Tiffen Lowel Pro-light - Manual (Page 4)

Pro-light for the New Professional
Lowel Pro-light Instructions
Use the focusing knob A to move from
Spot C (narrow beam) to Flood B (wide
beam). Its 5:1 focus ratio (when used with a
GCA lamp) means that the spot setting will
be approximately 5 times as bright as the
flood setting.
The Pro-light has a high intensity
reflector & prismatic glass installed. This gives an even
output with a fresnel like quality in the shadows, an evenly dis-
persed flood, and a uniform spot with significant barndoor cut.
It is capable of throwing sharper shadows when used on its
own. Add a diffusion glass swing-in accessory, diffusion gel
with a gel-frame, or attach an umbrella to create a softer source.
Use one Pro without diffusion and another with diffusion, to cre-
ate the classic “hard key & soft fill” lighting setup common in
many interview & still life settings.
Use the 360° rotating barndoors to trim unwanted output
spill, (for example: to reduce risk of shadow in your shot
caused by use of overhead boom microphones).
The Pro-light is a tungsten-halogen source, with a color
temperature in the 3000–3200°K range, depending on lamp
choice. To use Pro in locations where its output will mix with
daylight (5600–6500°K ), its color temperature can be convert-
ed by attaching a Dichroic Filter accessory, or adding day blue
gels to the Pro & i gel-frame. Both will give more realistic day-
light white-balancing in video or film.
To simply raise the ambient level of light in a room,
point the Pro-light at a white wall or ceiling (from a safe
distance of several feet or more), and focus to flood setting.
Position the light so it won't be in your shot.
The Pro-light can use 125 or 250W lamps @ 120V.
This can be useful to remember, especially when mixing with
other fixtures of different max. wattages. See the lamp chart for
more information.
For special use applications, Pro-light can be converted
in the following ways:
Swap the power cord & lamp, for a battery powered,
hand-held light at 12 or 30V.
Swap the Prismatic Glass to Clear Safety Glass for
non-focusing higher output Super-Spot. This can be useful
when lighting a small area from a greater distance when higher
output is needed.
For more reduced spill, consider adding a Snoot.
Other front accessories can help vary the quality
of the light output. For example, the rotating half-scrim can
allow you to reduce light output on a close subject while still
illuminating subjects further away with full output. The full
scrim reduces output without the use of a dimmer which can
shift the color temperature warmer as the lamp is dimmed.
The oversimplified diagram above shows some of the
ramifications of positioning lights for different subject types &
lighting effects. This diagram is only useful as a starting point
for new pros. All subjects & scenes are different and make dif-
ferent demands upon lighting. The height of the lights & cam-
era, and the subjects angles & reflectivity must be considered.
When finished setting multiple lights, it’s a good idea to
check the effect of each light by powering them all down &
looking at your set with one light on at a time. This will help
you better understand the components of lighting and how
each fixture contributes to the final image.
These are just some starting suggestions. For addition-
al introductory information, see the Resources section of the
complete Lowel catalog. For an in-depth understanding of the
creative decisions involved in the art of lighting, we suggest
Ross Lowell's acclaimed book, Matters of Light & Depth, avail-
able from many of our dealers.
Use the Pro-light as a flexible key, fill or back-light. Adding accessories
will extend its creative possibilities.
4
90 Oser Avenue, Hauppauge, N.Y., 11788
Call: 800 645 2522
Fax: 631 273 2557
e-mail: [email protected]
www.lowel.com
Lowel-Light Manufacturing, Inc.
Camera A Camera A B
D
C
Camera A B
Setup #1 shows single fixture use, and can be
set on either side of the camera. Varying the
position of the light will increase shadow &
contrast on the subject.
These 3 setups show some ways the Pro-light
can be used; alone, with Tota-brella, or with
diffusion, in a small lighting setup. Position
of the lights and distance to the subject can
be varied for different creative results.
Varying the distance of either light from the
subject will vary the contrast ratio between
Key & Fill lights. Tip: position your subject
away from walls to avoid shadows and give
more sense of depth.
Setup Keys
A
Key light Pro with barndoors
B Fill light Pro with umbrella
C Background Tota or V-light
D High back light Pro with gel-frame
& diffusion
Setup #2 uses 2 Pro’s, one with only barn
doors, as hard key, and the other with a Tota-
brella as soft fill. Vary the position of the lights,
as shown. Be aware of reflection in eyeglasses
or reflective surfaces. Setup #3 uses 2 Pro’s as hard key/soft fill, with
a Tota or V-light to evenly light the background.
An additional Pro from high up behind the sub-
ject as a back hair-light, lighting the back of the
head & shoulders, will create a sense of sepa-
ration from the background. Be careful to keep
the light output of the back light from spilling
into the camera lens which will cause lens flare.
Example Setups using Pro-light
Setup 3 Setup 2 Setup 1
B
C
A
Ver. 2.6 © 2010 Lowel-Light Mfg, Inc. 920