spotlights?

I

igor

Member
hi I would like to know what the best preferrably diy and most inexpensive option of lights that do really extreme spotting is. That is, something that would make an area lit and everything else completely dark in a completely blacked out room.
 
A spotlight is just a concentrated beam of hardlight that gets concentrated by an ellipsoidal reflector and a plano-convex lens. The lens is really the main reason the edges are so well defined and shadows so hard with a spotlight. Also because of this concentration, you have so little spill around the light too.

An easy DIY solution for that is a bit tough to find. Carbon arc used to be the light source for a spotlight but now its an HMI metal halide bulb which really is the solid state carbon arc, so-to-speak. I wrote articles recently on building your own metal halide fresnel and that can come close to what you're trying to do. Just take an old fresnel from ebay, take out the old socket and wiring and replace with new socket, wiring and ballast for a metal halide bulb. Here's a link to the articles parts 1, 2 and 3 as well as an Electrical Safety article:

http://www.coollights.biz/wordpress/archives/category/articles
 
Thats just a pattern projector/mini leko type unit. I doubt it would give you the spot you're looking for.
 
If you want the completly black look you should also consider using flags and other light blocking tools and try to block any light reflecting materials that won't be seen on screen to avoid any unwanted light.
 
snoots, flags, and grids, barndoors, blackwrap... go to home-depot and get creative and smart
 
bwest said:
snoots, flags, and grids, barndoors, blackwrap... go to home-depot and get creative and smart
Click to expand...

in terms of attempting to make all of those things, what material is not flammable or any sort of safety hazard? I just bought a roll of black paper for background stuff, would that be okay to use for flags and stuff?
 
I think you'll spend more on home depot to try to do DIY this than buy the real thing. For less money you could buy a fresnel and mount a circle gobo in front of it to further focus it.
 
Arson said:
I think you'll spend more on home depot to try to do DIY this than buy the real thing. For less money you could buy a fresnel and mount a circle gobo in front of it to further focus it.
Click to expand...

What is a circle gobo? And is there any specific fresnel I should be looking for or pretty much any one?
 
Wow, that's about a 90 degree spread, with such a low ceiling. My suggestion would be to use an open faced light and a gobo with a circle cut in it in.
 
If I may,

In theatrical lighting when I want a "hard cut" I use an ellipsoidal reflector (ER for short, or "Leko," a once-popular brand of same).

If I were buying new, I'd want an Altman Shakespeare or a Source 4, but anything with a pattern slot/gobo holder and sliding shutters to cut the beam should do.

(Oh, and before anyone says "That ain't the movie way," I remember reading somewhere David Mullen likes Source 4s ...)
 
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