$150 for a 575 HMI par?

The UV-Control bulbs I got were from an ebay seller and a best offer, but this appears to be the same model for a similar price:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GE-SHOWBIZ-BULB-CSR-575-SE-HR-UV-C-R-GE-40460-/122290019272

And here is GE's page on this model: http://catalog.gelighting.com/lamp/showbiz-lamps/f=discharge-single-ended-hot-restrike/p=40460

It's a GE 40460 bulb, sometimes you have better luck searching by part number than by specs since sellers don't always list them that well. These are technically phased out by GE, not sure if they were replaced by something else though.

That Koto bulb does appear to have the right specs, and interestingly seems to have a higher CRI rating, but I'm always a little wary of taking those too seriously or expecting precision from CRI numbers.
 
Thanks you guys. I actually somehow just snagged a Chroma-Q on ebay, like a week ago. I have been checking a bunch of sites everyday for a few weeks now and it popped up on ebay out of no where. The lister initially said they had multiple quantities actually, but when I went back to check today they appear to be gone. Strange.

I agree with the whole CRI thing. I was listening to this podcast with DP Greig Fraser (Zero Dark Thirty, Star Wars Rouge One) and he said he actually thinks a lot of low CRI lights (like 75-80 CRI) result in better skin tones. He also explains how the whole CRI thing started with tungsten, etc.

Thanks again Phil and Noah, you guys really helped out a lot with these lights. It's hard to believe that a joker 800 is like $7000. I mean, I know the quality is way better, but still.
 
I don't think the problems with CRI should encourage anyone to completely ignore it. A light can have a huge number of characteristics that cause its CRI to be low. Some of them look sort of interesting (arguably, things like high-pressure mercury, or even some cool white LEDs) and some just look bad (low-quality warm white fluorescent tubes, which just come off as a sickly yellow on camera.) CRI is inadequate to characterise discontinuous-spectrum light sources like LEDs and, to some extent, HMIs because it may miss problems, but within that limitation there's nothing wrong with it that would mean low CRI was good.

It strikes me as slightly unfair to suggest that a Joker 800 is that much better-made than an ETC Par, at least from the sheer build quality perspective. They're not comparable lights, of course, but both ETC, who made the PAR shells, and Chroma-Q themselves, are reputable companies. The Source Four PAR is of the same line of products as the widely-used Source Four profile (er, ellipsoidal, Americans.) I'm not sure whose ballasts the Chroma-Q lights use. In general, though, one of the advantages of these PARs over the far-eastern stuff is that they're genuinely quite reasonable products to begin with.
 
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Oh I'm not saying at all that CRI should be ignored or doesn't matter, just that I'm a bit skeptical of the precision of CRI 85 or 90 or "over 90" specs especially when it's from a manufacturer I haven't heard of. Generally I consider CRI 80-95 to be the "probably fine for most things but test it first" range, whereas below that is a red flag and above that usually comes with some much more careful design and testing as well as more detailed TLCI specs.
 
Yea I mean I still have a lot to learn about all this. I personally love Source Four lights. It's just crazy to think how the industry works in all it's facets. I know this may not be the best analogy, but it's like this one time, my gf was at the car dealership with a flat tire, and she called me because they basically said that she needed to get a new tire for $250 and that repairing the flat was not possible or advisable. I told her not to buy it, fixed the flat for $10 and drove everyday for over a year without even loosing air pressure (and I am talking about multiple trips back and forth from Boston to NY, over 600 miles each time, almost 25,000 miles, crazy pot holes, etc.).

I'm not saying the guys shouldn't have told her to get a new tire (obviously if you can afford it then why not right? It's a new tire, obviously it's better, safer and smarter to do, just more expensive). In fact the only reason we didn't get a tire was because it was too expensive.

