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#1
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Continuous lighting, related film, and equipment?
Hi,
I am considering purchasing a photoflood kit (something along the lines of this Smith Victor kit: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search) and am hoping you all might be able to help me clarify my thinking about this choice. My equipment consists of a Nikon F4, three lenses, and a Nikon SB-28 flash, strobo-frame pro-t bracket, and a difuser. I have been very happy with the results, and am at the point where I want to use multiple light sources for doing portraiture and still-life. For my personal work, I use primarily black and white film. However, I would like to begin getting some small portrait jobs to help fund this ever more expensive "hobby," and so I need to be able to do color portraiture competently. If I had more money to spend on this endeavor, I would by an additional strobe. However, my research inidicates that in order to do multiple strobe lighting effectively, there are a number of other pieces of equipment I would need besides the strobe itself and the stands and umbrellas: a flashmeter, a poloroid back, and, since the poloroid back is hard to get onto the body, a second body. I might save some money on the slave unit by getting an SB-26, but since I might get a digital body at some point, I want to get an SB-600 or SB-800. In short, going the multiple-strobe route seems like it would easily go into the $600-$900 range. All this makes the above-referenced floodlight kit seem like a great value. Continuuous lighting is more WYSIWIG, making the flashmeter and poloroid back unnecessary. From what I've read, continuuous lighting is a great way to learn about how to use multiple light sources well. For my black and white work, the color temprature of tungsten will not pose a problem. For color work, my options would be: 1) Tungsten-blanced film (but see questions below); 2) Daylight film with the appropriate filter on the camera; 3) For mixing strobe and continuous lighting, tungsten balanced film with the appropriate filter taped over the flash. It seems like the only thing I would be unable to do with floodlights that I could do with strobes is mix natural light with my lighting. Is my information on the right track, up to this point? My questions, then, are as follows: A) It seems like there aren't many tungsten films available in 35mm. The only negative film I could find is Portra 100 (albeit a good film from what I hear). Otherwise, it's all (Ekta|fuji)Chrome. Do these tungsten films have a future that's any worse than any other type of film these days. B) How does the quality of Tungsten film compare with the daylight equivalents? C) What would I loose (both in terms of light intensity and quality) by using a daylight film with the appropriate filter on camera? D) What would I loose (both in terms of light intensity and quality) by using a tungsten filter over the flash? E) Can those Smith Victor stands be fitted with hardware to attach either my Nikon flashes or some other kind of flashhead (for the future, when I can afford the additional flash equipment)? Many thanks for your help! --Phil |
#2
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Continuous lighting, related film, and equipment?
wrote in message
oups.com... [SNIP] It seems like the only thing I would be unable to do with floodlights that I could do with strobes is mix natural light with my lighting. Is my information on the right track, up to this point? You can do that too: CTB gels (heat resisting ones) over your hot-lights, or use Tungsten film and put CTO gels (big ones) over the windows. My questions, then, are as follows: A) It seems like there aren't many tungsten films available in 35mm. The only negative film I could find is Portra 100 (albeit a good film from what I hear). Otherwise, it's all (Ekta|fuji)Chrome. Do these tungsten films have a future that's any worse than any other type of film these days. Quite possibly: portraiture is a natural job for digital (unless you care _desperately_ about accurate colour rendition or BIG and _very_ detailed prints) so the tungsten balanced negative films must have a limited future. Tungsten slide film looks like it may have a better future, but maybe not so much in 35mm, becuase of its use in architecture and product work - but even these are shrinking markets. Neither were big sellers in the amateur market. B) How does the quality of Tungsten film compare with the daylight equivalents? Tends to be a bit grainier for a given speed - that may not matter much for 100T used for portraits though. C) What would I loose (both in terms of light intensity and quality) by using a daylight film with the appropriate filter on camera? You'll need an 80B (or B+W KB 12) if you'rte using 3,400K photofloods. That'll cost you 1 to 1 2/3 stops. 3,200K lamps need an 80A, which costs you 2 stops or more. (Domestic tungsten bulbs are nearer 2,800 to 2,600K.) Apart from the speed loss, quality loss is only that which you get with usung any filter: get a good one that is optically flat and protect it from flare with a good lens hood and you won't notice the difference, especially in portraiture. D) What would I loose (both in terms of light intensity and quality) by using a tungsten filter over the flash? A full CTO filter over your flash will lose you 2/3 to 1 stop in light intensity. It won't really make any difference to the quality of the light. Get a Lee or Rosco gel for this, and check in their catalogues for which version you neet for the colour temperature of the lights and film you will be using. E) Can those Smith Victor stands be fitted with hardware to attach either my Nikon flashes or some other kind of flashhead (for the future, when I can afford the additional flash equipment)? I'm not familiar with those particular stands, but there's all sorts of adapters available to connect different fittings together: look at Matthews', Larson's, and Bogen / Manfrotto's ranges. Nikon's off camera flash shoes will have a tripod type screw fitting in the bottom, and there are lots of adapters available that let you put one of these onto a standard 5/8" lighting spigot. The more useful such adapters will also include a fitting for the shaft of a brolly - these are sometimes known as a 'light-tite'. Peter |
#3
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Continuous lighting, related film, and equipment?
