Help with finding the right light bulb? 300w dimmable max lumens?

[Radiating]

Ok I have a simple set of requirements. I have a dimmer circuit which can have a maximum of 300w through it and I want the maximum lumens out of this setup with an off the shelf medium base bulb.

I'm a photographer and I'm setting up a studio and lighting it with medium base lights. I've been using 300w incandescent bulbs on 300w dimmers but I'm not getting a bright enough output at each light to make this setup work. I'd be perfect with double the light output in my setup.

I was thinking I could either get a better bulb or mount an extra dimmer and an extra bulb co-axially but then I'd have to do a lot of fabrication and this would distort the way the light falls on what I'm photographing. Furthermore I'd have a much harder time using reflectors as these are always designed to wrap around one bulb.

It wouldn't be economical if a better bulb costs more than $35 per unit as after that price point I'd probably be willing to go with fabrication. I'd appreciate some help finding what the most powerful dimmable option I have is.

 

[MD Light Guy]

Well, I'm not sure how much help I can offer you but I can point out some important things.

First, incandescent lights are just about the most inefficient light sources out there (i.e. lumens/watt.) I'm not sure if you're familiar with "color temperature" ratings of light sources, but being a photographer I'm sure you know that different "white" lights have varying "shades." Basically, the lower the color temperature of a white light, the more "orange" it will look when compared to a white light with a higher color temperature (which will look "bluer".)

Actually, "wattage" is a pretty bad way to "measure" light or light output since it's just a measure of the amount of electricity being used. It has it's place in comparing identical light types, I suppose.

Without knowing the color temperature you are interested in achieving, no one can really adequately recommend a lamp though.

But, I might suggest you check into some of the dimmable compact fluorescent lamps now available. They actually have some commercially available models that offer rather pleasant color temperatures these days. I've used them quite successfully during video shoots. But you MUST be sure they are specifically noted to be dimmable.

A nice benefit of the compact fluorescents is that they are much more efficient than incandescents (most things are...lol!) In fact, they often list a comparable wattage on the package for easy comparison (i.e. a 15w compact fluorescent is considered to offer the same output as a standard 60w incandescent.)

One more note, when you DIM a light source, you will almost always cause a color shift. Generally in incandescent light sources, this means as you dim the light source "down" the color will shift towards the red/orange spectrum. I believe this is the same for CFLs (compact fluorescents) but not necessarily true (in fact sometimes the opposite) for LEDs.

So, as I said, I'm not an expert, but I do have a lot of real world experience in using lots of different light sources, so I figured I would pass along what I could.

Good luck!

Jason Herbert
SkyTech Productions
www.searchlights.com