Iwasaki Eye CMH lighting

[Dave Blackham]

Im looking for cooler bulbs for lanterns and chimeras. Any one have any views on these newer CMH bulbs in China balls or Photoflex starlight type fixtures (with suitable ballast) for use with Red, Iwasaki bulbs seem to be getting good reviews for high CRI and appear to be one of the best products.

http://www.eye.co.jp/sources/ceramic/pdf/p12.pdf

http://www.eye.co.jp/sources/ceramic/pdf/p13.pdf

There's apparently a version at 3500k also. The bigger bulbs seem not to be rated above 90 cri but id like to find a spectragraph of the spectrum.

Id also found

http://www.jemlighting.com/

who make some nice lanterns with various different fabric covers for their lanterns. I don't have any yet but Id be interested to know any pros and cons from people using them.

 

[Frank Martin]

I own over a dozen Jemballs, ranging from 22'-30", we use both tht Rip stop nylon and the muslin skins. The muslin skins are a little delicate and make sure you remove the dot to release heat. also get the black beanies that help control the light. You should also get the mogul socket reducers so you can put other globes of lower wattages or CFL's
We bought these for our fist feature and they were a life saver. They are punchy, very pretty round sources that you can menace arm with a double armed c-stand ... pretty cool.

 

[Richard Andrewski]

Iwasaki Electric (known as Eye Lighting in the USA) is doing some great things with metal halide bulbs. Of course all these will be cold start types so you have to wait 5 minutes before relight and need a good electronic ballast to drive them.

I personally think a 250w or 400w would be better in a lantern. You might feel that one 150w alone is too weak but then it depends upon what you're doing and you could always put multiple 150s in the lantern too.

If using the E27 base, of course get a socket with a high startup pulse rating. Ceramic 600W 250V 4KV pulse type would be a good one.

 

[Dave Blackham]

Richard,

In fact I was considering your ballast or the fixture ! My only reservation for the 250 or 400w options is I cant find bulbs of higher than 90 CRI. I realise the CRI figure is not all and that the spectrogram should be evaluated. Any suggestions on suitable high CRI bulbs in 250 and 400W ?

thanks,

Dave

 

[Richard Andrewski]

Yes, this one:

http://www.eyelighting.com/cleanarc.html

Its available in 250w and 400w and CRI 90. 6500K but that won't be a problem I think you'll find. Spectrum here:

http://www.eyelighting.com/tb/MH/CleanArc/EQS-N-52-78-57881.pdf

 

[Dave Blackham]

Here's another question, what frequency is considered to be flicker free for a ballast, assuming 24, 25, 30 fps, probably 25fps in our case. I see the Arri Ballast on their CDM lighting is 90Hz, Would say a 160Hz ballast present problems with the upper frame rates on Red ?

thanks again,

Dave

 

[Richard Andrewski]

Our CDM 70 and 150 drive at 110hz and there isn't a flicker issue at normal FPS. Overcranking beyond normal speeds, its hard to say and shutter speed is involved in the equation too. 90 to 130 hz is very common for metal halide. The main issue with that is the higher you go the more "bulb" noise you may have where some resonance is setup in the bulb and it kind of "sings" out so to speak.

 

[Dave Blackham]

For some tests Ive ordered 2800k, 3200k and 5500k 150w CMH lamps they are 90 to 96 CRI, Ill post some tests to show color rendering here when we have completed them.