Fresnel Spots

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Archive 2011 · Fresnel Spots

Hrow
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p.1 #1 · Fresnel Spots

I am looking to pick-up three or four fresnel spots for a job and am considering the Arri Junior 650 or the Cool Light CL-MF0150. Was wondering if any folks had experience with either (or similar) and could offer their opinions.

Dec 05, 2011 at 12:38 PM

cgardner
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p.1 #2 · Fresnel Spots

What are your goals for the character / look of the lighting? Are you looking to create a spot light effect (collimated source from a far distance) or looking for some other effect?

Dec 05, 2011 at 04:15 PM

PeterBerressem
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p.1 #3 · Fresnel Spots

The $450 Cool Light is daylight spectrum. So a real comparison is to a Arri HMI which nets at about $ 3000 (incl. lamp and ballast). Or doesn't it matter in your case whether it's tungsten or daylight CT?

Dec 05, 2011 at 04:41 PM

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p.1 #4 · Fresnel Spots

CT doesn't matter. Looking for a hard light with softish shadows to be used on a series of B&W and/or low saturation portraits. Would prefer an old 13" spot but that isn't happening as we are going to be in an old building with limited electrical resources and they really don't want me burning the place down by overloading their circuits.

Dec 05, 2011 at 07:36 PM

PeterBerressem
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p.1 #5 · Fresnel Spots

Hm... for portraits I'd prefer to look for a flash with reflector and honeycomb. Looks very similar to a typical fresnel but at more suiting shutter speed and f/stop combo.
E.g. a PCBuff AB 400 or 800 + 11-inch Long Throw Reflector + honeycomb is in your price range.

Dec 05, 2011 at 08:01 PM

cgardner
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p.1 #6 · Fresnel Spots

The look in the old B&W was a combination of a negative with the ability to record detail over a 10-12 stop range of scene contrast illuminated with direct light sources.

With digital you are dealing with a sensor with about half the DR and to get a similar look you need to use more neutral shadowless fill than was typically used in "the good old days". Where you'll also see the difference in the recording medium DR is how rapid the fall-off gradients from the fill in the shadows are. The inverse-square effect. Take the same same fill light and put it at the same distance and the gradient from highlight > shadows will be steeper on shorter range digital than on B&W negative.

Dec 05, 2011 at 10:57 PM

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p.1 #7 · Fresnel Spots

I actually do want to use Fresnels on this job.

The look is a bit different than strobes and I am looking at doing much more controlled lighting. It will be faster and easier to do with hot lights.

Dec 06, 2011 at 01:35 AM

Elan II
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p.1 #8 · Fresnel Spots

Is the Cool Light basically Metal Halide? If it is, I would stay away. I bought one Metal Halide studio light to experiment with. I played with it for a couple of weeks. Now it's sitting in a closet, probably permanently. This is why:

- There's a five minute warmup time to get stable output and color, except I don't think the color ever fully stabilizes.

- If you turn it off, trip over the cord, kick a breaker, or whatever, you now have to wait 30 minutes to turn it back on. With you going into a building with weak breakers, this might be a big headache.

- The bulb is skittish. Move the light around and it starts acting weird. If you set it down hard enough it might even recycle on you. That might just be my light though.

- What color are these things? They are not truly full spectrum and not daylight either. I'm guessing 4800k. And that shifts!

- Too much exposure will give you a sunburn, no joke. These things also burn super hot, hotter than quartz. And my light has a cooling fan, the Cool Lights don't.

You can't go wrong with an Arri. For me, 3200k is easy to work with, gel off a chart, etc. The bulb will give you even light for much longer than the rated time. It's a proven package. And you can always get a good part of your money back if you're done with them.

Dec 09, 2011 at 05:23 AM

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p.1 #9 · Fresnel Spots

Thanks for the feedback - very helpful. Yes, the ones I was looking at are metal halide. The price difference between their tungsten version and the Arri's is minor so I'll go with the Arri's.

Dec 09, 2011 at 01:14 PM

DavidSchneider
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p.1 #10 · Fresnel Spots

I wanted to do that Fresnel look, especially for black & white, but need to do it very quickly in the studio. Settled on 18" Larson Fresnel. It's a Fresnel unit that takes a studio strobe. I'll be using both dslr and medium format digital with it. I've never been able to get the look I want with grids and snoots so hoping this works. I've seen examples with it, seen it in use, and will start testing on my own next month so a lock down settings and positions so I have repeatable results without too much fussing and time spent.

Dec 18, 2011 at 12:28 AM

markd61
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p.1 #11 · Fresnel Spots

You could always rent.... I am sure the friendly folks at your rental house would also have some insight into what you wish to achieve.

Dec 19, 2011 at 04:28 AM

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