Mickey Moles and Might Moles

[cramerhwood]

I am looking at some old (looking?) mighty moles or mickey moles. I can't remember which. They are PAR light and have a focusing knob on the back. I know very little about light and wanted to get some feedback from some more experienced and knoweldable members. I would also like to know if I would be better off with freznals? Do they have better light control than a focusable PAR?

 

[PerroneFord]

What do you want to use the for? Pars and fresnels have different uses. If you are asking if these are good lights, then yes, in my view Mole makes the best tungsten lights in the industry.

 

[Paul Hudson]

Mickey and Mighty Moles are not par fixtures. They are open faced tungsten/halogen lights. The Mole Par is the the Mole 1k par light.

As Perrone said we need to know the applications. Both fresnels, pars and open face lights have different uses.

 

[cramerhwood]

Please excuse my ignorance, bu I guess I am having trouble distinguishing between a par and open face. They both seem to have parabolic mirrors. The ones I'm looking at have an adjustable knob which moves the parabolic mirror forwards and backwards to focus the beam. As far what I am looking to do with them.... I am just looking for some decent light that can be used as fills and possibly focused for a more dramatic look and for highlighting. Do fresnals just offer a sharper beam?

 

[PerroneFord]

Do fresnals just offer a sharper beam?

Yes, that's pretty much it.

If you need unfocused light for putting in a softbox, bouncing off cards, pushing through diffusion, etc., then open faced lights are great. If you need more focused beams for shooting across a room, or for giving hard shadows, or pushing through a window outside, then the focusing glass on the front of a fresnel is worth it's weight in gold And you pay for for it.

Open faced lights aren't a bad way to start your lighting collection though. In some ways, they are better than fresnels for starting out because you have to learn to control them, and they are very versatile. As well as cheap.