Anyone Use a Britek 2K?

Rogue Crew

Rogue Crew

Well-known member
Hey all. I need to simulate some moonlight coming through a pair of sash windows, so I will gel with a Double CTB, which means I will need some additional punch. After talking to some DP friends, it seems a 2k open-face would be my best bet. Currently, I have a pretty complete collection of Peppers, but nothing as big as 2K, which I would normally rent. However, I thought maybe I would buy another Britek (got myself a nice little Britek 300, which works fine), since it's only $170, including the $28 lamp and barn doors. This one here:

http://www.rostronics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=RS2000BD

It's got a nice big face and should simulate my moon perfectly. Just wanted to hear from anyone out there with experience using this head.

Thanks
Rogue
 
Is there going to be any other light in the scene besides the moonlight? If not, you could gel the light with CTO, white balance to that, and then remove the gel. It'll look blue without losing the light that CTB eats up so you can use a smaller fixture that you already own.
 
I've got aBritek 2K - good light, and should work fine for what you're doing.

Unfortunately, it looks like Tom's out of stock on them.

If you have to rent something, I'd recommend an HMI: already the right color temp if you white balance to 3200, and uses much less power than tungsten.

A 575 should produce about as much light as that 2K before it's gelled - and about 4x as much after it's gelled with double CTB.

Joe
 
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HorseFilms said:
Is there going to be any other light in the scene besides the moonlight? If not, you could gel the light with CTO, white balance to that, and then remove the gel. It'll look blue without losing the light that CTB eats up so you can use a smaller fixture that you already own.
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Good tip. I once white balanced under a Double CTB. The room turned blood red! :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)

Raytracer said:
I've got a Britek 2K - good light, and should work fine for what you're doing.

Unfortunately, it looks like Tom's out of stock on them.

Joe
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Tom's not really out of stock, cause I asked him. He said he was getting complaints from people who were melting their household extension chords, and tripping breakers, and were also complaining that they were hot! So, he has them, but is selling only to the serious, I guess.

Apropos of that, I was recently chatting on my IM with a young fellow (about 16) and we were discussing lighting setups in a house, and I gave him the formula, Watts = Volts x Amps, so he could work it out for himself. He typed back, "What's that?" I said, "What's, what?" He said, "What's Volts?" I kid you not, folks!
 
No! I'm asking you: who is on first?!

That's really a shame because with a little care and attention to detail the Britek 2K works great on household current and puts out about as much light as you're going to get from a tungsten instrument.

I think I've only used mine twice in the last year, but both times I was really glad I had it.

Joe
 
Thanks y'all. I think I'm good to go with this.

And Ray, I didn't get exctly what you thought was a shame.
 
BRITEK! NOOOOOOOO!

I just got off the phone with the ONE person that runs Britek. This is the third time I've called to get a status on the 2 Gy-650's that I sent to service after using them 1 time! One basically caught on fire, the other blew bulb after bulb.

He said it might be July now, cause he has parts coming from the factory in China.

They won't send a replacement.

I know many people use these lights without problems, but save your money (in the long run) and buy ANYTHING ELSE!

This is a one-man operation - importing and supplying companies like Rostronics. There is NO support mechanism in place. And communicating with him is next to impossible as well.
 
Rogue Crew: It's a shame that folks try and run a 16 amp light on 20 gauge lamp cord on a 15 amp circuit that's already carrying a fridge, two TVs, a space heater and Granny's "personal massager" and when it blows a fuse, they blame it on the light, so the dealer has to screen his customers!

Got to go - gotta set up a 10K Mole Skypan on my dryer circuit. Hey, why's this cord getting hot? They lights seem to be flicke...
 
After months and months of blown bulbs, my 650 actually blew up last Friday. Well maybe thats a bit dramatic. But there was crackling and popping and sparks. Then again, the other three lights we had on the shoot were briteks too and they worked fine. Just from reading numerous posts on here and from my own experience it seems the GY-650s seem to be trouble. I hear great things about the other models, but whenever I hear a complaint or horror story, it seems to be the 650.

When my Britek worked, I liked it. I'm trying to decide myself if I want to buy another or not.
 
The GY 650 is the model that can take a range of lamps, right? I wonder if that has anything to do with their apparent high rate of failure. Britek also make a plain old 650 Watt.
 
Rogue Crew said:
The GY 650 is the model that can take a range of lamps, right? I wonder if that has anything to do with their apparent high rate of failure. Britek also make a plain old 650 Watt.
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Mine is the plain old 650. I think that one is the trouble-maker.
 
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