PARs are also made in groups, such as the MaxiBrute, a heavy hitter with tremendous punch and throw. They are used in large night exteriors and in large-scale interior applications, aircraft hangers, arenas, etc. The bulbs are housed in banks that are individually oriented for some control. All the bulbs are individually switchable, which makes for very simple intensity control. All PAR group lights allow for spot, medium, and fl ood bulbs to be interchanged for different coverages.
Dino, Moleeno, and Wendy
The Dino is one of the largest tungsten sources avail- able. It consists of 24 or 36 PAR 64 bulbs on a frame. Mole– Richardson makes a version called a Moleeno. A Wendy is similar, but instead of PAR 64 bulbs, it uses PAR 36 bulbs.
MaxiBrute
The MaxiBrute consists of nine 1000-watt PAR 64 globes in three racks. Each rack can be panned left/right and the entire unit can be tilted up and down. Owing to the effi ciency of PAR 64 bulbs, the unit has tremendous punch, especially when used with the very narrow spot bulbs. When the bud- get is limited and sheer raw power is needed, this is a good choice. Mole also makes a 12-light version. They are espe- cially useful for night exteriors. All the bulbs are individually switchable, which makes for very simple intensity control.
All PAR group lights allow for spot, medium, and fl ood bulbs to be interchanged for different coverages. PARs are raw light power in its most basic form. Similar to auto headlights (also PAR bulbs), they are sealed beam lights (combined bulb, refl ec- tor, and lens) available in a variety of sizes and beam spreads.
They employ a highly effi cient parabolic refl ector that is capable of projecting the beam with very little spread. The detachable lens is the variable that affects beam spread. A completely clear lens for a PAR is called a very narrow spot (VNSP), and with a light texture it is a narrow spot (NSP). This makes them useful for hitting distant background objects that cannot be reached otherwise.
With a stippling effect on the lens, the light becomes a medium fl ood (MFL) and spreads the same amount of light over a broader beam. With a more pronounced stippling, the light is a wide fl ood (WFL) with an even greater beam spread. Because PARs have a long thin fi lament inside the refl ector, the beam of a PAR is oval rather than circular.
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Lighting Sources 21 This can be a useful feature as the beam can be oriented
to “fi t” the subject. A narrow spot 1K PAR, measured at the center of its beam, generates an output comparable to a 10K measured at the center of its beam; however, it covers only a very small area, but it may be suffi cient for many purposes such as punching of light through heavy diffusion, or a very large bounce or raking down a street for a night shoot.
FAYs
The smaller cousins of the MaxiBrute are the FAY lights, also called 5-lites, 9-lites, or 12-lites, depending on how many bulbs are incorporated. They use PAR 36 bulbs (650 watts). The FAY bulbs are dichroic daylight bulbs. Before HMIs they were widely used as daylight fi ll in combination with or in place of white-carbon arcs. These types of bulbs also come in tungsten versions so they can fairly easily be converted for use in either daylight or tungsten balance situations.
Most people refer to any PAR 36 dichroic bulb as a FAY, but in fact there are several types. FAY is the ANSI code for a 650-watt PAR 36 dichroic daylight bulb with ferrule con- tacts. If the bulb has screw terminals it is an FBE/FGK. As with the larger MaxiBrutes, the bulbs are in three adjustable banks and they generally do come with barndoors. FAY bulbs are only an approximation of daylight balance in that they do not produce light that is precisely 5600K and do tend to change color as they age.
Twelve-lites, 9-lites, and 5-lites are far more fl exible than one might imagine. With heavy diffusion over the barndoors they can have a large-source soft light quality with real power. Used raw they are a quick and adaptable bounce source with individual switching control and straight on they can cover the entire side of a building for a night shot.
Ruby 7
The Ruby 7 by Luminaria is a real innovation in PAR lights. It is focusable, which is unique. Combing 7 PAR 65 bulbs in one focus frame gives a wide range of intensity and coverage.
HMI PARs
The newest addition to the PAR family is the HMI PAR, which is available as 12K, 6K, 4K, 2.5K, 1.2K, and 575. These are extremely popular as bounce units, to create shafts, and for raw power.
HMI PARs are different from tungsten units in that they have changeable lenses. The basic unit is a VNSP (very narrow spot). The auxiliary lenses can be added to make it a narrow spot, a medium fl ood, wide fl ood, and an extra wide fl ood. As with tungsten PARs, the beam is oval and the unit can be rotated within its housing to orient the pattern.
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 2.8 (a) MaxiBrute (large units) and (b) a Nine-Light (FAY) unit, front and back.
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22 Motion Picture and Video Lighting
The 1.2K HMI PAR is one of the most useful small units around. As an HMI it has great effi ciency and as a PAR it has tremendous kick for its size. The real bonus is that at only 1200 watts, it is small enough to plug into wall outlets. Since it is already 5500K (daylight color temperature), it doesn’t require heavy blue gel to correct the color. This makes it ideal for use on locations that have windows (and thus lots of daylight); it is powerful enough to bounce or shoot through diffusion as a fi ll light for situations where your main lighting is the available daylight.
HMI PARS are available in sizes up to the 12K, which is an extraordinarily powerful light, so powerful that it is important to be very careful in what you aim it at. It can, for example, crack windows in a very short time.