El Cheapo Worklights
 

Has anyone refitted the holders, cut reliefs in the reflectors and removed front glasses for using 800watt DXX-R7S (redhead) bulbs?

Beyond a certain point it is not worth the labour when the price of the ersatz redheads from China is considered. Just curious.

Hi Bob, are you talking about the typical Home Depot rectangular 500W work lights? I started out with them, but the shape always gave me odd shadows. And it is rather difficult to get barndoors for them.

I have two Ianiro 800w redheads. They are much easier to work with than the 500w worklights were and give much better results. They also have a sort of focusing capability which comes in handy. They are great for getting intense light on a subject but the light is not that even. From my experience, the Ianiro type 500w photofloods are the basic workhorse video lights since they give broad, even lighting that is somewhat softer than the redheads.