6400k

[Gints Klimanis]

Originally Posted by Dana Salsbury

Thanks guys.
Just received them. These suckers are insanely blue. I have a reflector with a gold option that warms up the reflection and I have a boom stand on order for the hair light.

Does it really matter if they are insanely blue? Problems would be major gaps in the color spectrum, or if your camera is unable to balance the green spike. Your remaining issue is the color/power of your hairlight.

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Gints Klimanis

Does it really matter if they are insanely blue? Problems would be major gaps in the color spectrum, or if your camera is unable to balance the green spike. Your remaining issue is the color/power of your hairlight.

It matters if you have to shoot in a room with a window, outdoors, or if you have any other lights which are not insanely blue. If these are the only lights you will ever use, and you always shoot in rooms with no windows, then no, it won't matter.

[Dana Salsbury]

Interesting. I thought it would be a better light for outdoors because of the blue. I plan on using it in a room without windows or any ambient light.

We used them today and they seemed a bit weak. The two combined are 1250watts.

If I kept them, what hair light color would you recommend. Should I look for one with a dimmer?

[Steve Oakley]

you really dont' want to mix color temps in one fixture. you'll see both colors ! not unless you put full diffusion on it to unify the light. however that still results in some loss. with bare bulbs and you'll see both and its ugly.

6500K + 1/4 CTO will get you to 5600K or so.

what I have found is that 5600K+ bulbs are brighter then 3200K bulbs so adding some CTO should not be a problem.

these days I shoot more 5600K because its easier - ok I've got HMI's and 5600K flo's, but even just full CTB on 1K tungsten works within reason.

[Dana Salsbury]

Thank you Steve,

I think you're onto something - especially since it will save me some money! It seems silly to have a white diffuser and buy a different bulb since I need to change the color anyway. (Truth be known, I didn't know what a CTO was). You mentioned a 1/4 CTO. What color should I get it in? I found a bunch of options at Color Correction Gel Sheets - CinemaGadgets.com. Thoughts?

You guys are great!

[Bill Pryor]

CTO is the color. Go to the Lee Filters site. Any pro equipment supply house will carry them, and most theatrical supply houses too.

[Bill Davis]

Dup post, sorry all.

[Bill Davis]

Originally Posted by Bill Pryor

CTO is the color. Go to the Lee Filters site. Any pro equipment supply house will carry them, and most theatrical supply houses too.

Dana,

Just so you can be confident about what you're asking for...

CTO is industry shorthand for Color Temperature Orange - the gel with a die profile that filters blue spectrum OUT of light passing through it.

CTB is Color Temperature Blue - the gel die color profile that filters wavelengths that represent the orange part of the visible spectrum out of light passing through it.

The key is that both these filters REMOVE part of the spectrum of light, so the more die used, the less overall light transmission you can expect.

More gel equals less light all other things being equal. So it's important to understand that adding gels makes any light LESS efficient at throwing photons toward your scene.

Same with diffusion. Spreading light across a surface diffuses it equally across the whole visible spectrum, but also impedes it.

So using gels and difussion is necessarily is a balancing act. You need enough light origination so that when you subtract spectrum with your gels, you still have enough of the light you DO want to achieve the illumination you need.

FWIW.

[Dana Salsbury]

I've seen the light. That's great info. Thanks.