New Lowel Tota LED 750w equiv

Mostly used the original Totas for lighting backgrounds, usually cycs or seamless, where they worked well, & still have at least four of them in storage.

Question whether the TotaLED is actually as bright as the tungsten version. LED is typically about as efficient as HMI so the claims of a LED being 10x more efficient then tungsten seems a long stretch, & makes me wonder if they were comparing the tungsten with a full CTB attached so both lamps produced ‘daylight’.
 
Original Tota with a 600W HIR produces much more output than the LED version for about $350 less new. About $400 less if you buy used.
Yes I know it's a hot light compared to an LED, but just saying. If these things cost the same as the original then it would be a no brainer.
 
I loved my Totas no matter what anybody said about them, ha! If you made a loop out of the back of the light with the power cable and velcro strapped it to the speedring the AC mains cables would last indefinitely. I still have a couple in a milk crate with speed rings...haven't used them in a long time though. I carried a couple spare Totas in the same crate, one lamped 500 and the other a spare 750. They were excellent lights to use with Chimeras because the "filled" the bag completely and evenly unlike any other light. This new $500 Daylight Tota won't "fill a bag" like the old one, too bad. If they designed the bulbs around a 180 degree tube like half a corn cob that'd be great in a Chimera.
 
I initially took interest in this announcement because of the "Tota" in the name. I have case full of Tota lights for Chimeras and I have a soft spot for their design. They are about as cheap as you can get, but nothing else does what they do better.

This small LED panel is a Tota in name only.
 
They don't seem to give specs that can easily be compared. FC vs lumens. 1m vs 10 feet... I don't see how a 70w LED could compete with a monster 750w halogen. I have 2-4 Totas I never use anymore but they were bright. I think many of us like them. I used them to light a large green screen and other times when I needed a lot of light. I mean, the Litepanals Astra 6X I use is 105 watts draw and the brightest LED I've had my hands on. How could a 70watt LED Tota be as bright as the old Tota when the Astra isn't? I don't know the actual specs on the old Tota vs Astra 6X though. Just going by memory.
Seems the Tota LED is made to even resemble to old Tota for those of us who liked them and to provide significant output, yet is not an LED equivalent of the old Tota.
 
I don't see a front screen. The bulbs probably don't even explode as often. It's just not the same, man...

(and bummer that it looks like these TotaLEDs won't fill the Chimeras I still have sitting around)
 
Jim Feeley said:
I don't see a front screen. The bulbs probably don't even explode as often. It's just not the same, man...

(and bummer that it looks like these TotaLEDs won't fill the Chimeras I still have sitting around)
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The exploding was the best part. It made the client feel like they were getting their money's worth.
 
My first light kit(don't remember what they actually called it) was two Lowel Omni's and a Tota. Came with an umbrella... Lowel's were great for sticking in Chimera's.

Again, manufacturers always overstate the power of their LED's.

I think this was actually the one. I guess they're not real big sellers anymore. "Special Order: 8-10 months" Lol.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/285840-REG/Lowel_TO_983Z_Elemental_Kit.html
 
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And the Tota LED won't be tripping any of your client's breaker boxes or roasting hands either when you want to tear down quickly. This somehow takes away from the lighting "experience" somewhat, no?
 
Josh Bass said:
you may have exploded bulbs and burnt hands but have you ever melted a corporate office door frame? I have.
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Hahaha. No I haven't. That could be a tough explanation to a client. Uhh..sorry I melted your door frame.

How many of you ever ignited an umbrella or bounce card? I never did but I remember reading the warning card that said you can use the silver umbrellas to bounce, but not the white diffuser ones else creating a fire hazzard
 
That output claim sounds a bit too ambitious to me. My guess is that they measured against a fresnel that has been diffussed to the same area as this light has, or something like that.

I made myself a set of DIY LED fresnel lights. I use high-quality CREE LEDs, and instead of a fresnel lens I use optical glass (the kind they put on your prescription glasses). My 100W LED fresnels have around the same output as my cheap Chinese 650W tungsten fresnel (though the LED is much nicer: very little rolloff from center to edges, dimmable without color changes, can run for an hour on a $100 LiPo battery, much easier to put anywhere or to transport, no heat issues, can work with cheap photography stands and softboxes, etc).
 
Samuel H said:
That output claim sounds a bit too ambitious to me. My guess is that they measured against a fresnel that has been diffussed to the same area as this light has, or something like that.

I made myself a set of DIY LED fresnel lights. I use high-quality CREE LEDs, and instead of a fresnel lens I use optical glass (the kind they put on your prescription glasses). My 100W LED fresnels have around the same output as my cheap Chinese 650W tungsten fresnel (though the LED is much nicer: very little rolloff from center to edges, dimmable without color changes, can run for an hour on a $100 LiPo battery, much easier to put anywhere or to transport, no heat issues, can work with cheap photography stands and softboxes, etc).
Click to expand...

Why compare to a terrible light?
 
The normal trick is to compare a daylight source to a tungsten source gelled to daylight. I'm pretty sure that this is what Lowel has done since they are comparing it to their original tungsten Tota.
 
Back in my college film class days, one of my Totas ignited a solid wooden bookcase in a friend's apartment when we clamped it a bit too close. It was a memorable experience, but one I'm not sure my much older heart could handle anymore.

I really liked my old Lowel gear, had a big deluxe kit with four Omnis, two Totas and a scad of clamps and gel frames and such, but I'm disappointed that they seem just as susceptible as everyone else to exaggerating the performance of their LEDs. Back in the day, their product literature included detailed and consistent photometric data, graphs of beam angles and so forth for all their lights and the various bulbs you could use in them. No such information in evidence on their website for the newer LED products.

- Greg
 
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