David G. Smith
Steak Knife Member
Sorry for the dime novel thread title, but it is true. Stay with me.
I am setting up to shoot a rather large night exterior scene that I have to do very low budget and I have been looking for some inexpensive bulbs and fixtures to use. Now, I have a light kit of more conventional lights that I will use to light the base action area of a night exterior scene. The thing is, as anyone who has shot a night exterior knows, there is a need for much more lighting gear than you first realize. To add depth to a scene it is sometimes necessary to throw light in a lot of different places over a rather large area, such as light for an architectural wash on structures in the background, as a back light for trees, lights to punch up street lighting, lights coming out of windows or what ever. Doing this with conventional lights can be prohibitively expensive for those of us who work low budget. So, I have been a "Man on a mission" searching high and low for some low cost, high powered lights that I could have in my kit so I can do night exteriors better.
Well, I have found a solution that I am excited about and I wanted to share.
What I have found is the Halco 104042, 500 Watt, R40 shaped bulb. The bulbs are designed and sold as replacement bulbs for swimming pool lighting (I told you I was a "Man on a mission" on the search!).
Here is a link to the specs:
http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/2925/HALCO-104042.html
And an Amazon link for ordering:
http://www.amazon.com/Halco-104042-R40FL500-Reflector-Flood/dp/B0002Z0MJW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&m=A1OKQR6K61KBEK&s=hi&qid=1342066229&sr=1-4
The bulbs are 120 volts, and have a standard E-26 medium base socket (Normal household bulb socket). They are NOT photo floods, which I did not want to deal with, so they SHOULD not have the dreaded color change shift over their lifetimes like photo floods do. They also have a rated light life of 2000 hours, and not the very short life span of photo floods.
I have been testing them and I have to say that I have fallen in love with these little lights.
They are frosted bulbs and have a huge beam spread that is very, very smooth. I have shoot some controlled test footage with them and ran it through the scopes in FCP and they have a color temp of 3000K. The quality of the light is very much like a good soft white household bulb, but with much more punch. I have tested the photometrics in various configurations and they are very impressive for a frosted bulb (See below). I have high wattage E-26 base socket set ups for single, double and four bulb configurations that are light weight and compact and these will make great lights. Because of the color temp, I think that these bulbs, appropriately gelled (With a combination of some CTO and Straw colored gels) , could easily match sodium vapor street lighting, at a very low cost.
That is the best part, they are CRAZY CHEAP! They are available, as noted above, for less than $9.00 a bulb. So, like I said in the thread title, you can get 10 of these lights, for a total of 5000 watts of light, for about $90.00. That is hard to beat.
Here are some configurations that I plan on using, with their photometrics. Now, the photometrics are direct readings from a Sekonic L-398A meter and the f stops listed are close approximations that I have come up with in testing.
First is in a standard high wattage scoop light:
Photometrics, direct light:
Photometrics using the light from a bounce source:
In a two bulb high wattage fixture:
Two light photometrics:
Two light photometrics from a bounce source:
And in a 4 light confirguration:
4 light photometrics, direct lighting:
4 light photometrics, bounce source:
Just as an FYI, the two light and four light fixtures are vintage movie lights that I picked up off of eBay. I have collected a lot of fixtures like this and made a rule to never spend more than $20.00 on them. Go to eBay and search "Movie Light" in "Cameras and photo". These vintage fixtures almost always have a 1/4 20 screw hole in them and to make them useable for lighting, I have picked up some umbrella light stand adapters:
These come with spigots:
that I screw into the 1/4 20 tap in the base of the light fixture and secure in the umbrella stand adapters. The adapters give me the ability to tilt the fixtures as needed.
I just wanted to share this. Like I have said, I have been searching for some low cost alternatives for lighting and I am excited about these inexpensive, but powerful bulbs. What really impresses me is the very, very smooth, wide, beam pattern of these lights. I have tested quite a few low cost bulbs and most of them do not have smooth light over their entire beam spread. The Halco lights are an exception and are very smooth. Of course, with a wide beam spread, control is an issue, but that is true with most lights actually. Being able to put powerful smooth lights in small light weight fixtures that can be mounted almost anywhere is very handy. For DIY savvy types, getting high wattage sockets and wiring up some batten lights or the like, should be no problem. These bulbs would be great for use in a "Covered Wagon" type light also,
http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/node/16688
I got these bulbs for use on a specific shoot, a night exterior, but I think that I will be using them more and more for all kinds of different types of situations.
