# Lightning king



## pagan (Sep 9, 2009)

I have been playing around with the Firefly 201 I got for Christmas, and I have so say pretty damn cool. Using a couple of lights from Home Depot ( old halogen work light and an incandescent 100 w bulb in a clamp on fixture) it is impressive. I see that lights-alive sells an LED fixture for a few bucks, what is everyone else using and what do you think?

P


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## stagehand1975 (Feb 22, 2010)

The benefit.to the led fixture is no heat, it will last a lot longer, and you can put a lot of.them on a channel. They cost less to run. I have the really advanced version of a lightning machine. I have 14 led stage lights running from a computer program. I get all my colored lighting and lightening from one fixture. But lighting and sound is one of my off season jobs.


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## R. Lamb (Oct 11, 2011)

I've been using Halogen work lights with my 501 for the last 3 years and they work fairly well. The reaction time is to slow and they suck up the power but they do create a decent effect. I would love to go with LED but the ones at lights alive are priced out of my reach just now. I tried using some ADJ Par 56's with it but, That was a no go. The computer chip in the Par's has to cycle through a test every time it is turned off and then on again. I'll stick with the work lights until I can find a reasonably priced LED upgrade.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

R. Lamb said:


> The reaction time is to slow and they suck up the power but they do create a decent effect. I would love to go with LED but the ones at lights alive are priced out of my reach just now.


I use 250W photoflood bulbs, two blue and two white. They have a super-fast reaction time and and when they shut off you don't get any yellowish light as they cool down. They're priced at around $5 - $8 each.


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## Gory Corey (Nov 17, 2006)

lets see my browser crash again...argg

A lot of folks use the halogen workshop lights.
We all know they come anywhere from 150-500 watts, which makes you pretty limited if you want to illuminate a wide area.
My experience, they are a tad slow, and quite yellow, which usually lightning isnt, and could only get away using a couple, even on bigger T&L machines, since they have a high inductive load and almost double the amp draw.

Some folks use photofloods.
Tried em - but those are prone to explosion when the humidity is up or when dripped on, and again, the color is usually in the 3400K (yellow) range, since they are balanced for film based on tungsten lighting. (yeah I was a photo minor in college). 
I found them a little too fragile.

I tried regular incandescent flood bulbs, which usually turned out to be not floods, usually they were spots, and the color again sucks.
They tend to be durable in construction when using plain uncolored bulbs.
My biggest complaint is the lack of light and realism for the wattage.

Well, thats my adventures in thunder and lightning lighting...
Have fun.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

I've never seen a photoflood at 3400K, although I'm sure they exist. I use 4200K (blue) and 3800K (white) bulbs. I haven't had an explosion yet, and they've been rained on a couple of times while the system was running. I may go with all 4200K this year and see what difference it makes.


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## Gory Corey (Nov 17, 2006)

Your right, I put the wrong kelvin in.
That comes from the reef aquarium lighting days were the common metal halides first available were 3400K.
I think/thought the usual tungsten white is 3700K, but I have not bought them in 10 years, so I will happily defer to you
If they are calling 4200 blue, that is odd.
I can see how based on color film tungsten balance that could make sense.
We didnt have that bulb version 25 years ago when I studied at the local supply shop.

As far as light it puts out, 4200K is yellow.
Kelvin scale in lighting is relative to sunlight.
5000-5600K is considered daylight (relative angle to perpendicular surfaces changes the value in the range), anything under is considered yellow, anything over, considered blue.

For a good example of the differences, go to an aquarium shop that has live corals, and ask to see the daylight and high K bulbs on a tank. compare them to a regular bulb.
You will see a HUGE difference 

on the photofloods, I had 2 blow up the first time I ran lightning on the yard haunt.
Bulbs were under the tree, pretty shielded from the rain, and an hour or so of running in the haunt we had light rain, a few drops hit em, pop!

Maybe I run my T&L at a greater intensity (more time on) and the heat builds up more making the bulbs more prone to trouble?


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Good question about the bulb failure. I use a thunder track that has periods that are nearly constant thunder, but as I said, no failures yet. Regarding the 4200K blue bulb, the shell of the bulb is actually tinted a light blue. I must be mistaken about the 4200K rating - this bulb:
http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/1333/STAG-BCA.html
is the exact one that I use and it's a 250W 4800K. Makes more sense; maybe the color comes from the tint?


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## pagan (Sep 9, 2009)

Thanks everyone. Otaku, I think I'm going to give the photo bulbs a shot next. I just am not certain enough about the LED yet.. Maybe for 2013 ...


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

You won't be disappointed - those things are incredibly fast and bright. Don't balk at the "3-hour life" thats printed on the packaging. I've been using the same set of four bulbs for four years (~10 hrs of lightning each year) and when compared to a new set I see very little difference.


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## pagan (Sep 9, 2009)

I bought 2 of the blues, but the only whites I saw were 500w frosted 3200k or 3400k.. I got 2 of the 3400k. The bulbs and fixtures should be here in a week.. I will report back with the smoke-test results. I think I am starting to freak the neighbors out a little...more ;D


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## Gory Corey (Nov 17, 2006)

I was going to ask about the life span you experienced.
Glad you said something.

I think that is really referring to the K rating as opposed to the operational life.

I bet the blue tint and 4300K bulbs are to take advantage of the spectrum that tungsten film reacts to.
It may not be that the bulbs are blue per-say, but that the lighting provided works with the film and print chemistry to add a blue to the photos overall appearance.

The biggest reason I like the LED option is that I up-light all the trees on my property, 2-6 250 watt bulbs on a 1500 watt capable machine aint gonna cut it.

Last year I used more than 20 bulbs with from 36-120 leds per, uplighting trees, and another 6 120 led bulbs to wash the house.

I expect to do more this year, and really look forward to using our new floods.


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## pagan (Sep 9, 2009)

Corey,
Are you using off the shelf items or did you build the fixtures.. Maybe next year I will just suck it up and build my own LED lights.. We will see how the photo floods get along this year


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## pagan (Sep 9, 2009)

Got the bulbs today.. Tested them inside (too cold to schlep all the gear outside) and I think I like the blue better. The 500w whites seem slower and a little to warm in color.
I will report back after a test outside.


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