Hello, I've been scouring for some info on the usefulness of these lights, and found a variety of answers which haven't answered everything yet.
I noticed there are some metal halide lamps for sale locally.
http://tucson.craigslist.org/mat/3725934718.html
http://tucson.craigslist.org/bfs/3726091526.html
For $45, 1000w of that type of light must be very powerful. It's the one I'm primarily interested in. I like to rely as much on my tungsten I can. But I only have up to a 2kw which could probably handle backlight well, but not much else, plus, what if I have a larger area and I need a stronger rim of light, etc..
I have little experience lighting this style... I admire the look on "Last of the Mohicans" as it's very natural and convincing, yet there is obviously powerful lights.
1:07 is a great look.
I can see it would require 2 units for the kicker (or is it rim?) and top light, which is not actually natural, yet it still looks absolutely convincing because the top appears to come from the kicker's direction. Another unit for the fill, and I think a little white edge light to motivate the fill. I am wondering if similar results could be had with the likes of 3-4 1kw MH lights arranged properly.
These lights are appealing because they are dirt cheap compared to HMI's, and even with a 4000k temp, it leaves room good room for temp changes. I don't know what type, if any, color casts will be involved, I speculate +magenta might help if so? Again, I don't know how useful or practical such lamps may be. Another issue is mounting.. how the heck would I stick one on a stand? They're meant to be "bay lights".
If everything is out the window, I would hope at least some of the smaller units (400w or 250w) would serve as good practicals in an urban setting, not necessarily doing much illumination. I have seen this done and it typically looks more cyan than blue, which makes me wonder how to get it true blue. Terminator 2 also used MH's I believe, and it added to the cold, already cyanic atmosphere.
Thanks for all the help.