Matching Light Types

[John Sharaf]

Hi Scott,

Practical globes burn at about 2900K for long life, whereas photographic globes burn at 3200 for correct color rendering. To match the two you can use 1/8 or 1/4 CTO or else use dimmers on your Tota’s to “warm” them up with lower voltage. One must exercise caution when gelling open faced and notoriously “hot” units like totas so as not to burn the gel and start a fire. Alternatively it is often possible to find 2900K globes to put in the light itself, these are often available in order to use motion picture lights for architectural purposes.

JS

[Scott Norton]

Thanks so much. I will certainly look into the CTOs – and I already have one dimmer, and will possibly pick up a second.

Sounds like it might be safest to place the gel a little ways away from the light source to protect it from the heat. The lights I have come with a frame for attaching such items – and places it a few inches off the light. Would that be enough?

You mentioned Totas, which I thought were different (longer tube like lights). The ones I have are square boxes, include barn doors, and are round opening. Am I just confusing my terminology?

This is the light: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/32177-REG/Lowel_O1_13_Omni_Light_500_Watt_Focus.html

[John Sharaf]

Yeah sorry, Omni’s. They burn hot too and if you attach the gel to the doors it’ll melt and possibly burn too. That’s why they have the gel frames you mentioned. I’d really look into the possibility of finding 2900K globes and then using some white diffusion like Lee 216 or 250 in the gel frame too to improve the quality of the light. This type of diffusion is even more heat resistant than color correction gels like CTO and CTB.

JS

[Scott Norton]

Thanks, this is all great info!