strobing DIY lights for music video
- Thread starter Saddler
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Well you couldn't really flash HMI's on and off very well as even a hot restrike isn't a perfect on/off. Tungsten would be my first choice if you're looking for a beam and CFL if it's just lights flashing on and off.
Thanks again for the response. Perhaps I shouldn't have used "stobing" as part of the description. What I mean is when there's a few banks of HMIs setup behind the talent and the lights all flash between a lower intensity and full intensity - fast but definitely not a strobe and not really ever going completely off either.
I think I'll be mixing warm tungstens for lighting the talent with higher kelvin CFLs like the self-ballasted ones that you recommended trying in your response to my question in the 60Hz flouro thread. So if that's the route I go I'd want to use the CFLs for the flashing so that the set is flashing but not the talent. Are CFLs effective at flashing like this with a dimmer once warmed up? I know that my 60w equivalent CFLs in my ceiling at home, and also the 48" T5s in my reef tank take a long time to warm up to full strength (at least from cold - they're quicker when already warm, I'm just not sure how quick).
Also, can you recommend a good solution for the dimmer to run all of the CFLs? Unless I can get the recommended HD or other brand (the higher Hz kind) in bulbs higher than 20w, I would probably be doing banks of 12 bulbs. Then I'd want to run say 5 or 6 of those together. So it would be at least 1200w of CFLs for a 6000+w tungsten equivalent.
I think I'll be mixing warm tungstens for lighting the talent with higher kelvin CFLs like the self-ballasted ones that you recommended trying in your response to my question in the 60Hz flouro thread. So if that's the route I go I'd want to use the CFLs for the flashing so that the set is flashing but not the talent. Are CFLs effective at flashing like this with a dimmer once warmed up? I know that my 60w equivalent CFLs in my ceiling at home, and also the 48" T5s in my reef tank take a long time to warm up to full strength (at least from cold - they're quicker when already warm, I'm just not sure how quick).
Also, can you recommend a good solution for the dimmer to run all of the CFLs? Unless I can get the recommended HD or other brand (the higher Hz kind) in bulbs higher than 20w, I would probably be doing banks of 12 bulbs. Then I'd want to run say 5 or 6 of those together. So it would be at least 1200w of CFLs for a 6000+w tungsten equivalent.
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Please don't use a dimmer. Just use a simple on/off control or dmx switch pack but not dimmer. The self-ballasted CFL's can easily be damaged by a line voltage dimmer. To go with that you'd need a small DMX board of around say 12 to 20 channels if I understand what you want to do. The cheap route though would be to just get some switches from the electrical dept at HD and wire them up on a board then run cables from the switches to the sockets of your bulbs.
I can't guarantee that these kinds of bulbs will look great and just snap on and off but I think it should be fine. Of course, incandescents will always be the simplest and for sure snap on and off no problem but you'd need higher wattages.
On the HMI's your talking about , its credible that it could be half-intensity as you can dim many HMI's down to half intensity electronically but no farther than that without completely losing ignition and the bulb going out.
I can't guarantee that these kinds of bulbs will look great and just snap on and off but I think it should be fine. Of course, incandescents will always be the simplest and for sure snap on and off no problem but you'd need higher wattages.
On the HMI's your talking about , its credible that it could be half-intensity as you can dim many HMI's down to half intensity electronically but no farther than that without completely losing ignition and the bulb going out.