All I am saying is that, I think sometimes people always assume cheaper is worst, and you can't always generalize like that. Like Aputure is a good example of that. I listened to interview with the CEO, and he talks about most of the time the consumer is paying more for the products because they are also covering marketing expenses for the company. Aputure apparently doesn't do any advertising (magazines and such) and so they are able to keep their costs down while still providing great quality. I don't know. Lots of factors to consider I guess.
 
barndoors won't work really well on the MFL or WFL lenses. I think monkeywrenchpro has some that will fit though.
just change out that plug to an edison from Home Depot. Do you need the twistlock?
 
Okay, I've replaced the twist lock with an Edison plug and fired this Chroma-Q up (I am still waiting for my UV blocking lamps so it was a short test). Lots of lumens! I get four more stops of light at 10 feet than I do with my Alzo 3200s. Color me impressed! Color rendition looks promising too.

But that fan! My unit is much, much louder than any computer I've ever owned, unlike those posting about it earlier. It's clear that I'll need to replace it. I'd have no problem opening up the ballast and doing this, but a few pages back someone mentioned a possible residual charge, even when the unit is unplugged. I'm no electrician. Is this something I need to be worried about if I do this?
 
I don't know if anyone is following this thread anymore, but I'll keep posting my findings.

I've opened up the Chroma-Q's ballast casing.

IMG_1548.jpg

The (very noisy) stock fan is a Sunon Maglev KDE1206PHV3.MS.A.GN with the following specs:

60x60x15mm
DC12V
15CFM
25dBA
3000RPM

I am looking at this fan Noiseblocker NB-BlackSilentFan XR-2 as a replacement:

60x60x25mm
DC12V
14.13 CFM
14.7 dBA
2200 RPM

It should just fit (there is about 11mm of extra clearance between the current fan and the first obstacle.

Only problem that I can see is that the Sunon uses a different connection than the Noiseblocker:

IMG_1549.jpg

I'm now on the search for an adapter from this two-pin configuration to the Noiseblocker's three-pin.
 
Yes, you should be careful. There are big capacitors in there, very possibly charged to more than mains voltage. There are a few ways to do this safely, but I'm not really comfortable giving that sort of advice over an internet forum.

Noctua make quiet fans. When I did this I had to rewire the fan to use a suitable connector. I assume the existing fan is 12V?

Edit: Oh, there you go. Yes, should be fine. Be careful around those capacitors.
 
Personally I'd just cut the wires and splice it together, but if you can find an adaptor, fine.

Bear in mind that 60mm is very much a small fan. Larger fans move more air for less noise. I wonder if there's an option to use something bigger.
 
@Phil Rhodes I don't think there is room for a bigger fan. Real estate is pretty limited in there. Fortunately, the new Noiseblocker fan is whisper quiet*. It took some creative thinking to get this new, thicker fan in there. The ballast has screws for the fan, but since the fan is so close to the igniter box, they don't allow clearance for a thicker fan like the Noiseblocker:

IMG_1555.jpg​

Luckily, my friend has a drill press. I removed the screws and drilled new holes, and then used JB Weld to permanently attach the new bolts and washers to the mounting holes of the fan (this was to keep them from spinning while I was trying to tighten down the nuts). I dropped the fan down into the ballast, lined the protruding bolts to the holes, and attached the nuts from the outside of the housing.

My one concern is that there's about 10mm less clearance between the fan and the heat sink/igniter box, so it may be a little harder for air to get over to the circuitry. But I'll find out if that's an issue soon enough.

Now I just need to get my Koto lamp and this thing should be good to go. I'll be testing it extensively before it comes out on a paid gig with me, but I am feeling good about this. A quick test that I did earlier showed that it pushes out 16x/4 stops more light than my next brightest fixture.

*Whisper quiet is probably an overstatement, but it is notably more quiet. I would think the noise levels would be fine as long as long as the mic was 8' away from the light or more.
 
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Hey Quickhitrecord, let me know how the buzz is once you get your lamp and switch it on if you can. I'd love to know what you think about the buzz. I just bought three Chroma-Q's and I love the output, the only thing I don't like is the buzz. I figure it's the lamps, except one is brand new (just bought it) and the other is used (came with the unit) and they both buzz pretty loudly.
 
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