Frost and Colour Filter

[Harvey_51]

Hi

 

I want to put a frost in a fresnel lantern and a colour filter does any one know if this would work

 

Thanks Jordan

 

 

(if you put a frost infront of the latern it makes the light spred out, is that right?)

[mac.calder]

Yes.

 

Put the two gels in the gel frame, put the gel frame in the lantern, and bob's your mother's brother.

 

Frost diffuses the light (so yes, it spreads it out more). It also softens the edges etc.

[woody74]

Unless it's a really dense frost (which will burn through much easier), it won't have a big effect in a Fresnel. Maybe some silk instead?

 

-w

[Don Allen]

Hello Jordan

 

There are several filter companies, one is Lee filters, have a look at their frost range http://www.leefilters.com/LP1.asp?PageID=47 as it explains the effect the frost has on the light beam. With any filter you will get transmission losses which is what the Y% tells you, so a Lee 129 heavy frost will absorb or stop 25 % of the light getting through.

 

There are also diffusion filters http://www.leefilters.com/LP1.asp?PageID=44 Woody 74 mentioneda silk, I use the Lee 228 brushed silk as this spreads a beam out in one axis by taking it from the other axis. Useful when a profile is not quite wide enough. There is spill from all frosts.

 

There are also coloured frosts http://www.leefilters.com/LP1.asp?PageID=28.

 

Use the menu button to navigate through the range.

 

When using a diffusion with a colour, put the diffusion gel on the outside of the pair and the diffusion surface on the outside. One disadvantage of Lee filters is that they coat the mylar base material with the colour or effect surface. If you have the colour surface facing out, that is away from the lamp, your gels last longer and for the effect, it has maximum effect.

[Tomo]

Good advice there Don!

 

One thing to remember about silks:

They spread the beam perpendicular to the lines on the silk.

Cue silly ASCII-art:

 

<-----|||||||----->

<-----|||||||----->

<-----|||||||----->

 

So the way you cut it does matter!

 

Also, when using two or more gels in a single frame, while the colour remains true for as long as usual, the gels will melt together fairly quickly.

So don't expect to be able to reuse any of it!

[Don Allen]

Nice summary about frosts on "Projection, Lights & Staging News"

 

"T I P O F T H E W E E K . . . .

 

What does diffusion really do?

 

Diffusion does:

 

-Spread the field; the heavier the diffusion the more it spreads the field.

-Soften shadows; the longer the throw, the more scattered the light and the softer the shadows become.

-Decrease the intensity of the illumination; the heavier the diffusion the greater the light loss.

 

On the other hand, diffusion does not convert a point source, like a Leko, to a linear source like a Kinoflo.

 

 

It seems to me that no matter how much diffusion you use in a point source, it’s very difficult to obscure textures and age lines. Linear sources and very large sources, like a large diameter Fresnel, do that best. Perhaps that’s why the “jewel” method of lighting, where you surround the subject with many sources, is so popular in Hollywood — it approximates a linear source. If the McCandless method with three points of light is good, then the jewel method with six or so points of light is excellent. Add diffusion and it becomes pure magic.

 

 

-From Richard Cadena's December Focus on Design article. "

[Neil Hampson]

So the way you cut it does matter!

 

If the Gel frame will allow, I cut Brushed silk into a circle, rather than a square, that way I can rotate the silk to get just the right angle. This seems to work best in the Cantata and Prelude type frames that actally grip the gel all around the edges. For Par 64s I have pieces cut into Octagons, so I have four angles to work with. It saves wasting media hen you want to cut on funny angles.

Also If you can put the colour, and the frost into an individual frame (even better if the lanterns have two gel frame slots) then the two tend not to melt together.

[jhaynes199]

I want to use a load of par64 narrow spots as floods. Was just going to stick some 1/2 Hamburg frost in them. Any ideas if this will work or should I go for something stronger / silk?

 

thanks

[raar]

ehm, I am not sure the frost will give you the desired result. If you have budget to buy bulbs, you could buy par 64 CP95 extra wide, this gives a beam a bit like a fresnel.

 

 

 

I want to use a load of par64 narrow spots as floods. Was just going to stick some 1/2 Hamburg frost in them. Any ideas if this will work or should I go for something stronger / silk?

 

thanks

[Tomo]

I want to use a load of par64 narrow spots as floods.

Sorry, but that won't really work.

 

Frost spreads the hard edges, but it doesn't turn a spot into a flood.

 

You will need to swap out the CP60 lamp for a CP62 or EXG lamp - or if you're using S4 pars, just swap the lens.

[paulears]

and with frost in, they get VERY hot!

[Don Allen]

And the lens tube of a PAR 64 restrict the beam angle. A medium flood ( Wicki iCP62 (FFR) - lenticular (stepped) lens (looks like a car headlamp), beam angle of 11x24º - MFL (Medium Flood) is the widest, most practical beam width you can fit into a standard PAR 64, then you need to go to a stubby. Even the medium flood works better in a stubby. The light output drops off sharply in a wide flood if you do a side by side comparison.