Recommendations on daylight balancing practical lights

[Noel R.]

I'm looking for recommendations on daylight balancing practical lights. Considering most practical lights are tungsten I suppose the easiest approach would be to gel them with a blue filter? I've bought daylight balanced Alzos , but there seems to be a big flicker problem using them with 1/48th shutter, at least that was my experience. Maybe I should of tried it at 1/60th instead, but I prefer to use 1/48th. My other issue was the size of the bulb, I was using a 27 watt and it seemed a little big for many of the practicals out there such as a desk lamp. The bulb just stuck out way to far. Has anyone tried any other bulbs with success? Are there any small daylight LED's that exist that would fit into a regular fixture?

 

[Craig Weeding]

Hello Noel

yes the LED lights that we used on the last interview setup we did were the Phillips HUE

They are sold through the apple store you get three bulbs and a controller, you can control the brightness and color from an iPad or iphone

 

[Noel R.]

Hello Noel

yes the LED lights that we used on the last interview setup we did were the Phillips HUE

They are sold through the apple store you get three bulbs and a controller, you can control the brightness and color from an iPad or iphone

Wow thanks, didn't know those existed. That's actually very cool. I think I will pay the Apple store a little visit tomorrow. Actually comes in handy because I have a scene where I was planing on using red lights also. That and I'll get to impress some people on my next shoot .

 

[Michael Winokur]

Noel - When you experimented with the Alzos did you notice your eyes bothering you? I have one I've been trying out and I think it has quite a bit of UV, I've tried it with some UV gel but I'm still not convinced they are safe. I'd like to use several daylight balanced china balls to fill a scene which is heavily backlight from daylight. Does anyone have an HMI China Ball setup they can recommend?

 

[Noel R.]

Noel - When you experimented with the Alzos did you notice your eyes bothering you? I have one I've been trying out and I think it has quite a bit of UV, I've tried it with some UV gel but I'm still not convinced they are safe. I'd like to use several daylight balanced china balls to fill a scene which is heavily backlight from daylight. Does anyone have an HMI China Ball setup they can recommend?

Michael, till I got the Phillips LED's I've been using a 27 watt bulb in my office, but the light was directed at the wall. I have not noticed any irritation due to UV, possibly since these bulbs are lower wattage than other CFL's typically used on a shoot. I have heard of people complaining about headaches when using higher wattage Alzo's, not myself personally. That doesn't mean there was not something bothering the talent, it might of been subtle enough where they did not complain about it. I think the only way to be certain about the UV levels being put out by these lights is to use an actual UV meter. Not something I've felt the need to spend money on, but I'm tempted to test some of these lights as well as other HMI lights I own.

 

[Rodrigo Prata]

Just my take,

I usually try to Gel the windows with CTO instead of balancing praticals for daylight, if you have to much praticals, it takes less time. Also it helps you to even the interior light with the exterior a little bit, you loose too much light when you balance tungsten for daylight.

 

[Noel R.]

Just my take,

I usually try to Gel the windows with CTO instead of balancing praticals for daylight, if you have to much praticals, it takes less time. Also it helps you to even the interior light with the exterior a little bit, you loose too much light when you balance tungsten for daylight.

Yes that could be a better solution depending on what you're going for. If I were going for a warmer look, I would use that method, but I feel using tungsten for a cooler look creates too much noise if you try to balance it in post. I also like how RED looks with daylight balanced lights. With certain looks I might be after in grading using daylight balanced light gets me there quicker and cleaner than using tungsten, and vice versa, so it really just depends on what you're after.

 

[Michael Panfeld]

This Fall, Kino came out with their line of practical CFLs to match their lights. About $26/bulb. (I did see a smallprint disclaimer about not being flicker-free on one site, possibly Filmtools)

China Ball/HMI combo: Well, I like Jokers in a Chimera Lantern. Jokers come in 200, 400, 800 and, if you can find them....125. (I've got a pair). Not cheap, though

 

[Kwan Khan]

Another vote for Philips Hue

 

[Satsuki Murashige]

Does anyone have an HMI China Ball setup they can recommend?

Hi Michael!

Joker in a JEM ball is what I would recommend: http://www.jemlighting.com/products.html. You can get bleached or unbleached muslin rags for it. Pretty pricey of course unless you already own the Joker...