$20 hallogens VS red heads?

sbaileymediaman

sbaileymediaman

Active member
I am using 500w hallegon lights from my local hardware at the moment and they put out a lot of light for my purposes but is it a good idea to upgrade to say RED HEAD lights?

Woul it make much difference to my final image considering the price difference?
 
The main difference will be the slide-in adapter on the front of the red-head and it will also come with a 3200K lamp too whereas the worklights are probably more of a 2900K lamp. Does any of this matter to you? Apparently it hasn't thus far. What are you looking for? More control? Well for sure barndoors and gel frames help a lot with convenience but the red head is still an open face flood type of light. There's no lens or focus control like on a fresnel. No precision mirror and lens like on a par so how much of a step up is it really? You ultimately have to answer those questions.
 
Just wanted to know what the difference is between what I am using and say red heads.

But I spose that what I really want would be a fresnel because focusing would be a big improvment and I would like to start using gels etc. In a nutshell I want to give more mood to my errier shots, etc.
 
You can still use gels with a readhead of course. If nothing else you can just clip them on with small clamps or clothes pins. Focusing is a definite vote for fresnel though. The combination of being able to move the light back in forth inside the fresnel and the special "fresnel" lens on the front make it a bit more usable than an open face light for many things.
 
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I've modified my worklights pretty extensively. I put barn doors on, bought balanced bulbs, added a longer cord and attached super clamps so they fit on a regular light stand. If i add up all that time and work I could have bought a britek 300/600. But I didn't have the money at the time, and to be honest I still use them and I am glad I took the time to modify them. The barn doors especially make a difference.

But the one thng that keeps me from using them more often is how friggin hot they get. Way hotter than any of my other lights. No way around that. There is also no place to attach a softbox.
 
Yes, its true, but you probably know about the shower curtain distanced a bit away to keep it from catching fire as a diffuser.
 
Jim Brennan said:
I've modified my worklights pretty extensively. I put barn doors on, bought balanced bulbs, added a longer cord and attached super clamps so they fit on a regular light stand. If i add up all that time and work I could have bought a britek 300/600. But I didn't have the money at the time, and to be honest I still use them and I am glad I took the time to modify them. The barn doors especially make a difference.

But the one thng that keeps me from using them more often is how friggin hot they get. Way hotter than any of my other lights. No way around that. There is also no place to attach a softbox.
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Red Heads could help to reduce overheating. There's a Ianibeam variant made of fiberglass that does not get so hot and can be manipulated with little precautions while shooting. Also, those can be stored right after you switch them off.

Lutnik
 
Oh, I have since bought other lights. I was just underscoring the differences between pro lights and work lights. Thanks
 
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