Tom,

You should only use these lamps with Porcelain sockets which can handle this wattage and avoid causing a fire. I usually them myself with heavier-duty zip cord and porcelain sockets... very easy to pick up the parts from a hardware store and wire them.

Are you planning to put them in a practical lamp or in some sort of fixture you will see in shot? Or maybe a Chinese-style paper lantern?

Best,

Toby Birney
Director of Photography

Toby,

Thanks for the reply! Based on the advice I had received here, I went to the local electric supply store and was able to get some porcelin sockets that are rated to 680 watts, and also some heavy duty cord and plugs to attach them to. I think those will work well.

No, we're not planning (at least not at this point) to include use the bulbs in practical lighting in the shot itself. These are going to be offscreen providing the primary light for the shots. Originally we had purchased some work lamps from Lowe's with aluminum dome reflectors on them. We'll probably take those reflectors and migrate them to the new fixtures. Aluminum reflectors should be immune to the heat that the photofloods put off, correct?

Any other suggestions relating to the use of this type of lighting?

Thanks again!

=Tom=

Yeah, the reflectors will help control the spill as well.

Also, consider Chinese Lanterns to make a softer source. I always have a dimmer with these lights as well- makes it easy to adjust the brightness.

And the BCA's don't put out a whole lot of light because of the blue tinting in the globe.
You may need to bank a few together. You could even create a "Bat light" which is simply a strip of 1' x 3' with porcelain sockets screwed in every 8-12 inches or so, wired in series, so that you have a softer source. stick a spud on the back and it can go on a c-stand. Build a diffusion box in front to even out the shadows. Be conscious of how much wattage you are adding up though.

Oh, and remember that these lamps burn much quicker than household bulbs- maybe only a few hours.

You can also make some punchy lights that don't consume as much power with MR-16's. Good luck....

PS- if you use a chinese lantern, remember to tie off the lantern as well as the cabling- redundant safety ties are a good thing. i did have one burn through the cabling once but we had it safetied off properly and no actors got hurt.

On the chinese lanterns, I'm a little confused as to how that would work with a photoflood bulb. Since chinese lanterns use paper shades, wouldn't the intense heat of the photofloods cause them to catch fire?

Also, I haven't had the opportunity to do any camera tests yet, but in just putting together the fixtures and testing the bulbs, I noticed that the BCA ones had, as one might expect, a seeming blue tint to the light they emitted. These are supposed to be daylight balanced bulbs, and I know that things look different on camera than they do to the naked eye. Is the blue tinted light going to look like daylight on camera, or what is the proper use of these bulbs?

Thanks!

Yes, you are right to be concerned about the heat. You should try to get large diameter lanterns- I mean, like the size of a small beach ball (not small like a basketball). You can even spray some heat resistant spray on them- I'll see if I can dig up some specifics on that. Maybe 3M makes something like that, I just don't remember. But you should be fine with 250w bulbs. Just be smart about making it safe when you rig it in case something does go wrong.

Actually, the BCA's are around 4600K (If memory serves) so they are a bit warmer than traditional daylight lamps (5600K). They are a good match for sunlight I think. I have used them in situations where I wanted practical lamps to be glowing in a Daylight interior scene and not appear yellow. I saw a guy use one as an eyelight once on a day exterior shoot (it was in a Chinese lantern actually) but it was pretty weak. Like pissing in the ocean. I have never used them as a key source though. They just don't have much "poop"...