Tungsten Fresnels
The tungsten fresnel is a simple and reliable incandescent fixture. While they are hot, it is possible to operate all of them without gloves by only touching the t handle and the flood spot knob to pan and tilt it. They are all roughly 3200k depending on bulb life and the cleanliness of the fresnel.
The entire instrument consists of a metal housing, a reflector, a lamp assembly, and a fresnel lens. Many fresnel instruments allow the lamp to be moved using the spot/flood knob, to increase or decrease the size of the light beam. As a result, they are very flexible, and can often produce a beam as narrow as 7° or as wide as 70°. The fresnel lens allows the beam to be very consistent across its range..
Uses
Tungsten fresnels have a wide range of purposes throughout their wattages. 650w and below can be used as accents, a fill light, or a key light if used in close proximity. There are larger fresnels that range from 1k all the way up to 20k.
These lights are often used with an appropriately sized dimmer.
Because of the fresnel lens giving the beam of light more direction, it is easy to use flags to add more shape to the beam of light. Fresnels work great for lighting the background because of this. Usually can get away with using harder light in the background because it usually falls out of focus which helps soften the look of harder light depending on the size of the set and distance of the background to the camera.
QC Process
Accessories
Chimeras are common accessories to soften a tungsten light. They are mostly used with open face lights, but can be used with fresnels as well.
appropriate sized dimmer
Troubleshooting
If a light won’t turn on it could be
- No power going to fixture
- Bad Globe
- Bad switch that must be replaced
- Bad wiring in switch
- Bad wiring in head
- Bad Wiring in Hubble
- broken globe socket
Use a continuity meter to check and see if you have electrical continuity between each section.