Lowel Rifa 66

[Mark Suszko]

I have told this one before, about racing with a guy from a Chicago O&O station to see who could get his softbox up first; him with a chimera, speed ring and Arri light, me with the Rifa. I spotted him already having his components out and in hand, but still beat him by a minute, easy.

Ross, where’s my G-D checks, how long does a brother have to wait:-)

[Charles Mercer]

Wow! This thread seems to be taking on a life of its own regarding the Rifa light. There’s obviously a lot of useful information out there circulatiing from people who actually use the gear – priceless. Dipping into the font of wisdom once again (and avoiding too much hagiography) could anyone recommend Ross Lowell’s book ‘Matters of Light and Depth’? I’m trying to track down a copy in the UK and I’ve seen one on Amazon, but at an outrageous price (OK, so I’m a skinflint) I like to browse through a book first before handing over large sums of money and you can’t really do that on-line.
And I wonder if the great man himself could enlighten us on the spelling of his name – is it one ‘L’ or two? My UK Tiffen catalogue uses one ‘L’ followed by a superscript ‘L’ incorporated into a logo. I think we should be told.

Regards
Charles

Charles Mercer
Pearldrop Video Productions

[Mark Suszko]

“Matters of light and Depth” is considered a staple book of the industry by many.

As far as lighting, I also would suggest Bill Holshevni- damn, can never spell his name right – Bill Holshevnikoff’s “Power of Lighting”.

[Charles Mercer]

Thanks Mark, I can never get enough to read about the fascinating art of lighting sets so I’ll try to track down Holshevnikov’s book. I have just found ‘Matters of Light and Depth’ on ebay. The book was offered as ‘acceptable’ but at $19 plus $15 postage to the UK, I hope I’ve got a bargain. Some of the prices I’ve seen for second-hand copies are eye-popping.
As a by the by, we had our official studio opening yesterday and managed to attract thirty prospects (amazing what the offer of free food does) The main purpose of the day was to show off the green screen and to encourage impromptu performances with a bottle of Champagne for the best offering. We had intended posting the results on Youtube next week but my techy guy (son) immediately processed the footage on Final Cut and we turned the monitor round for an instant replay. This was a big hit and the cause of much hilarity, but, on the serious side gained us four immediate customers. I’ll still post on Youtube and send you a link after we get our breath back.
Regards
Charles

Charles Mercer
Pearldrop Video Productions

[Mark Price]

Hey all
I am a big fan of the rifa line. I own a 44 55 & a66 each works wonderfully. I own the flo attachments (1 of the three bulbs and two of the single) and find them helpfull in many ways. I have used them the Lowell daylight bulbs which I had 2 major complaints. 1st at $30+ a bulb they are expensive but they are also extremly fragile and last time I ordered them 4 out of the 12 ordered came broken. 2nd when using them with the 3 bulb attachmentthey become a little too heavy for the yoke and sometimes sag. One other thing I noticed about the Lowell daylight bulbs is they tended to have a bit of green in them most notible a +7 on my minolta color meter
With that being said I have usedthem alot in office building super markets to match the color temp of the enviroment using bulbs bought at any local store.
I most recently used them on a job with robert eiswith and he snore by them on that job the gaffer Andy Day had 24 of these lights on the job and were used in every light set up.
In reguards to the eggcrates I find that they are totally worth there high price each one of my Rifas has a 40 degree crate and I always have them on there. I find that it makes them very easy to control

[Charles Mercer]

Hi Mark. Interesting comments on the Rifa fluors. They did look a bit heavy, but I haven’t tried them yet, so I’ll reserve judgement. I’m looking for an instrument of about 1000watts which I can use to fire through a Gobo and coloured gel to throw a nice background effect. I’m using an Ianiro redhead 650Watt at the moment but I’m losing light to the gel and it’s being overome by the key light a bit (I egg-crate the Rifa 66 off, but it’s hard in confined office spaces to get the light completely off the background) Any ideas?

Regards
Charles

Charles Mercer
Pearldrop Video Productions

[Mark Suszko]

Other Mark here. Shooting thru a gobo or cookie is not IMO what the Rifa is for, and you would be better served there using a traditional fixture like a fresnel, an ellipsoidal spot like the Source Four Junior, (which will hold an actual gobo pattern insert) or an open-faced light like the Lowel Omni. The soft light off a rifa would be severely attenuated by a cookie/gobo, not to mention the point of those items for casting shadows is somewhat defeated by a softbox which would not cast as hard of a hard shadow. I think you want a hard point source, or at least something harder than a softbox, when trying to cast cookie patterns. But I’m willing to be schooled otherwise.

[Charles Mercer]

Hi Mark
Sorry, didn’t make myself clear. I wouldn’t use the Rifa for the gobo rig, I was looking for a hard source. I actually have some homebrew cuckoloris (funny word) rather than metal gobo inserts which are very expensive in the UK. I am having trouble finding a 1,000 watt instrument as everything seems to be 800 watts or 2000 watts with not much in between. I can use a dimmer on 2,000 watts, but I like to keep the wattage down when on clients’ premises for obvious reasons. I’ll have a look at the Omni and the soft force junior (if I can find a source in the UK)

Thanks for the info.

Charles

Charles Mercer
Pearldrop Video Productions

[Mark Price]

Just as an FYI most 800 watt open face can actually rake a 1000 watt bulb. It’s not going to hurt the light and I know the case of mole Richardson they include the lamp types that can be used with units. But if u are looking to keep the watts down I strongly sudgest a source four lecko with a hpl 750 watt 120volt bulb (I am sure they have them in other voltage) these lights provide more control then any fresnel or open face and allow u to create hard shadows or softer shadows depending on the postion of the lens. they also provide more foot candles then a 1k fresnel and I believe a openface but I personally hate openface lights so have never tested ithe two against each other U don’t need to use them with metal hobos to create a look a cuckolris will work fine
In regaurds to keeping the Rifa off the back wall I am not sure of ur angle but I usually box in lights with flags. Find a topper works really well. But when a flag is not practical I sometimes have my rifa up high and have a duvatine teaser hanging from the ceiling. It usually goes behind or above the subject and is just out of frame

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