Just thought I would share.
I am setting up to shoot a rather large night exterior scene that I have to do very low budget and I have been looking for some inexpensive bulbs and fixtures to use. Now, I have a light kit of more conventional lights that I will use to light the base action area of a night exterior scene. The thing is, as anyone who has shot a night exterior knows, there is a need for much more lighting gear than you first realize. To add depth to a scene it is sometimes necessary to throw light in a lot of different places over a rather large area, such as light for an architectural wash on structures in the background, as a back light for trees, lights to punch up street lighting, lights coming out of windows or what ever. Doing this with conventional lights can be prohibitively expensive for those of us who work low budget. So, I have been a "Man on a mission" searching high and low for some low cost, high powered lights that I could have in my kit so I can do night exteriors better.
Well, I have found a solution that I am excited about and I wanted to share.
What I have found is the Halco 104042, 500 Watt, R40 shaped bulb. The bulbs are designed and sold as replacement bulbs for swimming pool lighting (I told you I was a "Man on a mission" on the search!).
Here is a link to the specs:
http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/2925/HALCO-104042.html
And an Amazon link for ordering:
http://www.amazon.com/Halco-104042-R40FL500-Reflector-Flood/dp/B0002Z0MJW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&m=A1OKQR6K61KBEK&s=hi&qid=1342066229&sr=1-4
The bulbs are 120 volts, and have a standard E-26 medium base socket (Normal household bulb socket). They are NOT photo floods, which I did not want to deal with, so they SHOULD not have the dreaded color change shift over their lifetimes like photo floods do. They also have a rated light life of 2000 hours, and not the very short life span of photo floods.
I have been testing them and I have to say that I have fallen in love with these little lights.
They are frosted bulbs and have a huge beam spread that is very, very smooth. I have shoot some controlled test footage with them and ran it through the scopes in FCP and they have a color temp of 3000K. The quality of the light is very much like a good soft white household bulb, but with much more punch. I have tested the photometrics in various configurations and they are very impressive for a frosted bulb (See below). I have high wattage E-26 base socket set ups for single, double and four bulb configurations that are light weight and compact and these will make great lights. Because of the color temp, I think that these bulbs, appropriately gelled (With a combination of some CTO and Straw colored gels) , could easily match sodium vapor street lighting, at a very low cost.
That is the best part, they are CRAZY CHEAP! They are available, as noted above, for less than $9.00 a bulb. So, like I said in the thread title, you can get 10 of these lights, for a total of 5000 watts of light, for about $90.00. That is hard to beat.
Here are some configurations that I plan on using, with their photometrics. Now, the photometrics are direct readings from a Sekonic L-398A meter and the f stops listed are close approximations that I have come up with in testing.
First is in a standard high wattage scoop light:
Photometrics, direct light:
Photometrics using the light from a bounce source:
In a two bulb high wattage fixture:
Two light photometrics:
Two light photometrics from a bounce source:
And in a 4 light confirguration:
4 light photometrics, direct lighting:
4 light photometrics, bounce source:
Just as an FYI, the two light and four light fixtures are vintage movie lights that I picked up off of eBay. I have collected a lot of fixtures like this and made a rule to never spend more than $20.00 on them. Go to eBay and search "Movie Light" in "Cameras and photo". These vintage fixtures almost always have a 1/4 20 screw hole in them and to make them useable for lighting, I have picked up some umbrella light stand adapters:
These come with spigots:
that I screw into the 1/4 20 tap in the base of the light fixture and secure in the umbrella stand adapters. The adapters give me the ability to tilt the fixtures as needed.
I just wanted to share this. Like I have said, I have been searching for some low cost alternatives for lighting and I am excited about these inexpensive, but powerful bulbs. What really impresses me is the very, very smooth, wide, beam pattern of these lights. I have tested quite a few low cost bulbs and most of them do not have smooth light over their entire beam spread. The Halco lights are an exception and are very smooth. Of course, with a wide beam spread, control is an issue, but that is true with most lights actually. Being able to put powerful smooth lights in small light weight fixtures that can be mounted almost anywhere is very handy. For DIY savvy types, getting high wattage sockets and wiring up some batten lights or the like, should be no problem. These bulbs would be great for use in a "Covered Wagon" type light also,
http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/node/16688
I got these bulbs for use on a specific shoot, a night exterior, but I think that I will be using them more and more for all kinds of different types of situations.
Just thought I would share.
Last edited:
hehe