American Cinematographer - May 1990 - 11

Noise level,
color balance

It's an M.O.S. system. The
Strobe lamps and the elec¬

tronics cooling fans make
noise-somewhat less than

Sync control
Sync Control Box auto¬
matically relays the sync
signal from the camera. It
has settings for flashsequence rate (marked in
frames), film-and-eyepiece
or film-only, 35mm or 16mm.
The

a

running at 120 fps.
are inherently cool¬
running-which means you
can shoot, for example, ice
cream. And taping gels is no
problem. (Color temperature
is 7,000° Kelvin.)
35-3

Strobes

Preview each
head's effect
see the effect, you can
also switch each individual
head on and off while the
Strobe System is running but
the camera isn't. And there's

To

low-power switch on each
Powerpack that gives you
one stop less.

the blur-free
image, not
camera speed; you
can use speed
you

for other effects.

Size and

weight

The Clairmont Strobe heads
measure 17 x 10 x 7 inches
and weigh 10 % pounds. Each

Preview all
heads at once

With the Preview

Only Box,
you can run all the heads at
61 flashes per second, with¬
out running the camera. At
that speed, the strobe lights
look almost like regular AC
light. You can look through
the camera and position the
heads for the effect you want.
Automatic

with a light-stand

foot-candles at 4 feet.

London
at

Sammy's

Five or six times
less expensive

Grounding/voltage

"The big advantage of work¬
ing with the Clairmont
Strobe," says Mr. Chandler,

Electronics need

Lightmeter
yoke and a Powerpack. The
The Clairmont Strobe system
Powerpack measures
also comes with a digital
16 x 12 x 6 inches and weighs
Lightmeter. Its LCD readout
46% pounds. Its suitcase-type
gives you incident readings
handle makes it easy to carry. in
f/stops, while you run the
system with the Preview
Use any number
Box. You program the film
of lamp heads
The usual setup is two or
three heads-but people have
used as many as eighteen.
They all fire in sync auto¬
Strobes
matically. Each powerpack/
head runs on 110 volts, draws
available in
13 amps and delivers 250
one comes

Lightmetereverything else is automatic.

ISO into the

a

It's the Strobe
that gives

"Liquids come
alivej'says
Ralph Chandler
a

proper

ground. Outlets (even threepin) don't always give you
one. On the Powerpack,
there's a red light and a
beeper to warn you. There's
also a ground lug and a wire
that you can connect to a
water pipe. A yellow light
and a different beeper warn
you if voltage is too low.

"Is that the shot

can

end up

costing five or six times less.
You spend at least a half day
on one ultra-high-speed or
strobe setup. And you always
need to shoot a test. That's
two half days."
Fewer people,
less equipment

"Usually, I'm already budg¬

"Liquids come alive."
Cameraman/Director Ralph

eted for one crew and the
Arriflex. I find I save by not

Chandler of Star Turn has
used the Clairmont Strobe

hiring another operator for
the high-speed camera, by
not renting that camera, by
not renting the high-speed

many

on

table-top TV spots.

Backlit champagne gushing
out of the bottle, for exam¬

ple, against a black velvet
background. "Strobe light
makes liquids come alive,"
he says.
Show

in the
time

more

same screen

really see what's
going on, in sharp detail,"
says Mr. Chandler. "And
with strobe light, you don't
need to use ultra high speed
to get that effect. So you can
"You

show

can

more

screen

in the

same

time; and the action

keeps its energy."

strobe (which costs more)
and by not hiring the operator
who comes with it. I also

by using less film. High
speed eats film."
save

$8,000 or
$10,000 extra for
one

shot

"And the Clairmont Strobe is
faster to work with," says
Mr. Chandler. "When you add
all these things up for the
two half-days, the high-speed

rig and crew can cost you
about $8,000 or $10,000 extra.
That's for one shot"

CLAIRMONT
CAMERA
4040 Vineland Avenue, Studio City, California
91604. (818)761-4440. And North Shore Studios

Vancouver, B.C.V7J3S5, Canada. (604)984-4563
American Cinematographer - May 1990

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