Robin invited one of his friends, Rory, who works professionally as a gaffer to visit and gives us some insight into what he does for a living and the type of gear he uses every day and what has been popular lighting equipment over the years.

The first light he showed us, an Inky, was one Robin specifically requested he brought as it has historical significance and was used frequently in the 1960’s. A 150-Watt Fresnel light made out of cast steel. It’s colour temperature is 2800k, a warm light which could be used as a key light. There is also the option of filtering to make it appear more like daylight. This light brought with it a discussion into Tungsten globes, which are becoming more expensive due to having to mine the minerals to produce the globes, where LED lights do not need to do this.

The second lamp he showed us was the Mole Richardson – Baby soft light. Rory spoke about how this light is still used today and is far more prevalent than the Inky. An 800-Watt light, which also comes in a 2k version. It is a contained soft light (due to the curved shape of the lamp, the thoughtful construction of the light is really ingenious). It is typically used on top of the camera, as an eye light, and has an extremely smooth spread.

The third was the Cream Source light made by Outsight, this LED light allows you to switch between Tungsten and Daylight. The light allows for a huge range of control and is a sturdy and reliable lamp.

Rory spoke to us about the Arri Corporation and how they have expanded from making cameras to lighting equipment. He spoke about how incredibly expensive the lamps they produce are. He showed us an L-Series lamp and a Sky Panel. The Arri Sky Panel was particularly popular, a soft LED light that is also incredibly bright. It is DMX Controllable, and it allows you to essentially tune to the colour you want. Everyone found it pretty amazing, because of the limitless possibilities that the light presents.

This lesson was very rewarding, and I felt like I learnt a lot from it. It was also great to see Robin teaching with someone else and the banter between Robin and Rory was very amusing.