Cool Lights 150 CDM frenels - arrived!!

PaPa

PaPa

Major Contributor
WOW!!!!!!

holly cow guys. I just have to write because i am absolutely BLOWN away by what came to my doorstep today.

They came nicely packed in a box, that was handled with much care. For those who have purchased the fluorescents from Cool Lights, you will not see as much TLC put into the packaging and custom foam cut outs. Mine was slightly loose but these lights can take a fall or two. Regardless they were packaged with foam and were handled with care.

The quality of the build is great. Very easy to adjust focus of the light and operates at the same quality as an ARRI! Y?es folks, ARRI quality.

Barn doors are also very robust. They have two screws on each side which allow the operator to customize the stiffness factor of the door maneuverability. They fit on the light the same was as Arri's doors do and they are built of the same quality.

It takes no longer than a minute for the light to warm up in intensity and color balance itself to Daylight.

I am quite used to seeing 650 watts of tungsten coming out of a Arri Fresnel, but for some reason this 150 CDM looks like it pumps out soo much more,, not sure why. It probably doesn't but man does that thing pump it out.

The ballast is a tank. It looks very robust and well put together. The logos on the lights and balast are also a huge plus, looks very professional.

I purchased two and they arrived very soon after shipping. He even sent me an e-mail asking me to write him once they are received to ensure that everything is alright. I wrote him back when they came in and got a response within minutes.

A+ customer service, A+ quality of merchandise.

Check em out guys, www.coollights.biz . Grab them while they are cool ( Pun intended ) or at the very least get in line for the next batch.

These two new bad boys are going to complete my lighting arsenal and will deliver the extra punch that will be required when competing with the sun ( indoors and yes, even outdoors at closer proximity )

Cheers!

For those who know the answer: Are these lights hot or cold restrike, and what is the difference?

-Jon
 
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For those who know the answer: Are these lights hot or cold restrike, and what is the difference?
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I'm guessing they are cold restrike like most HMI's, but I'm really not sure. The term "hot or cold" restrike basically dictates whether a particular lamp (bulb) can be fired immediately after it has been shut off (hot restrike) or whether it needs to cool down before restriking can take place.

Hot restriking is possible in some devices because the ballast and lamp are made to withstand the huge re-ignition pulse, however this still generally requires a small wait before the lamp can actually fire again.
 
and if you restrike too early, do you risk on lowering the life of the bulb, or impairing the ballast?
 
PaPa said:
and if you restrike too early, do you risk on lowering the life of the bulb, or impairing the ballast?
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First off, congrats on your new lights! I have two of the CDM's as well and can't say enough about them.

So, to answer your question, you risk lowering the life of the bulb by re-striking too early. I use a tungsten fresnel which can be re-struck instantly to figure out where I want to eventually place/flag my CDM's. Once they're in place, I usually just leave them on since the bulb life is so much longer and cooler running than the tungstens...

Cheers,
 
Hi All,

Thanks for your kind words Jonathan and that great review.

I basically build lights that I like to use and I'm one of you guys so I know most of you will like them too. I also use them on a regular basis so when there are rough spots, I note them and we smooth them out.

You'll here me refering to our metal halide lines as either HMI or CDM. So what is the difference between a "CDM" and an HMI because you may notice I rarely call this CDM 150 fresnel an HMI. That's because I am a stickler for detail and I hate it when companies like Alzo spam the term "HMI". I wrote an article about this last year for more detail on the subject. That article was the birth of our metal halide / hard light line which is far from finished and we have many other things planned there.

HMI is a brand name for Osram and nothing more than that really. But, it also denotes a type or class of quartz metal halide bulb that has certain attributes we can always expect when something says its an "HMI" or compatible type bulb. The first thing is that all Osram HMI bulbs are Hot Restrike, which as Andrew related above means you can instantly restart the bulb after extinguishing it. This is not just due to the bulb but also the ballast and ignitor so its the entire system that enables this. Another thing we can expect is that all the HMI line are 6000K in color temperature and the CRI is generally at least 85 or higher. Also, just so you know, metal halide can be dimmed (if you have a dimming capable ballast) but only down to about 50% (any lower and it would extinguish) and yes there are color temperature changes like all discharge type bulbs (fluorescent too of course).

