Confusion when ordering Halogen bulbs

[Jonathan Levin]

Hi everyone.

I went to order a bunch of FTK halogen bulbs for some of my Lowel Omni's.

When I went to B&H site and searched FTK, it returned 4 results of the same bulb, just different manufacturers:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search/BI/2855/KBID/3801

The range in price is significant: Low = $10US for Impact brand to high- $23US Sylvania/Osram brand. And two other companies in between, Ushio and Eiko.

When I called B&H about what the difference is, quality, bulb life, they said they were pretty much all the same. I read the reviews of the Impact bulbs, and they were less than steller.

I then poked around the web and found a place, BulbAmerica, that sells the FTK Sylvania/Osram brand for $9US! I also tried to ask the differences and why the spread of price but they also had no really answer.

I ended up ordering the bulbs from BulbAmerica. We'll see what I end up with.

So your experiences ordering spare bulbs? Just go with the cheapest, which for me comes out expensive usually. I also order LOTS of spares.

Any advice?
Jonathan

[Doug Jensen]

Still using tungsten in 2018, huh? Very interesting.

Just by coincidence I'm cleaning out old gear this week and just put four Lowel DP lights that still look brand new (complete with barndoors and working bulbs) into the trash pile. They haven't been used in about 10 years so it's high time to retire them. They join three Tota lights and five Pro lights in the same pile. I'll be happy to seem them all go to the dump on Saturday morning.

[Jonathan Levin]

Hi Doug.

Yeah. Old habits die hard. I've been really interested in LED lighting for some time, but just can't find what I am looking for that has a decent price point as well as really good output. With my other equipment becomig obsolete from almost the time you get stuff on back order, it's is expensive.

Right now my continuous kit is a Lowel Rifa 66, and 3 Lowel Omni's, as well as some Home Depot work lights that I use for background effects.

It does get a bit warm, but not awful.

Your offer sounds very generous. Are those Lowel DP lights just giant Omni's? And what wattage bulbs do those take?

Maybe I'm crazy, but I've been called worse...

Jonathan

[Doug Jensen]

Jonathan, I don't know what kind of work you do, how busy you are, who your clients, how long you've been in the business, how good you are at lighting, etc. so it is presumptuous of me to offer any advice, but you should really take a closer look at moving to LED. The advantages of LEDs over tungsten are really huge and you will probably regret not doing it sooner.

As for my pile of old tungstens, I emailed an instructor at a local vocational school that has some production classes and she came and picked them all up. About 15 Lowel lights of various models, a dozen Chimera softboxes, and about 20 new bulbs still in boxes. She was thrilled to have them, but I was thinking to myself that its too bad they aren't training the students with modern equipment. :-(

[Greg Smith]

I'm glad you found a good home at the school for your old lights, but ...

As a sometime teacher of high school and community college level video production classes, LEDs have been a real boon in practical terms and are worth the cost even compared to a "free" truck full of tungsten equipment. They save on the electric bill for the institution. There's no waiting for the fixtures to cool down before moving them. Much less risk (and liability!) to inexperienced personnel from handling thousands of watts of electricity and dangerously hot bulbs and fixtures (not to mention the occasional exploding lamp). No more pauses in the middle of setup (or heaven forbid, an actual production) to replace burned out bulbs. No more lessons about how to carefully handle quartz bulbs with gloves or a piece of paper to keep the surface spotless. Lower current demands and battery operation simplifies the power survey we always taught students how to do when entering an unfamiliar location.

All these little conveniences add up especially when you only have 50 minutes at a time to get something done in class.

- Greg

[David Banner]

I now have a large collection of LED lights but also still have a nearly new lowel light kit. Though I love the adjustable color, low temp and battery operation of the LEDs, I still love the color and power the halogens give so I plan on keeping them for some time. The rifa 66 is beautiful and those totas throw some light when you need a lot.

[Doug Jensen]

Greg, I agree completely with you. Tungsten lights aren't worth their weight in scrap metal for the reasons you have listed and even more you have not listed.
Believe me, I am the last person you need to convince of the value of LED lighting. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/interviews

[Jonathan Levin]

Ok thanks guys. Starting new thread...

[Jonathan Levin]

Doug,

Donating those lights was really a great thing. Eventually I'll move on to LED, whenever output and price point say go. You must have had some bad experiences with "hot" lights. Personally I really find them useful, and would imagine in some form or fashion I'd continue to use them to augment the LED's. Or use them as work lights.

As far as experience, I started out long enough ago that I was still prepping my own glass plates and using flash powder when I started out in photography biz. 14 years ago or so I added video to my services. I now do mostly education and training videos, along with the occasional personal video history project.