It's all basic stuff and about a easy as it gets but if your new to filmmaking or your budget is really tight you need as much help and advice as you can get.
Recorded on a Canon 700D.
Monday, 29 December 2014
How to attach a Canon 50mm F1.8 (Nifty Fifty) to a follow focus using standard focus gears.
A quick video on how to attach focus gears to Canon's plastic fantastic 50mm f1.8 lens AKA Nifty Fifty and also how to use it with a matte box and a little bit about why you need to cover the back of the matte box.
It's all basic stuff and about a easy as it gets but if your new to filmmaking or your budget is really tight you need as much help and advice as you can get.
Recorded on a Canon 700D.
It's all basic stuff and about a easy as it gets but if your new to filmmaking or your budget is really tight you need as much help and advice as you can get.
Recorded on a Canon 700D.
Sunday, 28 December 2014
BIG IS BEAUTIFUL!
Sometimes there simply is no substitute for size and photography/video light modifiers are one of those times!
This is a 7 foot parabolic umbrella, as well as looking pretty darn cool as a light source this truly is amazing.
This is a 7 foot parabolic umbrella, as well as looking pretty darn cool as a light source this truly is amazing.
A full review and samples will follow shortly!
100 watt LED project completed!
A short follow-up video on the progress of my DIY 100 watt LED Studio light conversion.
I'm really pleased with the result as it looks pretty good, is strong and most of all very bright!
Side by Side comparing it to the original 250 watt tungsten bulb at a set distance the original light gives 308 lux, the LED conversion using the same light modifier gives a whopping 1480 lux (albeit not quite so even and the tungsten).
Was it worth the £17.39 for the LED and driver and the 2 hours spent on doing the modifications i'll let you decide.
Will i modify the other one? without a doubt... Oh yes!
More useful test and comparisons are too follow.
I'm really pleased with the result as it looks pretty good, is strong and most of all very bright!
Side by Side comparing it to the original 250 watt tungsten bulb at a set distance the original light gives 308 lux, the LED conversion using the same light modifier gives a whopping 1480 lux (albeit not quite so even and the tungsten).
Was it worth the £17.39 for the LED and driver and the 2 hours spent on doing the modifications i'll let you decide.
Will i modify the other one? without a doubt... Oh yes!
More useful test and comparisons are too follow.
Initial test run
Before spending too much time on converting my lights i put together a mock-up, this would enable me to revert the Elinchrom light if the results were not good.
This really is ruff and ready but it give an understanding of the light output i could expect.
This is an early days 100 watt lighting project.
I've watched loads of video's about these cheap 100 watt LED's and it seems that no one is actually using them for anything other than lighting up a brick or bit of grass with a bare wire experiment! so i thought i'd have a go at actually doing something useful with one!
Background:
I have a project coming up that is going to require more light than i currently have and in particular a real strong light for lens flares and back lighting, the budget being as it is ie. £0 i need to get some cheap extra light from somewhere.
The Plan:
I've bought a 100 watt LED + driver off ebay and am planning to modify an old hot light, an Elinchrom MiniLite to fit it. Marketed as "Driver Power Supply & High Power 10W 30W 50W 100W Watt LED Chip Lamp Bulb Light " on ebay it only took a couple of weeks to arrive from china.
As the title suggests this really is only step one with the LED only roughly installed, the purpose of this was to make sure the LED would produce enough light to warrant the a) loss of a perfectly good hot lamp and b) worth the effort of doing it!
So far its taken longer to do this video than it has to actually pull the Elinchrom to bits and fit the LED so time spent really is minimal !
Step two will be to tidy the installation up and produce a video on exactly what i've done.
Oh yeah and before anyone points it out yes i know i've put CLF and not CFL...!!! ;) doh!
This really is ruff and ready but it give an understanding of the light output i could expect.
This is an early days 100 watt lighting project.
I've watched loads of video's about these cheap 100 watt LED's and it seems that no one is actually using them for anything other than lighting up a brick or bit of grass with a bare wire experiment! so i thought i'd have a go at actually doing something useful with one!
Background:
I have a project coming up that is going to require more light than i currently have and in particular a real strong light for lens flares and back lighting, the budget being as it is ie. £0 i need to get some cheap extra light from somewhere.
The Plan:
I've bought a 100 watt LED + driver off ebay and am planning to modify an old hot light, an Elinchrom MiniLite to fit it. Marketed as "Driver Power Supply & High Power 10W 30W 50W 100W Watt LED Chip Lamp Bulb Light " on ebay it only took a couple of weeks to arrive from china.
As the title suggests this really is only step one with the LED only roughly installed, the purpose of this was to make sure the LED would produce enough light to warrant the a) loss of a perfectly good hot lamp and b) worth the effort of doing it!
So far its taken longer to do this video than it has to actually pull the Elinchrom to bits and fit the LED so time spent really is minimal !
