Another Lighting Kit Question here: Coolight Kit or Britek Kit?

Tungsten can be a good way to go when you're on a budget. In addition, we just ran out of the CL-MF0150 today. The last 4 went out to one customer. Once these reviews hit they started going out 3 or 4 at a time instead of 1 or 2 like in the beginning.

We'll have more CDM 150s in April hopefully. I've already launched another order but the lead time is a bit long when you include shipping en masse to the USA
 
Hey Richard, how many CL-455 do you have left? I'm hoping to pick one up in maybe a month but not sure how the supply situation is.
 
I've got quite a few of the metal studio CL-455. The new portable plastic CL-455P and PMD are moving much quicker for some reason ;-)
 
Probably not before April. It takes about a month to make them and a month to ship them unfortunately as we ship by sea and in large quantity.
 
Aww. Well, my fault for hesitating even with a low quantity warning. =D

Guess it's a full month wait on lighting.
 
i think going with fluors to start building out your package is worth the wait.

get the different set of bulbs and then, if you want to add a few tungstens here and there to light larger areas, you can build up a supplemental lighting package more cheaply. but you want your core 'workhorse' package to be the best.

i did this backwards and i was glad to get the fluors and keep everyone a lot cooler! the 2/4 bulbs are also much nicer to cart around.
 
Cool Lights said:
I've got quite a few of the metal studio CL-455. The new portable plastic CL-455P and PMD are moving much quicker for some reason ;-)
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You know, I don't find that the CL-455 is too heavy, and you can turn off one set of tubes for less light. I think that most people can manage the size of the light, it's one of my favorites.

Keep in mind that the softbox fixtures are great - they really do throw a TON of light...
 
Just remember though, anything like the original studio model CL-455 with large surfaces that are powder coated aren't really meant for hauling around in and out of cars and such. It's really mostly meant to sit on a stand or a grid in the studio and will look a bit scratched up after a while if its not really taken care of well. Also, with the yoke, its tougher to find a carrying case for it. Our new portables were really designed more for the road.
 
I guess you've ruled Britek out. That's good, because those 300/600s and 300w "focusing" open face are pure rubbish. They are worse than not having a light at all.

So what is great and will not let you down? Altman L Series is excellent - I would rate them better than... Arri in the focus mechanism department. I wanted Altman Ls, but my local Barbizon doesn't stock them. They order them. So, my light kit is Arri, which I know I'll never regret. The 650, 300 and 150s are top, top-notch and worth the premium you'll pay - once.

Make sure you're buying something that you can have serviced and that you can rely on. Downtime because of faulty, shoddy fixtures is completely unacceptable on a set.

e
 
I haven't exactly ruled them out, per say. Just that I have some thoughts on Fluo in general. Hairbrained.

Gonna be a serious wait til the 150's hit.
 
Okay so Cool Lights rock hard.

Got to play with the 2 x 55 bank and the CDM150 outdoors on a rooftop... I had NO idea what I was doing but these things kick ass.

Thanks for the great suggestions in this thread! I know I've made the right choice.
 
jdajda said:
would your budget allow for some CDM/HMI's? I just got my cdm150 from Richard and this thing is fantastic and eerily cool in heat output. His 575w HMI looks impressive too. If it was strictly interviews you could get away with just coollights... Perhaps get some large tungsten fresnels from Richard and get daylight and tungsten balanced flo bulbs so you can have tungsten if you need the power. The CDM's are available in tungsten balanced as well - or just gel em down.
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I just bought 4 cool lights CDMs fresnels from Richard at Coollights.biz and love them! I live in the desert so I wanted something cool (temp.) since fighting heat here in the summer is hard enough without super hot tungstens. If you can afford them, I'd highly recommend them. Richard has been great to work with and totally stepped up to the plate when I had a minor glitch.

Lloyd
 
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