We had a great time last week preparing for the dv Rebel lighting class. When we did the first course, Stu wanted more backyard built professional rigs.. so we have been trying to follow up on that this week. One of the fun ones was a desk light using a circular fluorescent light fitting. It is designed with a magnifying glass so you can look through the magnifying glass at something lit by this round light. We found one of these as damaged floor stock at a local lighting shop for under a hundred dollars got them to swap the light for a 5000K colour temp globe and then back at the office we popped out the middle magnifying glass… bingo – circular “kino flo style ring light” !

Now I am sure the kino Flo one is better – but ours comes with a handy stand to hold it and theirs costs around US$1250. Anyway with just one desk lamp light – no flash – no photoshop… we have a cool portrait light.

It works best with wide angle lenses – but I got to say – dv Rebel or as I called it OSIPSFM “old school innovative problem solving film” is fun!