Not sure where to post….How many Watts do you need for Lighting Interview?

[Scott Sheriff]

Mike,
I agree fire, bulb explosion, and burns are real risks of using ‘hot lights’, especially on location. Always run a screen over an open fixture, and keep it away from drapes and furniture. They can get knocked over and burn carpets from residual heat in a second, even if the bulb gets knocked out, so use sandbags. They can also melt nearby plastic items, and set off fire sprinklers. Now that those non-contact thermometers have become reasonably priced, I have added one to my grip kit to check wall and ceiling temps around the lights.
Like a lot of professional tools, they should be respected, and not used by the untrained. Most of the time I hear about people having issues, is they got overwhelmed with the shoot, and weren’t keeping tabs on the lights, or were just unaware of how hot they get over the course of a shoot.

You may be right about LED’s. Seems like the price, and the narrow color temps are the big problem currently.

I think the problem with the CFL’s is the curly shape isn’t the most efficient for our use. As you said, they are really meant to replace incandescent lamps. They might be OK in a chinese lantern for area fill. But fixtures like Kino Flo’s have a much better output per watt, and are more compact due to the straight tube shape, if you want a cool softbox.

Sure this discussion could be either Business, or Lighting. Fires and tripped breakers are bad for business.

Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com