Rosco Steel Gobos on Smith Victor

[Anthony Meluso]

I have a couple of 600 watt smith victors and I whish to though on a gobo to creat a nice background pattern on a wall. Rosco makes so many but will they fit or work on my Smith Victor. Is there something I can use to hold it close to the light? How heat resistance are these too. Thanks for all your help and if anyone has any tips on brackground lighting and patteners feel free to chime in.

[Ken Tanaka]

I do not have a direct answer, but I do have a question. Are your Smith Victor lights open-faced? That is, do they have fresnel lenses or are the lamps open?

The reason I ask is because gobo patterns placed directly over open lights don't work very well. The light tends not to hold the shadow pattern well at any distance. Holding the gobo further from the lamp, closer to the target, would work better but the spillage from an open faced light would also ruin the pattern unless you were able to closely flag it. Best results, in my admittedly limited experience, tend to come from fresnel instruments whose light can be better focused through the gobo.

[Anthony Meluso]

This are open faced and have a holder for scrims or barn doors on their front. They're about 7 inches in diameter and have a handle on their back that can be put on spot or flood. I do not beleive they can be focused. Will it still be possible with these lights?

[Ken Tanaka]

I recommend testing for yourself before spending $ on gobos. Just cut out some patterns from cardboard and hold them in front of the lights. I think you'll see what I mean.

[Boyd Ostroff]

The Rosco and GAM gobos (also called templates) are intended for use in ellipsoidal reflector spotlights, such as the ETC Source 4. These units (also sometimes called "Leko's" which is actually a brand name) are really like projectors where you insert the gobo in the focal plane using a pattern holder. They also have 4 framing shutters at the focal plane which allow you to shape the light beam.

There are a variety of other gizzmo's you can insert in these lights, such as an iris, motorized effects loop, gobo rotator, and more. The basic lighting unit is sold with different lenses for use at varying distances with beam spreads of 5, 10, 19, 26, 36 and 50 degrees. They can use either a 575w or 750w halogen lamp. Cost is around $250 each. These are really stage lighting instruments, and probably not something that people would have as part of a video lighting kit. It wouldn't be unusual for us to have between 200 and 300 in the theatre for one of our operas, and 100 might have gobos in them.

But I digress... these gobos are very small, maybe 2.5" in diameter. They won't be of much use in a light that doesn't have a pattern slot with a focusing lens. If you have an open face light then you will probably get a much better effect to cut a pattern out of something large, like a piece of poster board or aluminum foil, and place it a foot or two in front of the unit. For a simple shadow projection like this you want a point source of light at a distance from the pattern. There is an antiquated type of stage light called a "Linnebach lantern" which uses an intense point source of light in a closed box with a large pattern in the front, basically it's a shadow projector.

So think "point source" if you're trying to do a shadow projection. The ideal would be to place a small, bright halogen lamp in a black box without a reflector. Of course the problem with units like the Linnebach lantern is that they're very ineffecient since the light isn't focused and much of it is just thrown away.

[Eric Moyer]

Thanks for your phone call and I'm posting the answer here too. Smith Victor makes the FH-1 filter holder which allows you to place a gel or gobo on any light including the hot lights. It consists of an arm which positions the gobo, gel or diffuser material in from of any of the lights such as the 600 watt lights or the 500 watt photoflood lights found in the KT900 You can see it on this page http://photography-lighting.com/diffusers-gels-filters.html You can access it also from the mail page at photography-lighting.com

As for the Gobo, as the previous poster indicated, making your own with a piece of plastic and an exacto knife will save you $$. The FH-1 also works with most other brands of lights and stands because it fits on the stand. It is extremely adjustable for position away from the light etc.

As Ken posted, most of these hot lights are too hot to place any type of material direct onto them, so that's where the FH-1 comes in. Hope that helps.