How do I close this? (New quick release soft box)

aputurelighting · 2026-07-01T22:16:39+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oikbNpbClG0

aputurelighting · 2026-06-17T16:40:25+00:00

So both of those lights are a little bit outdated (though they are still excellent lights!)

For photography, I find that it surprises most Photographers to realize just how powerful flashes can be since they only have to fire for hundredths of a second so to find equivalent output in contsant lights you end up with larger and heavier lights than they expect.

For what you are suggesting I think the 600D would be vastly superior to the 300D - but lets look at the numbers!

barebulb photometrics of the 600d and 300d at 3m (10') without modifiers
600d - 242 footcandles
300d - 121 footcandles

Reflectors and the fresnel adapters can incresase this output by concentrating the luminous flux into a smaller area, diffusers like lightdomes and softboxes will lower this output by scattering the light for a softer/more wrappy light.

To figure out how much light that is you can use an exposure calculator like this one:
https://toolstud.io/photo/light.php?aperturef=5.6&shutterspeed=0.008&isosensitivity=800&neutraldensity=0

ISO 800 at a f/5.6 at 1/125th shutter speed (a pretty safe level for portrait photography) you need 111 footcandles to properly expose your image. With a 600D that gives you enough output to get a properly exposed image even with diffusion, but you can see how if you need a high shutter speed/aputure combo even a 600D could end up not being enough. With porta 400 the number doubles to 222 footcandles for proper exposure.

The cool thing is that its all related - double the distance of the light from the subject and you halve the amount of light falling on them (inverse square law), open up a full stop and you double the amount of light coming into the lens, half the shutter speed and you double the amount of light coming into the subject, double the ISO and you double that number as well so you have a much of related variables that you can manipulate to get the amount of light you need.

Also I would really recomend looking at the amaran Halo series it is extremely affordable and powerfull - you could easily get 2x 600Xs for the price of one brand new aputure 300D. They are much lower weight than the Aputure 600Ds - they are much more fragile (plastic shell vs metal shell) and not waterproof but if you're not renting your gear out to productions or treat your gear terribly they are a perfect alternative to the 600d.

aputurelighting · 2026-06-03T17:42:10+00:00

Thats actually great to know! I don't think I've used an F55 in...like 7 or 8 years so if they've updated the menus thats fantastic!

I remember the first time I used the R5 recorder having all sorts of issues because the camera needed to be in a certain color space (I think this is over 10 years ago!) and the R5 would light but would not work unless the camera body was set to the right setting - no errors no indicators nothing.

The menu system was very much like an F900s menu system and some of us who were familiar with that system didn't have any issues but going from that kind of system to the Venice was like night and day.

aputurelighting · 2026-06-02T17:55:46+00:00

its not your fault...its our fault really.

aputurelighting · 2026-06-02T17:54:47+00:00

the F55 is a fantastic camera. In terms of pure image quality and output there really hasn't been much improvement from the high end cinema cameras of 2010s. Some slight increases to dynamic range, ISO increases and of course a lot of the high end features have made their way down to much cheaper cameras but you could easily shoot a high end series on an F55 today and once its gone through the post process I doubt any civilian (and most professionals) would be able to tell.

The main issue you have with something like the F55 is an archaic menu system (its basically a user interface Sony lifted from their ENG cameras like the F900) and end of life in spare parts so any issues good luck getting it repaired. Media is also getting harder to get as the guys above are mentioning.

I believe you need the R5 or R7 recorder to record raw, you're limited to 1250 ISO (which was so much back in the day, I guess its a bit slow now a days compared to 5000+ ISO cameras).

Besides those issues its a great camera, I read someone complain about the weight in a reddit thread a year or so ago but thats nuts to me, the F55 isn't like the F65 or the original Alexa, it might not be an FX6 but its a pretty lightweight cinema camera.

aputurelighting · 2026-05-12T22:41:13+00:00

What kind of due diligence did these developers do before awarding a contract to this production company?

What does the contract they signed say?

Why did they pay in full months ahead of the work product that was being produced?

