| Michael Samuelson Lighting Ltd Pinewood Studios Iver Heath Buckinghamshire SL0 0NH Telephone 01753 631133 Fax 0l753 630485 23 July 1996 Mr Bob Allen Chairman Association of Motion Picture Sound 28 Knox Street London WIH IFS Dear Bob,Thank you for your letter of July 18,1996. I applaud your association for bringing to the surface the problems with flicker free HMI luminaires. It is a fact in Hollywood and many other capitals of the film making world that wire-wound ballasts are usually the standard equipment used in lighting packages, electronic ballasts only being used as extras on special occasions. Virtually every film camera has an adjustable shutter so making the flicker free facility unnecessary even when they don't it is only when shooting variable speeds that wire-wound ballasts are not totally acceptable. There are three reasons why the UK standardise on electronic ballasts. They were invented here. Standard speed for television in the UK is 25 fps which means that camera shutters have to be adjusted from the standard 180 degree setting (174.6 I think) and that is a problem for the few cameras which do not have adjustable shutters and for those that do there is a nervousness that it might be forgotten. Electronic ballasts are much lighter and the electricians (who on every shoot seem to be are fewer and fewer) find them easier to carry. None of the above reasons are good enough when the use of electronic ballasts screws up the soundtrack. Unbelievably when film people shoot with electronic cameras they frequently still insist on flicker free ballast which are totally unnecessary when shooting on tape. As a lighting company I would be delighted to follow Hollywood's example as the electronic ballasts are probably 100 times more unreliable and a quarter of the price. They are an electronic minefield and a maintenance horror story. They don't like hot weather, they don't like cold weather, they don't like humidity and they certainly don't like the wet or being thrown around. If the most sophisticated piece of equipment in your own home was your VHS recorder, would you leave it out in the rain all day and all night and when at 3 o'clock in the morning somebody yells 'It's a wrap', chuck it on to the back of a lorry and then expect it to work perfectly the next morning? It happens in our industry. Similarly, the emergence of single ended HMI bulbs (MSR's) had now made not only the ballast noisy but the head as well. There was a time when, because of the noise level, the lighting ballast was left outside the door now you have to put the lamphead out there too! I won't get on to the subject of dimmers as we all know what they do when fitted in the living room. They interfere with everything and buzz like mad. Please let me know if there is any other assistance I can give you. Best wishes Yours sincerely Michael Samuelson |