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This simple blackboard model explains how a Fresnel lens works

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Fresnel lenses are found in all kinds of things from the lenses and light modifiers we use in photography and filmmaking to lighthouses that guide ships at sea. The lens was developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel, after whom it was named, specifically for use in lighthouses. It allows for the construction of huge aperture and short focal length lenses but using less material than more traditional lens optics.

How exactly do they work, though? In the video above, David Willey explains how a Fresnel lens functions and why it is the shape that it is using a simple blackboard model and some magnetic strips. But essentially, Fresnel lenses are just regular lenses with big chunks taken out of them.

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Maxima 3 LED spot announced – Maxima 7 sunlight simulator LED spot finally available to buy

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This one’s taken a while. Initially announced in February 2020 to much fanfare, the Maxima 7 LED spotlight is now available to buy. And it’s brought a little one with it, the Maxima 3. All the specs of the Maxima 7 were previously released at launch, and you can see those here, so let’s talk about the new Maxima 3.

The Maxima 3 is a 300W COB LED light with a CRI of 96+ and a TLCI of 97. It’s available in two versions that are either tungsten or daylight balanced, with a COB LED life of 50,000 hours. As with the Maxima 7, the Maxima 3 LED contains a focusable 8″ Fresnel lens and accepts Bowens mount modifiers.

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The Maxima 7 flicker-free LED light is a 1200 PAR HMI equivalent with 700 Watts of power

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LED lighting technology has come very far over the last decade. It’s replaced the more traditional incandescent “hot lights” we used to see in video, movie and photography studios. The Maxima 7 is a new 5600K Chip-on-board (COB) LED light that’s the equivalent of a 1.2K HMI that lets you pretty much recreate the sun on your set.

It’s being developed by a company in Italy, and while there are other 1.2K equivalent LED lights out there on the market, this one wants to separate itself by form factor, light output and versatility. It even has a Bowens mount to let you use softboxes and other modifiers.

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ARRI Fresnel lights are so hot that you can fry eggs on them

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ARRI Fresnel lights are known for great quality of light, but also for being super-hot. But are they hot enough to cook breakfast on them? Apparently, yes! In this video, Sweet Lou Photography does a super-funny challenge of frying eggs using three different ARRI Fresnel lights. So let’s see how they perform.

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