Premium Member Adrian Sierkowski Posted February 10, 2014 Premium Member Share Posted February 10, 2014 Depends but normally I am using from 300 up to 5000W-- but it all depends. Sometimes I'll be using a 10K if I need to--but I am partial to 1Ks mostly because I am still primarily used to location shooting with 20A breakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freya Black Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 It would be a few cents. Really; the power consumption of such little wattage for a day is barely a blip on a power bill-- especially if you're @240v where the Amps are essentially halved-- though depends what your mains are in your country. Â Here in the UK, electricity is sold by KiloWatt/Hours not by the amps, although I suspect that drawing greater amps is likely to mean a loss of electricity into heat in the wiring. That doesn't get considered in the usual maths for this tho. Â It does mean you can draw a lot more from the ordinary household mains at 240v without running into problems tho. Â Electricity is presently very expensive here in the UK however. I suspect more expensive than it is states wise. Â Freya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Everything from 150watt to 12K. Although usually no bigger than 2.5k when there's no generator. It really depends on the type of lights you're using, LEDs and fluorescents tend to be lower wattage, Most common tungsten units are in the 500watt to 1k range, although 2ks come in handy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vadim Joy Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014  Here in the UK, electricity is sold by KiloWatt/Hours not by the amps, although I suspect that drawing greater amps is likely to mean a loss of electricity into heat in the wiring. That doesn't get considered in the usual maths for this tho.  It does mean you can draw a lot more from the ordinary household mains at 240v without running into problems tho.  Electricity is presently very expensive here in the UK however. I suspect more expensive than it is states wise.  Freya Just made some calculations, based on 17.7 pence per kWh using 3 lights 800w each for 5 hours continuous shooting it will cost you £2.13 in UK  Not that expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freya Black Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 (edited) Just made some calculations, based on 17.7 pence per kWh using 3 lights 800w each for 5 hours continuous shooting it will cost you £2.13 in UK  Not that expensive.  :) It does add up if you do it over days of course but yes, 3 little 800watt lights are not that big a deal. The average electric heater draws between 1KW to 2KW, so it's nothing that out of the ordinary.  I expect that is quite scary to Adrian tho as he was talking about cents, and running your 3 little lights probably works out at something close to $1 an hour!  Freya Edited February 10, 2014 by Freya Black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vadim Joy Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 If I understood correctly redheads are tungsten (3200 to 3400) lights, in order to make it daylight or HMI (5600) you use ctb, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vadim Joy Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Just discovered that HMI lights are actually dangerous, they produce UV radiation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 That's why you can't operate HMis without the fresnel lens or the glass in front, there's a micro switch to prevent you doing so. They're safe if correctly operated. Â Redheads are 3200k, you need either a CTb or a dichroic filter for daylight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vadim Joy Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 But why then people don't just use tungsten lights with filters to get 5600K instead of heavy, radioactive hmi lights which require ballast to operate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wolfram Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 "why then people don't just use tungsten lights with filters to get 5600K...?" Â those blue gels eat up a lot of light Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Brereton Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 It would be a few cents. Really; the power consumption of such little wattage for a day is barely a blip on a power bill-- especially if you're @240v where the Amps are essentially halved-- though depends what your mains are in your country. Just a note that electricity is sold in Kilowatt Hours, so the voltage makes no difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Earl Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 quartz lamps also produce UV radiation (not quite radioactive), but not as much as (unshielded) HMI. If you shoot artwork you'll find out. Â You can do a lot with 3 redheads and some scrims and diffusion. Keep some spare lamps around because they will pop. Keep a lower wattage lamp in case you want to use one direct with the others bounced or diffused Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 But why then people don't just use tungsten lights with filters to get 5600K instead of heavy, radioactive hmi lights which require ballast to operate? Â Because you need a much more powerful tungsten light for the same amount of 5600 light. Those large tungsten lights are just as large as the HMIs, which come in a range of sizes from 200w up to 18k, so they're not all big. If operated correctly there's no danger from HMIs, Â Here's an old thread on the subject: http://www.cinematography.com/index.php?showtopic=7957 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 A 2.5k HMI is roughly the equivalent of a 10k with CTB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vadim Joy Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 A 2.5k HMI is roughly the equivalent of a 10k with CTB. Wow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vadim Joy Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 Keep some spare lamps around because they will pop. Keep a lower wattage lamp in case you want to use one direct with the others bounced or diffused Yeah I think this is a good idea. I will keep them 800w as they are but will buy few 250w just in case I need them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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