dimmers/scrims for colortran mini pro's

MattMyster

MattMyster

Active member
I use a color tran mini pro kit (4 lights) for most of my lighting currently, however I need some help making the kit into a more professional setup. As they're vintage lights, it's tough to find accessories for the kit so I'm looking for a budget dimmer that could safely be used with the mini pro's, as well as any scrims/modifiers/gels make/models that people have used with the mini pro's (that can be bought on ebay or b&h). Also, any extra's or items that I should be using with my mini pro's, please let me know or suggest.

Keep in mind I am a smaller company slowly building my equipment up so budget items are best.

Thanks for any assistance!
 
You can measure between the ears of the lights to determine the size scrim you need. I buy Mole Richardson. What ive done is go to the website and find a scrim with the appropriate diameter. You will want to click on a particular light like a "tweenie" and go to the specification page and it will list the size. I have a Mole 4k par and an LTM 2.5kpar and i spaced out the ears of the 2.5K each a 1/8" so i could use matching lenses and scrims from Mole.
 
Scrims are good to have, each light should have a full set of them (I believe mini pros take the same size as midgets, tweenies, arri 300's). But I've been taught, and now pretty much insist, that every tungsten light other than huge units (5k+) should be on a dimmer. Scrims just don't give you the precise level of brightness control that dimmers give you. And even though dimmers do change color temperature, most days of the week I don't really care about this.

You have Home Depot in Canada right? Just pick up some 600w rotary dimmers for like $5 a piece, plugs are maybe $5 a piece for grounding ones. Get some lamp wire to connect the neutrals and grounds together, read the instructions on how to wire them up, and you should be good to go. This is what everyone uses for dimmers in that range, I've never once seen one like the one you posted on set.
 
Many of us use the "router speed control" dimmers from Harbor Freight. They handle up to 1500w each at a price of about $10-$12 on sale. I've had mine for years and they just keep working.
Ken
 
kplo said:
Many of us use the "router speed control" dimmers from Harbor Freight. They handle up to 1500w each at a price of about $10-$12 on sale. I've had mine for years and they just keep working.
Ken
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thanks very much for the suggestions everyone, all great ways for me to acquire a dimmer and scrims/accessories!

Kplo, definitely going to go with these "HF router speed controll" dimmers. Just trying to find a good buyer...HF doesn't ship to Canada so I looked on ebay, think I could get a working reliable set from them or would you go amazon for these?
 
Oh that's a bummer. I LOVE harbor freight.

If you really can't find them online anywhere that'll ship to Canada, PM me.

I have a harbor freight 5 minutes away and could ship them up your way.
 
I've wired up the 600w household dimmers - they just got hot and burned out pretty quickly, with a max of 500 watts used. Go with an HF or similar router speed control. Those have fuses for some extra protection. They can get pretty warm as well.
 
The Harbor Freight dimmers are fine for the money but you may want to build your own to achieve full control. Home Depot should have everything you need. As far as scrims, measure the size of the scrim/door holder and go to Filmtools. They have about every size or can get them.
 
Michael Carter said:
I've wired up the 600w household dimmers - they just got hot and burned out pretty quickly, with a max of 500 watts used. Go with an HF or similar router speed control. Those have fuses for some extra protection. They can get pretty warm as well.
Click to expand...
I've used them on my 600w tweenies and they do get hot but I've never had one of them fail.

I also attached a heat sink from an old computer to a couple of them so that I can push them with higher loads like a source four (750w), works great.
 
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