I’ve been secretly switching lighting programs. In reality, I’d battle to pinpoint at which level my lights stopped being predominantly Profoto and have become Briese. The purpose is, it occurred, and I’m not too unhappy about it. My mild of alternative has turn into the Briese Focus 77 reflector.
I have to admit, my preliminary curiosity in Briese was sparked by seeing it in numerous behind-the-scenes photographs. For this reason I used to be all the time perplexed—how a lot better can a lightweight get? I imply, now we have parabolics from Broncolor, Profoto, and a dozen extra producers. Can a humble Briese beat them? Having used the parabolic mild shapers from Broncolor, Profoto, and Godox, I used to be glad with the standard of sunshine. Why strive one thing new if I already had one thing that labored?
Properly, as a result of I noticed that high-end productions selected the yellow Briese reflectors as an alternative of what I assumed have been options. Briese isn’t even parabolic—removed from it, in reality.
Having visited the Briese manufacturing unit and studios in January, I used to be fairly shocked by the standard of sunshine their reflectors produced. It was so crisp, but so clean. The gradation from spotlight to shadow may very well be managed with a easy push of a rod, going from clean to harsh. It additionally occurred that the Briese workforce let me play with no matter that they had within the rental home, so I examined the whole lot from the largest 330 to the smallest 44. I shot at Briese studios just a few extra instances and was as soon as once more very happy with the outcomes. I used to be in a position to management the sunshine with nice precision and create photographs that will have been a lot tougher to tug off in any other case.
All this led to me buying a Briese Focus 77 reflector, which I took on a number of journeys and used to shoot hundreds of photographs. Having spent sufficient time with the reflector to name it my day by day driver for studio work, I want to write a assessment of it.
Construct High quality
The Briese Focus 77 is a beast—however a mild one. It is available in a bag that’s onerous to overlook, as it’s a massive bag with yellow stripes. Divided into two compartments, it homes the whole lot you want for the Briese reflector and even slightly extra.
My bag is definitely a barely bigger model, made for his or her 100 reflector. It is because, when I’m on the street, I take advantage of the well-protected compartment for the reflector to additionally maintain the flash tube and a pair of diffusers. That approach, probably the most fragile a part of the setup is protected by a thick defend. Whereas it may very well be improved with the addition of a deal with and a pair of wheels, it’s a superb bag match for a software of such caliber. It does get a variety of questions and appears from taxi drivers in all places.
The reflector itself is a mixture of steel, fiberglass, and reflective materials. The rods are made from fiberglass, giving them loads of flexibility and sturdiness for setup and breakdown. The reflective materials might be a few of the shiniest cloth I’ve seen shortly. It maximizes output, that means you’ll be able to hold your energy ranges decrease than with different modifiers of comparable shapes. Moreover, the feel of the material ensures the sunshine has route whereas additionally being considerably subtle.
The reflector is constructed to be heat-resistant. As it’s possible you’ll know, Briese reflectors are made for each cinema and images. Each reflector can take flash, HMI, and tungsten lights.
The main target tube is a stable steel building, with threads to take the flash head on one aspect and pin receivers to take the flash bulb. I must bend it very onerous to wreck it. As for probably the most fragile a part of the setup—the flash bulb—it sits firmly on the tube, and a few pressure is required to take away it. This merely means you gained’t see it falling out anytime quickly. A locking mechanism may very well be carried out for added peace of thoughts, although.
What occurs should you unintentionally pull on the rod an excessive amount of and push the flash tube out? Properly, that occurred to me. I broke a flash tube. Why? As a result of I forgot to put a vital bracket that stops precisely that. You will need to observe that different producers don’t have such a mechanism, and I’ve damaged glass on heads earlier than by pulling the rod an excessive amount of and too quick. The lesson right here is: should you assemble the reflector appropriately, you’ll have to work onerous to interrupt it.
Options and Gentle High quality
I may write a e-book about how effectively the Briese Focus 77 reflector is constructed. It has survived tens of hundreds of kilometers, flights of stairs, and a variety of journey. The explanation it has to endure heavy use is that the sunshine high quality is excellent.
