Hi,

My usual lighting setup is from 3 x 650w lights and an 800w. I've just got my hands on some mini spots that use 50w bulbs like these:

10 x Long Life M258. 12v 50w Dichroic GU5.3. MR16 (5000 hours). Free P&P: Amazon.co.uk: Lighting

If I am shooting in a studio and balancing to tungsten am I correct in thinking I should correct the 50w lights using a CTO gel?

I also have some mini fluorescent lights (15cm) which I am thinking about using inside a car for a shoot. From my (hopefully, not too ill informed) research I understand that I should correct these using a minus green gel. Does that sound like the right idea?

Thanks for any pointers,

Paul

They look like tungsten lights, so you'll be fine without gelling them.

You could test your mini fluorescents and see how much green your camera is actually picking up. If you were shooting film the green would definitely show, but video cameras tend not to be that green sensitive. You don;'t want to be unnecessarily losing light on these small lights with a minus green gel on the front. To be honest, I've never noticed green in a fluorescent light in the UK when shooting with a video camera, but if you're shooting with a RED or something, it may pick up some green.

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the advice - much appreciated!

Paul

The bulb itself will be tungsten however the nature of dichroics is to shift the colour temperature. Just ball parking the dichroic MR 16's I've seen before, (no colour temp meter) I'd give them roughly 4100K. You should be able to see it very clearly, especially in a side by side comparison with your current lights, whether they need correction or not.

The standard tungsten diachronic down lights in my kitchen don't look any thing like 4100K, but just checking there are also "cool blue" versions available which are 4500K according to the manufacturer, which could explain this CT difference. However, you'll notice this by comparing your lights with your usual film lights or even by eye they'll look cooler.

Hi Guys,

There is indeed a slight cool blue light from the bulbs.

Many thanks,

Paul