Arri 200 HMI Questions

V

Vintegreo

Well-known member
Hello,

I'm trying out a couple of Arri 200 HMIs. A friend loaned them to me and now I have to figure out whether I want to buy these or not.

I'm wondering how these compare to a rifa 1K or a Arri 650 tungsten or some other light in the Arri tungsten kit. The reason I'm trying it out is that more and more often, I find myself doing a corporate talking head in a space with lots of windows, and I'd like my key light to more closely match the outdoors.

I realize that ideally I might have more wattage, but perhaps something small and compact like this could work out well for my budget and would love to know where these lights fit in in other professionals' kits.

Thanks!

Tim
 
My .02. As far as HMI's go, they're tiny. I don't have anything below an 800 watt HMI. Rule of thumb for HMI's, they're about four times the output of tungsten, so those 200's are equal to about 800 watt tungsten fixtures. They may work if the windows are gelled/tinted, small or way off in the distance, but if you're really trying to fight the sun, you need firepower. With something larger, you're going to be able to diffuse it and have more firepower to combat the outside and make the source look more natural. Depending on how bright the exterior is(and how much detail you want to see outside/how blown you want to let the windows go) you'll probably have the fixtures close and spotted down or a spot lens on it and it will look pretty harsh and "sourcey".

That being said, I've shot with windows in the background using Astra's as the key. There are lots of variables.

I just don't think that Arri 200 HMI kit is a smart buy this day and age, unless you're getting a screaming deal on it. I had a friend with the two light/200 Arri kit and it was nice ten years ago, I just wouldn't buy it today.
 
I recently retired from shooting full time, but I kept my small HMI's. There are just so many places you can use a 200w HMI. Hair light, kicker, eye light, side fill using a softbox, background streak or object highlight. Your mileage may vary.
 
I'm with David. I bring 1x 200w HMI on all my corporate gigs (along with 1x 575) for accents or backlight. That said it shouldn't be your first HMI. Get something in 400-575-800 range to start with.
 
David W. Jones said:
I recently retired from shooting full time, but I kept my small HMI's. There are just so many places you can use a 200w HMI. Hair light, kicker, eye light, side fill using a softbox, background streak or object highlight. Your mileage may vary.
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Patryk_Rebisz said:
I'm with David. I bring 1x 200w HMI on all my corporate gigs (along with 1x 575) for accents or backlight. That said it shouldn't be your first HMI. Get something in 400-575-800 range to start with.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they would totally be useable in that fashion, but the thread starter from the OP reads more like he wants to use them to key with when working with windows/sun.

New, the two light Arri HMI kits were high. Now I like Arri and own a lot of Arri lights, but their small units like that, are a horrible value, especially new. Heck, new, single light 200 watt HMI kits are between $5K and $8K. That's stupid. But I just saw a very old two-light 200 watt Arri HMI kit on eBay for $499...
 
I just had a shoot in South America where the subject was seated in a museum and out the window what the famous Sugarloaf peak in Rio that the producer and director wanted to see in the BG. I tried keying with an Arri 575 HMI and used the 200 watty HMI for fill. Great little light but to begin to compete with sunlight through windows, you need minimum 800 watts and better would be a 1200 watt PAR. Even the 575 was not enough to do what I wanrted to do and I had to supplement the 575 HMI key source with two of my LED panels, bare and only about 2' off camera. 200 watt is a great light but not very powerful, I agree with David, very nice for hair/rim or throwing some patterns on a wall but too small for keying when daylight is part of the equation.
 
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