TommyBars make filming in bad weather a breeze.

Why TommyBars

TommyBars give you a broad, gentle soft light that’s 100% stable and reliable whatever the weather.

Tough weather conditions can quickly scupper the best-laid plans to fly LED soft boxes or lighting balloons on cranes and lifting machines. Instead of using textiles in the wind, we use banks of closely-set 8’ long TommyBars. The wind blows right through them, the rain doesn’t bother them, and you can get on with the rest of the job.

When what you want is a way to get a base luminance into a big, wide area for a night shoot, the traditional softbox isn’t just heavy, unreliable and difficult to articulate, it’s a bit “sourcey” too. TommyBars just aren’t - with 150º spread, that soft light comes from the same place the music does.

High winds and rain are tough enough on a lighting crew, let TommyBars take the stress out of your night shoots.

A rig for every location from a parking bay to a windswept clifftop

Bright, soft and gets into every nook and cranny. 130kg (excl scaffold).

A neat, little soft unit that you can rig in a parking bay. 65kg (excl scaffold).

A great backlight at the far end of a street that can run off a local 13A feed. 125kg (excl scaffold).

Use it nearby as a cosmetic keylight or further off to lift the shadows across a larger area. 130kg (excl scaffold).

Big, soft and punchy, easily mounted to a crane with a hydraulic wendy rig. 255kg (excl scaffold).

Even more reasons to choose TommyBars

Quality of Light

With a CRI of 98.5 (and high R9 and R12 values), TommyBars work as a beautiful keylight or a natural wash.

See our CRI Charts

Optimal Output

A WIDE 16x TommyBars rig running both channels at 100% will give you around 12fc at 20m away in 4000K - a healthy T2.8 and two thirds at 1600 ISO.

See our Photometrics

100% Controllable

Use your own DMX console or add our iPad control. TommyBars are wired in four foot sections so you can graduate your softboxes.

100% Weatherproof

No textile means that TommyBars are a soft light that’ll stay steady and stay up longer in high winds and rain.

Less Energy

TommyBars are arguably the most efficient soft light available. A JUMBO 32x rig can run on local 13A feeds, saving you that extra generator.

Increased Safety

TommyBars will wrap your scene in a beautiful soft light whatever the great British weather throws at you.

Save Time

Super-quick to rig and de-rig. With a ladder beam attached to your machine of choice, a couple of electricians can rig 16x TommyBars in less than an hour.