American Cinematographer - October 2007 - 94

The set also comes with a dichroic 3200°K filter for integrating this fixture with tungsten lighting, which is a 1-stop loss. There’s enough room in the accessory ears to easily fit two lenses simultaneously, so the dichroic can work in tandem with either the open-face or Par reflector and any of the other lenses. The accessory ears on the fixture feature the top locking ear that is springloaded and slides under a lip lock in place — not my favorite, as it’s clumsy to operate when hot. Further, this fixture, in both open-face and Par modes, has only three ears, so the top locking ear pretty much has to be locked into place to keep the barn doors, lenses and diffusion in place. All of the lenses have large, color-coded hoop handles that stay remarkably cool, even after an hour of burning. Small “stops” on the lenses allow a 90-degree rotation without having to open the ears and reposition the lens. I’m not sure why the stops are necessary, however, as the handle is enough to stop the lens from rotating too far; I found the “stops” more clumsy than helpful. The fixture itself stays remarkably cool, even after an hour of burning. There was hardly any point that I couldn’t touch with a bare hand. Even 4' from the front of the fixture, with no lens at full spot, the heat output was only 100°F. The four-leaf barn doors have built-in gel clips, a nice touch. The DW200 is an “all weather” fixture, and I put that to the test, running it under a fairly heavy “rain” situation for 30 minutes with no deleterious effects. It functioned perfectly in a fairly heavy downpour. In addition to the three reflector attachments and multiple lenses and spot/flood adjustment, the ballast for the DW200 has a built-in dimmer that allows for dimming down to about 40 percent output. The fixture is small enough and light enough to be squeezed into almost any situation. It also runs cool enough that I would have no problem tucking it into a corner right against a wall or ceiling. It packs a lot of punch to boot. 94 The head and ballast are incredibly silent. I’ve never heard HMIs this quiet before. If I put my ear against the ballast, I could hear a slight hum, but it’s certainly a head that can be run close to talent or microphones. The head has a standard 5⁄8" baby pin socket, but strangely, it’s a little shallow. On one of the stands I mounted it on, the lock-down didn’t quite get into the ridge on the spud, and instead locked down on the top smooth metal — not what you’d want if you were hanging this fixture overhead. Overall, this is an incredibly versatile light with a lot of output for its wattage. For more information, visit www.bron-kobold-usa.com or call (866) 504-2766. Element Labs LED Fixtures by Art Adams In only two days, shoot seven shots each of 39 different NASCAR drivers in dramatized situations with a pit crew, car and diagnostic stations. Each driver is available for 30 minutes, tops. Each set of shots will be cut into three 8- to 10-second vignettes to be used in show openers and commercial bumpers. That was what Calgary-based Jump Studios faced when it signed on for a second round of show packages for ESPN’s NASCAR telecasts. “We shot the ﬁrst round in Daytona with the Busch Series drivers in early February 2007,” says Brian Vos, Jump Studios’ general manager. “Based on that, we were asked to shoot, edit and ﬁnish a second package with the Nextel Cup drivers.” The project demanded a unique look that would grab viewers and draw them into the exciting world of highspeed racing. “The use of multiple LED screens really fell out of our discussions with our client,” says director Jeff August. “We knew they wanted something big, bold and different that the drivers would be comfortable around and would create a memorable yet believable scene. We started with the Element Labs Stealth screens and then

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American Cinematographer - October 2007

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