flourescent bulbs and lighting kits
 

Bulbs
I've noticed two types of large spiral flourescent bulbs for sale
in my local hardware shop.
One is rated at 2700 and the other at 6500k, what would be the better
to go for? Do i need a bayonet fitting or screw in type?


Lowel | Rifa eXchange Fluorescent 3- Lamp Module | FLO-X3 | B&H

The above link was added by perrone, on the other forum thread. Has anyone
got pictures how these attach into the rifa lights?

I've noticed a cheap light kit -solution is from china, they sell a two light flourescent kit.
Has anyone made a kit/or sourced something cheaper?
Ideally, i'd like to build something mainly due to my budget. I've a couple of interviews coming up in april, so i'd like something sorted for then if possible.

I know i should buy a kit, but i cant jusifiy it it a the moment.
Any advice welcomed.

The lighting color standards come from film (real film).

3500k is tungsten balance
5600k is daylight balance

2700 and 6500 match nothing. And if used on a shoot with cinema lighting, both would have to be gelled to match the standard movie lights.

The FLO head attaches to the Rifa by a simple quarter-twist bayonet connection. It has three pins and it's a keyed fitting... meaning it only fits one way. When you look at it, the usage becomes obvious.

Interestingly, in tweaking the WB numbers on my cam, I noticed that the daylight in our back yard (Seattle, crappy, gray almost all the time) is really closer to 6500K. Setting the cam at 5600K resulted in a picture that was noticeably blue. Obviously this changes during the day and with various weather conditions.

Also, Sony's Daylight WB Preset is 6500K. "Indoor" (tungsten) is 3200K.

When I learned how to shoot many years ago with 16mm film, "Daylight" was 7200K. Must be Global Warming.

3500k is tungsten balance
5600k is daylight balance

I feel stupid for forgetting that information, thanks for the reminder Mr P Ford. I need to start reading/and doing filming work to keep this information fresh.
I'll only be doing interviews/two person talking heads. As ive a small webseries script i want to film.

I think i'll start working with my redhead kit again and i'll save up for a compact flo kit.
I was reading this other thread....
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/photon-m...ing-units.html
It did inspire me, to make something.

N:Vision makes a 3200K 125w (eq.) that can be purchased at Home Depot, I believe.

Yep, I have a box full. N:Vision also make a 5500k daylight balanced bult. I have a box of those too.

n:vision 23 Watt (90W) Par 38 Soft White, 4 Pack (E)* - 5P8234 at The Home Depot

Is this the bulbs you are refering to? If so, i'll try and source them in the UK.

No, those are not the ones....

These are the daylight ones:

EcoSmart 27 Watt (100W) Daylight, 2 Pack (E)* - ES5M827250K at The Home Depot

I cannot remember if the 3500K came in the red or the green container, but I think it's the red. The other one is 2700k and don't match anything (other than the halogen worklamps which we don't recommend)

Thanks for all the help guys, but i'm going to have to go with flourcent tubes rather than the flo compact bulbs.
I can find the tubes in 3200k 36 watt and 5500k but i cant find flo compact bulbs in anything except 2700k and 6500k.

I'm in england btw.
Thanks.

I've been able to find 5000, 5100, and 5600 on the web, but they are expensive and I'm not sure where they ship. Our local hardware stores have 5000 as well as 6500 in CF format.

But I assume US bulbs wouldn't work in Europe due to the differing voltages...

This is the best deal I've found on very high wattage CFs...

http://www.skaeser.com/servlet/the-6...TT-HIGH/Detail

50w Balanced Daylight bulb 5400k - Micansu.co.uk

I got send this link, I assume this bulb would be ok? There is a 105 watt version but its double the price??

Thanks again.

That bulb looks fine.

The thing to remember is that these damn things are DIM!!! The 50W is supposed to equate to 200W, but in reality, they're more similar to 150W tungsten lamps. I've been a professional lighting designer for years, and we've been very happy using tungsten lamps in the 650/800/1k/1.2K/2K and 2.5K ratings in all sorts of different fixtures. Redhead and Blonde kits work brilliantly, but are of course mega hot beasts! I quite like 1.2K tubular softlights for the lovely beam quality. I realise camera sensitivity has gone up, but not really that much at sensible aperture settings. All these new energy saving lamps have really low consumption, but emit very little light. I've nothing against fluorescent tubes, but you do need a bunch of them to get sensible quantities of light out of them. I just don't see the point of trying to use domestic style lamps for video, when if you have a window in the room, the sun, 93,000,000 miles away wipes out the feeble light from these things.

The light they emit is horrible, they're dim and have pretty poor dispersion. Most of the light from the coiled versions doesn't come from the front, so most of the output has to be bounced off a reflector - and this if it isn't a mirror surface also reduces the output further.

I realise from the posts, that many people love them - what I can't really see is why?

I realise from the posts, that many people love them - what I can't really see is why?

I've never used them before, and since ive lost interest in my redhead kit (due to being too damn hot) I need something cooler.
Many people say the bulbs work ok for video work, so i'm willing to take a risk and give it a go.

We like them because we use them as intended. Inside a softbox with reflective coating. They are inexpensive, readily available, color balanced, and are cool, so they don't cook the talent, allowing us to get gorgeous soft lighting closer to them for the look we want.

If I could afford a slew of Kino's I'd get that instead. But I can't. So these work quite well as substitutes.