Lighting with theatre lights and such

T

Ted Cunterblast

Member
Hello!

I was here wondering whether I could light my films with lights that are mostly used to light stages.
And if not, I would be extremely keen to learn how these lights differ from the lights that they use in film productions.

Do these Par Cans serve any function in the filmmaking world?
http://www.thomann.de/gb/par_cans.html

How about these LED-solutions?
http://www.thomann.de/gb/led_technics.html

And these Theatre lights?
http://www.thomann.de/gb/theatre_lighting.html


Would you consider buying any of these and for what purposes in particular?
Feel free to enlighten me.
 
Forget about these LED solutions - if LED, go to coollights.biz. Richard may help you there.

In the theatre section (Fresnel) of Thomann, there are a few Arris - this would be the way to go, if budget was no problem. Any Fresnel light is a good start. A Fresnel lens gives you a light without sharp edges that can be controlled fairly good with barndoors. I used some of these theatre fresnels (DTS SCena 1 KW) a lot.

Additionally, I have 4 of these with barndoors:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/dts_quartz_800_black_m_buegel.htm

Such things are often used for film lighting (I think they are called redheads). They give more light than the Fresnel per watt, but have a somewhat harsher light output. Use gels (CTB for daylight) and "frost" (don't know the english word right now) to soften the light output.

If you're on a tight budget, go with the DTS Quartz 800.
 
I have a couple of 750/1000 watt fresnels that were designed for theatre use that I use for fillmmaking. I got hardware from the manufacture so that I could mount them on a light stand and got 4 way barndoors for them that slide into the light gel frame. The difference between the stage lights and the Arris is that the Arri lights are much more robust and built for the wear and tear that daily use on a film set demands.
 
Yes, Arris are built strong for a long rough life on the go. Also, some larger grid lights like you are looking at might have cooling fans that could be a noise problem when down near your microphones.
 
Also, those Par cans (Par 64) are very useful for fillmaking, and cheap. I am thinking about picking up a package of 4 of them from a DJ lighting outfit I ran accross on eBay. They are powerful and you can vary the lighting intensity and quality by changing the bulbs. I have used rented ones before to use as bright shafts of lights on a set and they worked great. The 1000 watt bulbs, with a parabolic mirror backing have great throw and are the ones we used for the lighting shafts. I think that they will be very useful and again, cheap.
 
The only theatre lights worth your time I think are leko's and par cans. Anything else you might as well just buy the film counterpart. A bunch of tungsten lights can be had for a pretty small price.

For example...

http://www.usedmovielighting.com/?page_number=1

There's a mole 2k for 150 bucks...as well as a bunch of other different mole tungsten lamps for under 200 a piece.
 
Alrighty, great!

If these theatre lights aren't as sturdy, I assume some of you have actually witnessed one of them failing? How long would you say one of these lives when used very gently?

Still, they're so disturbingly cheap I might as well buy a bunch. And then try to figure out how to use 'em with light stands.

I'll just buy 2x DTS Quartz 800 & DTS Fresnel w/ barndoors and one 64 PAR w/ 1k bulb on impulse. We'll see...


EDIT: Interesting, the Pyramid Films site. I've tried many times to contact them via phone and their online Email system without success. They simply don't work. (?)
I'd be more than interested in buying from them, but i'm an international buyer, and I'd need to enquire about the postage fees.
Do you know how I could contact them? Any of you know their Email address?
 
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