Jesse Lee Cairnie Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 Is there any way to achieve this effect outside of buying used fixtures with bad ballasts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted November 19, 2009 Premium Member Share Posted November 19, 2009 Is there any way to achieve this effect outside of buying used fixtures with bad ballasts? You can try putting an ordinary shoplight on a dimmer or flicker box -- that works pretty well until you fry the ballast... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Evan Pierre Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 CFL's will also give you gnarly flicker if dimmed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Thomas Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 (edited) That's what I thought, but I tried that on a shoot the other day and it just turned off after I dimmed it down past a certain point. I wish I knew what I was doing wrong. Edited November 20, 2009 by Ryan Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member John Sprung Posted November 20, 2009 Premium Member Share Posted November 20, 2009 The emergency shoot day fix is to have a guy sit there with the plug and nervously interrupt the power. Flourescents draw very little current, so you're not going to arc and fry a prong. -- J.S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Lee Cairnie Posted November 23, 2009 Author Share Posted November 23, 2009 Thank you, I will experiment with Shop fixtures on dimmers... I was under the impression that if fluorescent doesn't have exactly 110/20v they would shut down.. none the less I will give it a try and see.. and I will pick up a couple bad ballast fixtures too and compare the two.. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Adrian Sierkowski Posted November 23, 2009 Premium Member Share Posted November 23, 2009 I recall on a set I had bought these $9 shop fixtures from Home Depot. They worked great, no flicker at all, until we had a longer cable run (and voltage drop) when they flickered on and off like mad. Worked perfectly for the shot and what they were doing, and they still work to this day. If memory serves, the line was down 'round 90V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Mark Wherley Posted November 23, 2009 Premium Member Share Posted November 23, 2009 That's what I thought, but I tried that on a shoot the other day and it just turned off after I dimmed it down past a certain point. I wish I knew what I was doing wrong. The range to dim CF is extremely narrow. If you simply slide the dimmer back and forth it will just switch the light off at some point. Instead try sliding or turning the dimmer knob very slowly. At the point it switches off tap the slider (or slowly turn the dimmer knob) in the opposite direction. You should get a flicker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Russel Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 I've used this unit before and it was the biz.... In London, I believe Cirrolite used to stock it but seems pretty rare... Don't know about rest of the world. http://www.movie-inter.com/en/products/index.html Cheers! Dani Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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