Advice on diffusion material

[Daniel Stone]

Hey all,

I'm planning on making some 4x4 collapsible frames for myself, but I've not been able to find some suitable material as of yet for them. I could go spendy, and get a roll of LEE (http://www.filmtools.com/lee-r216.html) diffusion, but I don't need 25' of it, and 2, that's about 6x as much as I'm willing to spend on this, to keep the budget in line. I'm not after Broncolor-type construction here, just making some simple PVC-thick wall frames for shooting still-life type stuff.

Whilst watcing my Dean Collins dvd's this evening to brush up on my lighting techniques ;), he mentioned "drafting vellum". I looked it up, but it seems kinda thin, and I've read that a lot of it has graphed patterns in it. I need it to be translucent, not heavily textured, and pretty much color neutral.

Any ideas? I'm not in a "rush", but want to get this project done in a short amount of time.

thanks

-Dan

[Jim Michael]

I think you can get the Lee materials by the foot. Still a bit spendy. Chimera makes some 4x4 silks. I have the 1/4 stop which looks like ripstop nylon, but they are probably more than you want to pay. So maybe see if you can find some ripstop at the fabric store.

[ShaunQ]

Hey Dan, heres a post over at LL that has some info on buying the right material -

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=53510.0

I built my own diffusion panels, posting as "Lightbox" on LL, the first material I used was frost cloth which you can find at any good hardware/garden centre and will set you back a couple of bucks for plenty of cloth. I went on and sewed up two more diffusion sheets for my frame using a really thin canvas style material which was a lot less translucent and created smoother highlights. Sorry can't remember the name of the material now but I went to a really good upholstery factory in the city and found just what I was after.

[Tobias Key]

I've got a 6x4 lastolite panelite 2 stop diffuser. They only cost around $100 and have the advantage of collapsing right down. Have you considered these?

[lenser]

Any good plastics shop, and most sign shops, will carry coroplast, the material that they use to print the small realty signs. It's a corrogated plastic material that comes in 4x8 sheets for only a few dollars per sheet. I use the translucent for diffusion, the white for reflectors and the black for gobos. It's stiff enough to stand alone without frames and only about 1/4 inch thick, so it easily slides into any tight area for storage. It also cuts easily with a box cutter or utility knife so you can quickly get it to the size you need.

[vinny]

Daniel, you need to call expendablesrecycler.com
He's in the valley. He sells open rolls of everything lee makes for very little. That's where we go when doing low budget jobs. Otherwise white ripstop from the fabric store is very similar to lee grid cloth. Be aware though, sometimes the lee stuff has a tiny bit of blue to it.

[Marc B.]

Depending on your shooting situation, just string a clothes line close to your subject, use shower curtains, (near, but just off camera)
then adjust the distance of your lights (not too close w/hot lights), for the intensity you desire.

[Jim Noel]

White Rip Stop Nylon is available at most yard goods stores by the yard. This material is very similar to, and may be the same as that used in most good soft boxes. It is durable and diffuses beautifully.

[Daniel Stone]

Hey Vinny,

I'd hope you'd chime in here :). Just got off the phone with Todd, and I've got a roll that's just over 12' of the "Cotek?" version of LEE's #216 awaiting my pickup :). Cost was around $60. Not bad IMO, since that'll probably be around 2yrs worth for me at the rate I go through it...

Thanks for the reference!

Now to build the frames, guess Home Depot will be seeing me again today!

-Dan

[Kirk Gittings]

The "go to" cheapo stuff for video and still diffusion is bleached baking parchment paper. Its heat resistant and cheap but hard t0 find larger than 24".

[vinny]

Daniel, that seems high to me.
He reason i mentioned grid cloth is its durability and quietness over 216, 250, 251 type materials. You can patch 216 with j-lar though. Stick the 216 on with 1/2 or 3/4" atg tape, stretching the diff as you go.