Where to buy gels?
 

Are there any sponsors for gels that you all can recommend? Also, do you know if anyone sells a sample set for all kinds of different colors to try out?

All of the full line sponsors of this site sell gels. The question is, which gels are you going to buy? There are a lot of preferences from DPs about which brands of gels to use. You would be amazed at how inconsistent gels are by certain manufacturers.

Dan

Just about every brand sells a variety pack of gels: Rosco, Lee, Bogen, Gam, etc. Dan is right, the brand you use depends on the DP/Gaffer you use, most of the guys I work with like Roscoe gels. Just whatever you do don't mix different brands together. I mixed Lee and Roscoe ND gels once when ND-ing and entire apartments worth of windows. . . It was a mess, one was blueish the other was just tinted. We were in Newark, NJ and had to send a PA to B&H to buy more gels of the same brand!

Is there any particular line that you all prefer?

When I have a choice, I prefer the GAM gels. They do more testing, seminars and have shown me reasons why their gels are more consistent and accurate in comparative tests between GAM and Lee and Roscoe but as Joe says, everyone has their favorite brands. Some manufacturers also offer unique gels that most of the others don't.

The best thing to do is to drop in on a few grip and lighting houses or retailers and pick up some free gel swatch books, then you can look at them yourself.

Dan

I'm trying to find some kind of varity pack that has a bunch of different colors. I can't find anything on B&H. Do you guys know if something like this exists? I don't have any brand preference.

Well, I just found this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...arch&Q=*&bhs=t

Are any of these any good?

If you don't have an equipment rental house where you live, check the yellow pages and see if there's a theatrical supply house. They always carry gels, usually in sheets and rolls. The equipment supply place here carries Lee and Roscoe. Most people seem to use Lee now, and it's handy to be reasonably standardized so when you tell an assistant to grab a piece of, say, 251, he knows what to get.

I'd be wary of those Norman gels...isn't that a strobe company? They might not be very heat resistant. Also, unless you're using some fairly small lights, the standard 24" X 24" gels would be best to avoid light shooting off the top and bottom. Unless you're using fresnels, and then you'd cut proper size pieces to fit in your gel holders.

I keep a variety of diffusion, CTB and CTO gels in my gel bag, the blue for converting daylight to tungsten temp and orange for the other way, since I have 3 sets of daylight lights. Then I buy theatrical color gels when needed for special situations (aka, "rock-n-roll lighting"). The dark colors will cut your light down quite a bit, and if you're using 1K lamps, they'll fade out in a few hours, so you need more than you think.

You can find some Gels swatchbooks on B&H Photo or pick up some at your local grip/lighting stores. Those are usually easiest, you could call ahead if they have any particular brands.

George/