The sunshine may be very distinctive. The final cause folks select mild shapers related in type to Briese is that they supply each fill and key mild—or one thing alongside these traces. Nonetheless, the sunshine that so-called parabolic mild modifiers produce is commonly glorified softbox mild. Positive, it’s considerably higher than any softbox, however if you wish to see probably the most optimum lighting, Briese is the one alternative.
What I discover about Briese lighting is that it has two predominant qualities: it’s tender on the pores and skin but crisp intimately. This makes the photographs very distinctive and fairly onerous to copy with different lighting sources.
The sunshine may be very delicate to make-up. Not like different sources, Briese mild may be very simple on the pores and skin, that means that the mannequin doesn’t want a variety of make-up. I usually instruct my crew to go as mild as attainable on the pores and skin and as an alternative focus extra on the hair. With regards to hair element, there’s merely no higher mild supply. Briese permits me to seize hair in a really clean but detailed approach. Paired with the astonishing high quality of medium format, it’s a match made in heaven.
Briese lighting can also be very helpful for reproducing element, equivalent to lighting leather-based merchandise. I just lately shot a lookbook the place a lot of the garments have been made from leather-based or had very superb textures. Briese mild, paired with some fill, introduced out each element. Beforehand, I needed to obtain this with some trickery, combining tender and onerous mild sources. Maybe one of the best ways to explain Briese lighting is simply that—onerous however tender. You’ll be able to alter its hardness by transferring the rod.
In case you transfer the focusing rod to place 0, you’ll get a really centered mild. I take advantage of this to mild faces, and predominantly half-body photographs. The falloff of the sunshine shall be very dramatic, with wealthy, deep shadows. This enables me to seize photographs which are wealthy in distinction, with out overexposing highlights, and retaining the sunshine supply at a long way from the topic. Transferring the rod additional out creates a extra even mild unfold, with the highlights nearer to the sunshine supply. As such, I’m able to mild topics which are nearer to the sunshine and hold a superb gradient falloff within the background. In fact, you may as well mild very massive scenes with it, offered you’ve gotten sufficient energy. Talking of energy, the modifier may be very environment friendly. As such, I hardly ever want to regulate the facility up on my generator, as an alternative having to go down. Transferring the rod in makes the facility a lot stronger, enabling me to throw mild over very lengthy distances within the studio and on location. Within the examples beneath, you may see how I used the Briese Focus 77 with slightly little bit of fill mild to create these two very completely different photographs. 
I have to say that the gallery of the photographs shot with the Briese Focus 77 may be very massive. But, a majority of these initiatives are underneath an NDA on the time of writing, that means I can solely present a small choice, but I hope these photographs do the modifier justice and present the flexibility.
Comparedto Different Modifiers
Since I’ve tried different modifiers that try to copy the Briese mild, I want to take a second to deal with them.
Broncolor
Their parabolic mild shapers present good mild high quality, however for my part, it’s not as crisp or three-dimensional. The floor of the modifier is flat, not like Briese modifiers, which have a textured floor. This makes the sunshine a lot flatter, and the highlight-shadow transition much less delicate.
Profoto
They’ve made a spread of modifiers with a parabolic form. I’ve not examined the brand new Comfortable Zoom Reflector, however I’ve tried the Giants. The form is simply too shallow. Furthermore, the zoom functionality is significantly restricted by not permitting clean rod actions. After I shot with the Large 300, I used to be pleased with the sunshine, nevertheless it didn’t provide versatility. Moreover, the Giants are restricted to 180, 240, and 300 sizes.
Godox
A sensible choice if you’re out there for Broncolor, nevertheless it has the identical pitfalls, together with considerably poorly thought-out building.
Closing Ideas
The Briese Focus 77 reflector has modified the best way my photographs look. It’s in all probability chargeable for the a lot cleaner and crisper type I’ve now. The sunshine and construct high quality are second to none in comparison with different modifiers.
I strongly recommend that you simply discover the Briese lighting system for your self. They aren’t terribly costly to lease and are very enjoyable to make use of on set.
