Backdrop & Clips

stoney

I got a backdrop stand with white/green/black backdrops from http://www.ephotoinc.com at little over $100. But poor quality backdrops. Crazy wrinkles all over. It bothered me so much that I got backdrop clips. Top clips and side clips. Working great. Takes only a few mins to set it up.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

@Amadeus5D2

As far as I know good thick muslin is good. Use it.

Amadeus5D2

...nobody?

Amadeus5D2

have somebody experience concerning muslin vs polypropylen backdrops?

thanks

stoney

Thanks. That might work in some cases, but not for this. I had to use 1/2 minus green on LED and 1/8 on fluos.

Bueller

Just remembered I used to white balance shooting through a 1/8 minus green on a DVX to correct this kind of an issue. Might be one answer.

stoney

The fluos has a single sheet of 1/8 minus green gel. CL-256 needed 4 sheets which is equivalent 1/2 minus green gel. The gels did remove some green, but not all.

After adjusting warm/cold and color balance settings from magic bullet look, the green is almost gone. It doesn't look great but I'm not born with good skin tone. I'm happy with the result.

stoney

I brightened up a dark room with enough LED power to reach 0EV at ISO 160. I didn't like. Harsh lighting even with deflection filter. Then lowered LED powers to get 0EV at ISO 640. I liked it better. Softer lighting and nice noise.

stoney

Just ordered 1/8 minus green gel. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/166398-REG/Gam_GCJR1584_1_8_Minus_Green_Cine.html $39.95 + shipping.

stoney

Ok. Here's my little plan.

The fluos as a key light. It gives slightly green tint. I need a minus green gel... 1/8? A reflector as a fill light so that the color gets automatically corrected when a minus green gel is applied on the fluos. CL-256 as the backlight. It has a lot more green tint. Apply a minus green gel. 1/4? or double 1/8? Prolly it would need some post-processing color correction as well. Gotta learn Color Fitness and Colorista "Free".

stoney

Yesterday I took RAW photos. Imported into Lightroom. Then applied Auto WB which did fairly good job.

Today I took 24p video. Played video in camera and captured JPEG from the clip. Imported into Lightroom. Then applied AWB again. The original JPEG looked a whole lot better.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

I think your method is strange.
You must compare JPEG to movies.
And not how third party software perform WB on your RAW.

stoney

There was no color shift at different shutter speed...

I used the fluos light only. GH2's 6300K was read as 6100K from Lightroom. So I set to 6500K from the camera. The WB test was done by taking RAW photos from GH2. Photo came out correct WB.

Then I took a video at 6500K using Standard film mode. It came out too greenish. Strange. I set to 5600K. Then video gave very good skin tone color.

WTF...

Vitaliy_Kiselev

Don't see anything surprising.
Slight tint could be present as well as 6300K temperature :-)
Don't know how shutter speed can do color shift :-)
Cheap fluos (but best LEDs will be worse in studio anyway).

stoney

Last night I tested out the fluos and was surprised that it gave 6300K and slightly magenta tint. Some saying shutter speed might do the color shift.

I was taking a photo so the shutter speed was pretty much random. I would have to do it again at 1/60. Hopefully it gives close to 5500K and no magenta tint.

stoney

Tunsten light can give focused light easily where LED light can't. A set of tungsten lights would be nice. But pricey and not easily portable.

I prefer a set of a small LED, a medium LED, and a large flous. Plus a reflector and a flashlight you suggested.

Continuous lights can be used on photography, too. http://neilvn.com/tangents/category/video-light/

Vitaliy_Kiselev

>The bundled stand sucks. Very easy to knock over. I knew about that. Just add a weight plate.

About stands - it is common as I said. Look at the price again :-)

>It came with 2 sets with 10 bulbs.

Normally they also save on bulbs. Try to get cheapest posssible.
So, try to search for best ones, get one-two of each and test.

>No color change

Fluos normally give much better color compared to LEDs (best bulbs are always better than cheap ones).
And tungsen lights give you best light quality.

stoney

I got the package today. It came with 2 sets with 10 bulbs. Of course cheaply made. The bundled stand sucks. Very easy to knock over. I knew about that. Just add a weight plate.

My initial impression. Very good. Two people can assembly it in a few mins. One person... 5 mins? 10 mins? It has 5 fluorescent light sockets. The lights cannot be dimmed gradually, but each light can be turned on and off giving discrete power control. Both min and max light setting gave white color at 5500K ISO setting. No color change. Woohoo. Soft large light source... and it's cheap.

I'm not recommending this product yet. I will try it out more and give more detailed review about light quality.

stoney

Yes.. thec47.com has good stuffs regarding light. http://www.thec47.com/display/Search?searchQuery=Light&moduleId=4404620

Jem talked about a setup. A softbox, a backlight, and a reflector. I guess... he doesn't need to worry about hair light. Watching through his videos... I can see many mistakes I did. Most of all, not testing each light at a time.

He talked about Jem Lighting. http://www.thec47.com/gearbox/jem-lighting.html Jem Ball replaced the paper lantern. http://www.jemlighting.com/products.html Hmmm... it looks more versatile. Placing it on top of a round table sounds great. But not sure if it's worth buying it instead of the cheap ebay softbox. A basic demo video: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5759693/jem_ball_koght/

Edit: Never mind. Too expensive. I ordered a pair set from the 1st ebay link.

stoney

@Mark that makes sense.

@Vitaliy +1. I'm getting tired of cheap stands. Too light. I gotta be careful not tipping any stand on the way. Just little bump will do it. After getting one, only one, softbox, I'd have 7 weak stands in my tiny studio. Can't buy all I want. Good quality stands are expensive.

@filthy Thanks for the link.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

@filthy

Problems with this kits are always the same.
First, they sometimes use different softboxes (like yours 24"x24" and we mentioned ones with 20"x28")
Second, they use completely differen fluos. So you can have larger bulbs other kit could have them smaller.
Third, they love to save on stands. In studio it is ok for first time. But if you want to go on set it is better to invest in better stands.

>box actually touches the top bulb and get very hot.

Try to unscrew plastic cover from light holder and slightly bend holder for this particular bulb.

Mark_the_Harp

@brianluce "DP's usually gel it with orange"

Prob to be opposite(ish) colour to green to suppress fringing.

filthy

I actually just got those pair of lights that Vitaliy posted. While they are pretty bright and do work as advertised, the build quality is terrible. The light stands are flimsy and softboxes are rectangular in shape. That would normally not be such a big deal. However, the box actually touches the top bulb and get very hot. Hasn't melted through just yet, but I haven't kept them on for more than an 45 minutes yet. I got these a while ago:

http://cgi.ebay.com/3000W-VIDEO-PHOTOGRAPHY-STUDIO-SOFTBOX-LIGHT-C302-/260810855425?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb989d401#ht_8240wt_1396

They were a few bucks more, but the quality is better. Not 100 times better, just better. Mainly, more solid in the stands and better (easier to assemble and breakdown) softboxes. Wasn't commenting on the backdrops in the auction, just those particular light kits.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

@stonebat

Check this 60w bulbs. They can be quite large.
I think it is good idea to stay with 45w.
You can ask seller for comparison.

stoney

Why the first seller sold 356 units at higher price where the other sold none at lower price...

stoney

Super. I contacted the last seller.

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