Lighting from Hong Kong...

D

Dan_The_Man

Active member
Hello,

I'm thinking about buying a kit of 3 redheads off ebay from Hong Kong. I was just wondering if this is a good idea?

Before buying my camera I considered getting it from Hong Kong. It seemed that the item itself would be of propper quality but the problem would be if it broke. I think they were refered to as grey imports. I am guessing buying lights would be the same thing. The difference being if they broke it wouldnt be a major problem to fix; this seems to make it worth buying lights from Hong Kong.

Also, I see that the redheads don't have a dimmer switch. Is this normal, do I have to purchase a dimmer seperately and are they expensive?

Thanks
 
Are they battery operated or using AC? HK is 220V.

Or you can buy with credit card like Amex that offers 3 months protection after purchase. and 1 year warranty automatically after manufacturer warranty.
 
They're not grey imports, just a foreign made version of a generic term 'redhead'. There are plenty of full price redheads around, but you can get 3 in a kit with stands for about the same price as a single branded one. Ianiro are my own favourite, but there ar plenty around.

There are a number of differences that help the cheap price.

Barn doors. 'Real' ones often have clips on the barndoors to fit diffuser or colour correction gel to. You can easily bodge up something with bulldog clips (That's probably a UK term - small spring clips that hold papers together?)

A protection mesh that sits in front of the lamp. Some foreign ones I have seen don't have them, and redhead lamps often go bang when a stand slips and covering people in red hot glass is bad news.

Real ones tend to have switches in the cable. NOT dimmers. Although dimmers can be fitted, you only get about a stop above and below the level you are at before the colour balance changes too much. Redheads use scrims to reduce light levels - fine mesh that sits in the frame runners (and get damn hot!)

Many Redheads are hard fibre-glass, but the foreign ones are more plasticky - but they seem ok.

Here in the UK on 230/240V we use 800W lamps. I think the far eastern ones can have 110V lamps fitted for American use. One thing that I have wondered. Cable internal colours. I'm guessing that America isn't the same as the UK and Europe. We use Brown for Live, Blue for Neutral and green/yellow striped for ground. Anything else here would be illegal for sale. Maybe they have different wiring sets for US use? Our higher voltage might also mean ours have different size cable?
 
ironically - I forgot one important feature. I just had delivery of some more of these units, and here in the UK, the parcel didn't come via our Royal Mail, it came via Parcelforce - an offshoot of the Royal Mail. I got a letter in the post detailing £13.50 handling, £18.50 tax, and £12 for delivery! - almost 25% on top of the purchase price.
 
Update.
They arrived today. They are different from the previous batch I had, despite the ad looking the same - and I cannot find the details of my first purchase.

The biggest difference is that they are metal. Not very well put together, so there are some oddities. The lamp doesn't sit parallel with the floor - it's attached at rather random angles. This isn't a major problem, but the hot spot in redheads is usually a line, rather than a point source. The lamps supplied for UK operation are 230V, which as although our declared European harmonised voltage says we are 230V, the allowed +/- means we still have 240V, at least where I live. 3 spare lamps are provided, but these are 220V, so I'll expect even less lamp life.

The worst thing is that they come with two core mains cable, with 2 pin plugs. These are then connected with a short cable with an in-line switch and a UK type grounded plug. The absence of a ground wire in the cable, and a metal body means that it would immediately fail the UK PAT test applied in many venues. Equipment without grounds is permitted if it is double insulated, and marked with the class of product, but this has no markings.

It would be possible to retrofit a 3 core cable, and bond the metal housing - which I will do at some point.

The barn doors and protective mesh are pretty good, and the friction on the doors looks as if it can be tightened when they start to get loose.

The carrying case isn't bad at all. 3 stands, extra cable and the 3 redheads fit with no problems.

The stands are servicable, but a bit flimsy - too lightweight for comfort when fully extended, and clamping hardware is all plastic.

For the money, they're fine, even with the defects.

The electrical issues won't worry me - I can easily bring them up to UK standards, but the expected plastic, like the old ones was a shock. Not an everyday, heavy use product - but ok for light work (pun intended).

For info - these came from Mr Studio One Photography UK Shop

Paul
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top