But no invention is without constant improvement, so this inventor decided that if one light was good, two would be even better, which increased the cost of the lights to $16. Then the little sockets were replaced by $20 Emerald brand track lighting fixtures. These are complete lights designed to snap into track lighting systems, but the appeal was the heavy duty sockets, including a circular holder with a glass front that holds the bulb in place, and the fixtures are mounted on metal wires with swivel heads that could aim the lights at any angle. To use these fixtures, the built-in transformers at the base had to be disconnected and the sockets directly wired into the on/off switch. For the finishing touch, the entire two light contraption was glued onto a small piece of plywood, with some foam rubber glued to the base of the plywood. Also, a $5 compact camera bag from K-mart concealed the battery cases and wires, and a $5 adjustable camera strap held the lights quite well onto the top of the camera. By now the entire cost was up to $68, a far cry from the original $9 version, however, there is no reason why someone more astute couldn't design a similar system without the aid of the $40 worth of track lighting fixtures.
        So, what were the results? Is it useful? Definitely, after discovering a world of difference between bulbs and batteries. And although the one light set-up will work, two provide about 50% more light. I conducted a series of tests to research which bulbs and batteries worked best. All of the tests involved a low light Super-8 camera loaded with a cartridge of Ektachrome 7240 film. The camera was five feet away from the subject being lit, a two foot long model of a sailing ship. The lens was set to 12.5mm, and the camera's built-in light meter registered a 1.4 reading. The new camera light would be turned on for ten minutes in each test, and light meter readings would be taken every sixty seconds.
        MR-16 halogen bulbs are usually found in 20 watt and 50 watt versions, and also spot and flood beam spreads. Of what was available at the local Lowes Home Improvement Center, the Sylvania EXN 50 watt, 40 degree flood bulb is the best and sells for $6. This bulbs caused a 1 ¼ f/stoop gain in light. I soon discovered that MR16 bulbs are also available in 75 watt versions through mail order, but in all cases these proved to be a disaster. The light was even less bright and the poor batteries got quite hot and smelled hot as well. The final breakthrough came when I discovered (through mail order again) the Ushio Ultra EXZ/CG 50 watt, 24 degree narrow flood which sells for $10 each (available at Bulb Direct). These lamps are guaranteed to last 10,000 hours without a change in color! Best of all they pushed my light meter from f/1.4 to f/2.8 for the full ten minutes, and beautifully lit the subject. The CG in the name means the bulb is protected by its own cover glass so in order to use them I had to remove the cover gass in the Emerald light sockets. Perhaps this helped provide more light, perhaps the narrower beam spread, or both did the job.
        I have always been under the impression that all alkaline batteries start out as equals, it's just that some last longer than others. Images of the Energizer bunny running around the television commercials come to mind. How wrong I was. Many private label brands couldn't get the bulbs to light up as bright from the first second. Kroger brands were so poor that they only provided 50% of the light gain compared to Duracell brand. The second surprise was that Duracell coppertops outperformed the Energizer batteries. The best battery in the test was the new Duracell Ultra, but these are pricey at around $1 per battery. Using these batteries and the EXZ/CG bulb would guarantee a better than f/2.8 reading. Regular Duracell coppertops were second with perhaps a ¼ f/stop loss, but these batteries are much more reasonable in price, often selling for half the price as the Ultras. Third place was a tie between the Energizer and the bargain priced Rayovac batteries, which lost perhaps a one-third to one-half f/stop over the Duracell Ultra. In all cases, the batteries would be very, very warm at the end of the test and therefore I would never advise running these lights for more than five minutes without a rest. The total battery life is unlikely to exceed ten minutes, even if the on-time is sporadic, but the total light gain will be slightly greater. As an example, using regular Duracell batteries will still achieve the same results of my tests on the Duracell Ultra if the lights are on for briefer periods of time. Set-up your shot, turn the lights on, film what you need, and turn them off again. A good two f/stop gain in light should be accomplished depending on how wide the angle of view.
        The ultimate test was my filming of the model railroads, and there is no doubt that the lights helped bring out the colors and remove the shadows in many of the close-up shots of the trains passing by. This home made camera light may resemble a crude little robot with two eyes, but thanks to the extra light it provided, the trains will continue to run on time and in all their splendor every time I thread up the projector.

---  Chris Cottrill
        E-mail:  ^{chris_cottrill@yahoo.com}
 

^{BACK TO SUPER 8 MAIN PAGE}