HMIs: buyer’s guide (used and new)

Patryk_Rebisz

Patryk_Rebisz

Veteran
The past few months i started investing into HMIs and since each light cost a pretty penny i decided to write buying guide for fellow filmmakers of things to consider when buying HMIs (especially used lights).

HMIs are very bright daylight balanced lights that are very efficient. In comparison to tungsten lights they provide about x3 as much brightness per watt consumed. Moreover you don’t have to gel the light to match with daylight which makes HMIs so much more attractive over thungsten lights sources.

The lighting unit is made-up of head, feeder cable (often called header cable) and ballast. Sometimes, in case of PAR lights, you also have lenses that help you modify the light pattern (and protect people from UV radiation).


When buying a light a number of factors need to be considered:
Bulbs
There are 3 kinds of bulbs. Sealed PAR64. Then Single Ended and Double Ended bulbs. Older lights accept PAR64 bulbs while newer lights accept either SE or DE bulbs. PAR64 goes for about $300/bulb while SE and DE bulbs go for about $130-160. Which obviously means that older lights might apear cheap at first but their cost will start adding up as the bulb is 2x as expensive. Many PAR64 lights can be converted to SE fixtures for about $400-500. Which is not a bad investment as the PAR64 HMI bulbs are getting more and more rare.

When bulbs get old their color shifts so if you are buying a used light it's a good idea to also buy a new bulb as you never know how old the used bulb is.

Ballast (with correction of some factual errors pointed out by Peter - post #22)
There are magnetic ballasts and electronic ballast. More modern electronic ballasts have something called PFC (Power Factor Correction) which makes them more efficient and even better for use with generators.

Magnetic ballasts are “simple” but heavy (about 50-60lb for 1.2k ballast) moreover when they get old they start producing hum so it’s imperative to test out the ballast before purchasing (or ask right questions) as purchasing a used replacement ballast can cost you $300-500. That said many gaffers like mag ballasts as by being such ”simple” devices they work pretty much all the time.

Electronic ballast come in 2 versions. With fan or without (to cool down the electronics inside). The fan can get quite loud especially if you buy used ballast with worn out fan! Electronic HMI ballasts will put out 10% more light than the same light powered by a magnetic ballast moreover you are less likely to see the flicker when shooting at strange frame rates/shutter combinations. The down side is that because of their sophisticated electronics electronic ballasts are more expensive and more fragile than magnetic ballasts. Basically a used package with electronic ballast can cost you $600-1000+ more over mag ballast.

Connectors
You will find at least a few different connectors that allow connecting the head to the ballast. If you buy a package then it’s not a big deal as one assumes that all parts work with each other but when you buy replacement you need to know the connectors you are using, moreover if you are looking to build a package it’s a smart idea to stick with one type of connectors so that the cables and ballast stay interchangeable.


So in essence you should be asking potential seller following questions:
Is ballast mag or electronic? If mag then is it quiet? If electronic is it silent (or is the fan loud)?

Is the head PAR64, SE or DE?

Is the tread near the yolk worn out?

What connectors connect head to the ballast?


Brands of HMI lights (with is pluses and minuses):
Arri (125, 200, 400, 575, 1.2, 1.8)
+ Popular brand. 1.8 is the brightest light one can power-up with wall outlet.
- Large heads thus not so portable. Everything above 400 requires junior receiver so you can’t mount the light on basic stands easily.

LTM (200, 575, 1.2)
+ Comparably small heads. Baby pin fits on all stands.

Desisti (200, 575, 1.2)
+ relatively inexpensive when bough used (probably because of their size those lights do not get much love)
- heads are HUGE

K5600 (200, 400, 800)
+ smalest heads available
- new lights cost a small fortune, properitary bulbs cost fortune (about 2x as much as other lights of similar wattage)

Other brands I haven’t used:
Mole, Sunray, CMC, Strand, CoolLights, Kobolt

(feel free to add your observations and helpful hints so we can all learn)
 
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Nice work, HMI's are probably going to be my next investment when I get some spare cash. For all the money that I pumped into them for rentals I could have owned a few by now!
 
Great write up Patryk. It is worth noting that older sealed beam par 64 (1.2) are getting increasing hard to find and very expensive. Kennedy Webster in Chicago seems to have them most of the time. There are several facilities that will retrofit these to single end and for not much more than the cost of a couple of lamps. I suggest this to anyone withe old sealed beams.
 
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It might be worth it to add something about checking the lenses for HMI PAR's, too.

To that, it's important to know which kind of HMI you're buying - PAR or Fresnel, as the Fresnel fixtures are usually much bigger and heavier, but the PAR fixtures require lenses.

Nice post.
 
Jordan Scott Price said:
It might be worth it to add something about checking the lenses for HMI PAR's, too.

To that, it's important to know which kind of HMI you're buying - PAR or Fresnel, as the Fresnel fixtures are usually much bigger and heavier, but the PAR fixtures require lenses.

Nice post.
Click to expand...

I buy all my replacement lenses from Hank at Light, Lenses. 818-881-5642. HMI lenses is all he does. His selection and price is great.
 
Other brands to consider are photography brands, like Broncolor and Profoto. The cool thing about those is that they have a huge range of modifiers that you can add to the light (giant umbrellas, beauty dish, hazylight, etc.). And sometimes you can find them at a lower price than the more popular brands.

Broncolor and Profoto modifiers are really expensive though, but you can find lower price modifiers and have them adapted with the Bron or Profoto speedring.
 
I would add the each brand is trying to gain a different share of the market. The photo brands mentioned by pianoboy and some other brands (such as K5600) are cutting out their own small niche for small productions where due to the smaller size their gear is assume d to be better taken care off thus made a bit less robust. On the other hand brands like Arri and especially Mole make their lights to withstand any kind of set abuse.
 
I've seen K5600 HMIs on all size sets, from the biggest to the smallest. They're versatile, & fantastic.

Kobold (Broncolor) is aiming at K5600's market, with the distinction of being weatherproof.

http://www.bron-kobold.com/kobold-broadcast/products/daylight-hmi/

Profoto has re-entered the HMI market, but their heads are fan-cooled, so better suited for stills applications. I do love some of their modifiers, especially the beauty dish, but I'd rather use K5600's Profoto adapter than Profoto's HMI.

Another option in Briese. They make a unique set of parabolic umbrellas, & were quite popular a few years ago, but I always found them a bit fidgety. They sued Elinchrom for stealing their design, & also their own USA distributor for another issue, & I haven't seen them around for awhile.

http://www.brieselichttechnik.de/en/daylight/products-overview.html
 
I used K5600 to shoot a reality show for two months - they started out as new lights but at the end of production were showing significant wear and tear. Yet they are some of the most prized lights as they are some of the smallest and portable lights around.

Kobold doesn't stand up to K5600 when it comes to longevity.

If i were to rate the lights based on longevity:

Mole, Arri - LTM - K5600 - Kobold
(i kinda don't know where Desisti stands as they appear like solid lights but by its clunky design might be abused more often than other - and haven't used them long enough)

As far as portability:
Kobold, K5600 - LTM - Mole, Arri

So it really depends what one is looking for.
 
Booster HMI's if you can find them are quiet unique. They are 575 but by boosting the voltage they get the output of a 1.2, or so they claim. I have used them and they are absolutely more efficient than a 575 par.
 
Powermill = CMC - they used to make some very interesting lights such as all-in-one heads with ballast build in. Now-days though they seem to be going the route of Arri-look-alike when it comes to HMIs.

Paul, i heard of these, do you know the negative aspects of driving the bulb?
 
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