Jumbo Light

Hi All,

I have been asked to track down a "Jumbo Light".

A few Google searches and a trip to the cml archives have not revealed anything of substance.

Any help is appreciated and thanks in advance.

Andrew Gordon
Gaffer
Regina, Saskatchewan
Canada

>I have been asked to track down a "Jumbo Light".

Sorry never heard of it! Looking forward to finding out what it is!

Michael Ambrose
Gaffer
Los Angeles

Andrew Gordon wrote :

>I have been asked to track down a "Jumbo Light".

What else do you know about it, might be called something else.

John Roche,
Gaffer

Thanks for your replies...

I am assuming that it is similar to a Bee Bee or a Musco but I am simply not sure.

The DP is from Europe and perhaps our members there may know something?

Cheers,

Andrew Gordon
Gaffer
Regina, Saskatchewan
Canada

Hi Andrew

You may need to get a description or better a brand name and maker of the 'Jumbo'...different terminology can be a pain...

I recently was chasing a lamp I didn't know, a "Super-Brite" light, for a European D.O.P.

By his description I thought it was a Xenon Britelight, and said sure I have a couple of those, but it ended up being a Lightning Strikes "Soft Sun" he was after. I sure didn't have one of those.

Cheers

Graham Rutherford
Gaffer
Australia

> I have been asked to track down a "Jumbo Light".

Isn't a Jumbo Light a 16 light Maxi brute? (Or something similar
to one?)

Jessica Gallant
Los Angeles based Director of Photography
West Coast Systems Administrator, Cinematography Mailing List
https://cinematography.net/

I remembered Storaro talking about "jumbo" lights and, doing a bit of research, found in his book "Writer of Light" the following:

"On Bulworth, Storaro, used so-called "Jumbos"--large, multi-globe frames with 16 28-volt landing lights each--and a whole range of "Mini-jumbos" in diminishing sizes, as well as a series of "Tornado" lights using 120-volt Fay globes. They all run on 220 volts and are always pre-rigged to be dimmable with his small, state-of-the-art digital panels. "Jumbos" provide incredible punch outdoors. At great distances they become "puntiform" sources, except that, unlike conventional Fresnels, the arrays can be spread out horizontally. Vittorio's gaffer, Gary Tandrow, says, "They are only 10K each, but put out as much [light] as two or three Xenons. The bang for the buck is unbelievable.

"All of his lighting instruments on the film were made by Filippo Cafolla, at Iride SRL in Rome, as were the original versions Vittorio ordered many years ago."

Hope the above helps.

Michael Jacob Kerber
Los Angeles

Michael Kerber wrote :

>"On Bulworth, Storaro, used so-called "Jumbos"-

A great, under-appreciated film. Beautifully made, and beautifully edited.

Jeff Kreines

Michael is absolutely correct.

The "Jumbo" is very much as has been described. Incredibly bright, focuses similar to a Ruby 7 and come in both horizontal and circular configurations.

No one has them in Canada yet.

I spoke with the DP for the first time last night and Michael's description is almost exactly what I was told.

You can see these fixtures in the docco "Lost in La Mancha". Nicola Pecerini uses them extensively.

Andrew Gordon
Gaffer
Regina, Saskatchewan
Canada

Michael Jacob Kerber quoted :

>"Jumbos" provide incredible punch outdoors. At great distances they >become "puntiform" sources, except that, unlike conventional Fresnels, >the arrays can be spread out horizontally

Okay, now we know what a Jumbo is. Let's work on "puntiform"

Wade K. Ramsey, DP
Dept. of Cinema & Video Production
Bob Jones University
Greenville, SC 29614

FWIW, back in the days when I was working rock 'n roll, the big rock 'n' roll lighting houses all had ACL's for rent (ACL for Aircraft Landing Lights) These were PAR64 VNSP globes (clear front lens) with 28 volt filaments (which are very compact)

I think hey were set up with series 5-fers (so that 5 would burn in series on regular 110volt dimmer.)

If you can get 12 light Maxi-brutes, you can use the fixture to hold the globes (which fit in any fixture designed for PAR 64's) and wire them 4 in series (if you want to live dangerously) or 5 in series if you want longer lamp life. and off you go. (If you go 4 in series, I would suggest going with a dimmer and restricting the voltage to 114v or so since 28v x4 =112v)

Try calling See Factor in New York or some of the bigger theatrical lighting houses to see if they still carry the globes. Make up the series wiring harnesses yourself.

If you can get a Dino Light (24 PAR 64 lamps in a frame) you could use that...remember you can't use any of the fixtures built in wiring but have to make up your own wiring.

You can only turn the lights on and off in groups of 4 this way.

