Most lighting fixtures for photography and videography require specialty lamps that you can’t find in a hardware store or grocery store. Whether you’re working with studio strobes or constant lights, you’ll need to select the precise lamp for your lighting equipment.
Common Types of Specialty Lamps
There are hundreds of kinds of lamps featuring a range of wattages, base types, and functions. While many fixtures will tell you the exact style of lamp you need to use, some lighting units offer more flexibility over the look, color temperature, and style of lamp or bulb.
Camera Flash Lamps vs Modeling Lamps
Most studio strobe units feature two separate types of bulbs. The flash lamp fires a powerful burst of light to illuminate your shot, while the modeling lamp serves as a visual placeholder between exposures.
Modeling lamps make it easy to see how the light fixture is focused and keep your studio setup illuminated at all times.
LED Lamps
LED technology is brighter, longer lasting, and more energy efficient than many other styles of lamps. If you’re looking for a way to upgrade your constant lights, reduce how often you need to replace bulbs, and increase overall brightness, check out dimmable LED lamps.
Flood Lamps
Flood lamps for photography look like a traditional incandescent light bulb, but they’re usually brighter than the lamps you would use in a home lighting fixture. Incandescent photo flood lamps work well for photography, but they’re also an effective video light because they don’t cycle or flicker like fluorescent lamps do.
Projector Lamps
You may be using a high-powered projector for larger spaces like large theaters and auditoriums. Or you may stick with small presentation projectors for classrooms, offices, and home theater use. Either way, you’ll eventually need to replace your projector lamp.
Projector lamps don’t usually burn out all at once. Instead, they gradually lose power. Most projector lamps are rated to last about 2000 hours, but it’s a good idea to keep a spare lamp on hand just in case.
Flash Lamp Base Types
Flash lamps come in a range of base types including typical screw bases, twist-and-lock bases, two-pin bases, four-pin bases, plug-in bases, wedge bases, and bayonet bases. When shopping for replacement lamps, refer to your light fixture’s instructions so you can select the right type of lamp base.
Quality Counts When Selecting Bulbs and Lamps
Select from photography-industry leaders for the most reliable and long-lasting bulbs and lamps. Brands like ARRI, Alzo Digital, Smith-Victor, and Lamp are well-known for color temperature consistency and dependability.
