Recommend Light Bulbs to use with studio tent


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Wai

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Jan 17, 2002
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Bought this tent some times ago, last time i shoot with muliple flashes placed outside the tent

image003.jpg


Recently I bought 2 lights similar to the picture from Ikea, quite cheap, about $12+ each

Also bought 2 x 20W energy saving bulb (that's the highest rating i can find)

However it is still slightly too dim (without flash, i get something like f5.6 1/10, which is too slow for handheld), may be will try look for 23W or 25W bulb, or should i get those halogen bulbs? But halogen bulbs generate too much heat, so not very safe to place near the tent.

Anyone using similar setup? what kind of bulb do you recommend? I notice there are many different design for these energy saving bulb too, got long one, sprial one...etc, wonder which is the best for this application...
 

Wai said:
Bought this tent some times ago, last time i shoot with muliple flashes placed outside the tent

image003.jpg


Recently I bought 2 lights similar to the picture from Ikea, quite cheap, about $12+ each

Also bought 2 x 20W energy saving bulb (that's the highest rating i can find)

However it is still slightly too dim (without flash, i get something like f5.6 1/10, which is too slow for handheld), may be will try look for 23W or 25W bulb, or should i get those halogen bulbs? But halogen bulbs generate too much heat, so not very safe to place near the tent.

Anyone using similar setup? what kind of bulb do you recommend? I notice there are many different design for these energy saving bulb too, got long one, sprial one...etc, wonder which is the best for this application...

the lights u bought from ikea, do they come with the stands too?
 

i bought the ikea 1 too, 2 with tall stand as well... its a 12v 50w ones, halogen, very yellow.. very very dim... i prefer using the eastgear kinda flash... more even distribution.
 

Well, i am not sure about the colour temperature but i think it's about 6K. You can get those PL lights used for aquarium lighting. There is a CR Aquarium brand (local) using e-ballast, the e-ballast is very cool running and saves electricity. (not the usual iron core ballasts which is heavy and relatively inefficient).

2 foot (60cm) long is $35 i think. You get the white-white tubes. The whole thing comes with lamp housing, e-ballast, tubes. Get 3 of them, sure enough light. :)

Get the 2-foot lamps with 55W PL tubes inside, best bang for the buck. $35 only. Get at Blk 328, store is dunno what florist but it sells fishes. It's just beside the kopitiam nearest to the main road/Clementi MRT. Famous at arofanatics. Can bug ccplim about it too since his other hobby is enderichins and aggressive stuff.

Come to think of it, yours is not bad what, $36 for 20W * 3 = 60W.
 

Or if you hardcore, get xenon HIDs, for marine tanks. :devil: 1/8000s also can. :devil:
 

just asking, is those ballast flicker free up to 1/500?? or even more?? cos seems that florescence light (those better ones) gives off a more white color...

btw 2100... this xenon HIDs... where 2 get? is the color white?
 

Del_CtrlnoAlt said:
just asking, is those ballast flicker free up to 1/500?? or even more?? cos seems that florescence light (those better ones) gives off a more white color...

btw 2100... this xenon HIDs... where 2 get? is the color white?

E-ballasts are supposedly flicker-free. But i guess for these lower end stuff, it's more accurate to say that they are relatively flicker-free compared to the usual ferrite stuff.
I know what you mean, you are trying to avoid the 50Hz flickering of the tubes, which would render exposure and WB to be incorrect right?

Note that xenon HIDs also can use E-ballasts. It's more for discharge technology.

It's not that better tubes will give off more white light. It's how they design it, the spectral emmision, and that depends on the coating. To draw an extreme example, a candlelight would not render skin tones as well even if you set WB to 2300K, coz there is only so much blue/green it is emitting. But i am sure those white aquarium tubes are ok for photography (ie able to correct with WB or using RAW) because there are lots of people taking pics of their aquarium fishes.

HID (for marine tanks usage) is more tricky, i think better not touch those. Usually they are in the 10K region and is quite bluish. If really need to get, get those meant for foodstuff or fashion apparels, they give a better colour rendition as the spectral distribution is much broader.
 

renegade said:
the lights u bought from ikea, do they come with the stands too?

it comes with a clip that u can secure onto a table top

stand (simply a block of metal with a hole) cost $12, damn heavy and stable, but i prefer to DIY if i really need that stand, so far i am happy with just the clip alone
 

The shape of daylight energy saving bulbs is not important as long as they are around 6400K. The new ones I've found here in Sydney are as high as 32W sold for around A$5.

Look at the miniboom lightstand Wai posted here? I think that's a clever idea as it allows you position the light overhead the tent and the height is adjustable too. Anyone here knows where to get it and for how much?

For side lighting the tent you don't need a tall stand. If your table has enough space at the sides you could use table lights on it or put something below to prop the lights higher. In this way you'll get real side lighting instead of the frontal sidelighting as in the photo posted.

The advantage of using the florescent light bulbs is that it is cooler and closer to daylight spectrum. With the manual white balance capacity of DSLR it is just amazing.

Most of all I like to know more about the miniboom lightstand. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 

what is the material of the tent, is it something like umbrella?
I was thinking of making one my own.
Is it possible?
 

jialuvgr, there is 2 groups selling the tent at the consumer corner... prices are kinda 'cheap' already...

if not wrong, the material is nylon...
 

Del_CtrlnoAlt said:
jialuvgr, there is 2 groups selling the tent at the consumer corner... prices are kinda 'cheap' already...

if not wrong, the material is nylon...

Nylon? The tent that i bought some time ago is made of 100% polyester (as stated on the label), and the tent look like the one u see in the picture above
 

Wai,

dunno leh, the sell-it-on-the-net site says so...

Cocoons are made of color neutral translucent sheet plastic and tents and panels are made of color neutral nylon fabric. Illuminated with continuous lighting from the sides, back and/or top, the light inside these diffusion devices is soft and encompassing, greatly reducing glare, and producing a very soft, minimal shadow. Cocoons have holes and tents have slits to allow camera lens access to the interior.

http://sell-it-on-the-net.com/online_store/selection_cocoons_tents_panels.htm

i think normal household lights not strong enough to penetrate entirely thru the tent to give a even distribution.
 

Good news. I chanced upon some powerful bulbs at 58 Chinatown Wholesale store on Smith Street.

Here

65W compact florescent with E27 screw-thread type base. That's equivalent to 325W halogen.
Choice of warm or cool daylight. Cool daylight is 6500K.
$28 only. They stock 23 and 25W bulbs too. But the bulb is quite big though, it's those new spiral tubes you see some of them using in the stores.

Use 3 of them, can even do f16 @ ISO 100 with decent shutter.
 

thanks for the heads up, i wonder if anybody will do a stand with 3 bulbs on 1 head... then it would look like those sold super expensive in US..
 

mom going chinatown's wet market... think i ask her to get 6 for me, i go machine a base... wait for my results...

wonder if i need a flicker free ballast anot... anybody online now?
 

KAOZ!!! the light is DAMN BIG!!! i thought its just those small ones...

anyway my folks see its big, den bought 2 back only, now i need to make a stand for it, btw the base screw is about 70c each if you do not have the socket.
 

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