APS Lighting Equipment Guide
Contents
SAFETY
Please exercise caution with all lighting equipment checked out from Media Loan. The lights can get extremely hot and most require a lot of power.
When using lighting equipment from Media Loan, ALWAYS:
- Use gloves to protect your hands
- Tape down wires/cords to prevent tripping hazards
- Weigh down heavy stands with sandbags
- Plug lights into grounded outlets
- Use gloves/hand protection when changing lamps (bulbs)
DO NOT:
Touch hot lights without proper hand protection
Touch any lamp (bulb) with your bare hands
Expose lights to water
Expose lights to extreme weather/temperatures
Lamp (bulb) Changing
It is extremely important that you never touch any lamp with your bare hands. You hands are covered in oils that can get onto the lamp. Once this oil heats up, there is a high risk of the lamp exploding. If you ever need to change a lamp with these light kits, cover your hands with a glove or clean cloth. Every kit should come with spare lamps in the case. If you need help changing a lamp, please call APS (x5506) or stop by during open APS hours.
Know Your Circuits
These lights require a lot of power. Each house is divided into multiple circuits, as controlled by a circuit board, and each circuit has a capacity. Overloading a circuit will cause a blow-out and potential damage. Use the formula below to calculate the wattage a circuit is capable of supporting, without accidents:
AMPS x VOLTS = WATTS
Common household plugs are typically 15-20 amps circuits. Household voltage capacity is 110-120V, so for the purpose of this equation it's a good idea to round down to an even 100V to prevent any blow-outs. In an average house, each circuit is capable of supporting approximately 1500 Watts (15 x 100 = 1500). This is a conservative estimate and will be different per location.
LIGHTING EQUIPMENT IN APS
There are multiple options for lighting equipment in APS. These kits do not require proficiencies, but as with all other APS checkouts, they do require an APS workorder. APS equipment is typically restricted to students in media-centric classes/programs and ILC's/SOS's. Before requesting equipment from APS, please familiarize yourself with APS policies and procedures here.
ARRILITE 3-LIGHT KITS
Number of lights: 3 per kit
Wattage: 650W or 1000W
Accessories: Barndoors, Stands, Scrims
The Arri 3-Light Kits come with three open-face focusing flood lights of the same wattage (1000W or 650W). They are designed for a wide range of film and photographic lighting applications. Each kit comes with three barndoors, 3 stands, and scrims.
The 1000W 3-Light kit provides beam angles of 65° in the flood position and 24° in the spot position. Each fixture will throw a beam of 695 footcandles 4.3 ft (1.4 m) in diameter, @ full spot, from a distance of 10 ft (3 m). It will provide a beam of 145 footcandles 13 ft (4m) in diameter @ full flood, from the same distance.
The Arrlite 650 has a 7.25" open face and provides beam angles of 70° in the flood position, and 26° in the spot position. Each fixture will throw a beam of 450 footcandles 4.3 ft in diameter @ full spot, from a distance of 10 ft. It will provide a beam of 100 footcandles, 14 ft diameter @ full flood, from the same distance.
ARRI SOFTKEY KIT
Number of lights: 3
Wattage: 2x650W (Fresnel), 1000W (Softbox)
Accessories: Barndoors, Stands, Scrims, Fresnel Lenses
This kit includes two 650W Fresnel lights and one 1000W Softbox. The 650W Fresnel lights have a focusable spotlight which can be adjusted via a knob on the back of the light ("spot" for a narrowly focused beam, or "flood" for a wide beam). The beam angle in the flood position is 52 degrees, and a narrow 14.5 degrees in the spot position. The 650W in this kit has a 4.3" low expansion, borosillicate fresnel lens which casts a soft, even illumination across the beam.
The small size and light weight of the 1000W Softbox make it an excellent solution for a soft fill or key. The Softbox has a narrow profile of only 5.5" deep, in which the light bounces off a reflector in the back of the instrument for indirect, even, soft light.
LOWEL CASELITES
Number of lights: 1
Wattage: 55W/bulb, 110W total
Accessories: Barndoors, Stand, Cord, Eggcrate, Stand Arm, Stand Mount
Lowel Caselites are designed to offer beautiful, soft, easy to use fluorescents in a compact, location-friendly system. The current popularity of fluorescent lights in film & video production is well deserved. They offer soft and efficient light at several times the output of incandescent halogen sources. These lights are ideal for interviews.
Caselites are compact, lightweight, rugged and completely self-contained without sacrificing output or light quality. The all-in-one Caselite is both light and case combined, and each one comes with a stand, eggcraft, cord, arm, and stand mount bracket. APS carries both 5300K (daylight) and 3000K (tungsten) compact fluorescent lamps. Additional lamps can be checked out separately.
TEENIE-WEENIE MOLES / TEENIE MOLES / MICKEY MOLES
Number of lights: 4 per kit
Wattage:
- Teenie-Weenie Mole: 600W
- Teenie Mole: 650W
- Mickey Mole: 1000W
Accessories: None (accessory kits available separately)
Each of these kits contains four open-face, tungsten balanced, quartz instruments that have spot-flood adjustments. Also available with the Mickey Moles/Teenie Moles/Teenie Weenie Moles are stands and accessory kits which include barn doors, scrims, dichroic conversion filters (which will balance tungsten light color to approximate daylight), and filter holders. These kits should meet most of your heavy duty lighting needs. A separate stand kit is also needed to fully utilize these lights as none of them come with stands.
