

The granddaddy of portable light is definitely Lowel. The company’s D, Omni and Tota luminaries have been fixtures in almost every shooter’s kits for decades. In fact, the 3000 watts I used to haul around usually consisted of three or more Lowel D lights. Well, as cameras have gotten more sensitive, Lowel has adapted, and have engineered a line of less-powerful but still very flexible lights. Their ViP kits are built around the V-light, which is a 500-watt broad, and the Pro light, which is a 250-watt focusable flood. (It’s important to note that while the Pro light can rack from flood to spot, it does not feature a fresnel lens, which makes a much more focused, hard-edged light.) A third type of light that shows up in many ViP kits is the Rifa light, a very clever self-contained softbox. For interview situations, I don’t go anywhere without a softbox, and you shouldn’t either. If you haven’t yet tried one, do so. It will change your life.

Since I won’t leave home without at least three lights, it’s good that Lowel has dozens (if not hundreds) of kit configurations to choose from. Several of the better ones include (at least) a Pro light, a V-light and a Rifa softbox, along with accessories like stands, barn doors, gel frames and gels, carrying cases and umbrellas (a decent stand-in for a softbox, if necessary.) Expect street prices to hover in the $800 - $1,750 range, depending on how you outfit your kit. Of course, you can run that cost up quickly if you want by adding any of the hundreds of cool lighting accessories, for which Lowel is justifiably famous. www.lowel.com/kits

LTM Peppers and the Elusive Fresnel

While Lowel lights are undeniably great, very few of them offer what I find pretty essential in a light kit: a fresnel lens. Being able to have that sharp, defined edge is important to me. One vendor that does offer portable fresnel lens luminaries is LTM, with their Pepper line. While the Pepper kits don’t even approximate the breadth of the Lowel offerings, you can get a very useful three-light set in the $1,600 range. The Cyan Pepper Pak includes a 100-watt fresnel, a 300-watt fresnel, and a 650 watt open-face instrument that is perfect for use with a Chimera or similar softbox (which will tack on an extra $300 - 450 or so once you include the mounting ring.) Standard accessories include stands, barndoors, bulbs and usually a very sturdy plastic case with wheels and a retractable handle. Given a little imagination, you can get a lot of quality work done with this three-light set. www.ltmlighting.com

ARRI Softbanks

Another famous name in lighting is ARRI. The luminaries made by this company are tough, built like tanks and look great. One of their more functional field kits is the Softbank D2, which consists of two 300-watt fresnels, a fresnel 650 watt light and a softbox to mount on it. With stands, filter frames, bulbs, a case and more, the kit sells in the $1,800 range. If you think you need even more light, ARRI has fresnel and open-face fixtures that can run up to a 1000-watt bulb. www.arri.com

Dedolights

Finally, if money is no object, I strongly recommend you look at Dedolight. These fixtures, made in Germany and popular throughout Europe, offer full dimmability in a tiny package that is easily camouflaged behind almost any plant or background item. The Dedolight Basic Compact 3 Tungsten Light Kit includes three fresnel-equipped luminaries, a softbox, power supplies, stands, filter holders and a soft case. While the price is considerably higher than other offerings at around $3,200 street, the fact that Dedolights use common 12-volt bulbs and have a dimmer built-in on each power cable more than offsets the costs. I once lit a stage performance and used Dedolights exclusively for my backlighting. The punch these tiny fixtures put out has to be seen to be believed.

This overview is not complete, of course; many other vendors offer a number of fine products to add to this list, including such well-known and venerable names as DeSisti and Mole-Richardson. But on the whole, it’s good to know that we don’t have to light scenes to death anymore, and that reasonably priced, lower-wattage options are available and can actually make your video look great—without baking your subject or popping circuit breakers.