Battle Royale: Lowel VS. Britek

compudork

compudork

Active member
After reading more than a few threads with specific questions about how Britek lights stack up to (or surpass) Lowel, I felt it was time to assess a broader overview of where everyone stands!

Now's the time to draw the lines in the sand: Do your loyalties lie with Britek or Lowel?!!? ...or do you have more disposable income than I and choose Arri or KinoFlos ;)

Here's what I'd like to know:
1. Of the two brands which do you primarily use?
2. Why do choose the brand you did?
3. Have you actually tried both?

My answers:
1. Lowel
2. Lightweight, easy setup, and never had a problem - the latter is VERY important to me...
3. I have never used Britek lights....but who knows, maybe the answers to this thread will change that!
 
1. I use Briteks at home and a combination of Lowel and Moles at work.

2. I love the Briteks because I think they're made better and they're cheaper.

3. I've used them both a great deal. I still prefer the Briteks. I've had no problems at all with them and I love that the fixtures don't get hot.
 
HorseFilms said:
1. I use Briteks at home and a combination of Lowel and Moles at work.

2. I love the Briteks because I think they're made better and they're cheaper.

3. I've used them both a great deal. I still prefer the Briteks. I've had no problems at all with them and I love that the fixtures don't get hot.
Click to expand...

NICE! How does bulb life/durability compare in your experience? The only real negatives I've heard are that Britek bulbs are too delicate and burn out quick - but this info is often quite vague....
 
ive had the briteks for quite a while, and never burnt a bulb out yet . through many shoots theyve worked great. I think the problem with the reports about briteks is that alot of inexperienced people have bought them due to the good recommendations and the price cant be beat.. of course they handle tugsten lights in ways they shouldnt and then are suprised when they break.. IMHO its a matter of people not knowing the rules of how to work with real lights.. IE : moving them while they are hot - touching the bulb with bare fingers. not allowing proper cool down and run times.. ect. i msure some people that kno what they are doing may have had a bulb go too, but that happens in all lights now and then. personally i cant say one thing bad about them yet. theyve been great.
 
I'm with ya, Neil. I've had mine for more than a year and haven't had a bulb blow yet. Everything about them has held up extremely well for me.
 
Neil, is there a book, brochure, or a post somewhere on this site that talks about the proper handling of real lights? If so, can you point me to it? If not, can you provide some more specific DOs and DON'Ts? You say not to touch them with your bare fingers, but what is the best thing to use when you have to touch the lights? Work gloves, a towel, Kleenex? What are the proper cool down and run times?

Thanks for your help
 
phillip, you should ask barry green or walter graff about lighting etiquette. im sure they could tell you alot more dos and dont than me.. i just follow the basic rules, and they seem to work great for me. when i bought the briteks i was concerned about some negative reportsof bulbs being weak and breaking so i got extra bulbs for all lights.. which is a good idea anyway if you shoot pro. but i got more than a few extra..lol anyway .. ive never changed one once.. by following these rules.

dont get oil or residue on bare bulb .. finger oil is bad.. any oil or residue is bad.. causes bulb to heat /cool uneven and break.

dont move lights when hot.. filament is at its weakest when hot.

dont flip lights on/off like lightswitch.. let them cool and then strike them up again. filament may break with rapid heating and cooling cycles. or abprupt tempurature change during cooling.

pack them tight so they dont rattle around

always use your head.. putting them underwater is stupid...ect.
 
Philip-
Always use gloves once you turn the lights on. Leather work gloves will work fine. If you touch then with your bare hands you will get burned. You don't even have to touch the light itself to get burned, so wear gloves. After you are done using the lights, wait until they are cool to the touch before packing them up. Do not fully close the barn doors (if equipped) while the lights are on and do not fully close the barn doors after operating the light until it is cool to the touch.
 
I use briteks for my own personal use, and lowell lights at my full time job.I cant say anything bad about the britek's at all, I am still searching for a gel or diffuser holder for them.The lowell's are very good as well, and very expensive.But they have held up to some pretty harsh weather around me for a few years now.
 
I've got some of both. I've got some of just about everything, actually, from a 1200w HMI and 2k Tungsten down to 250w Lowel and Briteks.

