New Light Kit Suggestions?

[Silas Barker]

Hi,
I mainly shoot interviews and b roll for commercial and corporate clients.

I have been using some old 300/600 watt Britek lights for about 10 years. They are slowly falling apart. I have soft boxes and barn doors for them. They get hot which is my main annoyance. I am thinking about replacing them with new Britek lights (since my soft boxes are still good condition) and adding a couple lights for hair/back lighting. I really like the slash of light effect that is done on a wall sometimes. But my Britek lights with barn doors can't do that for some reason.

I am looking into the Lowel lights at the moment.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Hoping to spend under $900

Thanks!

[Bill Davis]

Three factors are in play.

Power efficiency - watts into light verses watts into heat
Controllability - the ability to cut and control the light.
Price -what your budget will allow.

You can have 2 out of the three.

You're setting low price as ONE element.

Pick which other one you want.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Silas Barker

I really like the slash of light effect that is done on a wall sometimes. But my Britek lights with barn doors can't do that for some reason.

I'm not familiar with Britek lights, but if you want to do a nice slash or cast shadows through a cookie pattern, there is no substitute for a Fresnel instrument. You can get tungsten, LED, or HMI models but not fluorescent

[Silas Barker]

Would the Arri 650 Fresnel light do the trick? Or what would you recommend?

[Silas Barker]

I think this is my basic set up idea:

2 Britek 300/600 Watt hard or softbox lights (Already have)

And here is what I want to get and need suggestions on. Willing to pay a little more for a good light too.
1 Hair Light -
1 Backlight -
1 Edgelight -

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Silas Barker

Would the Arri 650 Fresnel light do the trick? Or what would you recommend?

Sure if you're looking for tungsten lighting, the Arri 650 is a good workhorse light. However, I actually prefer (and own) a couple of the old Lowel Fren-L 650 lights. They're discontinued now, but you might find a used one someplace. In my opinion they are superior to the Arri lights.

If you want to move into LED lighting, the Litepanels Sola 4 and Sola ENG are very good Fresnels.

[Shaun Roemich]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

I actually prefer (and own) a couple of the old Lowel Fren-L 650 lights. They're discontinued now, but you might find a used one someplace. In my opinion they are superior to the Arri lights.

At one point in my career I would have found this difficult to believe - UNTIL I started hanging out with Mister Dylan Couper, DVInfo moderator and operator of my favourite independent gear rental house.

His Chinese knockoff "Arris" have outlasted his REAL Arris by a significant margin.

The ONLY issue I've seen with the Lowel Fresnels is occasionally the lamps unseat during transport and need to be pushed back into place. Once you know what the issue is, no biggie but the first time you panic and go looking for spare bulbs.

[Doug Jensen]

I don't recall ever having the bulbs come loose in my Lowel Fren-L lights, so maybe it is the brand of bulbs you are using.

There are four major reasons why I like the Lowels better than the Arris: 1) The power cords can be removed which makes the lights a whole lot easier to packup, and you can easily replace a cord on a shoot if there is a problem. 2) The Lowels have a rubber pistol grip for aiming the light after it gets hot. No gloves needed. 3) The barn doors are mounted better and don't fall off the light like Arri. 4) The lights are black.

Besides having the "Arri" name stenciled on them, there is nothing about the Arri lights that I would say is superior to the Lowels.

[Silas Barker]

So far, for the price and quality, its looking like a 650 Watt Arri light at the moment, and I can switch the bulb too a 300watt for a little less power.

I also found this cheaper light with good reviews by LTM Pepper 300W Fresnel - Does anyone know if this one is any good?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/125374-REG/LTM_PH_165F_Pepper_300W_Fresnel_Light.html

[Silas Barker]

So far, for the price and quality, its looking like a 650 Watt Arri light at the moment, and I can switch the bulb too a 300watt for a little less power.

I also found this cheaper light with good reviews by LTM Pepper 300W Fresnel - Does anyone know if this one is any good? (Looks like the other LTM Pepper lights run kinda of hot.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/125374-REG/LTM_PH_165F_Pepper_300W_Fresnel_Light.html
I am hoping too, that I can double up two of these lights for use on a greenscreen (especially if I use the 650 Watt Arri)

[Dylan Couper]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

I don't recall ever having the bulbs come loose in my Lowel Fren-L lights, so maybe it is the brand of bulbs you are using.

There are four major reasons why I like the Lowels better than the Arris: 1) The power cords can be removed which makes the lights a whole lot easier to packup, and you can easily replace a cord on a shoot if there is a problem. 2) The Lowels have a rubber pistol grip for aiming the light after it gets hot. No gloves needed. 3) The barn doors are mounted better and don't fall off the light like Arri. 4) The lights are black.

Besides having the "Arri" name stenciled on them, there is nothing about the Arri lights that I would say is superior to the Lowels.

Hey Doug
I'll chime in on this since Shaun dropped my name earlier, and I own both the Lowels, Arris and assorted clones.

The Lowel Fren-Ls are among the BEST frenel I've ever owned, for all the reasons you list and then some. Sadly, I believe they are long discontinued. The only bad thing I can say is that the metal in the barn doors was weak. I think it's because they were quite expensive for a brand that wasn't as "high end" as Arri was perceived to be. Too bad. Great features in this light. I especially liked the flip top lid which helped cut post-shoot cooling time. Also, the pop up level for scrims was great too.

I did have a few loose bulbs from time to time though.