Lighting Dimmers, where from in the UK?

C

Captshiznit

Member
Hey guys, Well I purchased my first kit and looking for some dimmers to go with it, I have 3 arri fresnels 650,650 and 800w. Where could I find dimmers for these? I've looked all over for them. Preferably a cheap way of dimming them too, I'm on a tight tight budget.
 
I think that dimming tungsten lights is a bad idea . . . you will change their color temp and then you will have balance problems. We always use scrims and/or difusion to control light levels along with various wattage lights. You might want to consider picking up some scrims and difusion, cutters and flags.
The only time we use dimmers is for pracrical light effects.
 
kennedymax said:
The only time we use dimmers is for pracrical light effects.
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Couldn't disagree more. Every light gets its own dimmer. What are you gonna do when a light is 20 feet up in a grid and the DP changes his mind about how intense it needs to be? Have the whole electrical crew standing under it seeing who can toss a scrim into the ears? Even if it's just 10 feet up on a stand, having the infinitely precise control of a dimmer is too convenient to substitute with scrims. Color temperature will change, but as long as the unit you're using is in the ballpark in terms of the needed intensity at full power and you don't need to dim the light down below around 40%, any color temperature change is generally not even taken into consideration. The only times I don't put lights on dimmers is when I'm correcting them to daylight with full CTB and I don't want that to get thrown off, or if it's a 9 light or something of that nature, in which case it's just unnecessary. Any other time, even if a dimmer isn't specifically asked for, I'll either have one on standby or just patch the light into one from the start. If using a scrim or two or three won't waste time I'll totally do that before I start dimming the light down, but all too often in the mad rush to start rolling, dimmers are the quick and really not so dirty solution.

In terms of where to find them, what we usually do here is just wire up dimmers meant for residential lighting with a pair of plugs and call it a day. For 1k and 2k, they'll go in a gang box. Not sure what the common wattages are in the UK, but in North America the typical ratings for dimmers are 300w, 600w, 1k, and 2k. I figure any lighting store should have at least 600w dimmers, which can usually handle a 650 (though they will get extremely hot).
 
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Moseph said:
Couldn't disagree more. Every light gets its own dimmer. What are you gonna do when a light is 20 feet up in a grid and the DP changes his mind about how intense it needs to be? Have the whole electrical crew standing under it seeing who can toss a scrim into the ears? Even if it's just 10 feet up on a stand, having the infinitely precise control of a dimmer is too convenient to substitute with scrims. Color temperature will change, but as long as the unit you're using is in the ballpark in terms of the needed intensity at full power and you don't need to dim the light down below around 40%, any color temperature change is generally not even taken into consideration. The only times I don't put lights on dimmers is when I'm correcting them to daylight with full CTB and I don't want that to get thrown off, or if it's a 9 light or something of that nature, in which case it's just unnecessary. Any other time, even if a dimmer isn't specifically asked for, I'll either have one on standby or just patch the light into one from the start. If using a scrim or two or three won't waste time I'll totally do that before I start dimming the light down, but all too often in the mad rush to start rolling, dimmers are the quick and really not so dirty solution.

In terms of where to find them, what we usually do here is just wire up dimmers meant for residential lighting with a pair of plugs and call it a day. For 1k and 2k, they'll go in a gang box. Not sure what the common wattages are in the UK, but in North America the typical ratings for dimmers are 300w, 600w, 1k, and 2k. I figure any lighting store should have at least 600w dimmers, which can usually handle a 650 (though they will get extremely hot).
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yeah I have to dim I don't have a choice, I don't have a wide array of wattages or an infinite budget and a relatively smallish room for music videos so my 650w lights are going to be really powerful, so I need control a dimmer gives. If the colour temp changes so be it but I don't have much of a choice really.
 
I always buy the harbor freight, router speed controls to use as dimmers. Cheap, and they work!

Remember thought it really does lower the color temp, so use wisely.
 
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