source 4 leko type beam on a budget using a page magnifier?

[paul blair]

Has anyone tried this?

If I set up a 100 watt or bigger home hardware par lamp and clamp a page magnifier to a stand several inches away would it create a hard leko esque beam? (in haze or fog obviously)

 

[Moseph]

It might give you a hard and concentrated shaft of light but there are much better options out there, as long as getting the near perfectly defined edge of the beam isn't important. PAR cans come to mind, they can be had for probably $50 or so including the lamp. If you're looking for something less intense, low voltage pinspots are also an option. You can also sometimes find ellipsoidals that aren't source fours for pretty cheap, a couple years ago I picked up an Altman 360q for around $70 on ebay. Not as versatile as a source four but it got the job done till I got my hands on some actual source fours.