Mole Accessories
Mickey / Teenie Mole
Teenie Weenie Mole
Moles
MINI MOLES
Number of lights: 4
Wattage: 200W
Accessories: Fresnel lenses, Desk Stands
This kit contains four 200 watt tungsten balance instruments. The lights are small, have a fresnel lens, and come with snoots and aperture plates for better control of light. The inclusion of small desk stands make this kit perfect for 3D animation projects. The instruments can also be mounted on C-Stands for use in animation or as a small kick light hidden in a set.
MOLEFAYS
One-Light Molefay
Two-Light Molefay
Number of lights: 1 per kit
Wattage:
Accessories:
This is a good lighting instrument for outdoor use as a fill light when using the sun as a key light source. Each kit is slightly different, one has 2-2 light Molefays, another has 1-2 light Molefays and accessories, and the third has 2-1 light Molefays and accessories. Each dichroic filtered lamp is rated at 605 watts and approximates 5,600 K daylight. Each kit requires separate light stands.
8-TUBE MOLESCENT
Number of lights: 1
Wattage: 15W/bulb, 120W total
Accessories: Stand, Gel Holders
This is a very large light and holds 8 total fluorescent bulbs. The color temperature that we equip with the 8-Tube Molescent is CW (cool white). Each bulb is 15W each, which equals a total output of 120W for this instrument. Four bulbs can be operated at a time, which allows for more control of the output (60W-120W). The light this provides is diffuse and rather soft, and is a good instrument to match office or classroom lighting. Large frames for gels are provided with this light, as well as a wheeled junior-spud stand.
COLORTRAN 3-LIGHT KIT
Number of lights: 3
Wattage: 2x500W (Mini-Lites), 750W
Accessories: 2 Stands, 2 Barndoors (Mini-Lites), 3 Gaffer Grip Clamps
This kit comes with three lights: two Colortran Mini-Lites (500W), and one open-face instrument (750W). There are also three gaffer grip clamps and two stands. The clamps allow you to mount the lights to various surfaces and structures, which makes this kit very versatile. The Mini-Lites are very compact and are ideal for small sets. Each light in this kit is capable of supporting up to 1000W lamps.
Gaffer Grip Clamp (3)
Colortran 750W (1)
Colortran Mini-Lite 500W (2)
Colortran Mini-Lite 500W (2)
2K BABY "ZIP" SOFTLITE
Number of lights: 1
Wattage: 1000W/bulb, 2000W total
Accessories: Barndoors
Designed to fill the need for a small compact Softlight with high performance for locations and small sets where space is at a minimum. All the light comes indirect and unobstructed from diffuse surfaces. This instrument has two 1000W lamps and two switches to control them separately, allowing for 1000W or 2000W output.
MOLEQUARTS DOUBLE BROAD
Number of lights: 1
Wattage: 1000W/bulb, 2000W total
Accessories:
This instrument comes with two switchable 1000W lamps. It provides soft, even fill light in a rectangular field with edge-to-edge and top-to-bottom uniformity. The Double Broad can be used as a key or fill light source. Separate stand required.
LIGHTING ACCESSORIES
Lighting accessories in APS include:
- Light Stands (single & baby stand kits)
- Gels: Color and diffusion kits
- Bounce Discs
- Clothes Pins (C-47's): Used to attach gels to lights
Bounce Discs
The 42" 5-in-1 Collapsible Reflector Disc from Raya is a versatile light modification tool than can find uses in the studio and on location. This disc provides white, silver, gold, and black surfaces as well as a one stop translucent diffusion panel. The tool allows you to quickly and easily make adjustments to your lighting in order to get the look you want. Also, the disc is able to fold down to 1/3 its size and be stored inside the included carrying bag.
- White provides a neutral soft reflection useful for fill light
- Silver offers a neutral color balance similar to the white but with a higher contrast, increasing specular highlights
- Gold reflects a warmer light onto a subject, useful to enhancing skin tones or balancing a cool scene
- Black will block unwanted reflections and eliminate spill
- The translucent diffuser lessens light power by 1 stop and will help create a broader, softer light source that will wrap around your subject
GRIP
C-Stands
A C-stand is primarily used to position light modifiers, such as silks, nets, or flags, in front of light sources. The stand is constructed of metal and consists of a collapsible base, two riser columns, and a baby pin on top. In addition, a C-stand includes a gobo head and a gobo arm, which provide the ability to articulate a light modifier without moving the stand itself. The legs of C stands are designed to be nested, so many stands can be placed around a light source. They can also be used to mount small light instruments, such as the Colortran Mini-Lite at APS.
Flags
Flags are used for controlling an lighting instrument. Flags are mounted onto C-Stands and placed in front of lights.
Single flags available for checkout at APS include:
- Cutter (Black flag): This completely blocks lighting. Used for intentionally shaping light.
- Single Scrim (Green): Reduces the amount of light produced from an instrument by half of a stop.
- Double Scrim (Red): Reduces the amount of by one full stop.
- Silk (Yellow): Diffuses and greatly reduces the amount of light.
- Wooden Cucoloris (Cookie): Creates patterns by cutting shapes into it. Used to create background foliage, etc.
- Cello Cucoloris (Cookie): Diffuses light and creates shapes. More subtle effects than the wooden cookie.
Additional Grip Gear
- Apple Boxes: Used for propping various objects and subjects
- Gloves: Wear when handling hot lighting equipment, or changing bulbs
- Clamps: Used for various reasons, such as to attach gear to C-Stands
LIGHTING EQUIPMENT IN GENERAL ACCESS (GA)
The following equipment is available through General Access at Media Loan. They do not require an APS workorder or proficiency.
In addition to the following equipment, GA also has basic gel kits.