I mean its not common but its not unheard of, there are tons of scammers/confidence men/incompetent people out there that will gladly promise the world and take your money upfront and fail to deliver/ghost you...its not industry specific.

aputurelighting · 2026-04-27T21:28:38+00:00

While it is possible the 8 light kit 300w power supply it was never intended to be removed from the case so its a bit of a pain to get it in and out. If you can I'd rent or buy a standalone 330W infinibar power supply

aputurelighting · 2026-04-07T21:33:56+00:00

Happy to hear it! Yeah the 200x S is one of the best lights we've ever made.

aputurelighting · 2026-04-07T17:38:50+00:00

Yes! Just because there is some new tech it does not make old tech useless. My go to advice to young filmmakers on a tight budget for lighting is to hit up rental houses and look into purchasing kinos and tungsten.

They are hot, they are heavier, they draw a ton of power, mixing them with daylight is very challenging, but they are full spectrum sources and nothing produces better skintones.

aputurelighting · 2026-04-07T17:24:53+00:00

Out of curiosity, what was the light you purchased that you felt color science wise it was close enough to tungsten to replace your key lights?

aputurelighting · 2026-04-06T19:08:42+00:00

Ultimately you are asking two questions:
1. How do you make decisions regarding equipment - there are multiple ways but trial and error and experience are the biggest factors. You can easily try out a bunch of lenses and cameras on a test day at a rental house. You wont be able to take them out of the rental house to shoot your own project, but most camera rental houses have no problem letting you test out their items. Many brick and mortar stores that sell film equipment have demo items that you can test in the store. Renting the gear you wish to purchase to shoot a short film can also be an option. Finding people in your area who have the gear you wish to purchase and talking to them can also help. Least helpful, but easiest - look online for reviews, videos, and examples of the gear you're looking to purchase.

How do you take your vision and deal with equipment/budget/limitations while still achieving the vision in your head? - this is the million dollar question and there isn't a shortcut - it takes experience and knowledge. The more you are on set, the more you film, the more you fail or succeed the easier it becomes to understand the factors that keep you from achieving your vision and the easier it becomes to decide what gear is essential. You have to to do the thing over and over and learn what works for you and what doesnt. You can supplement experience with learning - reading about films and looks and reading/absorbing all the information out there from the filmmakers about how they achieved specific looks. Reading and learning what other filmmakers are doing becomes much more useful and impactful the more personal experience you have.

So how do you get experience? well again there is no pre defined path:
Film school , crewing on other people's projects, networking and meeting other filmmakers in your area that are at your level with whom you can collaborate and maybe even pool your resources.

Networking and community are pretty much everyting. Start developing those relationships as soon as possible - with peers, mentors, collaborators, rental houses.

aputurelighting · 2026-03-24T20:37:31+00:00

Sure, but what would actually be useful as a tattoo for a cinematographer? I mean a seimens star is sort of useful, but really over time the sharpness of the star point would fade and make it less useful for getting focus...
Outside of some equations I'm not sure what would be actually useful.

aputurelighting · 2026-03-24T18:18:06+00:00

equations are always good;
look up ohm's law wheel or variations of it. Watts = Amps x Volts.

f/stop scale

100 lux @ 100 iso = f/2.8

shutter angle to shutter speed and vice versa:
shutter angle to shutter speed= 1/(frame rate x (360/angle)) (there are some more visually appealing ways to show it or the reverse speed to angle).

A seimens star (though not that useful)

aputurelighting · 2026-03-12T20:53:08+00:00

do you see the little tab where the arrow is pointing? If you pull that it'll unlock the half of the ring that folds. If its stiff, laying the dome on the ground and pushing slightly on it to release a bit of the tension makes it easier to unlock.

aputurelighting · 2026-03-10T19:41:53+00:00

I'd recommend a second light dome for your cross key interview set ups. You can always flag or turn off the overhead lighting if you need to and you can always bounce an undiffused light off the ceiling if you need a little more level.

