Quartz light on the cheap

[AZLF]

I have seen some 300watt quartz lights with stands at Home depot and other locations. These are not color corrected for daylight film are they? It's not a problem if they are not as I have 80 A and B filters but I need to know one way or the other before I buy some for a shoot this weekend.

[Nick Zentena]

Work lights? No not colour corrected. Not cooled either. You mean the halogen ones right?

[AZLF]

Work lights? No not colour corrected. Not cooled either. You mean the halogen ones right?

Yes.

[df cardwell]

Cheap light.

Just do some testing, and you'll be fine.

Don't go cheap on the support though. Hunt down some proper stands ( NOT those cheesy lightweight things ) or make some from steel pipe.

A 5 gallon paint bucket with cement works pretty well if you aren't moving them often.....

[Donald Miller]

These halogen lamps will be nearer daylight color temp than tungsten...

[Nick Zentena]

Take your light meter with you. If they are like the 250 and 1000 watt units I have the amount of light might disappoint you. Enough to blind you but maybe not enough to photograph with. Depends on your format etc. Also expect them to get hot. Not warm but HOT. They will heat up a small room.

[Helen B]

Their colour temperature is likely to be around 3000 to 3100 K. All the electrical energy that goes into a tungsten lamp ends up as heat in a room*, and low-cost lighting units are no different from expensive units in that respect. Work lights would be called 'open-face' lights - they tend to be more efficient than fresnel lights in terms of total usable light per electrical watt, but they are less controllable. They are good for creating large, soft sources by diffusion or reflection, but not so good when used directly.

If you want a ball-park indication of the light output of a 300 W work light, you could look at the performance of the Lowel V-light with a 500 W lamp and reduce to 60%. The V-light is a really simple reflector. For example, at 10 ft you might get around 20 to 25 foot-candles when used directly. That's about f/1.4 at 1/60 and EI 100. Then take a stop or so off for the diffuser, then take two stops off for the 80A filter...

If anyone has actual measurements, they would be better than my WAG.

Best,
Helen
*Well, unless you have living vegetation in the room, of course.

[AZLF]

Thanks to all for the info. I decided against using them and bought some daylight color corrected photo floods. 500 watt units and a couple of clamp type housings . I will be shooting a product shot of sorts for work of what is essentially a clear anodized aluminum rectangle with a brush finish housing a PDA. I plan on placing the lights behind diffusing material and using a polarising filter to cut down glare and/or hot spots. As I will be shooting on a tripod the exposures can run long as they will have to with the asa 100 Ektachome I will be shooting. I'll have the place to myself tomorrow so I can take my time and get some good shots of the unit.

Again thanks to all for the speedy replies to my question.

[Jim Noel]

Unless motion is part of the equation, there is no such thing as too little light with which to photograph.

One of the most effective demos I ever witnessed was Dean Collins making a portrait with a bare 5 watt bulb.

Try it sometime.

The units from Home Depot give more than enough light for any photograph if the subject is not moving.

[Donald Miller]

[QUOTE=Jim Noel]

One of the most effective demos I ever witnessed was Dean Collins making a portrait with a bare 5 watt bulb.

[QUOTE]

Collins was a master at controlling small amounts of light positioned close to the object/subject in conjunction with long camera lenses. He did some very nice work.