Videokarma.org

Go Back   Videokarma.org TV - Video - Vintage Television & Radio Forums > Television Broadcast Gear

We appreciate your help

in keeping this site going.
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 05-19-2012, 01:12 AM
Rinehart Rinehart is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 129
Television Lighting Claim (It's Bad For You)

From time to time, most recently in William Hawes' book on pre-1946 television drama, I have come across the claim that the lighting requirements of early television were so great that performers risked skin burns from it. It seems unlikely to me. Heatstroke, yes, and even having one's hair catch fire, as happened with the late Michael Jackson, but burned skin from the lighting alone? Is there anything to these claims?
__________________
One Ruthie At A Time
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 05-22-2012, 02:25 AM
austvarchive austvarchive is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 117
Some forms of halogen lighting create high amounts of UV radiation - I know many studios at one point in the 90's which had much of their lighting without any form of uv protective glass over the front of the fittings, potentially if they are very intense and enough of them at close range for long enough would give you sunburn
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 05-23-2012, 02:07 PM
old_tv_nut's Avatar
old_tv_nut old_tv_nut is offline
See yourself on Color TV!
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Rancho Sahuarita
Posts: 7,184
Quote:
Originally Posted by austvarchive View Post
Some forms of halogen lighting create high amounts of UV radiation - I know many studios at one point in the 90's which had much of their lighting without any form of uv protective glass over the front of the fittings, potentially if they are very intense and enough of them at close range for long enough would give you sunburn
This reminds me that some early studios experimented with mercury vapor lamps, which could produce excess UV.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 05-29-2012, 12:17 AM
Rinehart Rinehart is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 129
How widespread was halogen lighting's use? I know that mercury vapor lamps were used for sure at WRGB, but because of their expense and weight--they had to have a large water jacket over them to prevent overheating--not many stations did. The impression I get is that incandescent lamps were by far the most common lighting source.
__________________
One Ruthie At A Time
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 05-29-2012, 08:09 AM
austvarchive austvarchive is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 117
incandescent lamps were the "original" lamps but def by the 90's, they were all replaced with halogen equivalents, you cannot get many of the replacement incandescents for the studio lights anymore
Reply With Quote
Audiokarma
  #6  
Old 05-29-2012, 11:05 AM
old_tv_nut's Avatar
old_tv_nut old_tv_nut is offline
See yourself on Color TV!
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Rancho Sahuarita
Posts: 7,184
infrared hazards are associated with exposure to hot objects (like glass furnaces) that produce much infrared but not so much visible light in comparison. Usually, incandescent lamps are not considered to be a hazard, but I wonder if the very high levels used in early TV could be.

http://www.safetyequipment.org/userf...roUp_Oct09.pdf
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 05-29-2012, 01:22 PM
Ed in Tx's Avatar
Ed in Tx Ed in Tx is offline
Zenith Walton My 1st TV
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: DFW
Posts: 1,414
Were they using some type of arc lighting?

From Wiki...

"Arc lamps were used in some early motion-picture studios to illuminate interior shots. One problem was that they produce such a high level of ultra-violet light that many actors needed to wear sunglasses when off camera to relieve sore eyes resulting from the ultra-violet light."
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 05-29-2012, 02:14 PM
old_tv_nut's Avatar
old_tv_nut old_tv_nut is offline
See yourself on Color TV!
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Rancho Sahuarita
Posts: 7,184
I don't think arc lights were common for TV use. Technicolor had a recommended assortment of color-balance-matched arc and incandescent lighting for movies.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 05-29-2012, 02:33 PM
old_tv_nut's Avatar
old_tv_nut old_tv_nut is offline
See yourself on Color TV!
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Rancho Sahuarita
Posts: 7,184
If you assume the effective shutter time for the iconoscope was 1/60 second, and lighting of 1800 foot candles, and also guessing that the max lens aperture was f/4, this calculates to an equivalent film speed of ASA/ISO 14. The Technicolor process started with an equivalent ISO rating of about 5.
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldc...chnicolor6.htm

This was later increased with improved film stock and eventually with dichroic mirrors in the optics, but it's not clear from what i can find on the web if it got much beyond ISO 25 or so.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 05-29-2012, 08:14 PM
Rinehart Rinehart is offline
VideoKarma Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 129
Arc lamps were very rarely used, since they had a number of drawbacks: the characteristic buzzing sound, the fact that they are DC equipment, and that from time to time they had to readjust or replace the carbons, not easy to do on the fly. They did use them at the BBC, and performers were told that if suddenly the light went out, because they had to fix the carbons, to "fake it and force on."
__________________
One Ruthie At A Time
Reply With Quote
Audiokarma
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:15 AM.



Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
©Copyright 2012 VideoKarma.org, All rights reserved.