Bandicoot wrote: wrote in message oups.com... [SNIP] It seems like the only thing I would be unable to do with floodlights that I could do with strobes is mix natural light with my lighting. Is my information on the right track, up to this point? You can do that too: CTB gels (heat resisting ones) over your hot-lights, or use Tungsten film and put CTO gels (big ones) over the windows. Ah, CTB gels. That's my missing link. I had looked into blue incandescent bulbs, but found out that their color becomes unstable even after a few hours of use.It hadn't occured to me I could solve this problem with gels. So, if I use CTB gels, I can just use daylight film, and forget about the tungsten film issue? How much light would I loose with CTBs on the floods? Also, will the floods with CTB gels work acceptably for digital capture? Thank you, this information is immensely helpful to me! --Phil |
#5
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Continuous lighting, related film, and equipment?
wrote in message
oups.com... Bandicoot wrote: wrote in message oups.com... [SNIP] It seems like the only thing I would be unable to do with floodlights that I could do with strobes is mix natural light with my lighting. Is my information on the right track, up to this point? You can do that too: CTB gels (heat resisting ones) over your hot- lights, or use Tungsten film and put CTO gels (big ones) over the windows. Ah, CTB gels. That's my missing link. I had looked into blue incandescent bulbs, but found out that their color becomes unstable even after a few hours of use.It hadn't occured to me I could solve this problem with gels. So, if I use CTB gels, I can just use daylight film, and forget about the tungsten film issue? How much light would I loose with CTBs on the floods? About 1 2/3 Stops. Also, will the floods with CTB gels work acceptably for digital capture? Can't see why not, though not my area of expertise. Thank you, this information is immensely helpful to me! No problem, I hope you get a setup that works well for you. Peter |
#6
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Continuous lighting, related film, and equipment?
PS - http://www.leefilters.com/LPFD.asp?PageID=209 is the one you want for
full correction. Rosco makes something similar too. Fractional CTB (and CTO) filters also exist, allowing you, say, to retain a partial feeling of 'yellow warmth' in the artificial light that you mix with window daylight, or other interesting effects. Peter |
#7
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Continuous lighting, related film, and equipment?
Alan Browne wrote: wrote: Hi, I am considering purchasing a photoflood kit (something along the lines of this Smith Victor kit: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search) Very bad choice for color portraits as you'll be limited to Tungsten films (or digital). The "blue" lights sort of work, but not well enough for pro looking results. What about using CTB filters, as suggested above? If you're serious about lighting, get strobes. Monolights like AlienBees are a great start, lots of control. Yep, more expensive. Do you think it's possible to use strobes effectively without some kind of immediate feedback, such as: shooting digitally, a flashmeter, or a poloroid back? I might be able to afford the lights, but these additional pieces of equipment are the problem. You can also, if you time it right, use natural light from outdoors for great color portraits. Pretty constraining, however. My sense is that the floodlights as a sole source of light will be best for black and white situations, whereas for color I would try to combine natural light with reflectors and the floods with CTB gels. Thanks. --PHil |
#8
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Continuous lighting, related film, and equipment?
