Chris Schlaghecke

You beat me to it Tim, I would seriously look at the fans in the ballast, that is probably one of the only areas in the powergem ballasts that can make the kind of noise that Michael is describing. Check to see that it hasn't been dropped at some stage and that the fan is not hitting the casing. Alternately it could be the bearings, which is not so easy to fix, but if all else fails try some lubricant spray on them, preferably after removing the fan from the ballast! Michael, if you still need help PM me and I can shoot you the email address of one their UK service techs. The powergem guys are dynamite about their aftersales support. I have been in a couple of tight spots and they have been most forthcoming in their help. At ALL hours of the day! Make sure you let your rental shop know about it so that they can A: fix it. and B: perhaps do something about your rental bill...... Off topic a little......I have noticed lately that I get a large amount of ballast squeal from powergems if I am using a double ended lamp, especially in a strand 2.5K Hmi softlight. Anyone else noticed this? edit: fixed typos

Thanks for the tip re the 2ft 4ft mode and magenta spike, I had not realized that. I checked the ballasts when I noticed the problem and they are running in the correct mode. They seem to have stabilized somewhat in the last few days, so I probably should chalk it down to new tubes! They are running in an air conditioned studio, so temp is not an issue. Thanks Chris

I am doing a television shoot for ESPN at the moment. All the Kinos that I am using are new, the tubes are all ostensibly from the same batch, also new. They difference in the magenta output to the naked eye is amazing! some of them look fantasic, but the rest are just so different! I am finding a huge magenta spike with some of the tubes. I have a very good ccu department that I am working with and so far they have been able to correct it without me using plus green, but I was very surprised! cheers Chris

they are.... but they can create a headache when you have to rig 46 of the 6K variety in one set and all suspended from 45 ft! Seriouly, they are very managable fixture if you take the time to set them up right, i.e with silks/blacks, tartgets in the base, or raw even for an industrial look cocoon in half blue or similar. They do get kinda power hungry though.......... Cheers Chris

Hi Robert, just on the powergems issue, I have found them to be excellent with their aftersales service. No matter what time of the day or night I have been able to get answers and even schematics for their gear and various pigtails at the drop of a hat. The only problem that I have encountered with powergems ballasts was when I was running them in a 47 degree celsius environment, they were unable to cool themselves and started shutting down on thermal protect mode. Can't exactly blame them for that! cheers Chris

Hi Matthew, sounds like a massive rigging job for that effect! Is that the production in FNQ that moves down south at the end of November? If so then I am working on the same thing. The studio and location setup down here is Massive! Cheers Chris

I agree, I use spun quite a bit on outdoor stuff for the reasons that you have mentioned, but also because of the noise factor in diffusion. Sometimes in a windy environment you can get that horrible flapping sound out of diffusion, and when you are time critical it is often easier to use spun. Saying that, I love the look of 216 and 250, its much less harsh.

I agree Robert, but its not just the reliability, its also the color spectrum produce by the various types of commercial HID lamps. Some of them have a huge green spike whilst others end up quite magenta. I was lighting for a TV show covering an international rugby test, and even the lamps lighting the field had huge green spectrums. My only way out of it was to use 1/4 green on my lamps to correct the talent in the shot to closer to the background color, then CCU had some chance of getting a balanced image. Sometimes the cheaper lamp types can end up causing you more headaches than if you just used to proper source in the first place. Chris

Oil Based hazers such as the DF-50 will always provide a longer hang time than smokers, but be warned, in very large extended doses you can end up with residue on equipment, not very cool for lenses. I have seen equipment come in from niteclubs and the like where some internals were caked withoily residue. Once again that is in a large volume of constant exposure. Chris

Possibly, but its a bit hard to control, and your sound recordist is going to be quite annoyed at everyone sneezing and coughing....

Never heard of anyone trying the incense thing, so I cant say. I have always used oil based hazers. Perhaps try renting a Hazer for a day and try that. Something like a DF-50 or a Swefog. They are an oil cracker and give you more of an atmospheric look than a smoke machine. Cheers Chris

Hi Max. I presume the voltage over in your part of the world is 240v 50Hz. That being true, you might JUST get away with using the 4K on a gennie that small, but I would only think so if you are using an electronic ballast. We had some Filmgear heads and powergems ballasts that I ran a test with. Using a tong meter I measured the current draw on strike to be around 4 amps, ramping up to about 16-17 amps at full running temp. If you are using magnetic ballasts (if I remember correctly), the reverse is true. You will see a Current spike on lamp strike. Depending on things like the age of the lamp, and the condition of the capacitors in the ballast, this could be anything from 20A to 40A! The spike then will ramp down and settle at probably close to 20A. As someone else has mentioned, 5.5kW is the maximum that the gennie will deliver, which is around 23A. if you exceed the rated ampacity of the breaker on the Gennie, it should just pop, but you should leave a little bit of time for it to cool down, as they trip easier once they are hot! ( At least that is what I have found sometimes). As far as the honda goes, I think it is one of the best small gennies around, quiet and reliable, I doubt that you will damage the lamp by driving the gennie hard. With the later model electronic ballasts, they will usually shut down before they are affacted by under or overvoltage. Personally I would try to find a bigger gennie. To me you really don't have much headroom left to play with. I hope this has helped you somewhat. Please chime in anyone if my maths is somewhat screwed up..... Cheers Chris Australia