How to operate a carbon arc light

[bdial]

Just in case you need a lot of light

 

[btaylor]

I worked on a low budget show in the mid ‘80s that ran carbon arcs for daylight fill (HMI’s were the rule at that point). Wow, those things were impressive! A big DC jenny, boxes of carbons, the noise of the arc itself. Man, they put out a lotta light!
Thanks for sharing

 

[Vaughn]

A friend operated a Simplex movie projector w/ carbon arc light source (the theater cat was also names Simplex). There was a reason why film burnt if stopped in the projector! The university had a carbon arc set up to make exposures for silkcreening. Great UV light source...

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

My gripe with theatres is that many of them reduce the light output to save the cost on arc replacements as you can only get so many hours out of the carbon. The movie shows dim on the screen. So the entire movie looks like it was shot at night. I;d complain to management, but they usually ignored me. It's the same problem today although the technology is different. Most customers don't even notice how dark the screen is. They're more interested in their popcorn. Hollywood spends millions on beautiful film and results. And the theatres ruin it with poor presentation.

 

[nokia2010]

Thought that thing with economy happens only in countries like Romania.

I've seen that clip some times ago. The thing with pop-corn was funny
Some advanced camera had the movent of the carbon rods. Like the "Bauer" U2 dual (35 and 70 m.m.s.) movie projector. At least 3 of those extisted in Romania.
I wonder if ever caught in the '80's and '90's a movie projector with arc lamp.
Before the days with Xenon lamps (also arc lamps) the carbon arc was probably the most powreful light source.

 

[Kino]

In the Silent Era, the Carbon Arc Lights were open faced and the dust from the arc lights would waft all over the sets and get into people's eyes, causing a inflammation malady called "Klieg Eye". Klieg was the main manufacturer of Carbon Arc lights in the early 1900's to 20's in the USA.

Today's useless trivia...

 

[JBrunner]

Used to run Bauer carbon arcs when I was a a little squid, one of my first jobs was as a projectionist, going on forty years ago... We had dual 70mm projectors where I worked, I was pry one of the last projectionists to be feeding arc lights and doing projector change overs, I know for a fact I was the last to use that set. The lenses on those Bauer's were absolutely gorgeous. The machines themselves were industrial works of art of the highest order. The 35mm system ran a Christie platter with Xenon lamp, functional but boring in comparison. As far as saving electricity or carbon by "turning down" the light output, sorry, it doesn't really work that way with carbon or Xenon. Whatever makes your movie dim is poor maintenance or operation, not some sort of economy. Both systems are such that they can't really be "dimmed". These days you might also suspect a change to cheap digital projector. I don't know of any theaters still running carbon arcs. It would warm my heart if there were.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I read somewhere that lamps only have a certain life. They extend it by lowering the pet or maybe it's just that they run it past its life and it just reduces output. Whatever the reason is , the picture looks likes nighttime. Sunday causes that?

 

[JBrunner]

I read somewhere that lamps only have a certain life. They extend it by lowering the pet or maybe it's just that they run it past its life and it just reduces output. Whatever the reason is , the picture looks likes nighttime. Sunday causes that?

Carbons have to feed at exact rate and or they go out short out, hence the feed adjustment on the brute. Both carbons and xenons are direct current arcs. The voltage envelope in which one can maintain an arc is narrow.

The old days if you had crappy operators soot could build on the mirrors and reduce output, but I would be amazed to find any theater still using arc lamps. I would mostly suspect a switch to under-performing digital projection, saving some money by buying a system not up to the size and distance of the screen. My mom started complaining about dim screens and it turned out she had cataracts, lol.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Well, the dont know how to do it or don't have the right people. In any case, people care more about their popcorn probably because it cost more than the movie tickets.

 

[JBrunner]

Well, the dont know how to do it or don't have the right people. In any case, people care more about their popcorn probably because it cost more than the movie tickets.

Yup, theaters make almost no money on the ticket. Around 80-90% of revenue is concessions.

 

[Kino]

Yup, theaters make almost no money on the ticket. Around 80-90% of revenue is concessions.

I hear Lucas Film (prior to Disney snapping them up) were demanding 80-90% of the box office AND about 20% of the concessions. Insane...