At the current time, I'd say the light that gets used about 90% of the time is the Lowel CaseLite. It's on every shoot we do, we wrapped a 5-week feature shoot and the CaseLite was the key light on probably 95% of the shots.

The next-most-used light in the kit is the Bardwell & McAllister 650. But if I had it to do over again, I might just have bought Britek 650's instead of the B&M's.

Regarding Lowel vs. Britek, on comparable lights (i.e., the Lowel ProLight 250 vs. the Britek focusable 250): Lowel gear is typically a lot smaller, and a lot more expensive. The Britek gear is comparatively huge, and much cheaper. The ProLight has a longer, more usable focus distance from full-spot to full-flood. The Britek just doesn't get hot -- its design is made of some sort of material that makes the body of the light cool to the touch.

If you need tiny lighting instruments, Lowel makes tiny lighting instruments -- but you'll pay for 'em.

If you want good gear that's cheap, the Britek stuff is far and away the value leader. And anything that can wean videographers off of those stupid home-depot worklights has got to be a good thing! :thumbsup:
 
I didn't think I'd be turned on to Briteks so quickly! I guess my question now is, what about the availability of accessories (scrims, gel holders, etc)? I've looked around rostronics.com and some other sites and can't seem to find anything specific. I suppose that's one thing causing me to lean towards lowel, is they have established branded acessories for their gear, and you can find a lot of used (CHEAP!) stuff out there...
 
Gel holders for the Britek lights are readily available at nearly every retail store in the country! For some reason, they are generally displayed near the laundry items.

200px-Clothespin.jpg


If you would like some with the Britek logo on them, I can draw... er... get some for you. I think they're about $10 each. Part number is C-47B.

Joe
 
HAHA! Joe, I KNEW I'd see a post to that effect!! And in some ways it was deserving...

Now maybe it's superficial of me, but presentation counts. I am going to use these for some contracted work, and with clients watching, I'd rather mount a proper gel frame onto a built in light bracket as opposed to clipping gels onto the barndoors of my lights with clothespins...for personal use, that's fine by me, but not in all settings...

Part of the problem is I'm youngish (25), and everyone around here seems to favor the local TV stations for production. To outsiders, it really doesn't instill much confidence when I'm jury-rigging gels on professional shoots, regardless of outcome...
 
Compu, let them laugh all they want and then tell them they can visit any feature film set they want and they'll see gaffers and grips walking around with c-47s hanging on them every where. At least thats the way it's been on both feature films I've worked.
 
..the barndoors of the briteks have gel clips on them. they work fine.. but your afraid about getting flak for using clothspins on a pro shoot.. when you pull them out .. or better yet. when you have your assistant pull them out.. call them c-47's then laugh and tell the client that they are standard film equipment and explain the c-47 thing to them.. theyl get a kick out of it, and feel like they know something.
 
I know it's the end result that counts, let me first say that. I've seen plenty of people with flashy, shiny gear that can't shoot worth a damn. But, whichever way I go, buying a light kit is gonna cost a pretty penny, and as such I guess I'm being stubborn about cutting corners for once...

I suppose I look at it like mounting a homemade cardboard sunshade to a DVX. Will it work? Yep. Was it a lot cheaper than buying one? Yep. Will the footage still come out great? Yep. Will clients be put off by the look of it? Probably. Would other video professionals care? Probably not.

Basically, I recognize that it's kind of stupid and self-absorbed, but that's my logic.... (plus I think the fact that Britek lights are bigger than Lowels in general has sold me for good on the lowels, so I'm just whining....)
 
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If you don't like the clothespins, use office binder clips. They're black metal and look all professional and stuff.

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Briteks

Briteks

Hmmm, I'm one of those people who reported problems with the Britek, but I'm still a fan.

I never touched the bulb with bare hands, or moved them while hot, or turned them on and off. (Although I didn't realize these had strke times.) I don't think it is normal for the bulb and the entire bulb assembly to break. That happened twice on the same shoot after hours of continuous use. (Maybe they shouldn't be on for more than 3 hours?)


I'm happy to hear others did not have problems. I am very new at this, but the basic rules were followed. However, I've never had problems with the other units.

I've never used my Britek HMI's yet, though, only the tungstens.

-Jerry
 
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