Cool Lights CL-655

J

jzucker

Active member
I'm considering buying a CL-655 light setup to replace the 1000w tungsten light I'm currently using.

Will the 655 put out a comparable amount of light? I wouldn't want to go much lower as I've even considered adding a 2nd 1000 watt light.

Thanks for any info...

Jaz
 
On the website it says it puts out the equivalent almost 1.3k tungsten while only drawing 330 watts of power.

http://www.coollights.biz/cl655-cool-lights-watt-fluorescent-video-soft-light-p-32.html

If you're going to be transporting it a lot, you might want to look at the CL-655P (portable) model. It's 11.6lbs as opposed to 27 and supposed to be more rugged. It is a bit more expensive, but from what I understand the other model is meant to be a "studio" model.

http://www.coollights.biz/cl655p-cool-lights-portable-watt-softlight-p-68.html
 
From what I've seen, while a few people are happy with Britek products, the overwhelming majority are not. I've yet to see a negative review of Cool Lights (granted, there aren't as many owners, but if there were quality control issues I'm sure we would have heard something by now). Also, based on how much Richard posts on this forum, I feel confident he would quickly resolve any problems I had with his products.
 
Duff said:
On the website it says it puts out the equivalent almost 1.3k tungsten while only drawing 330 watts of power.
Click to expand...


Yes, but many flouro lights claim to have an amount of light much greater than their wattage but don't live up to the claims. If his 1300 watts of tungsten equivalence can be proven with a light meter it means a lot.
 
Hi,

Mine live up to their claims. The main reason is they use separate ballasts. All the Britek units and many others that use self-ballasted CFLs are more like 3 times. This has to do with the spec known as "power factor" which is the measurement of what a ballast actually puts out as opposed to its theoretical power output. The measurement is from 0 to 1. The typical spec for a great ballast is between .95 and 1. The self-ballasted CFLs rarely obtain a power factor this great though as the ballast they have in their base is a very "abbreviated" version. They simply can't compete with separate ballast units on output. Thus, comparing our units to a self-ballasted one like a Britek is apples to oranges.

Claiming 4 times tungsten wattage for fluorescent is not out of line for a separate ballasted unit. In any case, my fixtures are very bright because the chosen ballasts drive very well and at the top limit of what they should be at.

I'm not back at home base right now so can't do the light meter measurement right now. Please send me an email when you get a chance to richard@coollights.biz and I'll send you back the readings when I get back home.
 
Richard,

Are you around? I've emailed you twice with no response. I'm trying to get prices and ordering info!
 
hi Jack,

I've responded twice so we may have an email bottleneck on your end perhaps because I got all your messages and responded as well. Do you have another email address we could try?
 
replacing a 1k tungsten isnt exactly apples to apples. Not taking anything away from the coollights, they have great lights, but a tungsten such as that serves another purpose. Its why I own tungsten kits and fluorescent kits. They each serve a different purpose and look. It all depends on what you want the picture to look like. So don't consider it a "replacement".

I doubt the flo could give the same throw (light output distance) as a 1k tungsten. You also can't shape the flo in the same fashion. Its intended as nice even soft light. Something that is difficult to get from the 1k. So in this respect, consider the coollight more of an "addition".
 
Avenger007 said:
replacing a 1k tungsten isnt exactly apples to apples. Not taking anything away from the coollights, they have great lights, but a tungsten such as that serves another purpose. Its why I own tungsten kits and fluorescent kits. They each serve a different purpose and look. It all depends on what you want the picture to look like. So don't consider it a "replacement".

I doubt the flo could give the same throw (light output distance) as a 1k tungsten. You also can't shape the flo in the same fashion. Its intended as nice even soft light. Something that is difficult to get from the 1k. So in this respect, consider the coollight more of an "addition".
Click to expand...

No argument from me. But when I say tungsten equivalent, I mean tungsten in a softbox. Tungsten in a softbox doesn't have a great throw either. I know (and so do many others) very well that fluorescent doesn't offer the throw of a tungsten fresnel nor will it ever offer a hard light if you need that.

That's why we're coming out with the hard light series tungsten and HMI products. Because no one lighting technology does it all and they all have their place. Fluorescent always will be a soft light because its just inherently a big and relatively weak source. Hardlights like tungsten (or the more energy efficient HMI) can be softened but will give you those hard edges when you need to "project" something like a cookie or some really dramatic shadows. And LEDs have their place too in the scheme of things and you'll eventually see an LED product from us. But none of them are meant to be used for everything.
 
Average is 4 days to most parts of the US using UPS ground if we have the units in stock. We are mostly out of stock on everything right now because of quite an overwhelming response to our products. We are in China right now working on the next production and scheduled to ship our restock and new products to the USA very soon now--like next week is our target. After that the slow boat takes a while but with a bit more patience we'll finally be finished with this very long process where I decided to develop too many new things at once. Yes, manufacturing can be a very fluid process and can take a lot longer than you thought it would.
 
I suggest everyone go cool lights. I would buy them non stop but Ive already done 50k this last 6 months. Im over anything tungsten.
 
Slightly off subject - what is the best solution to shooting in an office building
with primarily flourescent lighting? If existing lights are somewhat adequate-
just add one flourescent fixture on a stand for fill? Will the color temp of the
stand fixture match the overheads, or are most fixrtures for video fitted with
bulbs that are closer to tungsten?
 
mainstreetprod said:
Slightly off subject - what is the best solution to shooting in an office building
with primarily flourescent lighting? If existing lights are somewhat adequate-
just add one flourescent fixture on a stand for fill? Will the color temp of the
stand fixture match the overheads, or are most fixrtures for video fitted with
bulbs that are closer to tungsten?
Click to expand...

I think many would say to relamp all the overheads with "known quantities" of tubes that are a friendly color temp and CRI. If I was limited on budget or time or it was simply impractical to do that, I would see what the color temp of the tubes was and match that color temp in some fixtures on stands on the floor strategically placed around the shooting area. When all the color temps match you should be okay, that is, as long as the CRI of the overheads is not horrendously low like in the 60's or below. 70's is really pushing it. 80's and above is about what you want for the least trouble. Many will say the 4100K of office type lamps is an unfriendly color temperature but I think that white balance solves many of these issues. Yes, 4100K is harsh to the eyes, but if all your lighting is at that color temperature, your video camera will make it look fine. But, in any case, I highly recommend doing some tests to see how it comes out and then figure ways to work around what you see.
 
I'm ready to buy Richard. Do you have anything that can go now? Even scratch-n-dent? I want a 655, 455 and a frenel
 
Hi Jack,

I had someone check and we have nothing in scratch and dent right now. Everything went already. As for fresnels, this is our first time to carry them so we never had stock yet in the USA. It's just a question of waiting now until the units arrive in December timeframe now. Sorry about that--hate to turn away business but I don't have anything yet.
 
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