HMI & Tungsten Lights

Here is how this works in practice. HMI and tungsten inventory across Aotearoa runs ARRI Max 18K and 12K, ARRI M-Series M40/M18/M9/M8/M5 daylight HMIs, K5600 Joker 800/1200/1600 plus Joker Bug 400/800 for portable daylight, ARRI L-Series tungsten/LED hybrids, and Mole-Richardson Baby/Junior/Senior/Tener tungsten Fresnels — all running on NZ-spec 230V/50Hz electronic ballasts that match Australian and UK grid frequency (North American 120V/60Hz tungsten and HMI gear needs step-down transformer banks and Hz-conversion stages.

Here is how this works in practice. This we factor into the gear list early). Domestic stock sits at Panavision Wellington, Panavision Auckland, Lemac New Zealand (Auckland + The capital), Mediatech NZ, and Filmworx Auckland, with feature-scale supplements from the Wellywood gear pool at Stone Street Studios, Park Road Post, and Weta FX Miramar. Power tie-ins set up through Vector Energy in Auckland and The capital Electricity in the capital.

Here is the short of it. LOTR-era lighting heritage at Stone Street Studios established the deep ARRI HMI inventory now standard across the Wellywood gear pool — Max 18K and 12K rigs fed via Aggreko NZ, Cummins NZ, and Caterpillar NZ generator banks across the LOTR, Hobbit, King Kong, and Mortal Engines productions. Hobbiton's Matamata permanent set retains lighting infrastructure first built around Sir Ian Brodie's pre-Hobbit specs.

Here is the short of it. For Mackenzie Country UNESCO Dark Sky Reserve astrophotography windows we deliberately cut HMI deployment — LED replacements dominate that protocol — but where tungsten warmth is needed for night-interior work in the region, Mole Baby and Junior fixtures stage in via DOC-permit-approved sealed transport. DOC permits cover generator placement in national parks (Fiordland, Tongariro, Aoraki/Mt. Cook), with iwi liaison briefings under Te Tiriti o Waitangi for any culturally tapu rigging.