Hi Guys,
The back story
I am a poor indie film-maker who, I would guess like a lot of others, really wanted a small 575 HMI Fresnel of my own just for doing small indoor shoots, as a main key light as my florescent light banks are great for fill but just too soft as a key light. There was no way I could afford an Arri and i tried to buy second hand but they are hard to find. So I was tempted by what looked like a solution in a Chinese HMI via Ebay.
I got it a few weeks ago, but it was poorly packed, bits were broken and scratched etc when I opened it and when I tested it, nothing. The guys in China were actually good about that and sent me some replacement parts and once I got those I changed them over and I also found that inside the ballast that a connector was loose and I got it working.
However on getting it working I was extremely disappointed to say the least. I am got a lighting guru, I am very much still learning but I was expecting a hard flat even, flicker free light, the unit is poorly made but I was not expecting so much light to come out of the sides, top and bottom of the unit or for the glass lens not to fit.
I am letting it run, burning it in, at the moment but what I have fight now flickers like hell to the human eye, is not very powerful at all, has two highlight points inside the circle of light it projects and the colour is red in some parts of the circle and blue in others, it gives a double shadow, not a single shadow as I expected. Basically its unusable, is that likely to change if I leave the lamp burning in for more than 2 hours ?
Not only that but while I was testing it/setting it up, my arm was quite close to the bottom of the light, which had some light spill, bounced of metal internal walls and comes out of what I guess are cooling vents ie about 6 inches away and it felt very hot, like a burning and is still a bit sore after more than an hour. And my eyes are hurting. Could this be down to the light escaping from the unit, not through the lens ? It is reflected light but is that still high in UV ? My eyes also seem to ache a bit, are mildly strange.
If I add silver baking foil inside the unit to cut down the light escaping is that dangerous ? Is the quality of the light out put, which to me seems like it must be unusable, normal for a small HIM 575 ?
The back story
I am a poor indie film-maker who, I would guess like a lot of others, really wanted a small 575 HMI Fresnel of my own just for doing small indoor shoots, as a main key light as my florescent light banks are great for fill but just too soft as a key light. There was no way I could afford an Arri and i tried to buy second hand but they are hard to find. So I was tempted by what looked like a solution in a Chinese HMI via Ebay.
I got it a few weeks ago, but it was poorly packed, bits were broken and scratched etc when I opened it and when I tested it, nothing. The guys in China were actually good about that and sent me some replacement parts and once I got those I changed them over and I also found that inside the ballast that a connector was loose and I got it working.
However on getting it working I was extremely disappointed to say the least. I am got a lighting guru, I am very much still learning but I was expecting a hard flat even, flicker free light, the unit is poorly made but I was not expecting so much light to come out of the sides, top and bottom of the unit or for the glass lens not to fit.
I am letting it run, burning it in, at the moment but what I have fight now flickers like hell to the human eye, is not very powerful at all, has two highlight points inside the circle of light it projects and the colour is red in some parts of the circle and blue in others, it gives a double shadow, not a single shadow as I expected. Basically its unusable, is that likely to change if I leave the lamp burning in for more than 2 hours ?
Not only that but while I was testing it/setting it up, my arm was quite close to the bottom of the light, which had some light spill, bounced of metal internal walls and comes out of what I guess are cooling vents ie about 6 inches away and it felt very hot, like a burning and is still a bit sore after more than an hour. And my eyes are hurting. Could this be down to the light escaping from the unit, not through the lens ? It is reflected light but is that still high in UV ? My eyes also seem to ache a bit, are mildly strange.
If I add silver baking foil inside the unit to cut down the light escaping is that dangerous ? Is the quality of the light out put, which to me seems like it must be unusable, normal for a small HIM 575 ?
