• Location: USA
  • Joined: March 10, 2016

Topic: Best Lights for Special Effects?

Hey there! (Yay, first topic! --other than my brickfilm release topic).

This is a question primarily for users who have a lot of experience with advanced lighting techniques, but anyone is welcome to chime in. mini/smile

I'm not totally sure if this question has been asked before (is there some sort of search tool for the forums that I am just not seeing?), but, what are the best lights for creating special lighting effects?

To be more specific, say I wanted to have a couple tiny LEDs lighting up small portions of the set, or maybe a brick-built lamp on a wall. Do you guys use any specific type of very small light bulb that can fit within a 1x1 round canister piece, or behind a stud, etc? I've seen some rope light LEDs on Amazon but I'm not sure that I'd enjoy wrestling with 100 lights at once when I really only need one or two for the set.


That might have been a little vague or overly-general, so let me know if any further details are needed...

YouTube | Twitter | My Blog We are always in the process of becoming complete.

NovaSnow's Website

  • Location: Cali
  • Joined: March 7, 2016

Re: Best Lights for Special Effects?

There is a search bar at the top right under the bricks in motion logo. and im not too sure about the lights(I'm not that experienced) but I read that led's tend to have light flicker.

http://imgur.com/u5BEMl2.jpg
Youtube

Swingler's Website

  • Location: Vermont
  • Joined: December 3, 2015

Re: Best Lights for Special Effects?

LEDs are the best for most special effect lighting techniques, the flicker problems are only present on certain household bulbs with cheep drivers.

You probably could look into some LEDs from http://www.brickstuff.com/

There are tiny Incandescent bulbs used for Model Railroading and what not, but they are very yellow, and can easily get hot enough to melt plastic.

You probably don't want to use LED mini-lights that run on unregulated AC power because they have a pronounced 60/50HZ flicker.

If you are really electrically inclined you could just pick up some SMD LEDs and solder some fine wire to them, and then power them with the correct voltage.

LED strips, rings, dot's, etc... from a company like www.adafruit.com can also be very useful for certain effects as they can be programed to whatever color, brightness, and pattern you want.

http://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0B-S9Gk-8REITRVJVQXVwZkdBRk0
“But the enterprise in which I’m about to embark on is fraught with imminent peril.”

MarkNelsonMovies's Website

  • Location: USA
  • Joined: March 10, 2016

Re: Best Lights for Special Effects?

Swingler wrote:

There is a search bar at the top right under the bricks in motion logo. and im not too sure about the lights(I'm not that experienced) but I read that led's tend to have light flicker.

Ah. I saw that, but wasn't quite sure if it only indexed the film directory. Thanks!

YouTube | Twitter | My Blog We are always in the process of becoming complete.

NovaSnow's Website

  • Location: USA
  • Joined: March 10, 2016

Re: Best Lights for Special Effects?

MarkNelsonMovies wrote:

LEDs are the best for most special effect lighting techniques, the flicker problems are only present on certain household bulbs with cheep drivers.

You probably could look into some LEDs from http://www.brickstuff.com/

There are tiny Incandescent bulbs used for Model Railroading and what not, but they are very yellow, and can easily get hot enough to melt plastic.

You probably don't want to use LED mini-lights that run on unregulated AC power because they have a pronounced 60/50HZ flicker.

If you are really electrically inclined you could just pick up some SMD LEDs and solder some fine wire to them, and then power them with the correct voltage.

LED strips, rings, dot's, etc... from a company like www.adafruit.com can also be very useful for certain effects as they can be programed to whatever color, brightness, and pattern you want.

Wow, thanks for all the details!

Yeah, I'm not the most electrically-inclined... I'll definitely look into those links, though. Thanks!

YouTube | Twitter | My Blog We are always in the process of becoming complete.

NovaSnow's Website

  • Location: United States
  • Joined: June 21, 2011

Re: Best Lights for Special Effects?

I'm really familiar with Lifelites' products, and love the things to death....Although they are kinda fragile.
There's plenty of examples of their potential on the website, and I highly recommend them, even if they can get a bit pricey.

Oh, and they, like Brickstuff, are simple plug-and-play. So there's no electronics/wiring knowledge needed. mini/wink

Youtube | Facebook | Twitter

Pritchard Studios's Website

  • Location: USA
  • Joined: March 10, 2016

Re: Best Lights for Special Effects?

Pritchard Studios wrote:

I'm really familiar with Lifelites' products, and love the things to death....Although they are kinda fragile.
There's plenty of examples of their potential on the website, and I highly recommend them, even if they can get a bit pricey.

Oh, and they, like Brickstuff, are simple plug-and-play. So there's no electronics/wiring knowledge needed. mini/wink

Thanks for the suggestion! Heh, yeah, the less electronic knowledge required, the better. mini/smile

I'll check them out!

YouTube | Twitter | My Blog We are always in the process of becoming complete.

NovaSnow's Website

  • Location: Welcome to Darkmoor
  • Joined: March 27, 2011

Re: Best Lights for Special Effects?

A few years back, I got this really nice little LED bulb at Radio Shack.  It's basically just a little bulb, and it can fit inside places where a LEGO stud can also fit, which is really useful.  It has two long thin metal things sticking out which can be wired up to a battery box which was purchased separately.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7048/6932294251_0134858c31_b.jpg

In all the years I've had it, and with all of the shots I've done with it, it's not once failed one me.  Although battery power is perhaps a little bit of a risk, I still haven't changed the batteries and it still has power.

I think that Radio Shack isn't around any more, but you could probably go to a similar store and ask someone who knows about things where you might find one if you describe it properly.

-Squid | Twitter | Welcome to Darkmoor

Squid's Website

  • Location: USA
  • Joined: March 10, 2016

Re: Best Lights for Special Effects?

Squid wrote:

A few years back, I got this really nice little LED bulb at Radio Shack.  It's basically just a little bulb, and it can fit inside places where a LEGO stud can also fit, which is really useful.  It has two long thin metal things sticking out which can be wired up to a battery box which was purchased separately.

[image omitted]

In all the years I've had it, and with all of the shots I've done with it, it's not once failed one me.  Although battery power is perhaps a little bit of a risk, I still haven't changed the batteries and it still has power.

I think that Radio Shack isn't around any more, but you could probably go to a similar store and ask someone who knows about things where you might find one if you describe it properly.

Ahh, I miss Radio Shack... Yeah, I'll have to see if there are any nearby stores like that. I'm sure there are some, just gotta do the searching.

I appreciate the feedback, Squid!

YouTube | Twitter | My Blog We are always in the process of becoming complete.

NovaSnow's Website