Strobe and honeycomb grid

[yubnub]

Hi all,

I have recently purchased some new reflectors with changeable honeycomb grids.

I was using one of the narrow grids with the modeling lamp of the strobe at the same time. The grid got very hot to the point where it was almost smoking!

I understand the grids prevent much air flow around the modeling lamp - however is it better practice to simply not use the model lamp with grids? or perhaps i was using the lamp at to higher brightness?

Any general advice welcome

many thanks,

anthony

 

[astroNikon]

can you provide a link to the type of strobes you have?
and a link to the type of reflectors you have ?

 

[Derrel]

Well...yes, grids, especially really narrow-angle ones, do restrict air flow, but OTOH, they also act as convection coolers, like little radiators. If the flash unit is fan-cooled, that can help eliminate some of the heat. One can also turn off the modeling light, yes. I dunno...I've used both non-fan flash units with up to 150-Watt, very HOT, quartz-halogen modeling lights with grids in small, 7-inch reflectors, and also in bigger 11.5 inch diameter reflectors, with no issues except the reflectors got pretty warm on the non-fdan-cooled flash head units.

I think this is one of those issues that is more mentally worrisome than an actual "danger" or "hazard". Yes, photographic lighting gear can get hot to the touch, and yet...it seems to in most cases, be designed to handle such stresses. On some very SMALL light units, I think using a snoot or grid might be a bad idea if the modeling light is left on; again, this would be with things like the Speedotron Brown LIne MW3U light with say a snoot AND the 100-Watt quartz lamp on; the reflector bell is just soooooo small on that unit. But, on a monolight that had say, an 8- to 10-inch size reflector, I would worry a lot less about heat buildup, simply due to the sheer volume of the area inside the reflector, as well as the sheer amount of square inches for convection cooling.