Robert Hart
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2012
- Messages
- 1,258
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Q...Can I ask, have you tried down lamping them at all? Is there any reason why it shouldn't work?
A....I have not tried downlamping them. There have been times when I would have liked to do so but did not stock up with lower wattage globes.
Q...I saw in one of the threads you mentioned you got better light stands and C-stands. Can I ask where you got them from? I'm in the market for a c-stand and some better light stands and being in Australia (as you know) make's it difficult and expensive.
A....The same vendor, Steven Studio will sell you all-steel/iron C-Stands. The shiny junction bits look like alloy casting but are chrome-finished castiron, leastways on my specimens. They may have changed since. The swing-around legs are cammed. You do not have to unscrew anything unless you want to remove the entire base legs assembly from the post.
They are easiest to re-stow by turning the stand upside-down with the top at your foot and pulling two arms around towards you.
The 2K size light stand is constructed in similar style to the C-stand. There is a hollwed spigot receiver in the top. This as I mention is an unfinish casting corehole, tapered to permit release of the core pattern. The top of the light stand also has a small retractable pin for mounting smaller lights like 800watt redheads or the 650watt lights.
You may have to request them off-eBay with a private message through eBay. Not all of his stuff is listed. The guy calls himself Steven Fu.
The same vendor can also sell you AB-style or V-Mount style batteries with travel charger. He will even sell you a 6K/12K HMI electronic powerfactor corrected "as ARRI" ballast. I may keep this in mind if the 12K Lightmaker Ballast gasps its last. Thus far, with appropriate care, it has been fine. For now at least I do not need to examine that option. Don't ask me how I happened to possess a 12K HMI light. It is a long story, involves incompetence, is apparently started something of an urban myth but had a happy ending.
Steven Studio's prices are not as cheap as other Chinese vendors.
As for fresnel lenses, yes they seem more tender than others from ARRI. When I use the 650watt lamps, I take care not to flood as wide as the lamps will go but to adjust to the end then move it back a little. The clasps on the rear of the glasses are rather crude and tipped with silicone tube. I initally backed the screws off a fraction and locktited them so that glasses are almost slightly loose. The screws are a dog to get at. I subsequently bent the little clasps so I could tighten the screws themselves down to security.
It is not ideal and one should not have to do workarounds with new stuff. Since I did that, the only light which broke a glass was due to it being operated almost vertically up towards the ceiling in flood-bounce and that is just asking for it with any lamp. I am fairly practically skilled so it is not a big deal for me but for anyone who does not have practical skills, shepherding the Chinese lights may not be their cup of tea.
Voltage....The internal wiring gauge and the feeder cable apear to be adequate for task and have caused no problems. The cables are rubber insulated and may develop a white powdery bloom. An old-school method to conserve rubber cables is to periodically brush ordinary bathroom talcum powder on them. They may be less likely then to have a coil catch on one spot and chafe through. If nothing else, they should smell sweet.
Always get an electrician to rewire Australian plugs onto them. The Chinese plugs although pinned the same as ours are for power outlets set high on walls, not low on the skirts like ours are. The cords come downward out of the lower side of the plug body. They are quite sensible in that they sit flatter to a wall but are far more easily damaged from cords pulling up short or just being yanked. Tjhe Chinese plugs are much lighter and less likely to take your eye out when they baulk then come free when the cable is yanked - BUT - we are good practitioners and don't do that do we.
A....I have not tried downlamping them. There have been times when I would have liked to do so but did not stock up with lower wattage globes.
Q...I saw in one of the threads you mentioned you got better light stands and C-stands. Can I ask where you got them from? I'm in the market for a c-stand and some better light stands and being in Australia (as you know) make's it difficult and expensive.
A....The same vendor, Steven Studio will sell you all-steel/iron C-Stands. The shiny junction bits look like alloy casting but are chrome-finished castiron, leastways on my specimens. They may have changed since. The swing-around legs are cammed. You do not have to unscrew anything unless you want to remove the entire base legs assembly from the post.
They are easiest to re-stow by turning the stand upside-down with the top at your foot and pulling two arms around towards you.
The 2K size light stand is constructed in similar style to the C-stand. There is a hollwed spigot receiver in the top. This as I mention is an unfinish casting corehole, tapered to permit release of the core pattern. The top of the light stand also has a small retractable pin for mounting smaller lights like 800watt redheads or the 650watt lights.
You may have to request them off-eBay with a private message through eBay. Not all of his stuff is listed. The guy calls himself Steven Fu.
The same vendor can also sell you AB-style or V-Mount style batteries with travel charger. He will even sell you a 6K/12K HMI electronic powerfactor corrected "as ARRI" ballast. I may keep this in mind if the 12K Lightmaker Ballast gasps its last. Thus far, with appropriate care, it has been fine. For now at least I do not need to examine that option. Don't ask me how I happened to possess a 12K HMI light. It is a long story, involves incompetence, is apparently started something of an urban myth but had a happy ending.
Steven Studio's prices are not as cheap as other Chinese vendors.
As for fresnel lenses, yes they seem more tender than others from ARRI. When I use the 650watt lamps, I take care not to flood as wide as the lamps will go but to adjust to the end then move it back a little. The clasps on the rear of the glasses are rather crude and tipped with silicone tube. I initally backed the screws off a fraction and locktited them so that glasses are almost slightly loose. The screws are a dog to get at. I subsequently bent the little clasps so I could tighten the screws themselves down to security.
It is not ideal and one should not have to do workarounds with new stuff. Since I did that, the only light which broke a glass was due to it being operated almost vertically up towards the ceiling in flood-bounce and that is just asking for it with any lamp. I am fairly practically skilled so it is not a big deal for me but for anyone who does not have practical skills, shepherding the Chinese lights may not be their cup of tea.
Voltage....The internal wiring gauge and the feeder cable apear to be adequate for task and have caused no problems. The cables are rubber insulated and may develop a white powdery bloom. An old-school method to conserve rubber cables is to periodically brush ordinary bathroom talcum powder on them. They may be less likely then to have a coil catch on one spot and chafe through. If nothing else, they should smell sweet.
Always get an electrician to rewire Australian plugs onto them. The Chinese plugs although pinned the same as ours are for power outlets set high on walls, not low on the skirts like ours are. The cords come downward out of the lower side of the plug body. They are quite sensible in that they sit flatter to a wall but are far more easily damaged from cords pulling up short or just being yanked. Tjhe Chinese plugs are much lighter and less likely to take your eye out when they baulk then come free when the cable is yanked - BUT - we are good practitioners and don't do that do we.
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