AfriGadget

Building The Sun - A Kenyan Videographer’s DIY project

Jim is a musician, videographer and member of the Kenyan animation trio Just-A-Band. He needed a consistent light source for his video shoots, and as he puts it…
1. the sun is REALLY powerful
2. but very unpredictable

So he decided to create his own lighting equipment from easily available components that included:

1. 2 cardboard boxes (20/-)
2. 15 bulb holders (approx. 150/- each)
3. energy saving bulbs (the 23-watt ‘cool daylight’ types - 450/- each. Ouch.)
4. a roll of aluminium foil (approx. 200/-)
5. lots of cellotape/masking tape

With the help of his friend Kevin who is an electrician, he went from this

and

Contrast his total cost of approximately 7000 Kenya shillings (about $113) with Tungsten lights being sold in Nairobi, Kenya for 20,000 Ksh (about $320), this is a neat DIY project that not only saved him some money, but also shows the African Ingenuity we are always excited about.

Check out more pics and the rest of his post on his blog.

Tags: kenya, video, videographer

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12 comments for this post.

Comment from norman
27 May 2008 - 10:37 pm - :

very and wonderful l like the way of the skills

Comment from WordPress › Error
28 May 2008 - 6:07 am - :

the JAB burst of ice cold freshness. It will have more questions about the animated video ‘Iwinyo Piny’. More infor on JAB’s You Tube profile and Facebook. A related aside, Jim is a blogger-DIY kinda guy, check out the AfriGadget post on him‘Building The Sun’. A non related aside, do join us over at the Ushahidi Facebook Group as we continue building the next version of the Ushahidi engine.

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Comment from jim chuchu {blog} » I made an AfriGadget!
28 May 2008 - 6:13 am - :

[...] made an AfriGadget! The good people at AfriGadget thought they’d share my DIY cardboard lights on their site (thanks, guys!). It’s actually a very interesting blog, with lots of innovative DIY ideas by our [...]

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Comment from Christian Filmmakers • View topic - AfriGadgets!
28 May 2008 - 8:52 am - :

[...] excuse" to share this site, and here it is (so "don’t lock me, dude!")http://www.afrigadget.com/2008/05/27/bu … y-project/What’s most amazing is the DIY attitude this site points to… yeah, we can all knock the technical [...]

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Comment from Mwangi - the Displaced African
29 May 2008 - 7:06 am - :

Speaking as an ex-film school fella that is just genius. If we get more of that going, we won’t need any expensive donations or funding to bring Nollywood to our own city of Nairobi.
I think guys like Just a Band are so ahead of their time in so many ways and I am just so happy to see projects like this. Here’s to a cheap, citizen centred film industry in Africa.

Comment from The Everyday Idealist
2 June 2008 - 4:50 pm - :

. It has never flown higher than 7 feet off the ground, and looks like something my sisters might build with an Erector set, but it has flown (!) so the principle is sound. And I think Edison would havebeen proud of Jim.

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Comment from Marcel
16 June 2008 - 2:22 pm - :

As a video guy in the ‘developed’ world… I got a lot to learn from Jim.

Comment from Ultra DIY Video Lights by Jim Chuchu - Canon HV20 / HV30 User Forum
16 June 2008 - 10:44 pm - :

[...] DIY Video Lights by Jim Chuchu Cheap, innovative and effective: here Well done [...]

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Comment from Lazy Music for a Lazy Day…But Wait, There’s More » The Displaced African
17 June 2008 - 9:07 am - :

[...] please stop by his site or check out the story Afrigadget did on his lights ( props to them for being one of Time’s 50 best websites of 2008 ) which links to his [...]

Comment from Tony
18 June 2008 - 2:37 am - :

Kudo’s to the guy! I always belief in the principle of looking inward when there is a challenge to be surmounted. Cheers.

Comment from jim chuchu » Do DIY Lights Cut It? - Photography
25 September 2008 - 11:22 am - :

[...] a result of the whole Afrigadget saga (which, frankly, is overwhelming), a question that has come up plenty of times is: “Did it [...]

Comment from jim chuchu » I made an AfriGadget! - Photography
25 September 2008 - 11:27 am - :

[...] good people at AfriGadget thought they’d share my DIY cardboard lights on their site (thanks, [...]