Arri HMI Fresnels

[Matt Workman]

I'm shooting a micro-budget feature and we aren't renting a light/grip package. We already have several tungsten lights but I'm looking into buying an HMI.

 

Visual Products

http://www.visualproducts.com/storeProduct...Cat2=68&Cat3=70

http://www.visualproducts.com/storeProduct...Cat2=68&Cat3=70

 

I'm planning on shooting the HMI through the window with the appropriate gels for the time of day. Is the 575w big enough or is the 1200w the way to go?

[Alessandro Machi]

I'm shooting a micro-budget feature and we aren't renting a light/grip package. We already have several tungsten lights but I'm looking into buying an HMI.

 

Visual Products

http://www.visualproducts.com/storeProduct...Cat2=68&Cat3=70

http://www.visualproducts.com/storeProduct...Cat2=68&Cat3=70

 

I'm planning on shooting the HMI through the window with the appropriate gels for the time of day. Is the 575w big enough or is the 1200w the way to go?

 

Is gelling the window necessary? Wouldn't one use the exterior HMI the same way for day or nighttime shooting? If you have to gel the windows, I doubt the 575 would be enough.

 

Since you are calling this a micro-budget feature, why not get a tungsten version of this light and buy a dichroic filter to place over it. I used a 1K tungsten with a dichroic filter and it was OK, much better than nothing but not quite as good a more powerful HMI light, but a heck of a lot cheaper.

 

It looks like those HMI lights don't come with a bulb either.

 

On the positive side that HMI light potentially can pay for itself a few times over.

[Rupe Whiteman]

... Is the 575w big enough or is the 1200w the way to go?

 

go for the 1200 - no argument! - much more useful in the long run and if you want to gel it you've still got enough stop - you won't with the 575...

 

Even better - if you can afford both do! The prices are good... If you bought a bigger tungsten unit, the moment you put a full ctb on it you're losing a lot of light...

 

Rupe Whiteman

Edited April 25, 2006 by rupe w

[Matt Workman]

I called Visual Products a few days ago and THAT day someone had bought the last of the Arri HMI fresnels and pars!

 

But I got the 1200w and 575w Lee HMI fresnels. They both have electric ballasts which is better anyway.

[Stephen Whitehead]

Is gelling the window necessary? Wouldn't one use the exterior HMI the same way for day or nighttime shooting? If you have to gel the windows, I doubt the 575 would be enough.

 

Since you are calling this a micro-budget feature, why not get a tungsten version of this light and buy a dichroic filter to place over it. I used a 1K tungsten with a dichroic filter and it was OK, much better than nothing but not quite as good a more powerful HMI light, but a heck of a lot cheaper.

 

It looks like those HMI lights don't come with a bulb either.

 

On the positive side that HMI light potentially can pay for itself a few times over.

 

 

Can you explain to me what a dichroic filter would do in this circumstance. I am not sure I understand. Is it going to simply be like CTB just more efficient or is there some other effect to it?

[Michael Morlan]

Can you explain to me what a dichroic filter would do in this circumstance. I am not sure I understand. Is it going to simply be like CTB just more efficient or is there some other effect to it?

 

Yes, a dichroic filter is somewhat more efficient than its gel cousin. Dichroics use a molecularly-calibrated coating that reflects part of the spectrum, allowing other colors to pass. Gels work by absorbing the unwanted spectrum into the medium and are slightly less efficient. If you've ever seen a FAY light globe, you've seen a dichroic coating on a tungsten light that converts it to daylight. (FAY filaments also burn a bit hotter than normal tungsten/halogen globes in order to get more blue out of the filament -- hence their dramatically shorter lifespan.)

 

High End Systems as a good article on dichroics.