Smith Victor? Really?

Jim Brennan

Jim Brennan

VHS Member Old Skool
I was cruising through Craigslist yesterday, and this lady had 3 S-V lights with stands for sale for 40 Bucks. I went to go look at them and there was another one for another 20. I bought all 4 for 60 bucks. No other reason than I like to have lots of lights....just in case.

Anyway, I looked them up at B&H and together (without stands...which suck so bad I'd be embarrassed to bring them on a shoot) these 4 heads sell for 500 bucks.

Before you start thinking "Gee Jim, that sounds like a great deal. It might even be a better deal than the 7 dollars you spent for that Panny production monitor" I have to tell you that I don't think I would have paid more than 100 for the set, new.

It's a 1K flood with barndoors, a 1K "focusable", a 600 "focusable" and a mini 600.

The point is, do people really spend $150 for a Smith Victor light? I've bought all kinds of lights before, and even my Briteks (which cost less than a hundred a piece) make these things look like trash.

Not that I want to get rid of them :beer:
 
Yeah. much of this stuff is way overrated - just look at redheads, blondes and thelike.
Not much more than construction lights with barn doors and a different bulb.

Frank
 
There really isn't that much difference between work lights and those kinds including redheads and blondes. They're all open faced tungsten and apart from barndoors, scrims or a color correct bulb its all about the same right down to the same kinds of sockets.
 
Having modified some worklights in my early days (changing the mount to accept a 5/8 stud, adding barn doors and color-corrected bulbs), the one difference I do see is in the area of heat dissipation. I don't know why, but my worklights are hard to be within a few feet of when they have been on a while. I don't find that with "real" lights.
 
Technically there shouldn't be any difference as the bulbs are about the same. The main difference is a 3100/3200K very commonly found in the tungsten open face "pro" lighting which has the shorter life and the longer life versions found in the worklights which are in the 2700K range. Its amazing how just a few "K" difference equates to a huge drop in lifetime.

I don't know if the longer life/lower color temperature bulbs have more heat output for some reason but I doubt it. At least I'm not aware of anyone studying that before and reporting results.
 
I always thought it might have more to do with the housing. Either the materials used, or the way they are designed regarding the shape of the fixture, or the cavities inside. But it could be the bulbs as well.
 
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