The Arri M18 Is A Truly Magical Lamp

I had the pleasure of working with Studio C3 and we shot with one of the new(ish) Arri M18 HMI lamps. I have to admit i have been caught up in the LED light craze, as I think most of us have been. They are small put out decent light and can be very very affordable. Having said that there are a few lamps that always make me love light all over again. Not just for their quality and wavelength of light but for a plethora of nerdy reasons I wont bore you with now. I have played a few times with Arri SkyPanel lights and they really are mind blowing. not just for the out put but for all the bells and whistles. They truly did come up with something that has more options than you know what to do with, but there new HMI’s are what made my jaw drop on this shoot. It wasn’t long ago that using an HMI meant you were going to be hot, have to deal with flicker rates, and have a lamp head so large and heavy you need a forklift to move it HA. I don’t know what deal with the devil Arri made or if they captured a wizard or leprechaun but this was the coolest running HMI I have ever used. Whether it is the MAX reflector or the Cross cooling they really managed to figure out how to make me love HMI’s again. I have always loved the quality of light that an HMI gives. it makes my eyes happy and the footage look gorgeous. If you ever get a chance to shoot with one of these HMI’s run dont walk trust me it will open your eyes back up and maybe rethink the LED bubble some of us have been living in.