-
What gel to use?
Good Day,
I have a 3 light set that uses 5100K CFL’s. I like to be able to match tungsten lighting with those bulbs at times. What color gel would be suggested to acheive this?
Thanks
-
17 Replies
-
Do you mean you plan to mix those CFLs with true, 3200K tungsten light?
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
This PDF should give you just about everything you need to know:
https://www.iatse728.org/files/ColorCorrectionFilters.pdf
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com -
5100?? What company’s fluoros are you using? Do they lean toward the green …. or the pink??
Are you dimming your tungsten fixtures?
DS -
Joe, those are all lens filters, not light filters.
In this case, the questioner needs to know what kind of color correcting filters to put on his CFL lights to match “tungsten,” though he has not yet specified if he’s talking about true 3200K lights or something else. This Lee table, https://www.leefilters.com/lighting/technical-list.html, is a starting point. Oddly, Lee considers “daylight” to be 6500K, not 5600K.
As noted elsewhere, we have to pay attention to two color axes: red-blue, and magenta-green. The CFLs will emit a green spike, so probably he’ll need around 1/4 minus-green (magenta)(Lee 249) to correct for that issue. As for the red-blue, some form of CTO, probably 3/4 strength (Lee 285, or else both 1/2 CTO and 1/4 CTO.)
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
Using two layers of gel to color correct is really going to reduce the range of those lights.
-
To add to what Rick said, some fluoros (the KINO Diva for example), sometimes have a tendency to be a little “pink”. I find myself often using an 1/8 Plusgreen to correct.
Rosco also makes a wonderful 3/4 CTO (a favorite of mine) which would work quite well for you — Rosco’s CINEGEL #3411.
DS -
yes that is what I was thinking. Or at least close.
-
where do you guys learn this stuff?
-
research, past practice, analyzing manufacturers specifications, trial and error (and remembering what worked and what didn’t), PLUS years of experience.
DS -
I’d add to that list: working with smart gaffers and grips who know much more than you do.
Some of this you can pick up in books such as Box’s “The Set Lighting Technician’s Handbook” and “Cinematography” by Blain Brown. (His lighting book is great except that it’s filled with typos. I have my students read from it and point out the sometimes very significant errors as we go.)
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up