Videssence
lights, ideal also for still digital photography.
Most digital cameras require constant illumination,
so strobes or flash will not work at all. Tungsten lighting has
the disadvantage of generating considerable heat, so you cannot
do digital photography of ice cream with tungsten lights. What does
work?
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After a long flight from Guatemala
to Orlando, Nicholas Hellmuth unpacks the Videssence lamp
fixture.
Digital
photography needs a considerably stronger illumination than
for normal film, which calls for even more tungsten lights
(which melt the ice cream even faster).
After
considerable research, both speaking with Michael Collette
(inventor of the Dicomed
used with 4x5 inch format) and discussing the problem with
other specialists, we soon came to the conclusion that cool
lights were the only solution.
As
a photographer, I have long been conditioned to avoid "fluorescent"
lights at all costs. So it took me a considerable amount
of trust to believe that lights in a shape of a fluorescent
fixture could work.
Of
course it turns out that Videssence uses SRGB units which
are ideal for digital photography. They come in "tungsten"
and "daylight" variety. The advantage of the Better
Light software is that it can accept any and all light sources.
I have even used Videssence tungsten fixtures, during the
daytime, with daylight streaming in. When I need some extra
oomph in light power I switch on a Lowel DP just for the
moment when I am clicking the image.
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The
Videssence fixtures have another advantage, the lamps last for
years.
You
are looking at the future of the new form of lighting for the digital
era, Videssence, SRGB lighting. If you are doing digital photography,
you will need this class of lights right now. If you are still doing
film-based photography, don't worry, the digital era will enter
your life soon enough, so you might as well get some sample Videssence
fixtures now, since you will be needing them more quickly than you
think.
Http://www.videssence.com
Working
in Guatemala I have to constantly move the lights, going from one
museum to another. The cases are heavy but the Videssence fixtures
survived the entire season (two months), plus two long airplane
trips. Not one lamp broke (another advantage over tungsten systems).
The
current models of Videssence were originally made for TV , indeed
our own college campus station, WBCC TV68, Cocoa, Florida, has many
Videssence fixtures. I quickly learned that Videssence was well
known and highly regarded in the television industry. Now it is
time they become known to still photographers.
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Videssence
flourescent digital photography studio lighting
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Once
I began using the Videssence lighting for the digital system, I
began to keep the same lights when photographing with film-based
Leicas and Hasselblads for taking slides. With normal tungsten film
(Kodak EPY), the color balance was about the same as with tungsten
lamps on Lowel fixtures. With daylight lamps in the Videssence,
the color balance was green with normal outdoor daylight film, so
this should not be tried without having the proper filter, either
on the lamps or on the lens.
Conclusion:
Videssence lighting is cool, secure, and will not melt your subjects,
or the photographer. Videssence lights are ideal for high-quality
studio digital as well as for regular still shots with film (tungsten
film). Don't throw away your old tungsten fixtures yet, because
Lowel DP class of lighting is still useful to get depth of field
in digital shots. But the next generation of Videssence lamps will
increase the light power, and the new generation of Better Light
digital cameras already requires less light.
Two
years ago I was the most arch-conservative film-based photographer
you can imagine. I even used 8x10 inch format to get the highest
quality. I can now surpass the quality of 4x5 film with the Dicomed,
and the new generation approaches the quality of 5x7. Tomorrow you
can take the equivalent of 8x10 quality with the ease of digital
technology.
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