Introduction to Hot Lights

Choosing Hot Lights

“Hot lights”

are

Tungsten

Tungsten-Halogen,

Metal Halide Iodide

(HMI) light fixtures that remain on for long periods when used. Continuous lighting must be used when shooting movies, video or using scanning digital backs. There are many types of fixtures and bulbs available for you to choose from. Once you understand their characteristics and trade-offs, you will find it easier to choose the products you need for your specific project and budget.

Since hot lights stay “on” when shooting you can see the effect you're going to get. Hot lights are also easy to mix and color balance with ambient daylight, fluorescent, or household light by using colored mylar “gel”, or glass filters.

Tungsten Lighting

is available in a very wide range of configurations and price points.

Basic systems use standard inexpensive lamps that are readily available from many sources. To balance the color temperature of your lights, you can purchase Tungsten balanced film or use the appropriate filter in front of the lamp or camera lens.

When using tungsten fixtures for lighting, you must be careful when positioning them, as they can become dangerously hot. Make sure they are a safe distance from your subjects, props and backgrounds. When purchasing light modifiers such as umbrellas, soft boxes and diffusers for your hot lights, make sure they were designed to safely withstand the high temperatures generated by the lamps.

HMI

lamps are metal halide lamps that require a ballast for operation; they produce light far more efficiently than tungsten, however the initial investment in equipment is greater. After ignition they burn extremely bright, and at a color temperature equivalent to daylight. HMI lighting is used extensively in the TV and movie industry for both outdoor and indoor use because of its high efficiency and ability to literally turn an outdoor nighttime set into “broad daylight”.

Since HMI is inherently daylight balanced, usually no filtering is necessary. HMI lamps range from many thousands of watts for lighting large open area to less than 100 watts for on-camera use.