I did a lot of search before about the frontal lights from eBay's Solar Uvision, I was looking
for good and reliable lighting kit and finally pulled the trigger on these tungsten lights.
Main reason was the price, it's one of the most affordable lighting kits in that price
range.
The lighting and LEDs have their advantages, being cooler and consuming less power, but
the lighting output can't really match the frontal, so all in all, to me tungsten was
the way to go.
The customer service from eBay's Solar Uvision is really great, I asked a couple of questions
before I buy the kit and there were really nice and kind in their replies.
The boxes arrived really well packed, there were pieces of styrofoam all around the light
and stand, the barn door were packed in the bubble wrap, the carrying case was fit in the
box so there was no chance to break or damage the lights in any way during the transport,
light bulbs were packed apart in the foam box.
When I opened it up the case, everything was individually wrapped in plastic and bubble
wrap, everything has been carefully wrapped and packaged.
The frontal light from Top Photo are of excellent quality, the logo of the company as well as
the power of the unit can be found printed on the body of the light.
The frontal glasses stick and a bracket that holds the barn doors are very robust as well.
The knob on the oak of the unit is plastic, but aren't enough to be durable in the long
run.
The adjustment knobs on the back of the unit allows to open the housing and focus the light.
The focusing knob is a bit loose, but allowed focus the light just as well.
The power cord is rated 300 and 500 volt and is about the same gauge as my halogen work
light which is 500 watts.
The end of the power cord is more hand-relevel and quality, but works perfectly.
The power and dimmer switch are great, allowing you to adjust the intensity of the light,
turn the unit on or off without having to unplug the cord from the wall.
The stands that comes with the light are air-cushion, that's something that's really great in case
you drop it when adjusting it, especially when working with Uttungsten bulbs.
The top photo logo is also printed on the legs of the stands.
On the top of the stands there is a 3-way spigot mount, allowing you to use a spigot
on here, the ¼-inch side or the 3-8-inch one.
That can be helpful if you have to mount other accessories than the Fresnel lights on set,
you can also mount it from the sides if needed.
Finally, I compared the top photo Fresnel with my friends real Harry at his studio.
To be honest, they are pretty identical at a fraction of the price.
Anything of about the 150 Watt and the 350 Watt are the same.
The yolks of both are very similar, the one on Harry seems a bit more heavy duty, but
the Harry stands is a ¼-inch threaded tip, no spigot mount.
The front of the lights are also identical, Fresnel glass and barn doors are the same.
As for the inside of the housing, on the 150 Watt it's identical.
The main difference on the 300 Watt is the wiring, which is a bit better on the Harry,
no big deal as the light works perfectly.
The focusing mechanism on the Harry surrounded Watt is a little bit tighter to adjust, allowing
you more precision on the hotput.
Same on the 150 Watt model, but again this is not a big issue as both unit can focus
the light from flood to spot mode.
The barn doors are tighter on the Harry, they were still hole in place, not a big issue
where you can slide them more easily on the top photo unit.
The power cord on both are very similar in size, not a huge difference on it coming out
of the housing.
The 300 Watt model from the front are identical, except for the middle mesh in front of Fresnel.
As you can see I tested both the top photo and the Harry 300 Watt side by side.
The Harry seems tighter on the spot focus and a bit more powerful, but I think this is only
the bob that differs.
Only if we compare both stands, I truly prefer the one from top photo because it's air caution
and because it accepts bigots.
In conclusion, for a fraction of the price of the Harry's, the top photo fresnels are
very affordable yet powerful lightning kit in that price range, it comes highly recommended.