Step two will be to tidy the installation up and produce a video on exactly what i've done.
Oh yeah and before anyone points it out yes i know i've put CLF and not CFL...!!! ;) doh!
DIY 100 watt LED conversion project overview
This is one of my latest projects, moving more and more into movie making has brought with it the need for bigger and better lights!
LED's are all the rage being super bright and cheap to run! they also don't get hot like traditional tungsten lights :)
Typical 'Red Heads' run with 800 watt bulbs making them a nightmare to use, they need so much power to run and the heat is something else, they also don't last very long as the bulbs only have around a 80 hour lifespan!
Make way for the new boy on the block! the LED lights are all the rage but they come in a few different types, Light panels which contain multiple small LEDs and more traditional looking Single LED clip lights.
The beauty with the panels are they are portable (most of which can run on batteries) but they do have there down side, that being they are a large light source which can be good but makes it very hard if not impossible to make the light very directional, this is highlighted when trying to use barndoors to direct the light from a panel... it is almost impossible.
This is where Single Chip LED's come in. Being more compact than a LED panel the LED Chip acts more like a traditional bulb making the light from them very hard. Hard light is easy to make soft by bouncing or diffusing it so the options with the single chip led are greater.
Having a couple of 'Hot Lights' which i no longer use i plan to 'modify' them to use this new LED technology.
The donor lights are Elinchrom Minilite's which have a maximum light rating of 250 watts making them pretty much useless.
In part 2 i will go through the work i have done to convert these lights and part three will be the final tests.
LED's are all the rage being super bright and cheap to run! they also don't get hot like traditional tungsten lights :)
Typical 'Red Heads' run with 800 watt bulbs making them a nightmare to use, they need so much power to run and the heat is something else, they also don't last very long as the bulbs only have around a 80 hour lifespan!
Make way for the new boy on the block! the LED lights are all the rage but they come in a few different types, Light panels which contain multiple small LEDs and more traditional looking Single LED clip lights.
The beauty with the panels are they are portable (most of which can run on batteries) but they do have there down side, that being they are a large light source which can be good but makes it very hard if not impossible to make the light very directional, this is highlighted when trying to use barndoors to direct the light from a panel... it is almost impossible.
This is where Single Chip LED's come in. Being more compact than a LED panel the LED Chip acts more like a traditional bulb making the light from them very hard. Hard light is easy to make soft by bouncing or diffusing it so the options with the single chip led are greater.
Having a couple of 'Hot Lights' which i no longer use i plan to 'modify' them to use this new LED technology.
The donor lights are Elinchrom Minilite's which have a maximum light rating of 250 watts making them pretty much useless.
In part 2 i will go through the work i have done to convert these lights and part three will be the final tests.
Saturday, 20 December 2014
Yougnuo YN-600L light panel quick review
A quick review of my new Yougnuo YN-600L light panel.
In a nutshell... Super bright and built well. Just don't have it directly in-front of your talent!
In a nutshell... Super bright and built well. Just don't have it directly in-front of your talent!
Sunday, 2 November 2014
Filmcity FC-03 - Cheap Ebay DSLR Shoulder Cage Rig with MB-600 Matte Box + X1 follow focus review
A quick run down on my new Filmcity DSLR shoulder rig.
After much deliberation over either the Filmcity FC57-N or the FC-03 Cage rig i opted for the FC-03.
Basically it's the same as the FC-02 but includes a X1 follow focus. In an ideal world i'd have bought the Camtree Kit-201 as it is very similar but has all metal construction, it also has a price tag to match and was outside of my budget so i opted for this little unit.
The video shows a quick build plus my first impressions and a good shake to test it out!
Purchased from ebay it took just 4 days to get to the UK from india.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/37106842738...
A great little rig with some great features with the X1 follow focus being really very good, it's not roses as there are a few things worth knowing, no spoilers here so you'll have to watch the video to find them out!
Shot on a Canon 700D.
After much deliberation over either the Filmcity FC57-N or the FC-03 Cage rig i opted for the FC-03.
Basically it's the same as the FC-02 but includes a X1 follow focus. In an ideal world i'd have bought the Camtree Kit-201 as it is very similar but has all metal construction, it also has a price tag to match and was outside of my budget so i opted for this little unit.
The video shows a quick build plus my first impressions and a good shake to test it out!
Purchased from ebay it took just 4 days to get to the UK from india.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/37106842738...
A great little rig with some great features with the X1 follow focus being really very good, it's not roses as there are a few things worth knowing, no spoilers here so you'll have to watch the video to find them out!
Shot on a Canon 700D.
Saturday, 1 November 2014
Time to update my blog!
Its shocking how fast time goes by... it just seems to wiz by and you have no time for anything!
Anyway, i thought it was time to add some things to my blog... Reviews, How to's, Tips, Tech etc.
Anyway, i thought it was time to add some things to my blog... Reviews, How to's, Tips, Tech etc.
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