Really Bad Light & Motion experience....

The other thing is, i found when i used my super macro lens that with my 2000x lights on low setting that some of the clips are still to bright & i am very seriously considering purchasing 2 lower power lights for my macro lens.

Best way to lower the power of your lights is to diffuse them with a couple of tops from Pringle chip tubes and some rubber bands...

Ha, that's funny pete! I'm going through a pringle binge at the moment! I will give that a try when my lights return. I knew there was a greater cause for my pringle devotion!!!

It all makes sense now.

Doesnt the universe work in mysterious ways.....

Cheers pete.

Sounds like a lot of folks would be much happier with a Gates. Wondering what draws one to L&M considering all the issues described in above posts. My own limited experience with L&M points to eventual electronic problems. Gates is more or less bullet proof.

Mine was purely a cost thing, i got a virtually brand new setup for around a quarter of the cost of new.

I would be very interested to look into gates when i do eventually upgrade, however that won't be for some time i think.

Cheers Pete.

Rather than a Pringles top, I wonder if any of the old diffusers that came with the UK 600 HID lights wouldn't fit. I may have a few around here and will look if anyone wants them; let me know by PM and I will mail them out. Free.

Well looks like the folk at L&M have picked up the game abit in the last couple of weeks.

I hadn't heard back from them about my initial query after i sent my lights back but then i got an automated email to say that my lights had arrived.

I left it for a week or so & then sent an email to enquire about the progress & got a response the next day. I then responded to that email & got another response the very next day! Now today i got an email to say my lights are on there way home with a tracking number...

Very happy so far & hopefully the lights will be fixed.

I wonder if the sale of amphibico to aquatica has made them pull there socks up?

Lets hope so...

Cheers Pete.

Pete,

Glad you got things sorted out; a shame you've had to wait as long as you did to get a response but, at least, things are now on the road to settlement. I wonder if Todd, who started this thread, has gotten his L & M gear straightened out.

I doubt the sale of Amphibico to Aquatica made any difference as Amphibico was the only other major housing manufacturer other than Gates to make housings for cams above the entry level consumer camcorders. The last time L & M made a high end housing was for the original Sony FX-1 and Z1-U. It wasn't a smart decision in my opinion but it was the one that was made. Therefore, L & M has nothing to really fear from Amphibico because they do not make housings for the higher end shooter.

Steve

Hi Steve, yeah i'm glad it is sorted now & i am a bit excited to be getting my lights back soon.

Cheers Pete.

For those who have been waiting for an outcome, my lights arrived back today & so i promptly filled up the sink & dropped them in for a test run & wouldn't you believe it, they are not fixed!!!!

Not happy! So i have sent a not so nice email back to L&M & will hopefully hear back from them soon as i am pretty well fed up with these lights. I have actually asked for a refund or swap them for 2 sola 4000's so i will see how that goes.

I may be looking for another brand of lights very soon.....

Very unhappy.....

Cheers Pete.

So is that twice that you have sent them and they have sent them back without the problems being fixed?

That is very nice of them, well when you get the 4000's you will be set for lighting

Chat soon

Pete, Before buying a lower-powered set of lights for macro work, you could try some neutral density lighting gel. I'm not sure if it would work with recent L&M models, but with my old Sunrays I could snap a disc of neutral density gel into the front of the light. It worked really well. This is what pros use topside, and the stuff is waterproof. I nearly always used a blue filter to cool down the redness of the halogen light, and with other brands of light I have used grey neutral density gels. Lighting gels are made by companies like Lee Filters and Rosco. They will send you a book of swatches for free, but the swatches are generally not quite big enough to cover the front of the lamp. You can get glossy and matt gels. Matt would be better for diffusing the light. Film production suppliers carry lighting gel. I expect you could find a dealer list on the Lee/Rosco sites.

I'll check that out Nick, thanks for the heads up.

Cheers Pete

Great point Nick, with LED's I would look at a slightly orange / red gel as LED's have a pretty high temp prob somewhere in the 6000-6300 (you'll have to check Pete) but you would be able to warm the light up a little so it isn't quite as harsh.

Thanks for the info guys, the only problem is I really don"t understand what I"m looking for. Does anyone have a link for me to check out? I had a look at those two sites nick but I'm not sure of what to look for. I am looking for something to cut down the amount of light as the sola 4000's dim to 500 lumens & I would need something around the 300 lumens for macro work.

Are the gels/diffusers mouldable? How do you attach them to the lights?

Cheers pete

Think of it like thick stiff cellophane that comes in different colours. The stuff that you see over stage lights.

Codes from my Rosco E-colour+ swatch book (which I think I just applied for online):

298 .15 neutral density, reduce light 1/2 stop

209 .3 neutral density, reduce light 1 stop

210 .6 neutral density, reduce light 2 stops

225 is frosted version of 210, so it would provide diffusion too

211 .9 neutral density, reduce light 3 stops

299 1.2 neutral density, reduce light 4 stops

The ones I actually used were 211 and 299. I recall 299 being over the top and reducing the light too much. 211 was useful. I just found a distributor in Bangkok and got them to cut me something like half a metre off the roll. The roll is something like 1m wide so you get enough for quite a lot of attempts. It was pretty cheap. Some places also supply smaller rectangular sheets.

Rosco "Cinegel" uses different numbers:

3403 ROSCO N.6, recude light 2 stops

3404 ROSCO N.9, reduce light 3 stops

etc.

I know that the e-colour+ is waterproof because that's the type I used. The blue discs I made (for cooling down tungsten-halogen) faded, but after a long period of use. Probably due to the heat of the lamps as much as being underwater, but who knows.

If your lights have a recess around the front bezel then you can cut a piece just slightly larger and "snap" it into the corner where the glass meets the metal and there is a little recess for the o-ring. My Sunray lights have a deep recess around the front bezel, about 50mm diameter, so I cut a piece say 51mm. I've had one or two fall out though. The best way to cut perfect circles is with a Fiskars circle cutter from a craft shop (then give it to the kids for their art projects). If the front of your light doesn't have a recess then you'll need to get inventive. Ideally you might make some sort of a filter cap that covers the whole front of the light and can be removed completely if you're shooting bigger subjects and need more light. It's amazing what you can do with plumber's pipe and solvent glue.

Jonny, topside on hotel shoots I often used big sheets of gel over my 6500k fluorescent lights to match up with the hotel's own lighting. The one I used was e-colour+ 204 "full CT orange", which converts daylight to 3200k. Amongst many others they also do a 205 "half CT orange" gel which converts daylight to 3800k. It could even be stacked up with an ND filter to get the light exactly how you want it. All depends on the look you're after. If you want night to look like day then a warm filter is going move the temp the wrong way. Also depends how you're white balancing of course.

Duct tape also works...I have a sheet of diffuser that I tape over the front of my Z240s after the diffuser that came with them got smacked into something in the cave and cracked (again). Exactly the same effect and much less breakable. Not as neat if there are other people taking photos of you taking photos though!