What the heck did I just buy? :)

[ProAc_Fan]

I know little to nothing about lighting but I am planning on making a home studio in my basement. Since the wifey actually encourages this project I'm sure it'll get done eventually. That being the case, I was going to buy one of those lighting stands with the 500watt halogen bulbs you usually find for construction work. However while perusing a thrift store today I came across the lighting appliance pictured below. I have no idea how old it is. It states its from Eddie Blacks photography ( I've never heard of such a store). The bulbs are 375 watt and claim to have a max life of 4 hrs. Could that be accurate? The bulbs only last 4 hrs? The bulbs also say "photo" on them so does that mean they are somehow different from a regular bulb you'd buy at any hardware store? Is this appliance at all useful for my purposes? Sorry for all the rambling questions. BTW I bought it for $5.99 CAN and it works just fine. The bulbs do get awfully HOT though. :)

Mike

[booggerg]

They look to me to be airstrip landing lights.

[chtgrubbs]

It's called a light bar. They were used for Super 8mm movie making back in the Dark Ages.

[chtgrubbs]

Oh, the bulbs. They were designed for Photo Reflector Floods, which were 3400K degrees. They only lasted 4 hrs because they burned at a higher temp than standard bulbs, but in those days the average movie shooter only shot 30-60 minutes of film in a year, so it wasn't a big deal. Unless you were a basement porn producer.:) You can use any reflector flood with digital and do a custom white balance.

[MTalley]

Almost looks like something I have mounted on the roof of my 4x4. :D

[Dante King]

I am still partially blind from my Pop and his damn lights for home movies!! LOL

[CyberDyneSystems]

If the bulbs and sockets have a standard medium base thread,. you could replace the 350 watt bulbs with something that will last longer,. like 150 watt floods. In fact I'm sure there are brighter floods than 150 availble,. but maybe not at a hardware store.

Then it may be usefull to some degree.. I'd use a reflector of bounce of some sort,. maybe a diffuser.

[Vetteography]

If the bulbs and sockets have a standard medium base thread,. you could replace the 350 watt bulbs with something that will last longer,. like 150 watt floods. In fact I'm sure there are brighter floods than 150 availble,. but maybe not at a hardware store.

Then it may be usefull to some degree.. I'd use a reflector of bounce of some sort,. maybe a diffuser.

Even if they aren't standard, you could easily retrofit that rig to use modern lights.

[davepgh1]

A buddy of mine used one of those back in the mid 60's. The nice thing about them is that you alway saw him coming and knew when to run. I'll bet he still has his, do you want another one?

[stampchick724]

I can still feel my eyelashes burning!!!