Lighting people, I need your help with the spec of various lights

[HuntMike]

Does anyone know if there is a site which lists various types of lamps, how much they weigh and the RRP of the lamp? Similar to a car site which has a big list featuring top speed/ 0-60 etc.

It's not for a game of Top Trumps, I've got quite a big job abroad where I need to get lots of lights thru customs, and customs need to know the value and weight of each light, stand, ballist and cable.... And I'm a little stuck.

Some websites like the Arri site are pretty good, but often they only list the weight of the head, for example.

 

[RicherSea]

I think you might struggle to find it all on one site. I was looking for comparisons recently, with a veiw to buying some new studio heads, and ended up with a bit of paper copying things down from the manufacturer's sites. Are all your lights from the same suppliers/manufacturer? If they are that would be my first port of call.

 

[HuntMike]

I think you might struggle to find it all on one site. I was looking for comparisons recently, with a veiw to buying some new studio heads, and ended up with a bit of paper copying things down from the manufacturer's sites. Are all your lights from the same suppliers/manufacturer? If they are that would be my first port of call.

I've got around 20 different Arri lamps, 8 different Kino-flo lights, 3 different Jem lights, some redheads and blondes and a few other oddball lights. Not strictly lights used by photographers, they're intended for TV and film, but I was hoping some lighting guru's on here may know of some elusive site!

I've pretty much gone thru the whole Arri site, and while the majority of parts are listed, there's often some oddball part that I cannot find listed, eg: a Dimmer Shutter for a 4k compact HMI. So far I've been just copying and pasting parts of websites into a text file, because I'm lazy and my handwriting is awful... I guess I should've trained to be a doctor! :bonk:

The killer is that I have to list all the bulbs also, including the bulb manufacturer and country of origin! Easier said than done but I'm slowing working my way thru. Finding the spec of the heads and ballists isn't too hard, but it's the cables, stands and other bits and bobs that seem a lot harder to find info on...

 

[david1701]

lol leave it home an buy new when you get there, sounds like less hassle

 

[itsdavedotnet]

I can't help I'm afraid, other than say that I'm very jealous of having that kit! If you need a 2nd grip or assistant, give me a shout tv, photo and cable laying experience, and some spark knowledge, and always keen to get stuck in

Would it not be more efficient to hire at least some of it on location? A local grip company could surely help with a lot of the stuff that will cost a lot to ship over, but not be desperately expensive to hire a grip truck for a few days to provide the heavy stuff (eg C-stands, appleboxes, sandbags, flags...)

As for weights....grab a set of decent (ie non-bathroom) scales and weigh them maybe? And then list the values pulled off the creative video site or something? I never knew carnets needed this much detail

 

[HuntMike]

lol leave it home an buy new when you get there, sounds like less hassle

You realise that an Arri 18KW HMI lamp costs over £10,000 and the ballast costs even more! Film gear is pretty expensive... my running total right now is in 6 figures....

I can't help I'm afraid, other than say that I'm very jealous of having that kit! If you need a 2nd grip or assistant, give me a shout tv, photo and cable laying experience, and some spark knowledge, and always keen to get stuck in

Would it not be more efficient to hire at least some of it on location? A local grip company could surely help with a lot of the stuff that will cost a lot to ship over, but not be desperately expensive to hire a grip truck for a few days to provide the heavy stuff (eg C-stands, appleboxes, sandbags, flags...)

As for weights....grab a set of decent (ie non-bathroom) scales and weigh them maybe? And then list the values pulled off the creative video site or something? I never knew carnets needed this much detail

Yep it is good kit, amazing how reliable it is considering how much abuse it goes thru. I especially like the Kino-Flo stuff, nice and light, efficient so you can run them from a 3kw plug which is more than can be said for the bigger Arri lamps.

I don't own the kit personally, I've been asked at the last minute to help at the company which hires out the lamps to help out with the carnet, which has to be submitted on Monday! :bonk:

I've got most of the kit specs from the internet now, plus I've been lucky enough to have lugged some of the gear personally around so I know roughly how heavy a lot of the kit it already.

As for crew, it's a pretty regular program that has the same crew so I'm afraid there aren't any spare jobs going... It should be on around Christmas time but I'm afraid I can't say much more than that.