Advice selecting a new light for studio...

[stradibarrius]

I currently have two tungsten lights with silver and white umbrellas. If I wanted something to provide a light like a stage spotlight what type of light would be a good choice?
or...
Could I take a piece of poster board and make a cone to place on one of my existing lights to make a "Snoot" type arrangement?

[Ottrdaemmerung]

Yes, definitely feel free to fashion your own snoot out of cardboard or other material, though if your lights are continuous I'd advise you to line them with foil to provide some protection against heat. You wouldn't want cardboard bursting into flame or plastic melting during a shoot!

The company that made your lights might offer ready-made shoots or other light modifiers that would clip right onto them.

[Mike Wilde]

If you want a real hard edge, then you need a real stage light - an ellipsoidal focus spot - know in the trade as a 'lekolite' after the original widely used model by Strand in the late 50's early 60's.

If you do find an old one, take care about the bulb it needs. Old ones need a mogul base socket with long glass envelopes that are rare and expensive (like $35 for perhaps 500 hours of burn time, albeit at 1000w or 750W typically, which is a lot of light if not being thrown over 50-75').

More modern ones use bipin sockets, and the bulbs are longer lived, and only are like, around $20.

The more modern kind use a dichroic reflector and throw as much light with a 575W bulb as the older ones that used a 1000w source.

ETC (from New York, I think) and Selecon (from NZ) are ones I am familiar with. There are fixed focal length lens sets, and also zoom models; as you would expect the zooms cost more, but are more flexible, but usually heavier.

Selecon's run cool enough we make up gobos on acetate with ink jet pinters, and they are good for over 25 hours of use before dye fading becomes much of an issue.

It is possible to quickly go though $$ doing theatrical lighting, so approximating the effct might be worth it.

I use studio flash, and have had good success faking spot light looks by making DIY grids for my flash units from black coreflute, which is an art store sources corrugated plastic.

They would not stand up to the heat of continuous light sources.

I hope this infomation helps your understanding of this subject.

[TheFlyingCamera]

Also look for Arri/Mole Richardson/Dedolite fresnel spots. There are several other brands also which I can't recall off the top of my head. Do a search on Ebay in the photo lighting category for Fresnel to find many examples.

[jnanian]

if you are looking for another tungsten sort of light ..
lowel omni lights have a snoot that works with it, ( as well as barn doors )
the light also has a beam-adjuster that widens or concentrates the light.
cini-foil can be used to make your own tin foil snoot for what you have,
and it won't burst into flames like paper or foam core or ? from the heat ...

smith victor make some nice lights that take barn doors to help you adjust your lights too
i wish i could sell my lights and get some smith victors ( i have omnis and totas and some monoblocks )

good luck barry !
john

[stradibarrius]

I was looking a B&H at some of the selections they have under continuous tungsten. I have some B&H gift certificates.

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I agree with TheFlyingCamera. I have some Mini Moles by Mole Richardson. They're 200 watts and MR have some good snoot systems. There are 2 that I know of. The first type is one snoot with various aperture disks that you could change out. The one I prefer is a set of 3. They're not that expensive and gives off beautiful light.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ole_Snoot.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ini_Mole_.html