Lowel pro light or Arri fresnel 150 watt

Felipe Henao

Felipe Henao

Well-known member
A focusable lens light does help a lot in a lighting kit.
As a Lowel fan , super happy with my DP and Omnis , would like to remain with the brand , getting a prolight kit.
However, Arri fresnel 150 watt offer a small size, more focusable light and the bulb has 2000 hours lasting
instead of 200 hours for the pro light.
In theory Arri in this concept is a winner, But in practice?
Very welcome opinions.
 
in my opinion, fresnels have a prettier light than openface lights, especially in regards to shadows. a fresnel has one true shadow and an even light field, while openface lights do no have these characteristics.
 
JPM Photography said:
in my opinion, fresnels have a prettier light than open face lights, especially in regards to shadows. a fresnel has one true shadow and an even light field, while openface lights do no have these characteristics.
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I'll just start with fresnel, since I always have worked with open lights, and I can't really compare. But seems to me like open face are better for diffusing, bouncing, besides they can go directional, with snoots, barn doors etc .
The point is FRESNEL is more Directional , and has a very spot quality being even, From a viewer viewpoint I'll use it for highlighting areas, Probably it has other use, I'll see soon.
 
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Keep in mind that the color temp of those lamps that last 2000 hours isn't what your normal tungsten will be (3200°K), it'll be closer to household light bulbs.
 
Moseph said:
Keep in mind that the color temp of those lamps that last 2000 hours isn't what your normal tungsten will be (3200°K), it'll be closer to household light bulbs.
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Yes you are right 2900 K WHICH IS APROX 10% More yellow than 3200, A point to consider, thanks
 
I actually did a video comparing these two very lights a few years back. Perhaps this will be illuminating for you:

resources.abelcine.com/2009/09/04/lighting-fixture-comparison-price-v-performance/
 
If you don't have at least one Fresnel in your kit, you're missing out on a chance to use a different type of light that can add a great deal of smoothness and dimension to your shots compared to what open-faced fixtures can achieve. A good lighting kit needs a mix of different looks to handle a variety of locations, moods and types of jobs. I came from a studio environment originally where nearly everything was Fresnels and was always very, very disappointed with the quality of control I could get from open faced tungsten lights out in the field. Adding softboxes and eventually moving to softer fluorescent and LED sources helped, but until I started buying Fresnels again a year or so ago, I really didn't feel I had all the control I wanted with my lights. I think you'll enjoy working with the Arri.

- Greg
 
Greg Smith said:
If you don't have at least one Fresnel in your kit, you're missing out on a chance to use a different type of light that can add a great deal of smoothness and dimension to your shots compared to what open-faced fixtures can achieve. A good lighting kit needs a mix of different looks to handle a variety of locations, moods and types of jobs. I came from a studio environment originally where nearly everything was Fresnels and was always very, very disappointed with the quality of control I could get from open faced tungsten lights out in the field. Adding softboxes and eventually moving to softer fluorescent and LED sources helped, but until I started buying Fresnels again a year or so ago, I really didn't feel I had all the control I wanted with my lights. I think you'll enjoy working with the Arri.

- Greg
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Yes is the control I've missed until now, time to try it.
 
+1 for Frsnels - after a lot of try and error with fluorescent and LED lights, I start buying tungsten Fresnels again.
I pick them up on Ebay - mostly around 100 bucks, sometimes cheaper. I don´t care so much about the brand though.

The reason why:

1. With more light sensitive sensors, you can gel them down with CTB and don´t think a minute about light loss - it´s still enough. You can even dim them and add an other CTB.
2. I found that with full spectrum light everything looks better - especially skin tones. Even so called wide spectrum Kino lamps don´t come close.
3. Most sensors behave best at daylight WB - so I gel them all and be a happy camper.

In a nutshell (at least for me) - better light quality across the board = nicer pictures.

Frank
 
i would go for the Lowel Pro, one thing to keep in mind is that, assuming you are buying them new, an Arri plus barndoors will be about $340 from B&H and a Lowel Pro plus barndoors will be only about $170 on B&H.

