I finally got my strobes setup in the Bren Events Center at UCI. Only two but better than none. I cant wait for Basketball season!
This is what I used:
- White Lightning X1600 (2)
- 11" Sport Reflectors (2)
- Super Clamps (2)
- 3" stud for superclamp (2)
- Miniphone-to-household cable (2)
- Add-a-tap's
- Zip-Cord
- Zip-Ties
- Plexiglass
- Gaffers Tape
- Extension cords
- Home made safety cables
This equipment does not include the Pocketwizard remotes needed to fire everything.
Anyways, here are some pics from the day that I set them up. A journey into the catwalks...
Most people don't know about the secret door that goes to the catwalks. This is what it looks like when you open the door (location of the door is still secret).
One you go up the stairs there are more stairs.
Then you have to duck to walk under and around a few ventilation ducts.
And yet another door.
Once through the door, you are overlooking the whole arena.
But wait! There are more stairs.
And more stairs...
We are now approaching the top.
The view from the top. There are only a few dim lights on in the arena at this time, which is why its so dark.
Here is one of the lights that I installed. As it says, its a White Lightning UltraZap 1600. All plugged in and ready to go!
Here you can see a sync cord that runs from the strobe to an add-a-tap that hooks into the brown zip-cord that is used to sync all my strobes together. It took me awhile to figure out exactly how it worked, but trust me, it makes sense and works.
Here I have a miniphone-to-household cable running from a Pocketwizard remote (set to receive) to an add-a-tap that hooks into the zip-cord sync line. So bascially, when I send a signal to this pocketwizard it sends out a pulse to both of the strobes that are connected to the zip-cord sync line, and makes them fire. The Pocketwizard remote is also extended out from the metal railing to reduce signal interferance.
As you can see, there is a sheet of plexiglass attached to the front of the reflector. This is a safety precaution just in case a bulb breaks. It would be bad if a bulb overheated and broke and fell all the way down to where the fans were sitting...but I got it covered. Literally. There are also holes drilled in it so that the bulb can cool better.
Home made safety cables made from supplies found at a local Home Depot can support up to 250 lbs and only cost about $2ish to make. Once again. Light falling 100+ feet down into stands = bad news.
250 ft. spool of zip-cord. Since I only had two lights, I only had to go half way around the court. I ended up with a lot to spare.
Using only the strobes, this is how bright it is.
Two strobes does a very good job of lighting half of a court.
Little orange wire-holder clips from Home Depot. I like.
I did a bunch of research before installing these strobes. Here is a small list of resources that helped me:
I also attended the
Sports Shooter Academy V (SSAV) photography workshop where I took an arena lighting class taught by local freelance photographer
Matt Brown.
Goodbye ISO 3200.
