Fay a day keeps the ...

[George Odell]

After a recent rental house auction I ended up with quite a few new and partially used FAY lamps in various flavors.

 

I was also able to fish a 5-lamp fixture out of the garbage for $5. Not much bigger than one of my 1 x 1' LED panels. Each lamp has a switch.

 

I want to have this system at the ready for the next time a DP wants me to rent an HMI for daylight fill. This is old school I know but I see no reason to rent something if this can accomplish the same thing for less money and way less weight.

 

The newer FAY's are light years better than what we had early on. The coatings last much longer.

 

Any one out there using FAY's these days?

 

 

[Phil Rhodes]

 

 

I see no reason to rent something if this can accomplish the same thing for less money and way less weight.

 

Presumably your new units are incandescent, thus presumably not daylight.

 

I have seen banks of HMI PAR64s in what would traditionally have been this sort of arrangement, but that's not going to be a cheap upgrade.

 

Is there some US implication of "FAY" that I'm overlooking?

 

P

[George Odell]

 

Presumably your new units are incandescent, thus presumably not daylight.

 

 

They are daylight at 5000K to 5500K depending on the lamp. FAY can refer to a particular lamp or the arrangement of many lamps in a frame.

 

These are the smaller 4" version lamps. The unit I bought for $5.00 holds five in about a 1" metal box

with a yoke, etc.

Edited June 21, 2013 by George Odell

[George Odell]

Similar to this one...

 

http://www.productproductionsonline.com/Five-Light-W-Five-650W-Dichroic-FAY-Lamps-PPI-FAY-001.htm

[Phil Rhodes]

Right, that's just a filtered tungsten light, so it's still going to be vastly less efficient than an HMI.

 

P

[George Odell]

Dichroic coatings as are used to today's FAY lamps are bandpass filters rather than absorption filters like gels are. They reflect unwanted wavelengths rather than taking them in to the material the way gels do.

 

While there is still some loss of output it is much less than using 3200 degree tungsten and a full blue gel.

 

Granted HMI's are superior but they are expensive (to own or rent), heavy in many cases and can be finicky if not well maintained. They also emit tons of ultraviolet radiation that's bad for both the eyes and the skin.

 

In short, FAY's offer an alternative in some cases that we may have overlooked.

[Leonardo Brocato]

i really love fays, and is very very good for you to have for this cheap price, but you know hmi are expensive to rent but here in italy an arrisun 1.2k it's more o less the cheapest solution more power with less very less amps, 5 for 650 and the amperes goes uuuuup, in a house circuit it's useless to have a single lamp 650w emitting less than a arripocket 200.

Here in italy arrisun 200 with accessories i'ts 50 euro a day. And could be also the price of a set of three 650 fresnel The fays will be very good light but i think forr a special use or setup and no limit of amps.

But one more time congratulation for the investment. The only boring thing it's the screw plug connector like ACL aircraft lamp

 

Leonardo Brocato
Gaffer Rome Italy

[Jason Fratis]

Was in New York a few years ago and was amazed to see banks of these still being used. I have also worked with a DP who still prefers 9 lights over HMIs. Its a pain to keep all the bulbs and to keep them alive. Had to scrounge a rental house to find the units and had to rewire them to make them work. Every time i turned them on another bulb was out. You might find it fun to fashon a chimera of some sort on the front of the unit as well.