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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

General Lighting Terms

Jon Chema said:
Forgive my lack of understanding in this area but can someone please explain to me all the nick names of the lights? I'm having a hard time putting nickname with tech. specs. Also, are there different terms for HMI's v.s. Tungsten?

Example: Baby, Junior, Joker, etc.
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Well, you could look them up online...

The confusing thing is that some names describe the type of light source (HMI, tungsten, LED, fluorescent), some describe the type of fixture design (fresnel, PAR, ellipsoidal, open face), and some are brand-names unique to a company (K5600 makes the Joker, Mole Richardson makes babies, juniors, seniors, etc.)

A Baby is a 1K Mole Richardson tungsten fresnel. They have a smaller sized series of lights all called the "baby" size, so the 1K version is the Baby Baby.

A 2K Mole Richardson tungsten fresnel is a Junior, and the small version is the Baby Junior (the larger sizes are sometimes called the "stage" version, as in "stage Junior").

A 5K fresnel is a Senior, and a 10K fresnel is a Tener. Again, all tungsten.

A Tweenie is a 650w Mole Richardson tungsten fresnel.

Jokers are small HMI PAR's made by K5600. They come in different wattages.
 
I'd add that a 1K Mole Richardson open-face tungsten is a Mickey Mole, and a 2K version is a Mighty Mole.

"Blondes" (2K) and "Redheads" (1K) are names for Ianiro open-face tungsten fixtures.

Dedolights are a range of lights made by that company, the most common are their small 100w and 150w tungsten ellipsoidal fixtures.

Then there are multi-bank tungsten units with names like Mini-Brutes, Maxi-Brutes, 9-lights, 12-lights, Dinos, etc. -- often using PAR 64 globes, but not always.
 
I always rent a case with three tungsten 150w Dedos for all my shoots. They are very small, light, and focusable, great for accent lights on furniture, on pictures on a wall (they create a perfect soft-edge round spot on a wall without needing a snoot and you can get a projector lens if you want a perfect hard-edge circle or to use gobos.) They are also good for backlights, edgelights, eyelights, etc. Not really big enough for key lights unless you want a hard key/spot effect in a small room. I often use them with a blackwrap snoot to put a tiny little spot on things in the frame in a night interior that I want to audience to notice, like a spot of blood on the floor, someone's eye when they wake-up in the dark, etc.

The HMI Dedos are nice but I generally don't have to budget to subrent them when I'm getting most of the HMI's as a package and they are all ARRI's or LTM's, etc. It's easier to find 5600K Jokers at rental houses that carry other HMI's, a lot of them don't seem to carry HMI Dedo's.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
The HMI Dedos are nice but I generally don't have to budget to subrent them when I'm getting most of the HMI's as a package and they are all ARRI's or LTM's, etc. It's easier to find 5600K Jokers at rental houses that carry other HMI's, a lot of them don't seem to carry HMI Dedo's.
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I've found this to be true as well. Arri and Mole seem to be king at all the rental houses I've used. David, didn't realize you did Jennifer's Body. I was just browsing your site and saw it listed in the credits. I really enjoyed the cinematography in that film- cool to see that it was your work!
 
Jon Chema said:
been hearing a lot about Briese reflectors used in music videos.
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Take a look at b2pro.com

I haven't used them either, but it seems a lot of people like them if they have Briese / B2pro lighting available. And they're friendly with RED.
 
Jon Chema said:
David, been hearing a lot about Briese reflectors used in music videos. Can't seem to find out much about them other than the fact they have a very unique distinct look and very high price tag. ;) Ever used them?
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I think the reason that you don't find a lot of common still photography lights, reflectors and materials on film sets is because of a few factors:

Heat output- over long periods, is significantly higher than strobes (hence "hot lights") this has a major impact on the design of the lights such that many still photography rigs would be a fire hazard if rigged with the same amount of constant light.

Power requirements, to get the same aperture with hot-lights you need a lot more electricity and more electricity leads to very different designs.

Movement - this is huge, simple reflectors and umbrellas that can delivery beautiful light quality in a still image, will move in a simple breeze, revealing themselves as fake in a moving image. Hence grip equipment has to be much heavier and more sturdy.

Hope that's helpful. Definitely read the "Harry Box Book" cover to cover ;)

IBloom
 
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