For the price of the Arri 150 i'd rather get two Lowel Pros for my kit.


Of course if price is not a concern then go for the Arris.
 
eiker_ir said:
i would go for the Lowel Pro, one thing to keep in mind is that, assuming you are buying them new, an Arri plus barndoors will be about $340 from B&H and a Lowel Pro plus barndoors will be only about $170 on B&H.

For the price of the Arri 150 i'd rather get two Lowel Pros for my kit.


Of course if price is not a concern then go for the Arris.
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For the time you will burn 5 bulbs 200 hours with the Pro , You would have pay the difference in price, after the sixth bulb The Arri will start being cheaper, and in a lifetime you could save
thousands of dollars. ( How problematic could be the 10% warmer light from Arri ? ) I think not much .
Besides 2 members mentioned the build.
 
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Felipe Henao said:
For the time you will burn 5 bulbs 200 hours with the Pro , You would have pay the difference in price, after the sixth bulb The Arri will start being cheaper, and in a lifetime you could save
thousands of dollars. ( How problematic could be the 10% warmer light from Arri ? ) I think not much .
Besides 2 members mentioned the build.
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There are also different fresnel options out there that can be cheaper. (harder in the 150w range than in the 650-2k range, but if you search around you can find some deals)

for instance, the LTM Pepper lights:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...313&_nkw=ltm+pepper&_sacat=See-All-Categories
 
JPM Photography said:
There are also different fresnel options out there that can be cheaper. (harder in the 150w range than in the 650-2k range, but if you search around you can find some deals)

for instance, the LTM Pepper lights:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...313&_nkw=ltm+pepper&_sacat=See-All-Categories
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I'll try the Arri 150, and probably after that considering the very valuable opinions in this Thread, could have a better scope of what can be done with fresnels .
However something at this point that is very valuable for me in the 500 watt 1000 watt category is weight, and strength, The Lowel DP and Omni are very small and lightweight
besides are the stronger lights I have ever seen, probably because my Strobes background.
By any chance do you have a link to where LTM lights are manufactured ? In this side of the world there are lots of no name brands coming from Asia that look exactly as a Lowel
BUT once you start using them , you can tell where Lowel put their money, in quality. I wonder if it happens with LTM.
 
Felipe Henao said:
I'll try the Arri 150, and probably after that considering the very valuable opinions in this Thread, could have a better scope of what can be done with fresnels .
However something at this point that is very valuable for me in the 500 watt 1000 watt category is weight, and strength, The Lowel DP and Omni are very small and lightweight
besides are the stronger lights I have ever seen, probably because my Strobes background.
By any chance do you have a link to where LTM lights are manufactured ? In this side of the world there are lots of no name brands coming from Asia that look exactly as a Lowel
BUT once you start using them , you can tell where Lowel put their money, in quality. I wonder if it happens with LTM.
Click to expand...

LTM is a fairly old and trusted brand. I would put them on par with Strand lighting and Lee Colortran. Just a step or two below Mole Richardson and Arri, IMO
 
JPM Photography said:
LTM is a fairly old and trusted brand. I would put them on par with Strand lighting and Lee Colortran. Just a step or two below Mole Richardson and Arri, IMO
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Great I gave a look to Mole Richardson and LTM At BHPhoto and for fresnel I still like Arri design besides reputation, I think I'll get a fresnel 150, and a 300 watt.
I'm sorry I'm no getting Lowel fresnel , since I'm very happy with the brand, but they just don't have a fresnel like Arri.
 
I love the Arri. And absolutely hate the Lowel - They are so cheap, and break so easily. Used them once or twice and I just wanted to toss it out. Mainly because of the stand, but still not a fan. I would not consider using them ever. I just don't like it.

I like open face lights. the 1000w, looks really nice to me.
I compared them to a Red Head and the 1000w open face had nicer shadows, it focused much better and was overall much brighter at the same distance. Which was weird, but I really like them.
 
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