CFL bulbs for a gobo?

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rickryan.com

rickryan.com

Mac Daddy DJ
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Dec 9, 2009
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I was looking at some CFL bulbs today and noticed one that caught my eye:

http://www.lightbulbsdirect.com/page/001/PROD/Spiral5000K/SP10550MED

105 watts, 110v, temperature 5000k (white), 8000hrs, and 6900 lumens $35/ea

Went back and traced down specs on the Martin PR1. It uses a Philips 6958/10H bulb

240volt, 3400k (more yellow), 1000hrs and 7500 lumens

It gets the tinkerer in me to thinking. Less than 10% less lumens, a whiter light, and 8 times the lifespan. I wonder how this dude would work for a gobo light source? What'd be ultra-cool is if it burns cool enough to still use film gobos, like in my irradiant LED. Think I might have to buy one just to test it out. Might also make a good replacement on old-style par cans. Wow, I had no idea they were making CFLs with this many lumens. Any thoughts?
 
rickryan.com said:
I was looking at some CFL bulbs today and noticed one that caught my eye:

http://www.lightbulbsdirect.com/page/001/PROD/Spiral5000K/SP10550MED

105 watts, 110v, temperature 5000k (white), 8000hrs, and 6900 lumens $35/ea

Went back and traced down specs on the Martin PR1. It uses a Philips 6958/10H bulb

240volt, 3400k (more yellow), 1000hrs and 7500 lumens

It gets the tinkerer in me to thinking. Less than 10% less lumens, a whiter light, and 8 times the lifespan. I wonder how this dude would work for a gobo light source? What'd be ultra-cool is if it burns cool enough to still use film gobos, like in my irradiant LED. Think I might have to buy one just to test it out. Might also make a good replacement on old-style par cans. Wow, I had no idea they were making CFLs with this many lumens. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...


I have a bunch of large CFLs for varied purposes (85 - 200 watts) ;)

They are huge and heavy, so make sure you take the size into account, and the fact that with a medium base, your fixture needs to be able to hold the weight at whatever angle they set into it...

You also have the usual warmup period that comes with CFLs.
 
rickryan.com said:
I went ahead and ordered one from http://www.planetbulbstore.com for $25. Heck, if it doesn't work on the gobo, I may use them at the wife's school for some stage pars I have hanging. Do these kind of CFLs still burn reasonably cool?
Click to expand...

Yeah, they stay cool.

Biggest issue I've found, is the size and weight. For example, that one you linked to is 13" long, and probably about 4-5" wide. They're weighted heavily at the base, but because of the length, have a balance issue, so your fixture has to be able to hold it in position...
 
Very good info Sir Rick. Might be too big to use in that irradiant's case but it might work well as an area gobo, maybe in a par64 can? The "big dog" in lighting in this market is Nashville Event Lighting. I've worked with them once and it seems all their promo shots center around a floor gobo:

IMG_3094.jpg

I think something close to this is what I'm after. Not necessarily a moving fixture, just some set patterns in light, around the room.
 
rickryan.com said:
I think something close to this is what I'm after. Not necessarily a moving fixture, just some set patterns in light, around the room.
Click to expand...


Honestly, I don't think it will help for what you're after...

The CFLs are mostly designed as an area light (by their very nature), so it's hard to concentrate the light, even with a reflector. The tubes being twisted the way they are, and frosted, means the light has no central reflective point, like say a metal halide, or HPS.

For example, I use a 65 watt tube shaped CFL to light my backyard at night. Even in a tube shape with a decent reflector, it still spreads wide (covers about 60' W x 110' L).


You'll find a good use for it, but I've never tried to utilize one in that manner, so it will be interesting to see what you can come up with... :)
 
update: I tried a 2400 lumen, 5500k cfl in one of my irradiant fixtures. I won't bother to post pics but it was about 1/3 less bright than the LED that comes in the irradiant. I think if I put a good reflector around the 2400 lumen CFL, it'd probably be on par with the LED. When the 7k lumen bulb comes in, I'll repeat the test and report back.
 
Rick,

Are you looking for something like this?

This was done with 2 Source 4 lekos with a 90* lens on each fixture.

Normandy3.JPG
 
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