Britek Lights... some comments

J

jchenier

Well-known member
I got my Britek kit in yesterday from 1080av.com, and here are my random thoughts...

1. No safety chain. Although on all their descriptions on ebay and their website, they just weren't there. I contacted Jennifer at 1080av.com and she said that Britek stopped making the lights with the safety chains a couple of months ago... talk about stupid...

2. The softbox is a bit of a pain the ass to disassemble, only because the lack of clear instructions from Britek. I followed other users' advice, once I figured out what the hell they mean't by "ring down..."

3. The 1000w Broadlight (my kit has 2) and the 650w focusing light offer a TON of light. The softboxes give off some nice, warm light and all 3 lights came with the softboxes and barndoors.

4. The carrying cases were a little disappointing. The stand bag was pretty standard, but the light "case" is actually just a gym back with some flimsy velcro dividers.

All in all you can't beat the price for true 3200k video lights. The stands are a little tipsy, even when I added sandbags, and I'm a little worried about breaking the plastic adjustment knobs on the lights, but at $575 plus shipping for a 3-light, 1000w x 2 + 650w x 1, what can you expect, right?

Justin
www.beyondtimemedia.com
 
Damn, I wish we could buy sets like these also here in Europe. I still haven't found any place to do shopping. :cry:

What kind of electricity these lights have? Could they maybe be used with european electricity also? :huh:
 
jchenier said:
I'm a little worried about breaking the plastic adjustment knobs on the lights, but at $575 plus shipping for a 3-light, 1000w x 2 + 650w x 1, what can you expect, right?
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You're right, you can't beat the price for what you get...I've got a few Briteks and I've been really happy with them.

But you're right to worry about the plastic adjustment knobs.
One of mine snapped off after a night of shooting out in the cold.
Someone had tightened it WAY too tight (we were shooting in the middle of the night).
By the time we went to break down the lights the sun had come out and it had become much warmer outside. Well, I guess the plastic expanded with the heat, and we couldn't loosen the knob at all. An overzealous crewmember tried his damndest to loosed it up and the knob just snapped off.

Granted, that's a very specific case.
My point is, if you find it hard to loosed you should definitely wait for the light to cool off if you can.

But with proper care these lights can last, and you can't beat the price.
 
When I got mine I just got the lights, bard doors and softboxes. I got some Bogan stands from B&H and just a trunk from the store to keep them in.
 
Im still debating an $800 charge from Britek with Visa, their product is garbage, I had two melted housings in one shoot, decided to return everything fearing a fire and/or electrocution. Then they said that there were scratches on the stands from us returning it which is insane so they will not give a refund so I'm here $800 dollars short and lightless.

Britek/rostronics is a shady company, beware.
 
Aaron David Lavinsky said:
I had two melted housings in one shoot,
Click to expand...

Just from them being on? and that's IT?

Then they said that there were scratches on the stands from us returning it which is insane so they will not give a refund so I'm here $800 dollars short and lightless.
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So you returned them and they say there are scratches on them, and then they kept them? That makes no sense.


doesnt' make sense to me. I hear wierd stories like this all the times on different things and it's either 1, some freak defect with one product or 2, people using them inproperly and then they get mad when they break down.

I'm not saying that you did do all that, but man I do see that alot.
 
Melted housings? Mine barely get warm. Did you have the right lamps? Are you on 110 or 220V? I had some minor problems with my orders (plural) from Rostronics and they were very quick and accomodating, taking my word for some things. I have seen LOTS of positive comments on Rostronics (which is why I started buying from them) and very few like Mr Lavinsky's.
 
Rostronics has always been very cool to me. My Briteks have worked flawlessly and I really have nothing bad to say about them.
 
Well, I definitely know how to use lights, I use arri kits all of the time and have NEVER had problems.

In reguards to my return, I sent the kit back after the melted housings along with the issue of a missing screw keeping one of the lights on the mini spud hinge. The lights were probably 2 weeks old when the housings melted and I was using the lamps that came in the lights, they were 2x650/300 combos that melted .I sent them back exactly like they came, except for the bubble wrap which would not fit over the deformed housings. I told them that they were not a decent product and I do not want to continue having them so we sent them back in with the intent to return them. They took the lights back in and have never put a penny back on my card. We decided to just debate the charge and have waited close to 6 months to get money back and...nothing.

in reguards to how we set up the light, we had it tabled on a C+ with barndoors chinesed and black wrap around the barn doors with a half CTO. My guess on what happened was that since the light was facing down, the barndoors were mostly closed and there was blackwrap around the barndoors, the heat must have built up in front of the lamp and since heat rises, gone up into the housing. This is probably what happened, although I have done the same thing with an arri 1k, a much hotter running fresnel and have never had a problem.

I know what I am doing with lights and do not mistreat them, I know how delicate they are. this is a problem with product and company, not consumer.
 
My Arri lights have never failed me! Unfortunately (or fortunately), I have more money invested in lighting than I have in my camera. Lighting is something that you shouldn't skimp on, because it really does matter that much.

A plastic housing on a device that puts out more heat than it does light, just seems a little crazy to me. Facing them straight down definitely led to the demise of Aaron's lights. There are times when you need to be able to point the lights wherever you want to, without dire results... like always! It doesn't sound like I'd get along too well with the Briteks.
 
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