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DIY Fresnel LED lights
  • kronstadtkronstadt

    LED lights are awesome, save you a LOT of hassle on location, and are dropping in prices. At the same time the good old ARRI fresnel tungsten lighting gives you that beautiful cinematic lighting - so beautiful and easy to control that you might want to put up with all the hassle and cost that they involve.

    So I thought: would it be possible to combine best of both worlds? Would it be possible to have LED lights which also work as a Fresnel lights? Then I found out that this is the newest cutting edge thing that ARRI offers in it’s L-series, and LightPanels is releasing its own early models too, and they cost tens of thousands of dollars!

    I wonder if I can make it DIY?

    After all it shouldn’t be that difficult. I thought of getting a 312ASZ led panel (which, correct me if I'm wrong should give me a 250W equivalent) and sticking one of those plastic Fresnel lenses that old people use to read newspapers. Like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Magnifier-Full-Page-Magnifying-Fresnel-Lens-Sheet-XL-/320649270129?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4aa82f9371#ht_3008wt_932 or fresnel lenses for Solar cookers like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fresnel-Lens-Over-Head-Projector-Solar-Cooker-Oven-Project-OHP-310mm-x310mm-x4mm-/150826264411?pt=UK_Gadgets&hash=item231df2275b#ht_500wt_1164

    But then the question becomes, are these good enough Fresnel lenses for purposes of cinematic lighting? And how to make it so that the lens moves back and forth, so as to focus the light?

    What do you think? Any advices? Any suggestions? Any links to such DIY tutorials?

  • 1 Reply sorted by
  • muntusmuntus

    I've wondered the same thing about those fresnel sheets.

    Another approach would be exactly what you described as getting the best of both worlds. It looks like these guys took an As Arri fresnel light and put 100w led into it with a dimming power supply. More expensive and involved, but probably well worth it.

    I believe the video is in Hungarian. It's hard to tell, but I did not see any banding that is sometimes present in led dimmers. Might be a great approach to low budget lighting.

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