Studio Lights

[the kid]

So this is going to be ANOTHER one of my hypothetical questions.

 

We are having a SMALL TV studio build and various things have occurred and we need some lights of some form.

 

You will all hate me but I don't know the space size YET, all I can really say at the moment is that as it is a 100% new build we can have what ever we want, I guess room height will be normal height maybe a bit more. Size to be working with lets say 10x10m. The plan is to have a grid of some form either a # type or normal side to side bars.

 

Now light wise I know theatre lights, but given the space its quite clear LED is the way to go. Heat, scale, etc etc. I was reading in LSI about the ETC panels in the Daybreak studio but at 2k a unit that's going to be quite a bit of money gone (the budget is something I dont have at the moment). Is there anything out there that is akin to them but lower on price or are we going to be skimping on money and end up with a unit that is going to loose pixels rapidly if we go for less?

 

The other unit was the new LED fresnels from "selecon" but by all accounts they are SO new no one has seen them in action.

 

Lastly - part one I have seen a couple of the budget UV panels do they do warm ones / are they worth it ?

Part two, I remember reading about the press room at the white house having a refit to have led panels but I have NO idea if it was LSI, or else where, anyideas?

 

The other thing to throw in would be control but nothing fancier than a 12/24 pre-set desk is needed.

[timd]

We had a couple of these (or something very similar). If you don't need variable colours they might be a better way to go than LED, especially if budget is an issue. Very smooth dimming curve, and the size of the panel gives a very even light.

[the kid]

I KNEW there was some other option I was missing.

 

There is the option that we would sub in with some 750/1k "red heads" and have a 10k mains rig in studio.

[paulears]

For video now, there really isn't any logical reason to think about anything other than LEDs or flus - LED panels with camera friendly colour rendition are now very common, and although I still think a 'real' Fresnel is a better key.

 

Have a look at the B&H US site - the big lighting manufacturers are really going at it over there, and we'll follow soon.

B&H Photo

 

Flus are much cheaper.

 

The savings in terms of aircon are pretty important - with incandescent lighting - the heat output in a sealed studio make ventilation and/or aircon essential - with low power, low heat lighting you will appreciate it.

[mark_s]

You might want to take a look at the Galaxia LED softlight.

 

(Please note that I suggest that as someone who's briefly seen them and thought they were pretty neat, rather than as someone who works for their distributor!)

[the kid]

OOH those are nice as well.

 

I will have a look next week at the plans and get some more info. As a Side note I assume that install wise 16a would be better than 13/15? and if things were to be moved out run with 13>16 changers?

[MrBoomal]

OOH those are nice as well.

 

I will have a look next week at the plans and get some more info. As a Side note I assume that install wise 16a would be better than 13/15? and if things were to be moved out run with 13>16 changers?

If your having dimmers then I would put all the dimmables on 15.

If you go down the purely LED ROUTE, then, yes 13 or 16 is best.

[paulears]

I've not seen a TV studio install for quite a while with our theatrical style 15A. 16A hard power or via dimmers is pretty standard. Obviously keeping them separate so people don't make mistakes is made much more simple by using different connectors, but now more and more studio lighting doesn't involve dimmers, I think the need for two sets of everything has past.

[p.k.roberts]

I would very strongly recommend that before you make any decisions you buy a copy of Nick Mobsby's book;

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lighting-Systems-Entertainment-Technology-consultancy/dp/1904031005/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1307965848&sr=1-3

 

You don't mention any kind of budget, but florrie cyc and softs would be considerably cheaper than LEDs. You will still need some hard sources, but in a room that small you're probably only going to need 650 and 300W units, so even if you do go tungsten, heat shouldn't be a huge problem. If you do go down the LED route for your fresnels, then De Sisti have just bought out some new units which I've heard good things about; I haven't seen them myself yet, but should get my grubby paws on some quite soon. Either way, think carefully about the DMX distribution (you'll need plenty) and power. For dimmers, a distributed dimmer system might be more flexible (and save you space elsewhere). As far as connectors go, all the studios I've worked in have 16A (and increasingly some IEC for the lower current florrie/LEED stuff). And you will almost cerainly need more than a 12/24 desk .....

[the kid]

The room is likley to be aprox 6mx6m.

[paulears]

Just a comment, but the last education TV studio I built was 8m x 8m and going smaller will mean a few compromises. It will be fine for people sat behind desks, news style - but without wide angle lenses, head to feet shots will be tricky - you can't get far enough away from the subject, unless the subject is almost up against the wall, which means shadows and keying issues.

[son of lx dad]

If your having dimmers then I would put all the dimmables on 15.

If you go down the purely LED ROUTE, then, yes 13 or 16 is best.

 

Umm no. Do not do this. Plain fact is, these days kit for television is quite rightly on 16amp connectors. If you ever hire kit from Panalux, Arri, ELP, RML or any of the other regular broadcast suppliers the kit will come on 16amp. This is an educational space so whats the point of adopting a system to teach which nobody else in the real world uses.

My advice would be Kino Flo kits with a couple of different tube colours, or contact White Light and ask for a demo of their excellent new LED Soft Lights clicky which have already been purchased by the BBC for low power OB work.

[MrBoomal]

Umm. And what happens when a student plugs a hired Arri HMI into a dimmer ?

[pritch]

Do we know for a fact that the OP is going to have dimmers? Everything that's been mentioned so far seems to have had the dimming included in the fixture - are separate dimmers even necessary in this sort of installation?

[timd]

Slightly off topic, but will you be having a green screen? If so, it might make sense to use a reflecmedia screen, all the illumination comes from a light ring on the camera so no need to light the screen separately, and no shadows on the screen. You can get green and blue rings for them as well, so it's easy to switch if you need to film someone in a green outfit.

 

Tim