I got the diamond shoplight t8 2 tube fixtures from Home Depot for $32 or so. Is the light more specular because of the shiny reflector? perhaps I should get a white reflector? What do you think?
BTW, GINTASR, is there a big difference between 90 or 92 CRI bulbs compared to the 98 CRI Philipps. The shop accidentally sent me 90 CRI Sylvanias and they seemed a touch green. I also used 92 CRI philipps but was not pleased.
HappyCamp wrote:
Thanks for the info. I'm pretty sure you will be hard pressed to find any ballasts for T8 bulbs which are not electronic. All that I see are electronic. Now if someone does want to use magnetic ballasts (T12) I think they can get around the flicker problem by shooting at 1/125th of a second or slower (not my preferred method).
I think I will keep my eye out for some T8 fixtures with shiny reflective surfaces. This looked cool: Six Light T8 Fixture at Home Depot but expensive at $85. A local store sells some two-light T8 shop lights for $12 each, but I'm sure that six-light fixture is going to put out a lot more light.
I'm just trying to be cheap. Your system looks a lot nicer than me using some shop lights Also your lights are much lighter than the shop light route....Show more →
I got the diamond shoplight t8 2 tube fixtures from Home Depot for $32 or so. Is the light more specular because of the shiny reflector? perhaps I should get a white reflector? What do you think?
BTW, GINTASR, is there a big difference between 90 or 92 CRI bulbs compared to the 98 CRI Philipps. The shop accidentally sent me 90 CRI Sylvanias and they seemed a touch green. I also used 92 CRI philipps but was not pleased.
HappyCamp wrote:
Thanks for the info. I'm pretty sure you will be hard pressed to find any ballasts for T8 bulbs which are not electronic. All that I see are electronic. Now if someone does want to use magnetic ballasts (T12) I think they can get around the flicker problem by shooting at 1/125th of a second or slower (not my preferred method).
I think I will keep my eye out for some T8 fixtures with shiny reflective surfaces. This looked cool: Six Light T8 Fixture at Home Depot but expensive at $85. A local store sells some two-light T8 shop lights for $12 each, but I'm sure that six-light fixture is going to put out a lot more light.
I'm just trying to be cheap. Your system looks a lot nicer than me using some shop lights Also your lights are much lighter than the shop light route....Show more →
The main reason for a mirrored reflector is to make the fixture more efficient by concentrating the light. I doubt it makes the light more specular. As far as CRI, anything greater than 92 should suffice for photography.
pjny wrote:
I got the diamond shoplight t8 2 tube fixtures from Home Depot for $32 or so. Is the light more specular because of the shiny reflector? perhaps I should get a white reflector? What do you think?
At 30$, why don't you get one, try it out and show us? After all this is a quite exotic solution we're talking here.
Though i never really get what "specular" is supposed to mean in photographic terms. In german we speak of hard and soft, so, if you shoot a product, say something with leather, i'd use silver to accentuate the surface / structure, while white will make the surface appear more even -> softer, wich would be unwanted in this case.
The same goes for rim and hairlight, wich is why having both is a good idea anyways.
I'd probably go for silver, because you can easily soften the light with transparent paper for example, but this won't work the other way around. Then again honestly, i have no idea of how visible the difference between white and silver will be when using fluorescent light-tubes, and or if it makes a difference if one shoots digital or analog.
If i look at portraits by David Bailey, who uses a single KinoFlo, i think "wow", but find Hurleys work and others current stuff rather "mushy" or "foggy".
And in general about shoplights vs gintasrs fantastic DIY-job ...
If you don't plan on lugging the lights around and only use them in your studio, the shoplights are much easier to modify. Then again, those edges and corners look verry verry sharp. If they fall down or someones bumps his or hers head things could go really ugly ...
HappyCamp wrote:
I think I will keep my eye out for some T8 fixtures with shiny reflective surfaces. This looked cool: Six Light T8 Fixture at Home Depot but expensive at $85. A local store sells some two-light T8 shop lights for $12 each, but I'm sure that six-light fixture is going to put out a lot more light.
Joe Edelman just posted a video where he uses those light fixtures. He actually says that the reflective finish was too bright and he ended up painting white over the reflective finish.
He spent about $400 for two 6-light fixtures and two 2-light fixtures.
I built two lightstand ready shoplights with 98 CRI phillips bulbs. What orientation is best for portraits? Vertical(side by side) or horizontal(pac-man lighting)?
Wow gintasr! Looks great. I'm in the process of building something very similar. The biggest hurdle I've come across is the remote ballast. The ballast I purchased needs to be grounded to the fixture. How did you manage to ground the ballast?
Will this setup work for full body shots or would you need 2 left and 2 right front lights stacked to wrap the full length of the model's body with light?
That setup looks nice indeed. I'm actually planning on building a very similar setup but with LED tubes. I'm just not very good with electricity...YET.
You think they could be appropriate as to make a kino flo setup? I think it would be easier because I don't need to use a ballast and I don't have the flickering issue. Just have to look for a good fixture. Of course these are only lit from one side so I wouldn't have reflection from a reflector behind it. I don't know if it would make much difference though. Can someone help me with recommending me easy material to work with. I would like to duplicate 2 4bank kino flo's. I also have a LED ring light I can use.
cinefiel wrote:
I think it would be easier because I don't need to use a ballast and I don't have the flickering issue.
There is NO flickering issue with fluorescent lights if you use an electronic ballast. If you use an old magnetic ballast then you can have flickering. But not with the electronic ballasts. And the only thing that seems to use magnetic ballasts are the T12 type bulbs. If you get T8 or T5 I'm pretty sure it will be using an electronic ballast.
and what about the buzzing sound? Don't you think for movie LED tubes would give me a better guarantee? Unfortunately they are quit expensive and that's the only thing that kind of holds me back from using LED instead of fluorescent lights.
cinefiel wrote:
and what about the buzzing sound? Don't you think for movie LED tubes would give me a better guarantee? Unfortunately they are quit expensive and that's the only thing that kind of holds me back from using LED instead of fluorescent lights.
What buzzing sound? I don't notice a buzzing sound in any of my electronic ballast lights. Maybe you should go buy an electronic ballast shop light and test it out. I think you have misconceptions from having used old magnetic ballast systems.
You're probably right though. I just like LED light very much because it very energy efficient and strong. I kind of got inspired by this clip:
Filmmakers are more drawn to LED light these days so I also wanted something future proof. And as I said I don't know allot about electricity and connecting LED tubes seamed a bit easier at first. Either way, I could use some step by step of how I would connect these lights.
cinefiel wrote:
You're probably right though. I just like LED light very much because it very energy efficient and strong. I kind of got inspired by this clip:
Filmmakers are more drawn to LED light these days so I also wanted something future proof. And as I said I don't know allot about electricity and connecting LED tubes seamed a bit easier at first. Either way, I could use some step by step of how I would connect these lights.
Cost is probably an order of magnitude more expensive. Two four-foot fluorescent bulbs are probably $7-$8.
Also your lights are much lighter than the shop light route.