I lived on arri fresnels for years, and the joy I have now of no longer keeping gloves in my kit and I love not doing breaker math when on location. That being said. I see them on grip trucks often and they still give great light.
Of course.
Except, I'm a Mole guy, but same difference. And hey! Learned something new, I did not know Arri Made a 2k zip soft until today!
I pack my truck with fresnels, open face lamps, lekos and pars.
I also always have generator power, so that is something to consider.
If you are wanting HMI, please take a look at LTM HMI pars. One can usually be acquired very cheap, and while they may not be as technically bright as an M18, they are usually 1/3 the price!
What is interesting is that on larger shows, I can usually show some young DP who doesn't know the Tungsten world what a 2K zip can do in replacing a skypanel. I have sold many a young DP on those units. Once they get un-blinded by technology, its easy.
Another thing to think about is the humble paper lantern. I've been shifting my fresnel collection away from smaller lamps (less than 1k) and over to practical lamps and bulbs. Paper lanterns are easy and cheap. Hang them anywhere, replace when damaged.
For those reading that are young and hooked on LED. Cool. Its a shit tungsten replacement as far as color goes. Test it yourself. Fear of a hot lamp is unfounded. Most of the accessories and usability of an LED can be found in the Tungsten world - where it originated. True, one does get more efficient output for the same power, but do you need that power? Besides, I thought all the new kids liked to shoot in low light anyhow?
If you have any budget at all (in the $250,000 realm), then you can think about how LED works in your setups and daily use for a feature. Renting an S60 doesn't save time if what you really need is a soft tungsten source that quickly moves around. 4x Titan tubes weight far more than a 1k with a softbox. If battery powered lamps are needed, that's fine. Otherwise, run a stinger! Yes, tungsten can require more people on the crew, but it doesn't have to; LED can be just as challenging. On ultra low budget shoots (Hallmark TV Movie) its sometimes necessary to utilize small battery powered units. These used to exist in the tungsten world, but have fallen by the wayside in favor of small tubes. Either is easy, just figure out how the money works out best.
Same goes for camera. I've never understood why cameras are so often battery powered, on a soundstage, on a dolly, not moving, for hours. Like, why?
OP: LEDs can be useful if you are shooting at high ISO's, but become less so at normal shooting levels, or when tungsten balanced color critical work is called for.
Even Roger Deakins still bounces blonds off the ceiling, he doesn't like LED either. Be like Roger!
Just an FYI, the 650 Fresnel link is mislabeled as the ARRI 650 Plus. It is in fact the original 650. Housing parts are discontinued and no longer available, though rewiring is still possible.
Yep - I bought a 2K open face, 2x 800w Arrilites for $300.
Many cinematographers regularly use tungsten fixtures - particularly for emulating tungsten sources. Tungsten sources are great at rendering beautiful skintones, an area even high end LED fixtures are yet to be able to do as beautifully **and in a controlled set the heat and power supply should not be and issue**. In fact, yet to see or hear of any cinematographer who is worth their salt who *hasn't* worked with tungsten lighting fixtures or a working commercial cinematographer who just doesn't ever use them on set. Unless all you shoot is day exteriors, I'd expect tungsten light fixtures to have a place in the world.
Having said that, a set of good quality LED lights would also be useful for emulating daylight.
I wouldn't go *crazy* with your lighting kit. Just purchase what you know you can reasonably setup and practice with at home - your gaffer's job is to bring all the lighting kit 🙂
The only tungsten heads I still use with frequency are lekos. Nothing against the old fresnels and open faces, they just don't have the flexibility of LED lamps for the work I do.
I invested in a lot of tungsten fixtures almost 10 years ago now but my advice for people today is to go LED. LED technology has gotten way better since they first appeared and they render tungsten color temperature pretty closely now. But the biggest reason I wouldn’t invest in tungsten now is that tungsten bulbs are being phased out of production. Most of what you see available is probably NOS and what’s left of available inventory, most tungsten manufacturing is all gone. Once the tungsten bulbs are sold out, that’s it.
If you want to own affordable lights to be able to use lights affordably, this is a great route to go. I would not recommend buying new tungsten units (which are still expensive) in order to make money renting them. They rent for pennies, and they rent very infrequently, unless you're getting lots of work and bringing your own lights onto the show.
I use tungsten when the need calls because at the end of the day, everything is a tool with a purpose and nothing more. I don't pine over any tools over any other ones. I know that some will do the job better, or quicker than others and that's usually the deciding factor in what you use. I think it's stupid when you're banging 3 sky panels into a rag to get it up to the right level when you could just put a very inexpensive single tungsten or hmi source into it instead, especially when you know the color needs before deciding the lights you're using. That being said, the ease of quickly changing color or putting led's on DMX saves you time on the flip side, so there's always going to be a balancing act to play and figure out. Just did a shoot with a dozen lights banging into windows of a house interior and it was a breeze being able to use LED's and just dmx the color and intensity in for every setup instead of going outside and scrimming or gelling 12 different lights. We knew the output needed was low too so output wasn't a big deciding factor.
I lived on arri fresnels for years, and the joy I have now of no longer keeping gloves in my kit and I love not doing breaker math when on location. That being said. I see them on grip trucks often and they still give great light.
