building your own studio lights

[Scott Davis]

Can anyone here remember where this thread occurred that some graduate student posted something about his thesis project. He built his own 20x22 or thereabouts wet-plate monster, and made some fluorescent light fixtures to use as studio lights with it. I'm looking for the thread to find out some more about his lights. It may not have been on this forum.

[Randy H]

There is a lot of specific info about home-brewed flourescent studio light here:http://www.glamour1.com

They have a thread about indoor studio sets and outdoor shoots.

[Ernest Purdum]

I have an old (1950's, if I remember correctly) book about studio lighting that shows the work of many portrait specialists including more than a few that used homemade fluorescent banks. At that time they were only usable on B&W because fluorescents normally have only a couple of spectrum spikes.

Now, there are several companies that claim to supply full spectrum fluorescents. I am curious about these. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who is using them for color work. There could be several advantages in using these, Number one, perhaps, is avoiding roasting the subject while still being able to view the actual light that will be used for the exposure on the groundglass.

My guess is that a large size soft-light box using ordinary fluorescents could be built rather inexpensively, but cost might limit the full spectrum tubes to small size units for table-top size subjects except for those with large budgets.

[Randy H]

I am curious about these. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who is using them for color work. There could be several advantages in using these, Number one, perhaps, is avoiding roasting the subject while still being able to view the actual light that will be used for the exposure on the groundglass.

My guess is that a large size soft-light box using ordinary fluorescents could be built rather inexpensively

The one they "highlighted" on the above link used four, doubles, set in "about" a four-foot square, and used it between the camera and the subject. Kinda sorta almost like the subject would be "framed" by the lights. A very interesting setup. Good highlights and detail.

[BradS]

Scott,

I remember Sanders McNew saying something about a home made flourescent fixture. I believe he used compact flourescent bulbs and a...uh, plastic tub of some sort.

Brad.

[Scott Davis]

I've seen Sanders' light setup. It isn't what I'm looking for. The student who posted the bit about his home-built 20x22 camera and lights had done something where he overclocked the ballasts so the tubes would put out about twice their rated output. I wanted to find out how to do that because it would be useful for doing wet-plate portraiture.

[Mark Woods]

Kino-flo makes professional grade fluorescents with stronger ballasts. http://www.flolight.com/
They also make LED lights that are more or less color balanced. I've used their lights many times on set with color film. You can also buy Optima 32 bulbs balanced to to 3200K or day light 50 bulbs for day light around 5600K. Home Depot has both and they fit into normal fixtures.

MW

[jnantz]

hey scott

when you are ready to buy the lights
you might want to get them from someplace like
the bulbman, or top bulb ( both .com ).

they sell lights and they are very inexpensive.
i bought a bunch of floods from them
that i use with lowell "L lights" .. they are neodymium lights
and cost less than $1 / bulb.
they also sell replacement bulbs (tungston) at a fraction of your friendly
photo store ...

good luck!

john

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

Scott,

The original poster's handle was "forge", or at least it was over at the collodion.com forum. I can't find the post, but do recall reading it.

For what it is worth, I use home made lights from 55W 5500K compact florescent bulbs. I bought the kits (eight bulbs in total) at an aquarium supply store (http://ahsupply.com/) and built three enclosures myself. They put out about three times the light as kinoflos and are about the same color temperature, if that matters to you. They put out enough UV light to do alternative process printing, although they are a bit slow (5 minutes for a POP print).

[Martin Courtenay-Blake]

Scott

Take a look at the Osram web site. They make a range of compact fluorescents with high output and suitable colour temperature. I am designing a large format enlarger head using these. They are really compact and mounting should be easy. They can be hard wired and control gear put into a seperate box. Depending on your building skills it would be easy to fabricate a multipin umbilical and have a fully portable set up.

The Osram site is a pig to navigate so I'll try to find the link for the correct page.

Cheers

Martin