Lowell Tota lights - any impressions ?

[Flotsam]

Some one made mention before that a tota isn't supplied with a barndoor.

I find the Flags on their flexible rods are more versatile than conventional barn doors. They can be placed anywhere to block and feather the light according to the individual needs of the shot.

 

[Bandicoot]

Nothing to do with photography, but...

I've yet to meet anyone who paid someone $3K a day for advice, capable of profiting from it (at least to the extent it WAS worth $3k).

Meet a client of mine from back in my business days. I did a three month consult with them, working about two to three days a week for them over most of that period. Saved them £20M in direct capital funding costs as a result. If you do the maths, I think you'll find that if they'd been paying me 3k a day every day plus weekends over the whole contract, they'd still have been way ahead.

Those were the days. Now I'm an artist, I starve, as artists are supposed to...


Peter

 

[Bandicoot]

Totas are the only lights that I am aware of that suspends the lamp out in front of a flat reflector instead of back within some sort of shaped, parabolic reflector. Like it or not, this gives them a unique characteristic that I find useful under many circumstances. Washing large areas with even light for example.

They are the portable way of doing this, but given a choice a cyclorama light is sometimes a nicer way to do it. The Tota approach has the benefit that you can be more flexible about distance from the light to the surface you're washing, but a cyc. light is more efficient when you want the luminaire out of the frame and almost always makes for a more even wash. I like Strand/Quartzcolor Iris, Iadi and Orion lights for these jobs.

Just a thought / something you might like to look into.


Peter

 

[CBG]

Flotsam said, "...but Totas are the only lights that I am aware of that suspends the lamp out in front of a flat reflector instead of back within some sort of shaped, parabolic reflector. Like it or not, this gives them a unique characteristic that I find useful under many circumstances. Washing large areas with even light for example."

Check out Lowell V-Lights, they're quite similar in design and more compact. I'n not so fond of them due to the glass envelope around the lamp. Too easy for a ham handed person like me to break when changing bulbs.

 

[nick mulder]

I like em!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=22761&l=08ea1&id=759894202

%75 of these were taken with two Lowell Totas (heaps of flagging in some instances) - the other 3 were taken with one or two Totas and a strobe