SAN FRANCISCO—I recently found myself at a point where I needed to replace my 800-Watt HMI light. After hearing about the AAdynTech JAB LED light from two wellrespected cameramen, I decided to check further and found that the JAB Hurricane was being touted as a great replacement for an 800 Watt HMI light. Not only was it an LED; you could use it “in a hurricane” and not have to worry about shorting it out. It’s IP65 rated for outdoors, all-weather use.
I placed a call to my good friend and advisor, John O’Keefe who represents AAdyn Technology, and after hearing about all of the advantages it has over traditional 800-Watt HMI units, my interest was peaked. John sent out a loaner and I was able to try it out on a couple of shoots, as well as do some side-by-side testing with a conventional 800-Watt HMI.
NO MORE ‘JUST A MINUTE, PLEASE’
Bob Goldsborough On one shoot, we had to light a twoperson outdoor set. We used one HMI 800 Watt instrument alongside the Hurricane and two other 400-Watt HMI lights. I was very impressed with the Hurricane. It had the same output as the HMI 800 and brings with it a really great advantage in that there’s absolutely no wait time after you turn on the switch. As HMI users all know, it typically takes at least a minute to get HMIs up to a stable color temperature after striking.
The power consumption is amazing too at less than two Amps. You can actually run the Hurricane from a couple of camera batteries with an inverter if you don’t have access to AC power. The fixture is all selfcontained too, so you’re not dealing with separate ballast, which is a really nice time saver.
The Hurricane also emits very little heat and provides full dimming capability with no color shift. Onr of the really nice things, however, is its 60,000-hour lamp life. This means you won’t be shelling out $250 for replacement HMI lamps throughout the life of the fixture. You also don’t have to worry about any harmful UV exposure to the talent.
TALENT LIKE IT TOO
I also found that the Hurricane is great for indoor interviews. For those camera crews in the network news magazine world, you know the lighting challenges that we face every day, especially with demanding talent who expect nothing less than beautiful lighting. With LED technology and the fact that the light source is spread out with multiple LED’s, you can throw a soft box on the front of this light and have a beautiful key or fill that gently wraps around the face.
If there’s any drawback to the Hurricane it’s that the light is a bit on the heavy side, as it has the ballast built in. This makes it flying it from an arm off a C-stand a little tricky, but its advantages more than make up for this.
That said, I need to tell you that I’m completely happy with the Hurricane and didn’t send it back to John. It’s now a much-welcomed part of our Gonwest Video Productions lighting arsenal.
Bob Goldsborough established Gonwest Video Productions in 1987 and is its director of photography. He may be contacted throughgonwest@comcast.net.
For additional information, contact AAdynTech at 201-368-2800 or visitwww.aadyntech.com.
