Turning my strobes into Fresnel Spots

Thank you Very cool could be very fun for some B&W Film Noir looks

abiciriderback wrote in post #18057775
Thank you Very cool could be very fun for some B&W Film Noir looks

For sure.
What attracted me to fresnel lens spot housing is how many lighting options they offer.
Just look at any old or even new motion picture.

My option its a piece of crap

abbadon31 wrote in post #18058075
My option (opinion?) its a piece of crap.

To each his own.

For $30 its worth having available as a tool. I've spent more for something less useful.

I'll be interested to hear about any test results you have to report. In particular, how it compares to a tight grid in terms of both how the light looks, and control of spill. I sometimes shoot speaker events where I wonder about the utility of setting up a flash at the back of the room. If this seems like a viable way to concentrate light from a distance light and avoid lighting up the whole room, it could be useful.

Owen.

owenegan wrote in post #18058262
I'll be interested to hear about any test results you have to report. In particular, how it compares to a tight grid in terms of both how the light looks, and control of spill. I sometimes shoot speaker events where I wonder about the utility of setting up a flash at the back of the room. If this seems like a viable way to concentrate light from a distance light and avoid lighting up the whole room, it could be useful.

Owen.

That's one of the tests planned. I have a set of grids that fit the 7" reflectors. I think the narrowest one is 10 degrees which is the claimed narrow beam of the fresnel adapter.

Biggest difference I anticipate is the grid "eats" light and the fresnel focuses it. That should result in better exposure settings with the fresnel.

any shots of what the edges of the light look like falling on a flat surface? I would love to see a wide image of the light with manny a couple of feet from a wall.

also, unsolicited advice here, i didn't realize the product name was linked until i accidentally rolled over the text on my way to close your page. If you don't like standard blue link text, an underline is still a common way to denote links in body copy.

edit: nevermind, this video seems to show very soft edges which is not what I'm looking for.

I ordered 2 from Amazon yesterday got them today to each his own but for $30 a piece can't beat it tried it out on my faithful model our Husky Nanook shot with a 360 set to 1/4 power inside house can be real fun for a film noir shoot

Hope they work out for you! Fresnels are a great tool and one of my favorite light sources. I generally use them in combination with a softer bank light for the ability to create hard shadows in an otherwise soft-light environment....or when I want to add a little *pop*. I have 2- 6" and one 10" Bardwell McAlisters that were converted to work with my speedos. In both cases they have the ability to focus by way of a slider that moves the flash tube internally.

fwiw, I've tried using a grid for a similar look but it didn't offer the same control for my needs.

Great gear hack, David! Fresnels make my favorite hard light, so I found it worthwhile for Profoto to engineer the fixture, and pay them the big bucks. For a change, the barndoors actually have a useful effect, and I also use the gel holder. The unit is so light that I can just stick it on a grip arm:

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18058454
also, unsolicited advice here, i didn't realize the product name was linked until i accidentally rolled over the text on my way to close your page. If you don't like standard blue link text, an underline is still a common way to denote links in body copy.

Thanks for the comment about text color. I found when I looked at the page that the link was obscure. I'll fix it.

I also did some testing today compared to grids offering about the same light spread.
I'm going to update the page tomorrow.

I added a comparison between the fresnel adapter and grids mounted in a 7" reflector to the article.

Bottom line, the 10 degree grid eats about 2.2 EV of light compared to the fresnel adapter set to 10 degree focus. i.e. fully extended.

A Fresnel light should create very hard edge shadows. Like this example http://www.screenlight​andgrip.com …/Arri_LED_Shado​w_Comp.jpg

But in the video linked in post #8, we can see that the Fresnel attachment on the head hardly acccomplished that task...the result looks simply like a 'brighter and somewhat contrastier but SOFT light'...look at the shadow edges of the supporting neck holding the diffuser disk on the light meter, it almost vanishes in the image on the right compared to the usual light source characteristic on the left.

^ a better choice for projecting patterns is an ellipsoidal zoom, imo. I have one modified to work with my speedos and a variety of laser cut cookies that fit inside.

This is an *old* image (as in decades) but the only one I have at the moment in a digital format that shows the use.