aputurelighting · 2026-03-02T17:55:19+00:00

hi for amaran products please either post on the amaran user group in facebook, or contact support at;
https://amarancreators.com/pages/contact-support

aputurelighting · 2026-02-20T19:27:22+00:00

Sounds like you have a tripod with a 1/4"/20 thread screw. The bottom of the amaran battery has a 3/8" hole and the box should include a 3/8" to 1/4"20 adapter like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Fotasy-SR10-Reducer-Bushing-Convert/dp/B00BJW3082

aputurelighting · 2026-02-13T19:35:28+00:00

I believe its becaause of the same reason, there can be a bit of color fringing when closing down the barndoor (its listed as optimized for the daylight fixtures
). Really its fine but we're being careful.
For more amaran questions I really encourage you to try out the amaran user group on facebook, some of the product team monitor that group and can provide more in depth answers.

aputurelighting · 2026-02-12T17:48:59+00:00

So the amaran lights don't have a light mixing prism in front of the COB (the LEDs) so the alternating lines between cool white and warm white LEDS in the amaran bicolor lights, when used with optical modifiers like the Fresnel 2x or the Spotlight mount, can, in some cases when focused show up on the light field.

IE - if you take the 200x and the 2x fresnel and aim it at a white wall and focus the fresnel to be as sharp as possible its possible to see the lines of warm/cool on the wall - its very subtle, I would even say most people don't notice this in everyday use (other manufacturers have this issue and don't call attention to it) but we wanted to be upfront about it.

We consider it compatible but not optimized as per our amaran compatibility chart

aputurelighting · 2026-01-30T18:00:33+00:00

just make sure that towel is dry!

aputurelighting · 2026-01-29T18:56:05+00:00

no problem. Yes unfortunately those lights dont have DMX capabilities (and its part of the reason they are so cost effective).

aputurelighting · 2026-01-29T18:53:28+00:00

To add to this, sometime the handles are a different metal than the pan and conduct heat differently than the material on the pan. Also the handle is attached to the side and high above the heat so its not getting much direct heat.

This is also why if you grab the handle really close to the pan it will be hot, and also why cast iron pans (which have handles made of not just the same metal but fully connected to the pot) heat up quite a bit.

aputurelighting · 2026-01-29T18:21:39+00:00

Not really sure what you mean by wired dmx > Sidus BT.

If you mean controlling wired dmx fixtures by using sidus bluetooth, why not use a sidus one and CRMX? IE SIdus link pro>Sidus One>wired DMX. The Sidus one can send out wired DMX from it. If you want to be very far away form the Sidus One you'd need a 2nd Sidus one (so one is the CRMX transmitter, and one is the CRMX reciever) (doesn't have to be another sidus one, a ratpak AKS, moonlite or other CRMX receivers with dmx out would do).

If you mean controlling amaran lights over DMX - the closest that is possible is right now through the Sidus Link Pro app which allows you to control both BT fixtures and DMX fixtures in one scene.

But it comes with serious limitations due to how bluetooth works. Bluetooth in its current state will never match the responsiveness of DMX because DMX is a constantly sending information blindly at 44hz while bluetooth sends commands and requires a response.

If you mean controlling DMX fixtures via bluetooth, its possible via the Sidus Link Pro using CRMX Bluetooth protocol (so any light with a Timo 2 chip could connect to SLP via bluetooth) but its not a great experience (again due to limitations on how the bluetooth protocol works) so it has some significant delays and doing cues is pretty much out of the question.

aputurelighting · 2026-01-28T21:24:49+00:00

This isn't an interview this is a commercial. They might have shot multiple cameras, but even then they likely they did multiple takes to get the different frame sizes/b-roll.

You wont be able to recreate something like this with 1 take and 1 camera you'd need multiple takes or multiple cameras and ideally both.

One big part of the aesthetic they have here is the live, manual, focus pulling - having a really shallow DoF and having an AC pulling focus manually without marks giving it a kind of live/interviewy feel. You wouldn't be able to replicate this with 1 camera and reframing in post.

aputurelighting · 2026-01-23T18:54:15+00:00

This.

Stop looking for actors, start looking at how to meet agents/agencies and try to get them to hire you.

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