It gives you real time look at the raw video...

That's what a good field monitor is for. Like every other good shooter I know, I never go out without one.

Mike

well, unfortunately the fact of the matter is that the place I work for is hard pressed just to put out this much. I figure that if I can improve the product, then it justifies the use of higher quality equipment, and if this ends up only lasting for 5+ years then it's not going to have cost us a whole lot of money / year to use it. If it goes south then, I can suggest something a little better. Light is better than no light, and if I can't get them to go beyond this, it's better to have something rather than nothing. Just how it has to be for now - perhaps when I buy my own stuff, I can get a better setup, or maybe the LED set's will have come down enough.

Dave

I have Arri and Photoflex lighting, and love it for the nice light, visibly nicer in some ways that matter to me.

Still, for one setup I needed two softboxes for a small greenscreen setup that is somewhat permanent. I thought of getting the usual for well over $1K.

Then I felt the excitement of getting a really really good deal, for something that was good enough for this setup.

I got two Britek softboxes, each with 300W and 600W globes, carrybags, stands that were better than Lowel at least (although no air brakes), and spare globes for $400 altogether. Can't beat that, at least I didn't find anything else.

So how are they? Well, you haven't seen cheap until you see these lights. Actually, you have seen cheap even before using them, they were shipped in a carton that I think came from the back of a restaurant... Canned food.

They are definitely still making money at these prices. Yet, they totally work and they are sturdy enough for light use. I wouldn't buy these for run and gun, but they are absolutely OK. The light is a broad with a box and a single layer of diffusion, so you don't get the Photoflex sweetness of the light.

Still, for the money, these are hard to beat.

"wouldn't use it for run and gun" - just what do you consider run and gun? what I will use it for is in a studio as well as setup on location. But it's not like I'm going to be desperately short on time for setup and tear down, but i will definately be using it in the "field".

Dave

They are actually quick to set up, but you have to be careful not to poke the rods through the end pockets on the softboxes. I poked through one when bending the rods the first time, so it needed a 5 second machine stitch to be like new again.

"That's what a good field monitor is for. Like every other good shooter I know, I never go out without one."

That's exactly what DV Rack does, it transforms your laptop into a field monitor and it gives you a lot more, various scope tools and real time recording to your hard drive. You know what it looks like and you can check a bunch of things via the software instead of using eyeballs and scopes.

I'll watch myself with them, thanks

Dave

If I were you, I'd definitely go with a good reputation, time-proof brand.
This brand, never heard of it either.
I'd personnaly go with one Arri light instead of three of these lamps.
In 5 years, I'd still have my lamp...

As much as I love Arri, there is something to be said for having enough light to actually make money with your videos. Out of that can come a couple of 20K Solar Spots to peek in through the windows later.

There are some things that can be done with an Arri and one or more reflectors, but sometimes it will just be easier to use softboxes.

Hasta la vista, I'm heading off into the wilderness. Lions and tigers and no internet, oh my!

:O)

I've come to this pretty late and haven't read all the posts so excsue me if I'm going over old ground.
For my money you cannot beat fluro lighting or if you need a bit if punch HMI. I can see no reason not to have all your lighting at daylight CT either. There's a couple of reasons why I've gone this way.
1) Fluro lights are pretty cheap, you can even roll your own using Osram Studioline tube, their HF ballasts come in dimmable too. If you need something ready built look at the stuff from Lupo, made in Italy but much cheaper than KinoFlo, they do both fluro and HMI at a reasonable price.

2) Why go daylight. Well trying to fight the sun borders on the impossible but getting incandescent lighting mixed in with daylight looks way better than the other way around. Having things look a bit orange is way better than things with a blue tinge or whatever. You can light daylight and still have incandescent practicals in shot and they look OK, we expect a bit a of an orange glow from them anyway, most real world lighting these days is a mixed bag of CTs so we're used to it.

I bought the DV Enlightenment DVD, some good stuff in there but I was disappointed that they didn't explore other options such as fluro / HMI lighting.
One thing I've learned recently, cost of ownership of HMI lights is very low. Our 150W HMIs have lamps that run for >5K hours for $33 dollars, thats cheap. Fluros aren't far behind. Halogens on the other hand are a PIA, you need to wait around 30 secs after you switch them off or you risk blowing a lamp. Even without that they generate a lot of heat, the fittungs do suffer from all that heat as well.

Bob.

...it's better to have something rather than nothing.

Dave, I agree with this statement 100%. As Coursedesign pointed out, with care, the kit will do the job. Just don't expect them to take the kind of abuse that something like an Arri kit would and they'll serve their purpose just fine. Taking care of them means that one person (you?) has to treat them like they were yours and they had to last a long time. This means steps like wrap the power cords carefuly, turn lamps off before adjusting them, don't pack them up until the fixture has cooled down. Do this and they should last until you can convince the powers that be to spend more money. BTW, you'll love what a soft box can do for interview situations. Enjoy.

Mike