Portable Fresnels? (Or: Fresnel alternatives)

There's a particular quality of light that one gets with large

fresnels that I'm anxious to reproduce in a more portable format--

large source, yet directional, an ideal combination of hard and soft

light. See: Gregory Crewdson, Philip Lorca-DiCorcia, Jeff Wall, et. al.

 

I'd love to be able to use it more often, but I'd prefer to have

something I could carry on a small cart with me on location around the

city rather than having to rent a grip truck! (Diffused sunlight

bouncing off a skyscraper comes close, but is not exactly reliable or

controllable)

 

Has anyone managed to reproduce this kind of light with a more

portable source (with strobes in particular)? I know they make

fresnels that take strobes, but that's still out of my weight range.

Would a small silver softbox with the diffusion screen removed come

close?

 

Looking for ideas... Thanks!

Lowel Light makes a couple of portable frensel type focusing spotlights, and no a

small softbox with the diffusion screen removed will not give you that kindof quality. I

know because I've tried that.

 

Try using grid spot modifiers with 10" reflectors on your flash heads.as well.

Lowel Light makes a couple of portable frensel type focusing spotlights, and no a

small softbox with the diffusion screen removed will not give you that kindof quality. I

know because I've tried that.

 

Try using grid spot modifiers with 10" reflectors on your flash heads.as well.

there is also a modifier called the Aurasoft that might do what you want as well.

I agree with Ellis on the grid. You can get a pretty good approximation of the Fresnel look by using a grid on the flash. A piece of diffusion material placed on the flashtube side of the grid can smooth out the light a bit, but you have to be concerned about heat build-up when doing this.

Several years ago I made some portable fresnel spots using 8 inch fresnel lenses from Altman and a vacuum formed abs (plastic) body that slid back and forth on two rails attached to an inner metal can that bolted onto a speedring. My theory was that fresnels for strobe didn't need to have heavy metal bodies because they didn't generate anywhere near the same amount of heat.

 

I was correct. They have worked beautifully for the past 7 years and the fans on my speedo heads have kept the abs bodies nice and cool.

 

I have extras if your interested or if they aren't large enough, you could cobble something together using a large reflector with the inside painted black and a 10 inch lens clipped to the front. Oh, be sure you drill some hole in the reflector

to allow for venting and preventing heat buildup

 

Regards

Andrew Chase

Andrew, I can't quite visualize your solution. Can you post some pictures?

 

Thanks,

Hi Josh,

 

Here are some photos. Just to make things confusing, I shot the larger photo on the left about seven years ago and the two close-ups on the right about 20 minutes ago, and the shots are of two different versions. The left shot is actually the final version using a photoflex speedring, I�ve circled that in red. The two close-ups are of an earlier version with the rails screwed directly to a 7� black reflector (if the inside is black, is it actually a reflector?). Anyway in all three shots I�ve circled the rail/outer shell attachment in blue. In the top close-up, the outer shell is pushed all the way out for a tight beam and in the bottom close-up, it�s pulled all the way back for a wide beam. If it helps, my original thought was to have two paint cans with the ends cut out, one just a little larger than the other. The lens would have been attached to the larger can and the light to the smaller. Then the larger can would have slid over the smaller and could be clamped in various positions to change the projection angle.

 

If you need a larger lens, I�d bet a larger version of the existing design would work. Good luck and let me know if I can help.

 

Regards

Andrew Chase<div></div>

Wow, Andrew, those are exceptionally cool! How did you manufacture them? I get how they are assembled, but where did you get the parts for the metal and ABS shells and the rails (or were they custom-made)? The rest looks like various stock parts from Altman and the speedring... I'd probably be more interested in a 10 or 12" version, if it didn't end up being prohibitively expensive.

 

Thanks!

--Josh

Hi Josh,

 

Thanks for the feedback. I had a vacuum former make the plastic parts, it�s amazing what they can do and for small runs it�s much cheaper than injection molding. The metal inner cylinder was made in a sheet metal shop. However, if you only want one or two, its easier to use an existing reflector, (no interface problems). I cut the rails out of polypropylene and routed the edges and a groove down the center. If memory serves, the total cost for the lights not including the lenses was about $1000.00 That was for a run of twelve and a good chunk of that was spent in the design stage, making prototypes, screaming in anguish when they didn�t work etc.. A larger version would probably cost less because most of the design work has already been done.

 

Regards

Andrew Chase

Altman makes a 1000 Watt 8" fresnel that I think you can get for

under $500. The model # is 175Q

Hi Josh,

 

Just wondering if you ever came up with a solution to the portable fresnel question?

 

Regards

Andrew Chase