Fragility of Arri vs 500w photoflood

[Tom Morrow]

I've been playing with some 500w photoflood bulbs, the kind that fit in a standard lamp socket (edison type). I find that one serious issue is how fragile they are... every time I have moved the lamp while turned on the filament has fried.

I'm considering getting some "like Arri" lights from ebay. The bulbs won't be so fragile, right, meaning I can adjust them while turned on?

[Gary Nattrass]

It all depends, I presume by arri like you mean the chinese ones on e-bay?

Photoflood bulbs can be very fragile and run very hot so moving them is not a good idea, you really should turn them off before moving but sometimes this can not be possible and you may want to see how the light changes as you move it, having a proper light fitting is a better way to do this and with care I move mine all the time, having safety glass or wire is also good for the safety aspect and you can also spot/flood with the control on the light.

The chinese arri type light units are Ok and reasonably well made but some of the bubbles that come with chinese lights and redheads can be very poor quality and can be just as fragile. All my 800w redhead bubbles that came with my old chinese redheads have either blown or broken at the connector end.

You are better buying better quality branded bubbles to go in them as they will be more robust and will last longer, putting a smaller wattage lamp in can also be better so that it does not run too hot, I now put 250w bubbles in most of my redheads as it gives me better control and the modern digital cameras don't need as much light anyway.

The 300/500 chinese arri lights may be the best bet for you as they are compact and offer you two options for bubble wattage.

Hope this helps.