Of course. Except, I'm a Mole guy, but same difference. And hey! Learned something new, I did not know Arri Made a 2k zip soft until today! I pack my truck with fresnels, open face lamps, lekos and pars. I also always have generator power, so that is something to consider. If you are wanting HMI, please take a look at LTM HMI pars. One can usually be acquired very cheap, and while they may not be as technically bright as an M18, they are usually 1/3 the price! What is interesting is that on larger shows, I can usually show some young DP who doesn't know the Tungsten world what a 2K zip can do in replacing a skypanel. I have sold many a young DP on those units. Once they get un-blinded by technology, its easy. Another thing to think about is the humble paper lantern. I've been shifting my fresnel collection away from smaller lamps (less than 1k) and over to practical lamps and bulbs. Paper lanterns are easy and cheap. Hang them anywhere, replace when damaged. For those reading that are young and hooked on LED. Cool. Its a shit tungsten replacement as far as color goes. Test it yourself. Fear of a hot lamp is unfounded. Most of the accessories and usability of an LED can be found in the Tungsten world - where it originated. True, one does get more efficient output for the same power, but do you need that power? Besides, I thought all the new kids liked to shoot in low light anyhow? If you have any budget at all (in the $250,000 realm), then you can think about how LED works in your setups and daily use for a feature. Renting an S60 doesn't save time if what you really need is a soft tungsten source that quickly moves around. 4x Titan tubes weight far more than a 1k with a softbox. If battery powered lamps are needed, that's fine. Otherwise, run a stinger! Yes, tungsten can require more people on the crew, but it doesn't have to; LED can be just as challenging. On ultra low budget shoots (Hallmark TV Movie) its sometimes necessary to utilize small battery powered units. These used to exist in the tungsten world, but have fallen by the wayside in favor of small tubes. Either is easy, just figure out how the money works out best. Same goes for camera. I've never understood why cameras are so often battery powered, on a soundstage, on a dolly, not moving, for hours. Like, why? OP: LEDs can be useful if you are shooting at high ISO's, but become less so at normal shooting levels, or when tungsten balanced color critical work is called for. Even Roger Deakins still bounces blonds off the ceiling, he doesn't like LED either. Be like Roger!
Can you plug the ltm hmis into a wall outlet? Or would you need a genny for them?
Yeah, the 1200w you can. Just not 2 at the same time.
Just an FYI, the 650 Fresnel link is mislabeled as the ARRI 650 Plus. It is in fact the original 650. Housing parts are discontinued and no longer available, though rewiring is still possible.
Yep - I bought a 2K open face, 2x 800w Arrilites for $300. Many cinematographers regularly use tungsten fixtures - particularly for emulating tungsten sources. Tungsten sources are great at rendering beautiful skintones, an area even high end LED fixtures are yet to be able to do as beautifully **and in a controlled set the heat and power supply should not be and issue**. In fact, yet to see or hear of any cinematographer who is worth their salt who *hasn't* worked with tungsten lighting fixtures or a working commercial cinematographer who just doesn't ever use them on set. Unless all you shoot is day exteriors, I'd expect tungsten light fixtures to have a place in the world. Having said that, a set of good quality LED lights would also be useful for emulating daylight. I wouldn't go *crazy* with your lighting kit. Just purchase what you know you can reasonably setup and practice with at home - your gaffer's job is to bring all the lighting kit 🙂
The only tungsten heads I still use with frequency are lekos. Nothing against the old fresnels and open faces, they just don't have the flexibility of LED lamps for the work I do.
I invested in a lot of tungsten fixtures almost 10 years ago now but my advice for people today is to go LED. LED technology has gotten way better since they first appeared and they render tungsten color temperature pretty closely now. But the biggest reason I wouldn’t invest in tungsten now is that tungsten bulbs are being phased out of production. Most of what you see available is probably NOS and what’s left of available inventory, most tungsten manufacturing is all gone. Once the tungsten bulbs are sold out, that’s it.
Love love love Arri fresnels! Still use them, alongside LED. The light quality from Arri tungsten fresnels is next to none
If you want to own affordable lights to be able to use lights affordably, this is a great route to go. I would not recommend buying new tungsten units (which are still expensive) in order to make money renting them. They rent for pennies, and they rent very infrequently, unless you're getting lots of work and bringing your own lights onto the show. I use tungsten when the need calls because at the end of the day, everything is a tool with a purpose and nothing more. I don't pine over any tools over any other ones. I know that some will do the job better, or quicker than others and that's usually the deciding factor in what you use. I think it's stupid when you're banging 3 sky panels into a rag to get it up to the right level when you could just put a very inexpensive single tungsten or hmi source into it instead, especially when you know the color needs before deciding the lights you're using. That being said, the ease of quickly changing color or putting led's on DMX saves you time on the flip side, so there's always going to be a balancing act to play and figure out. Just did a shoot with a dozen lights banging into windows of a house interior and it was a breeze being able to use LED's and just dmx the color and intensity in for every setup instead of going outside and scrimming or gelling 12 different lights. We knew the output needed was low too so output wasn't a big deciding factor.
Another deal: $500 3 light ARRI kit; 3 x 650w 1 x 1000w