lighting

Lighting gear is an important part of anyone's gear list, but it can often times be the last thing you invest in. We shoot news every week inside of our church beside a window and don't even use lights! Light modifiers, such as the Chimera 4x4 kit (listed below), make shooting in daylight much more controllable. 

(Click on the product image for more info on each item)

Arri Softbank IV Plus 5 Light Kit

This is our main light kit that we use on almost every shoot. There is a lot of flexibility with this kit between the 5 lights. The kit includes stands, barndoors, scrims (so you can cut down light), clothes pins, extension cord, gloves and comes in a nice case. Make sure you get blue gels so you can shoot in locations where there is daylight. We always bring our Chimera 4x4 kit when we use these lights (link below). These lights get hot so make sure you give them time to cool down.

Kino Flo Diva-Lite 401 Kit

This kit is great! They are easy to setup, and they don't get hot like the Arri's so you don't have to wait for them to cool down. The 2 lights are very powerful but can be dialed back with a knob. Kino Flo's are much less likely to blow a fuse in someone's house when you're shooting that testimony video. Purchase both 3200K and 5500K bulbs so that you can shoot with them in both warm indoor rooms and in rooms where lots of daylight is peaking in.

Chimera 4x4 ENG Fabric Kit

We use this kit on almost every video shoot. It includes two 4'x4' frames, two diffusion fabrics, two scrim fabrics to cut light, black/white and silver/gold panels to bounce and reflect light. We use this kit to modify light from the sun as well as our Arri lights. We won't leave for a shoot without it.

Chimera 6x6 Pro Panel Fabric Kit

This kit is similar to the 4'x4' ENG kit, except it is one 6'x6' frame with diffusion fabric and a white/black panel. We suspend this one above the talents head to defuse or block the sun if it's a sunny day.