# 5000 Watt continuous light - anyone used this to simulate sunlight?



## hfocal (Apr 23, 2017)

Hi,

Hoping someone answer this soon as I'll be doing a shoot tomorrow morning to afternoon. Also if this is not the right section, please move the thread.

I'm shooting for a startup company that's entering a science contest and they are using yes the 5K Watt light to simulate the sun. We will be indoors with fluorescent ambient and distant windows. 
Will the 5k watt be too much for my camera (I'm using Nikon D7200 with Nikkorr lenses)? I'm also told that the light will be magnified, shone through fresnel lens, so that it melts whatever they're melting.  I wouldn't think I need to shoot the light head on though so it should be ok at other angles ?


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## unpopular (Apr 24, 2017)

hfocal said:


> Will the 5k watt be too much for my camera



This does not really make sense. The question isn't if it is too bright from your camera, but rather if it is too bright for the existing light present. Certainly a 5k will out-shine everything there.

You might want a dimmer to get it to balance properly if the light doesn't have one.

But a 5K should be suitable given your situation, depending on the area you're needing to illuminate.


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## KmH (Apr 24, 2017)

What is the _color temperature_ of the 5k watt light?


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## astroNikon (Apr 24, 2017)

Yeah, I was curious if the "5K" was the color temperature instead of a 5,000 watt light bulb.
but I do see 5k watt bulbs for studio/stage ==> SYLVANIA 54647 - DPY - Stage and Studio - T60 - 5000 Watt Light Bulb - 120 Volt - G38 Base - 3200K - Halogen Bulbs - Amazon.com

I hope it's in a stage lighting system, other wise it might melt the "lamp" it's on.


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## Designer (Apr 24, 2017)

hfocal said:


> Will the 5k watt be too much for my camera ..


It depends on how close you will be to the light.  If you can feel "warmth" but not "burnth", then your camera can take a few seconds to a minute without melting.  Continue to hold your camera with your bare hands, and if it starts to feel too warm, take a break.


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## unpopular (Apr 25, 2017)

A true 5K is certainly either metal halide or quartz. Being that this person doesn't seem to know what he's doing (no offense, we all have to learn) I'm pretty sure it's not a $10K HMI!

OTOH, it might be an LED 5K "equivalent".


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## unpopular (Apr 25, 2017)

Designer said:


> hfocal said:
> 
> 
> > Will the 5k watt be too much for my camera ..
> ...



I was on a shoot recently and we had like 6 4K's and a bunch of 2K's. The heat dissipates quickly; you're not going to melt the camera.

The circuit breakers on the other hand....


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## hfocal (Apr 25, 2017)

it was a 5000 watt fresnel film light , no offense taken. We ended up not using it much cause the sun gave us the result needed for the project. Had a bit of panic there cause the way i was told about this light before i could see it the day before shoot, is that it was going to be too powerful for camera - had no clue what they meant but i initially guessed they're talking about brightness, not temperature, but anyways had to ask here to see what else they maybe talking about.


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