Since I hate this spamming on the brand name HMI that all fixture makers incorrectly do (a fixture is not an "HMI" but rather an HMI compatible fixture and a fixture using commercial CDM type cold strike bulbs is never an HMI), I refer to the fixture (correctly) as a CDM unit.

CDM stands for Ceramic Discharge Metalhalide. There are two different branches of metal halide at the moment (ceramic and quartz--quartz being the older of the two and HMI belongs in that class but the only distinction is the hot restart attribute) CDM or regular "commercial grade" metal halide bulbs like we use are not hot restart and normally take about 5 to 6 minutes to cool down before you can restart them. Most metal halide ballasts will run either quartz or CDM type bulbs of the same given wattage.

For the record, our CDM 150 ballast has a timer in it. If you turn the ballast back on (or if the power just goes out and you have left the power switch on), the ballast will not reignite the bulb before about 6 minutes. You can verify this for yourself--those of you that have one. Simply turn the unit off, turn it back on immediately and observe that the bulb does not come on (OMG, is it broken?--NO). If you time it, you'll see that after about 6 minutes it comes on by itself. So, we have effectively guarded the whole system against extinguishing and early re-igniting which could indeed damage the bulb if it were not protected.

One thing we like about the CDM and quartz cold start commercial type bulbs is that the life is quite a bit longer too. Our 5400K Daylight bulb is quartz technology and has an effective life of around 2000 hours. Our 3000K Tungsten bulb is ceramic technology and can last up to 8000 hours. Compare this to an HMI which is typically around 500 to 1000 hours due to its hot strike nature.

Another thing thats nice about CDM / Quartz cold start technology is there is no necessity for an ignitor which only complicates the fixture and makes it larger. In case you wonder why some HMI's have a larger base than an equivalent sized tungsten fresnel, its for the larger area needed for the ignitor. This also necessitates that when there is a problem the whole system needs to be sent in for service as you may not be sure what is at fault--ignitor or ballast. In the CDM line like the CDM 150, no ignitor in the head so its kind of a "dumb" fixture with very little to go wrong with it other than mechanically. If there is a problem, 95% of the time, a replacement of just the ballast will fix the issue and that's a winner from a service standpoint.

So, now you know when you here me refer to an "HMI" fixture we're making, its really an HMI type that uses an Osram hot restrike or compatible type bulb. And the CDM ones in our other line are all cold start but with the benefit of a longer life (for those that care about such things).

Hope this helps.
 
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w00t. Ya this baby is sick indeed.

I won't be able to post any stills or footage with it within the next week, working two jobs and starting the feature in approximately two weekends from now. Then i should have something to show for it! :)
 
PaPa said:
The quality of the build is great. Very easy to adjust focus of the light and operates at the same quality as an ARRI! Y?es folks, ARRI quality.
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I am sorry but that is just not true.
Like all of Richard's products I've used they are GREAT bang for the buck but being as robust as an arri hmi... these lights just arn't.
 
Matty_g said:
I am sorry but that is just not true.
Like all of Richard's products I've used they are GREAT bang for the buck but being as robust as an arri hmi... these lights just arn't.
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No need to be sorry, because i have both Arri 650 fresnels and the cool lights CDM 150 Fresnels :)

What i like about the cool lights, the focus level is looser and easier to adjust.
The quality of the encasing is the same material, and the Fresnel lens puts out a nice even circle of light.

the barndoors wobble the same amount and are stiffness adjustable.

Regardless of how sorry yo uare, the fact is that they are up to par with the arri 650 fresnel.
 
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Cool Lights said:
For the record, our CDM 150 ballast has a timer in it.
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Hey there Richard.

Great info; learn somethin' new here on DVXUser every day :)

Just to make sure, have you always had this timer on the CDM's or is this a recent addition? Got a shoot coming up and I don't want to blow any bulbs or ballast...

BTW, looking forward to those cases from you...

