Kino

[Alex Konveski]

What is a good level of diffusion to use with a 4x4 kino without taking away a lot of transmission of the source? I am using them for the first time and wondering the best way of handling them. It seems a lot of people prefer to diffuse them a bit (a lot feel like it has to much of a fluorescent feel without diff), do you find yourself diffusing the light most of the time? and if so what kind of gel do you use?

 

[David Mullen ASC]

I usually use 216 on them. Remember to cut the sheet large enough that you can open the barndoors a bit and wrap the gel around the outside. Otherwise there isn't much point -- the softness of the light is dependent on the size of the source relative to the distance to the subject, and putting diffusion right over the tubes (though tempting because you can still use the barndoors and eggcrate) hardly does any softening at all because you haven't created a larger surface area for the diffused light.

I use black showcard barndoor extenders held up with paper clamps to extend the barndoors when I use diffusion over the unit.

You don't end up softening a lot, but it does take some of that Kino "shine" down plus it spreads the light better when you start switching off individual tubes. For example, if you ended up only using one tube in a 4-bank unit, the diffusion over the doors helps keep the light from getting sharper.

 

[kinoflorental]

I usually use 216 on them. Remember to cut the sheet large enough that you can open the barndoors a bit and wrap the gel around the outside. Otherwise there isn't much point -- the softness of the light is dependent on the size of the source relative to the distance to the subject, and putting diffusion right over the tubes (though tempting because you can still use the barndoors and eggcrate) hardly does any softening at all because you haven't created a larger surface area for the diffused light.

I use black showcard barndoor extenders held up with paper clamps to extend the barndoors when I use diffusion over the unit.

You don't end up softening a lot, but it does take some of that Kino "shine" down plus it spreads the light better when you start switching off individual tubes. For example, if you ended up only using one tube in a 4-bank unit, the diffusion over the doors helps keep the light from getting sharper.

Or, you can always use a Diva 400. That's my favorite Kino light. You can adjust the diffusion of the Diva in so many ways, because it has barndoors but also it is fully dimmable. Or you can apply the floozier or gels. Or, you can change the tubes. In short, many alternatives. My one stop site for info about Kinos is http://www.kinoflorental.com

Cheers and good luck