Unless you plan on using tungsten film and working only at night, this
is a very bad idea. It is also very uncomfortable to work under hot lights. Forget it. Use strobes. That's why they make them. wrote: Hi, I am considering purchasing a photoflood kit (something along the lines of this Smith Victor kit: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ughType=search) and am hoping you all might be able to help me clarify my thinking about this choice. My equipment consists of a Nikon F4, three lenses, and a Nikon SB-28 flash, strobo-frame pro-t bracket, and a difuser. I have been very happy with the results, and am at the point where I want to use multiple light sources for doing portraiture and still-life. For my personal work, I use primarily black and white film. However, I would like to begin getting some small portrait jobs to help fund this ever more expensive "hobby," and so I need to be able to do color portraiture competently. If I had more money to spend on this endeavor, I would by an additional strobe. However, my research inidicates that in order to do multiple strobe lighting effectively, there are a number of other pieces of equipment I would need besides the strobe itself and the stands and umbrellas: a flashmeter, a poloroid back, and, since the poloroid back is hard to get onto the body, a second body. I might save some money on the slave unit by getting an SB-26, but since I might get a digital body at some point, I want to get an SB-600 or SB-800. In short, going the multiple-strobe route seems like it would easily go into the $600-$900 range. All this makes the above-referenced floodlight kit seem like a great value. Continuuous lighting is more WYSIWIG, making the flashmeter and poloroid back unnecessary. From what I've read, continuuous lighting is a great way to learn about how to use multiple light sources well. For my black and white work, the color temprature of tungsten will not pose a problem. For color work, my options would be: 1) Tungsten-blanced film (but see questions below); 2) Daylight film with the appropriate filter on the camera; 3) For mixing strobe and continuous lighting, tungsten balanced film with the appropriate filter taped over the flash. It seems like the only thing I would be unable to do with floodlights that I could do with strobes is mix natural light with my lighting. Is my information on the right track, up to this point? My questions, then, are as follows: A) It seems like there aren't many tungsten films available in 35mm. The only negative film I could find is Portra 100 (albeit a good film from what I hear). Otherwise, it's all (Ekta|fuji)Chrome. Do these tungsten films have a future that's any worse than any other type of film these days. B) How does the quality of Tungsten film compare with the daylight equivalents? C) What would I loose (both in terms of light intensity and quality) by using a daylight film with the appropriate filter on camera? D) What would I loose (both in terms of light intensity and quality) by using a tungsten filter over the flash? E) Can those Smith Victor stands be fitted with hardware to attach either my Nikon flashes or some other kind of flashhead (for the future, when I can afford the additional flash equipment)? Many thanks for your help! --Phil |
#9
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Continuous lighting, related film, and equipment?
In article .com,
wrote: a flashmeter, a poloroid back, and, since the poloroid back is hard to get onto the body, a second body. Instead of a flashmeter and polaroid back, you may want to look into an old digital camera. Just any old digital P&S that sort of covers the field of view you want to use and that has a manual color balance and ISO setting is likely to work. If the camera doesn't have an X-contact you can probably tape a slave trigger to the built-in flash. Real studio flashes have modeling lights. These are preferable if you want to set up the flash with the 'model' present. Otherwise, just about any old 'automatic' flash can be tricked into providing the amount of power you need. -- That was it. Done. The faulty Monk was turned out into the desert where it could believe what it liked, including the idea that it had been hard done by. It was allowed to keep its horse, since horses were so cheap to make. -- Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency |
#10
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Continuous lighting, related film, and equipment?
Philip Homburg wrote: Instead of a flashmeter and polaroid back, you may want to look into an old digital camera. Just any old digital P&S that sort of covers the field of view you want to use and that has a manual color balance and ISO setting is likely to work. If the camera doesn't have an X-contact you can probably tape a slave trigger to the built-in flash. I have a Cannon A60 that would do the trick. It's true I could trigger the off-camera flashes with the A60's flash, but then the A60's flash would be creating a lighting artifact of it's own. But it's certainly better than nothing. Real studio flashes have modeling lights. These are preferable if you want to set up the flash with the 'model' present. Also true. I think that in order to be useful the modelling lights have to be over 100 W. The inexpensive monoheads that I could afford have modelling lights that are typically in the lower wattage range and hence less useful. Otherwise, just about any old 'automatic' flash can be tricked into providing the amount of power you need. Yes, my other option is to mount my SB-28 on a stand with an umbrella along with an SB-600 on a slave trigger. Perhaps previewing digitally would make this type of arrangement work. Thanks for the suggestion. --Phil |
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