Using a low-cost IKEA spotlight for studio effect

IKEA has a very low cost optical focusing theatre-style spotlight which can be used, or adapted, for studio work. It comes complete with an adjustable iris diaphragm unit, a four-blade square aperture adjustable unit, a gobo/filter holder, a set of stainless steel cut gobos and a set of coloured glass filters. The focusing lens is not sealed against light leaks but open to allow heat to dissipate, however if this unit was adapted to hold a flash light source in place of its halogen bulb, you could also make a tube to seal off the light leaks from the optical assembly.

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Canon EOS 1n-RS (Photon magazine, February 1996)

BACK in 1996, David Kilpatrick and Andy Aitken reviewed the latest Canon for David’s Photon magazine. It has something which the Canon EOS 1D MkIII of 2007 also features – 10 frames a second. But to achieve this it had to sacrifice focus tracking and use a pellicle mirror, with the lens permanently stopped down during fast sequences. This article makes interesting reading in the light of developments since in the digital domain. Continue reading »

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