Cool Lights Question

Kevin Wells

Kevin Wells

Well-known member
Hi all.

I am looking to purchase several lights, and I am pretty much sold on going with Cool Lights. I had been barely getting by with several Britek lights, until they pretty much all broke or the bulbs kept blowing out way too quickly. I light mostly interviews, so this isn't really needed yet for narrative filming.

My questions are:

- I was planning on purchasing one of the CL-SFT1 lights to hold me over until I can purchase several of the flo's. Do any users have reviews or comments on how they like/dislike this light?

- I am looking to purchase 1 CL-255P and 1 CL-455P portable flo lights. I am questioning whether I need the dimmable versions, or whether the non-dimming ones would be fine. Do any users have suggestions based on experience with these lights? I'd prefer to save money and get the non-dim versions, but am open to suggestions.

Thanks in advance.
 
the thing about the dimmable versions is you always have to worry about color temperature changing.

I would suggest going with 2 of the 4x55 as they have switches that act similarly to a dimmer in the sense that you can control the intensity of the lamps from 1-4 bulbs while keeping the color temp constant.
 
PaPa said:
the thing about the dimmable versions is you always have to worry about color temperature changing.

I would suggest going with 2 of the 4x55 as they have switches that act similarly to a dimmer in the sense that you can control the intensity of the lamps from 1-4 bulbs while keeping the color temp constant.
Click to expand...
Sorry,
but there is a HUGE difference between dimming a flo fixture and just switching on or two of the "bulbs" of.
With softlights it´s all about the size of the lighting surface.
So with dimming, the size and softness of a flo fixture stays the same.
When switching off two lamps of a 4x55 for example, the lighting surface decreases and the light gets "harder" (given the same light/subject distance...).
Just to clarify...
 
no no, you are absolutely right. i wasnt trying to omit that piece of information, but more ( i should have included in my perspective ) focused on the difficulty of playing around with the color temperature phase when you work with dimmers.
 
This is a really sticky area for sure with lots of opinions on the subject. Some swear by a dimmer and others wouldn't have one no matter what. We made the dimmer models so we can have a more complete offering in any case.

CL-SFT1 is our economy solution for replacing a tungsten softbox with a fluorescent one for those used to working with that type solution. For sure, the portable or studio models will have a more solid feeling to them but the 200w bulb is really gaining in popularity too. You won't really want to use the diffusion on the front of the softbox though as it just closes off the fixture and lets heat build up in there. Remember, this bulb, while relatively cool still emanates 200w so even an oven turned on at 200w is still relatively hot on the inside with the door closed. The bulb life will be increased by not running it with the diffusion on the front and its not needed so much either unless you just need to decrease light output for some reason. You can still use the included eggcrate though to help flag off the light and direct if away from the sides of where the fixture is pointing.
 
Thanks for commenting on this Richard. I'm still undecided on dimm vs non-dimm though, so more suggestions/comments from others are welcome...
 
Dimming is great for "finishing" a key, like you got your lights all set up and just see that a little less key/little more fill would just make it perfect.

When "fighting" against sunlight (eg a window) you want all the output you can have, so no need for dimming.

When lighting for greenscreen, you might want to dial your screen to a certain level of illumination, dimming can help here...

When lighting large areas, the fallof of a softlight source commes into play, again you will need all the output the fixture offers...

Remember, when using a grid to control light better you also cut down intensity and there´s always ND gel...
 
Well, you could always try one of the dimming models like the CL-255PMD and see what you think as to whether any color temp changes are okay for your uses. Then make more decisions after that about what to do next. You'll not find too much color temperature change anyway down to about 50% and then it starts to kick in after that. In addition, the change may be more noticeable on the 3200K bulbs than on the 5600K due to the fact that even slight changes are more perceptable in lower color temperatures than in high ones.
 
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