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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 :)

Planning to buy 1.2k HMI, any brand to recommend around 3k plus budget?

M

Mike

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Hi all,

Have been trying to look around for 1.2k HMI lights, the arri is out of my budget, have been looking at cool lights, but emailed them and there is no response.

Is there any brand worth looking at from my price range?

Mostly using the lights for my own projects.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
HMI reliability is a scary thing...

If you have the money and plan to rent, get an M18... everyone wants one. Easy to rent.

The Joker Bug 800 is amazing, small and a almost a 1.2k.

Others you might want to be wary of... deSisti ballasts are notorious for breaking, lots of problems. Electronic ballasts in general are unreliable. Offbrand stuff I would never trust, for an owner/op maybe, but still more expensive in the long run.

I have an old 1.2k Arri fresnel with a mag ballast. Bought it cheap ($700 with new lamp) and it doesn't hold a candle to the M18... 1/4 as bright it seems. But... 1/10th the price. Works great except for slow motion.

The first-gen plasma stuff confuses me. Unable to see the appeal unless you very specifically need that shape of light. The LEDs seem to have reached the point where they are more useful than Divas, but all these are for corporate videos, fast dimmable soft lights.
 
Ebay is your friend. People all over the country are dumping HMIs these days.

I disagree about the Matt's comment on deDisti ballasts. We own several and have never had a lick of trouble with them.

I have zero experience with the Chinese knockoffs.

Stephen
 
If you end up tempted to buy ARRI clone 1.2K HMI lamps out of China, there are basically two styles of electronic ballasts. The cheaper version is in a sheetmetal case with a fan. There is another version where the case is of the ARRI style and passively cooled. My personal preference is for the more expensive ARRI style electronic ballast. They are quieter. The lamphouses across the ARRI clones are of similar construction.

If you import the "offbrand" lamp and ballast direct from an offshore vendor, ensuring they meet with your local power and safety compliance is your responsibility. This will be a cost to you after landing them. Ensuring the lamp and ballast have not been damaged in transit is also your responsibility.

The ballast may come with a blue plastic Ceeform-style plug attached. You will need to have a lighting electrician fit a locally compliant plug.

The "offbrand" lamps may not be supported by an operator's handbook or leaflet. I ended up writing a rough one which I published on www.dvinfo.net/forum on the "Photon Management" sub-forum

I bought in an ARRI clone HMI lamp from a Chinese vendor "Steven Studio" several years ago. Before I operated the lamp, I inspected the lamphouse and ballast closely and found some shipping damage. I was able to put it right myself. The lamp has performed fine. I have just started a second globe in it. There is no Hobbs meter in the clone lamp so bulb life has to be estimated by keeping a manual record, monitoring the colour shift with a colour temp meter, or W.I.B.O., or B.G.O.B.G.. These last two regimes are otherwise known as faith-based management.

The ballast has been electrically reliable. The frequency-select knob may become loose with time and use. The metal knob attaches to a nylon rotary switch shaft via a compression collet arrangement. I guess that is to meet CE compliance in respect to electrical isolation from the operator.

The lamphouse casework screws should be regularly checked. They will work loose with transport and temperature cycles. The moving lamp carriage inside the lamphouse slides on two polished rods.

One of the rods doubles as a winding mechanism to move the carriage. The rod has a square-cut spiral channel in which two miniature rollers on pin-ends engage. The bearings in the carriage comprise simple holes punched through the sheetmetal.

I don't like the method. It is cheap but adequate. Over years of commercial usage I would expect that wear would eventually allow the miniature rollers to jump their grooves. Dry squeaking sounds may occur as the sheetmetal chatters on the dry rods.

You may find the spot/flood knobs come off or damage fairly easily. They look like and are fitted like stove knobs on the shaft ends. They are not ARRI-style cup and pin knobs so you cannot adjust spot/flood on a high lamp with a long pole. You have to climb a ladder or lower the lamp to reset it.

I have not played with Richard Andrewski's "Cool Lights" HMI models so I cannot personally speak for them. Anecdotally over time on various forum posts, the brand is understood to be well regarded.

Please take greater heed of others more wise and qualified than I, who comment on this thread.
 
Last edited:
Stephen Pruitt said:
Ebay is your friend. People all over the country are dumping HMIs these days.

I disagree about the Matt's comment on deDisti ballasts. We own several and have never had a lick of trouble with them.

I have zero experience with the Chinese knockoffs.

Stephen
Click to expand...

It is a known problem, well-documented by major rental houses that deSisti electronic ballasts have a component that frequently breaks and is unreplaceable or unduly expensive to replace. However, it may have changed over the generations and for a single owner/op might not evolve into a problem. Chances are you will be fine, but I still can't recommend them to anyone. Off-brand magnetic ballsts seems solid, though not always.

A used Arrisun 1.2k might be your best bet, or a used Arri frensel, if a bit of a reach.
 
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