Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I'm looking to use much of my existing AB equipment for shooting film (movies)... soft boxes, mainframe + barndoors etc etc...

Today you can get low cost fluorescent bulbs that will give you a good 300W (equiv) of light. There are a bunch of units that are basically light sockets that you can place on top of regular photography light stands:
http://www.adorama.com/LTSK3.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/2 ... _Line.html

However I would need the clips/switch to be able to attach the AB accessories. A hollowed out AB400 would do the trick, if I had a broken one I could probably make it. I would need 2 or 3 units tho (for multiple lights). Does anybody know of a unit/product that would meet my needs? Basically a low cost AB version of this: http://www.adorama.com/CMTRLET.html

Thanks!

PS: you cannot use fluorescent bulbs on the stobe units as is since the ballast causes issues.

Zuiko, you could essentially just use a superclamp directly attached to an AB-compatible speedring on the light stand (or mounted on an articulating arm on the stand for more mobility) for the desired effect on a budget. Here are some links in case you're not sure what I mean:

Super clamp: http://www.alzodigital.com/images/equipment/super_clamp_400h_up.jpg
Articulating grip arm: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/images/largeimages/325446.jpg

If you want to sortof replicate that last chimera link, you could also use the arm and clamps to hold the socket on the stand, and epoxy the ring to the plastic portion of the socket, just make sure you use high-temp epoxy. Otherwise, I'd just say to clamp the speedring to the stand directly, and use the art. arm clamped onto the stand below the ring and the other end of the arm clamped to the socket, but you'd need 3x clamps at about $20 each. or maybe something like this: http://www.paulcbuff-techforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=609

Still forgive my ignorance here, but what I'm missing is what you'd gain (other than realtime 'modelling') with continous hotlights instead of strobes if you already have own? For film, things aren't much different assuming you're metering correctly. Are you saying you have the accessories but no strobes?

Anyways, hope this helps.

I believe by "film" he means "motion picture"

Hey Rhino, thank you for your answer. I think however you misunderstood my requirements. The continuous lights will be used for film/movies. Clamps & grips could potentially hold everything together, but its not exactly convenient (or low cost) solution.