Theatre spots?

[Si Micklewright]

Whats the difference between theatre spot lights (usually 500w) and photographic modeling lamps apart from the theatre spots are a lot cheaper, im new to this so any pointers would be helpful,
Thanks.
Si.

 

[andrewc]

There are many sports of theatre spot - mostly tungsten filament, but with different lenses to give different beam patterns and different spreads of light. Some have facilities to slide a coloured gel in, or to add barn doors.

otherwise there isn't much difference between a tungsten theatre lamp. A lamps a lamp.

One difference is that a theatre lamp is normally designed to hang below a bar, and some bulbs have markings to say which way up they're designed to work - using them the wrong way shortens bulb life as sometimes the hot and fragile filment isn't supported by various things in the bulb over its whole length.

I've used my drama groups lamps for photography - no problems.

 

[Si Micklewright]

Thats good news as i have access to 8 500w spots and a couple of stands which i shall have a play with.
One more question, does anyone know what king of light a flash gun is? Tungsten? flourescent? Halogen?
Thanks

 

[andrewc]

if you've got access to a portable dimmer rack as well to drive the lights, you've got all the control you need.

Most stage lights are tungsten and the colour temperature is quite low (around 3000 kelvin) whereas flash and halogen is higher - around (5000 - 6000k)

Shooting in raw gives you control of course. Or grey card technique.

 

[DiddyDave]

8x 500w spots!!!

Better turn the heating off at your house mate, unless it's a swimwear shoot?

 

[Si Micklewright]

i know what you mean they are hot, Hey i just read that continuos lights will cause the pupil in the models eyes to constrict due to the continuous brightness whereas flash does not do this due to the very fast burst, which is not what i want, damn it looks like im gonna have to spend some cash on a decent set of stobes!!

 

[W.Smith]

8x 500w spots!!!

Better turn the heating off at your house mate, unless it's a swimwear shoot?

Also: get a fire extinguisher for 'just in case'. They're cheap these days, and may provide some peace of mind. And check your fire insurance policy: you may not be covered when you use those hotlights!