CoolLights Tungsten Fresnels?

Shawn Philip Nelson

Shawn Philip Nelson

Veteran
So much is talked about the CoolLight HMI/CDMs and fluoros, but has anyone bought any of the tungsten fresnels? How are they? How well do scrims fit in them?

I seem to recall them being 20% off if you bought an HMI/CDM at the same time but I dont see that deal anymore. I also seem to recall that scrims or at least one scrim came with it or was sold separately but now cant see that either.
 
No scrims. We never had access to that and haven't engineered any. I gave up on the 20% offering because I couldn't get the website software to cooperate with taking 20% off depending upon what you had in the cart. When we have some kits configured there will be some taken off the price though. I just haven't gotten around to it but will soon.
 
Given that you have multiple lights in the 650w fixture, itd be awsome if you started selling a full scrim kit (single, double, half single, half double)
 
I will sell one some day, its just a trick to find the good screen material, make the frame, etc. The 650w and 150w CDM takes the Mole 6.25" scrims that go on one of the 650w Mole units. Someone else recently mentioned which scrims go on the 300w. The Arri 1000w is spec'd at 7 3/4" scrims and our 1000w has a distance of 7 13/16 which is about 1/16 over the size of the scrim so it may indeed work.
 
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I bought a 300w tungsten fresnel at the same time I bought my CDM150.

I like the build quality of the 300w tungsten a lot....slightly more solid-feeling in every way compared to the CDM150. Hefty barn doors that fit snugly without binding. Better fiber friction washers. Not a knock on the CDM, which I really like.

Can't comment on which scrims might fit. In my interview applications I use a dimmer or just walk the light further away. I don't have any scrims.

The only slight negative about the fixture is that it didn't have an inline on/off switch, which Richard told me was an error from the factory. Since I use a dimmer that has a switch, it's not an issue for me at all.
 
sunporchmedia said:
The only slight negative about the fixture is that it didn't have an inline on/off switch, which Richard told me was an error from the factory. Since I use a dimmer that has a switch, it's not an issue for me at all.
Click to expand...

Whoa! That sucks. Are they still like that or just an earlier batch?

Are you saying that the instant you plug it in, it comes on?
 
The two that I purchased early in the year came with light duty power cords and no switches--would have been good to see that stated in the product description.
 
None of the current, first batch of tungsten fresnels (except the 650) come with a switch at this time. The next batch will have it. The factory that makes the 150, 300 and 1000w models did make a mistake and we didn't find out until the units were in stock.
 
Yes, it was unfortunate that the mistake was made.

Easy solution, though -- I bought the Harbor Freight Tools "router speed control" dimmer....it's great to have in the kit anyway, and includes an on/off switch. Problem solved. Fixture still a great bargain.

I wouldn't trust the Harbor Freight dimmer with a 1K fixture though...even if it's so rated. I did burn one out on a 1k once. Never figured out why, but for $20 or so it isn't totally surprising.
 
I have two 650's and one 300 I have been very happy with them.
I haven't picked up a switch for my 300 yet but I think I will now that I know that it's available.

As far as scrims go.
I purchased two arri doubles for my 650s from a local photo shop.
They kinda fit but you really have to squeeze them in.
The mole ones fit better from what I've read.

My favorite part about the cool lights is the little handle on the back of them.
It doesn't get to hot so you can grab it without gloves if you are in a hurry. You can make a quick adjustment without getting burnt.
 
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Good point that no one brought up. Thats a great improvement. Handles on hot lights should be a must. I still can't believe Arri never made that standard on all their lights.
 
I have gloves permanently in my pocket - handles would be much easier.

Not sure anyone can answer this, but since people are discussing some solutions. I cant seem to find anyone who stocks dimmers in Australia. I need another two ASAP. Any recommendations from anyone? These are for Arri fresnels btw.
 
What wattage? What really works great as a dimmer is a motor speed controller. You may be able to find something like the Harbor Freight solution somewhere there in Australia. Or, get a friend here in the USA to get it for you and pay them to ship it to you if you can't find it there. That would be a relatively small package.
 
Sorry to bring back this old thread, but after searching, it seemed an appropriate place to ask this question.

Is it possible to use a dimmer on the CDM-150? Or will dimmers only work for the tungsten lamps?
 
No that's not possible. With most ballast-oriented lighting whether it be fluorescent, metal halide/HMI, you will mostly need to have a ballast that has the dimming built into it to be able to do dimming with the fixture. Even then, you must use the dimming facility provided with the ballast and can't use some kind of line voltage dimming capability on the outside of the ballast. There are a couple of fluorescent dimming ballasts that can do that but they aren't commonly found.

The dimming ballast version of any kind of lighting will be more expensive usually too. We started with non-dimmable fluorescents and added a dimmable line later when we found a reasonable dimmable ballast. While the cost of our dimmables is more expensive than our non-dimmables, the cost is more reasonable than other similar competing fixtures that do dimming. It will be the same progression in our HMI/CDM lines. We started with non-dimming and as we find the reasonable ballasts that are dimming capable, we'll add that to the line as an option whereas the fixture and bulb won't change--just the ballast.

At the moment, the only product in our metal halide line that dims is any fixture that uses our 575/1200 ballast which is dimming capable by a built in dimmer. Even when you have a dimmer with any kind of metal halide from CDM to HMI, you can't dim past about 50% or you lose iginition in the bulb. Hope that clarifies the situation.
 
Thanks Richard! Just trying to figure out different ways I can control the CDM-150, and I guess I'll have to go pick up a set of Mole scrims.
 
jamesc said:
Thanks Richard! Just trying to figure out different ways I can control the CDM-150, and I guess I'll have to go pick up a set of Mole scrims.
Click to expand...

Certainly nothing wrong with scrims. And no color temperature changes to worry about either.
 
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