Plasma Lighting As Fast As Possible
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2016-05-06
·
743 words · ~3 min read
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Plasma. It's the most common form of matter in the universe. Yet, many of us
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don't see it in consumer products, unless it's in fluorescent lights, neon
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signs, or those little lightning ball knickknacks you can get in the mall. But
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what exactly is this stuff? Well, plasma is similar to ordinary gas, but the
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difference is it's been ionized, meaning that the individual atoms or molecules
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in the gas have been given an electrical charge by applying an outside energy
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source to it, such as heat or electromagnetic radiation. Because
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plasmas are energized in this way, their atoms can emit light by a similar
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process to lasers. You can learn more about how energized atoms give off light
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in this video. But unlike laser light, which relies on additional equipment to
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form a narrow beam, many plasma light sources are useful for illuminating
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large areas. Whether it's a warehouse filled with fluorescent lights, a city
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lit by a lightning bolt, or even the entire Earth, since the sun also uses
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plasma to produce light. But a new crop of plasma lamps has opened up a whole
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new use for plasma light and is stealing headlines in the photography world. For
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someone like me, proper lighting is extremely important. Whether I'm
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shooting an episode of Linus Tech Tips or still photos of our team members in
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the office. And getting my lighting setup exactly right can be a bit tricky.
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Plasma lamps though are trying to mitigate problems that have faced photographers and cinematographers for
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years. One big issue that we regularly contend with is flicker. You see, all
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artificial light sources flicker to some degree, including popular HMI flood
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lights widely used in the film industry, often due to the alternating current
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that powers them when you plug them into a wall. And even though a typical
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flicker rate of 120 times per second or
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120 hertz is imperceptible to the naked eye, it can be a huge problem when
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shooting in slow motion or at a very high frame rate, as the camera will
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easily make this flicker visible. Plasma lamps though attempt to solve this
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problem by converting argon gas into a plasma. Because of argon's chemical
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properties, it flickers at such a high rate, hundreds of millions of times per
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second, that the light it produces is flicker-free for video shoots in absurd
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frame rates that can expose flickering in other light sources like LEDs. Plasma
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lamps are also more neutral in color than many other kinds of bulbs, not
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unlike direct sunlight, which tends to illuminate everything without giving any
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noticeable color shift. Although lights like CFLs and LEDs often give objects a
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slightly green or magenta shift, plasma lamps are full spectrum so that the
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colors can be filmed very accurately. And because plasma lamps use radio waves
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instead of heat to produce their light, they're also very power efficient,
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especially important since many kinds of professional lights are notorious energy
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hogs. So, if you are serious about shooting video or even stills, plasma
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lamps might be a good idea for you, especially if you don't want your boss
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to freak out about the power bill. Speaking of plasma lighting, Hive
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Lighting, they're a leading plasma lighting manufacturer based out of the
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US for all your production needs. They have three different fixtures that can
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be used in many versatile ways, from theater production on stage to the
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lighting we used for this video. The Loss, which is our fixture of choice, is
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one of the most low power draw lights I've ever used, coming in at a mere 273
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watts and giving me the output of an incandescent light that could easily
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draw six times more power, which makes it nice on the office power when I
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accidentally leave lights
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on. Is this thing on? That's actually still not okay. I don't care how
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efficient it is. So, thank you guys for watching. And if
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you didn't like this video, you know what to do. But if you liked it, give it
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a like. And while you're at it, check out the Channel Super Fun video where
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Taran was pranked for nearly a year. It's really funny. Comment down below if
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you have any other topics you want us to cover. And do not forget to subscribe
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