Leo
 
PaPa said:
No need to be sorry, because i have both Arri 650 fresnels and the cool lights CDM 150 Fresnels.

What i like about the cool lights, the focus level is looser and easier to adjust.
The quality of the encasing is the same material, and the Fresnel lens puts out a nice even circle of light.

the barndoors wobble the same amount and are stiffness adjustable.

Regardless of how sorry yo uare, the fact is that they are up to par with the arri 650 fresnel.
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The build quality of my coolights 300w fresnel I would rate to be indeed very close to Arri quality. However, my 150w CDM falls noticably short.

I would still buy it again, and I am still thrilled with it. And it is quite possible that RIchard has cleaned up some early QC issues with his factory in this second manufacturing run.

If I don't give detail, I may be seen as not being willing/able to back up my opinion. If I do, then I risk sounding like I'm nitpicking. But we each have our own perceptions, and here's mine, based on 20+years in the business. (I've shared these comments with Richard already):

-The yoke on the CDM is relatively flimsy and was bent when I received it.
-The barn doors are lighter weight metal compared to Arri and compared to my CL 300w T.
-the yoke-to-stand accepter was not the same build quality or design as on the CL 300w T (or an Arri)
-The extruded aluminum portions appear to be lighter grade than an Arri and had a minor assembly issue (these sections were misaligned when assembled to the front and back castings)
-the focus knob fell off, right out of the box. I had to shim it with wadded up paper
-the friction washers for the tilt adjustment are flimsy and don't hold as well as they ought to. I'm looking into replacements, which should be no big deal.
-the beam is not as even as a comparable tungsten unit (though it is more than adequate)

These are not dealbreakers...in fact I couldn't be happier with my investment. This is a generally well-built fixture that is an amazing value.

I don't think it's Arri-class in terms of build quality, but I also think it is an irrelevant comparison for me. The relevant question for me is "does this instrument deliver a level of quality and value that allows me to use it confidently?" Absolutely.
 
Leo Versola said:
Hey there Richard.

Great info; learn somethin' new here on DVXUser every day :)

Just to make sure, have you always had this timer on the CDM's or is this a recent addition? Got a shoot coming up and I don't want to blow any bulbs or ballast...

BTW, looking forward to those cases from you...

Leo
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Yes, the first generation has that timer facility so no worries.
 
Many of these yoke issues were addressed in the 2nd generation of fresnels. In fact, the yoke has been improved to the point that I might also say I think its better than what Arri does on a 650w. I also noticed that the fit seems to be better on some of the extrusions in this batch. Its not intentional, its just normal improvements where the engineers involved knew their shortcomings or listened to my bitching and made the changes. All succeeding generations in manufacturing get the opportunity to have improvements in just about any product you can think of.

Perhaps more than any other company I know of, we listen, note user issues and address them in each new generation where we can. If you have issues with this, the important thing to remember is that all new products have points for improvement, and everything advances. If you wait until its perfect and polished, you never jump in at all. Same with PCs, same with cameras and it is certainly the same with lighting.

I would wager that if many of you were present at the first generation of an Arri or Mole fresnel (when they first came out in the stone age), you may have had some issues with those as well. Nothing is perfect in the first try. But, if there aren't some early adopters that go ahead and take the risks, then no one gets the benefit of the product at all. In any case, as many of you have noted, the first generation CDM 150 is very usable and is even well-appreciated.
 
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Hi Richard,

Just curious, am I recalling wrong or did the prices for the Metal Halide/HMI lights increase? I seem to remember the 575w fresnel was offered lower (around $800 was it?) and is now at $1599.

Reason I ask is because at the time you were saying that for $800 you only get the cheaper model ballast and that's just the fact of buying an $800 HMI and that the super deluxe ballast would be more in this new price range. The super deluxe ballast was the one I was more interested in, and looking at the new description I'm thinking you went with that new super deluxe ballast as the standard instead?

If so that's pretty cool, would you mind telling us the changes made (just the fan?) and what other (if any) changes were made to the other lights? (I think the 150 is more now too?)

Thanks.

P.S. Sorry if I missed a post discussing this already, I try to keep up as best as possible:)
 
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