Note: if this proves too expensive or difficult, try using the newer
1200w. VNSP globes in regular Maxi Brutes - unlike older 1k PAR 64's, the filament is not running sideways in a big envelope and the beam pattern is more compact - closer to an ACL.

Sticking with 110v fixtures will simplify your life and allow individual globe switching also.

You might look at using the ETC PAR64 replacement fixtures built into a frame - if you use them without diffusing lenses, they will probably act very much like ACL's and even more efficiently,. but with some risk if it rains. I do not know if they come with clear lenses.

Mark Weingartner
erstwhile gaffer (current VFX dp/suprvisor)
LA based

Mark,

A lot of what you say makes sense. The Jumbos work in much the same way (at least to my understanding).

What separates these fixtures from Dinos is that they look to be much easier to move around and manipulate. As we all know, Dinos can be heavy and awkward.

I like the idea of individual globe switching. Another factor to consider is that dimmers tend to make noise and the larger the dimmer, the more noise, in my experience.

However, never having my hands of any of these Jumbos (but hoping to soon) I will reserve judgement until I can see them in action.

Many thanks to all for your thoughts and research.

Andrew Gordon
Gaffer
Regina, Saskatchewan
Canada

>Okay, now we know what a Jumbo is. Let's work on "puntiform"

I would also like to ask if anyone has heard of the Alchemy range?

I have been asked to supply 2000W, 1200W and 6000W Alchemy. I have never heard of this range and a search on the net proved fruitless.

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks

Peter Daffarn
Projects Department Ltd

>Okay, now we know what a Jumbo is. Let's work on "puntiform"

A new one for me too....

Try this :

http://www.theasc.com/protect/jun98/bulworth/pg2.htm

-Sam Wells

-Sam Wells wrote:

>Okay, now we know what a Jumbo is. Let's work on "puntiform"

>A new one for me too....

Okay, it's what I thought, a relatively small source. When the Jumbo is far enough away it's small relative to the subject. Don't know where he got puntiform, but it might come in handy for Scrabble so long as you aren't challenged....

Thanks, Sam.

Wade K. Ramsey, DP
Dept. of Cinema & Video Production
Bob Jones University
Greenville, SC 29614

>Okay, now we know what a Jumbo is. Let's work on "puntiform"

Punti = italian/latin for point

Translated to English it'd be a point source (like the sun) or simply a hard light.

Florian Stadler, D.P., L.A.
www.florianstadler.com

>Okay, now we know what a Jumbo is. Let's work on "puntiform"

It's not a common term and may have been transliterated from Italian.

An astronomer friend says it refers to any large light source that because of its distance, appears to all practical purposes to be a point source. A star -- celestial not movie -- is the example he used. Stars can be enormous, but at astronomical distances they appear to be points.

Brian Heller
IA 600 DP

Wonder which lights were used on Terry Gilliam's film "Brazil" on the eerie "Ministry of information" scenes-perhaps the Aircraft landing lights Mark was speaking of-or perhaps spotlights or carbon arc(maybe a brute, ?)

It's an amazing look(and amazing film)Modern expressionism/noir look. Perhaps someone has an old AC article(1985?)

Best regards,

John Babl
DP
Miami

>I like the idea of individual globe switching. Another factor to consider is >that dimmers tend to make noise and the larger the dimmer, the more >noise, in my experience.

The only way you can have individual globe switching is if you feed them 28v. instead of seriesing them up to line voltage.

If you are using transformers, you are talking about some big f*#kin' transformers, and big fat power cables - remember voltage drop goes up as line voltage goes down

Mark Weingartner
LA

G'day Andrew...

The "Jumbo" is very much as has been described. Incredibly bright, focuses similar to a Ruby 7 and come in both horizontal and circular configurations. I liked the "Ruby 7" as it could be focused, better option than a Dinette (1/2 Dino) in my opinion.

It would be great to get some feed-back as to what you think of the "Jumbo" from a Lighting Techs perspective.

I don't know about you but I get such conflicting reports about lamps and their abilities, from people who see them (I won't mention D.O.P's) but don't have to cart them around or try to gel or diffuse them on a daily basis...

If a light takes ten guys to lift and is virtually impossible to rig, it has to do something pretty special before I will recommend it. Or someone says, such and such a lamp is much more punchier than a Xenon...and you think wow...I've had 4K Xenons, scorch things, burn things and set fire to things on Stages, don't know if I want anything punchier. Or a tungsten lamp that puts out more Lumens/watt than the equivalent wattage HMI fixture, and you think boy that must have some impressive optics as it should be like comparing a 40 watt prac to a 40 watt fluoro in light output.

Regards

Graham Rutherford
Gaffer
Australia