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Craig Ryan

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Posts posted by Craig Ryan

  1. Good for you to test photometrics.  In my experience, most gaffers and DPs will call a lamp based on years of experience rather than actually metering lights, and thats all well and fine, but its great to have some back-pocket stats.

    In general, it's probably best to do your own testing obviously.  Just make notes of the lamps you like to use, and that way you'll have it for future reference.  If you have a handle on the smaller lamps you like to use often, then it gets easier to "scale up" when the shows and shots get larger.  In general, for instance, the Mole and Arri fresnel lamps scale up as you would expect photometrically, same with Arri M Series HMI.  But, always test!  DP's (and other gaffers) never believe me when I tell them how much an M18 puts out in Full Spot.  If I had a nickel...

    Like others have noted, inspect the lamps optics, and make sure everything is clean.  And the bulb, of course.  With tungsten, remember that the lamp needs it's rated voltage to perform optimally both in terms of output, and color temperature.  Meter the line before you test, and if possible, while under load and see how much the voltage takes a hit.  If the voltage running through the filament is less than the rated voltage, you won't see optimum results.  LED and HMI are obviously not the same, as they have power regulators.   

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