mole lights confusing

A

antcuc

Active member
Hi guys, I'm in the market for an affordable 1k light and I'm leaning more towards a mole since I can find them used. However it's confusing since there are many different types of 1k moles.

Does anyone know the difference between these?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...chardson_4081_Mickey_Mole_1K_Focus_Flood.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/167430-REG/Mole_Richardson_2831_Baby_Baby_1000W_Fresnel.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/167457-REG/Mole_Richardson_407_Baby_1000W_Fresnel_Light.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...son_3081_Molequartz_1000W_Baby_Solarspot.html

I'm kind of new to lighting so any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm open to suggestions of other affordable lights and brands. I'm looking for something to use as a keylight, and maybe behind a chimera.
 
The first is just a more substantially constructed red head/open face fixture. Benefits are lots of light per Watt, nice range of beam angles, but the light falls off very sharply at the edges make blending with others more difficult/problematic. The others are all Fresnel types with nice easy to blend beams. The two similar ones juts have different construction - and the one made with concentric extrusions is a more modern design. The other 6" follows the more traditional construction. The other Fresnel has a smaller lens, which has a small impact on the beam quality, but (and I have NOT used this one) other small lensed Fresnels waste a lot of light output as the lens size goes down. I've never found a small lensed Fresnel that had the same 'ooomph' - the benefit of course are slightly smaller footprint - but often they also run hotter too.
 
David G. Smith said:
The Mole-Richardson website has full specs on all of their lights. It is a great resource.

http://www.mole.com/
Click to expand...

David W. Jones said:
Solar Spots are great but I prefer an open face light when using a Chimera.
Click to expand...

He's really asking for cross purposes with both a key and a Chimera. To me, and others certainly differ in their approach, a key light is virtually never soft. It's a hard light 95% of the time. I don't allow softboxes on my sets. Not saying we won't ever throw a silk flag in front of a light, but no softboxes.

Gonzo Entertainment, lighting like it's 1953.
 
Last edited:
Thank you everyone for your input I'm slowly getting a better grasp of things.

@paulears - Thanks for the breakdown that was very helpful!

@David G. Smith - Yes the mole site has a lot of information but not of much use to me if I can't decipher it all. And the videos were mostly unrelated to me.

@everyone - I've had some experience with tota's(a rather broad) light and they work well with chimeras so I guess the open face Mickey would work well with a chimera.

gonzo_entertainment said:
He's really asking for cross purposes with both a key and a Chimera. To me, and others certainly differ in their approach, a key light is virtually never soft. It's a hard light 95% of the time. I don't allow softboxes on my sets. Not saying we won't ever throw a silk flag in front of a light, but no softboxes.

Gonzo Entertainment, lighting like it's 1953.
Click to expand...

@gonzo_entertainment - Could you explain, why is a key never soft?
 
Just depends on what you are doing. I have around 20 Fresnals, but today was all green screen with soft daylight balanced Biax fluorescents. That's why I feel it's important to have a well rounded light kit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top