Alzo Hmi Kit?

Just a heads up; those aren't 2000w HMIS; they're "2400w tungsten equivalent" which is probably like 600w, or 3 200w bulbs.

Not so great, especially with the softbox and everything diffusing light so heavily.
 
I've seen those before on this forum. I know the "2000 watt" (really 3, 150 watt lamps that produce an equivilent of 2000 watts of tungsten light) model has a cooling fan for the ballast (making them unusable for film/video work with sync sound recording) The 800 (really 150 watts) says it has no fan and an electronic ballast. I've been quite tempted myself to give it a try but don't have the cash at the moment.

What I want to know is if the ballast is high frequency, or standard 60hz. If it's high frequency those lights would be great for those of us who can't afford real HMIs, but end up shooting around windows with sunlight streaming in.

I'd say do a search in this forum for "Alzo" because I think someone a while back on here got one of those and try to contact him for info.

Oh I just noticed on the "2000" model it mentions that the CRI of the bulbs is 85, that means you could get the dreaded green spike to the color. Of course 3 daylight color temp lights, ballasts and 2 softboxes for the price of one digimole 400 and ballast could be worth having to mount some minus green gel on the lights.

They also have a 5 minute warm up and cool down time. before they can be used or turned off and turned back on agian. Kinda sad that it has so many little things that would cause problems for film-makers since 2 grand for a 3 light kit would be an absolute God send for guys like us.
 
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I have these lights - there great!!! Yes, the Alzo 2000 has a fan, but worked great for a night fill light and indoors as a room fill. Fan is quiet enough if kept far enough from the boom. The Alzo 800s work great indoors. Barndoors, grids, softboxes, and the ability to use ANY standard light fixture (cord less than 25 ft) gives plenty of control choices. These lights are HID not HMI. Bulbs are less than $35 with 7000hr life and 5200K color balanced with a chromaticity curve that is superior to any 3200K even when you WB correctly.

Fitz said:
Oh I just noticed on the "2000" model it mentions that the CRI of the bulbs is 85, that means you could get the dreaded green spike to the color.
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Not sure why you think that a Color Rendering Index of 85 would mean a green spike. A CRI of 85 means that the light source is very GOOD at RENDERING original colors CORRECTLY when compared to daylight (CRI=100).
 
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taubkin said:
Actually, for film and video professionals, good lights are CRI 90+...
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An incandescent lamp, virtually by definition, has a Color Rendering Index (CRI) close to 100. This does not mean that an incandescent lamp is a perfect color rendering light source. It is not. It is very weak in blue, as anyone who has tried to sort out navy blues, royal blues and black under low levels of incandescent lighting. On the other hand, outdoor north sky daylight at 7500K is weak in red, so it isn't a "perfect" color rendering source either. Yet, it also has a CRI of 100 by definition.
CRI is useful in specifying color if it is used within its limitations. Originally, CRI was developed to compare continuous spectrum sources whose CRI's were above 90 because below 90 it is possible to have two sources with the same CRI, but which render color very differently. At the same time, the colors lighted by sources whose CRI's differ by 5 points or more may look the same. Colors viewed under sources with line spectra such as mercury, GE Multi-Vapor® metal halide or Lucalox® high pressure sodium lamps, may actually look better than their CRI would indicate. However, some exotic fluorescent lamp colors may have very high CRI's, while substantially distorting some particular object color.

So CRI of 90+ is NOT the entire picture of color rendering and a light with a CRI of 85 can look better than a light of CRI 90+.
 
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I have one of the Alzo 2000s with the 36-inch softbox and it's fantastic! Big, broad, beautiful light. The quality is excellent. And, I second SoundMaster's comments. I plan to buy two more the second they're back in stock.
 
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