Help with Gelling El Cheapo LEDs at DVinfo.net

Tim Polster · March 25th, 2009, 03:34 PM

Hello,

I have an LED fixture from Coolights and thought it would be nice to have an all battery powered small setup.

I came across some very inexpensive copies of the "Mic Light" on Ebay and ordered a few.

The light is a little more blue than the 5400k Cool Light fixture, I would guess 6500-7000k.

Any ideas on gelling the light down 1000-1500 degrees?

They will be used as small hair lights, so they do not need to be an exact match, but close enough.

Thanks

Richard Andrewski · March 25th, 2009, 05:15 PM

Just pretending for a moment that the light might be 8000K, a 3/4 CTO should take it down pretty well to 5600K. If it is lower than 8000K then try a 1/2 or 1/4 CTO. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have all those gels around anyhow for when you really need them. The 3/4 CTO can also be used of course to take the LED600 down to 3200K for those times you might need that.

Tim Polster · March 25th, 2009, 08:04 PM

Thanks for your input Richard.

I took the lights to a local shop here and they held up a few filters and said I was out of luck.

That there was no minus blue filter so to speak.

Will the CTO give the lights an orange tint even though they are closer to 5600k?

I should try to find another place to see the filter on before buying.

Richard Andrewski · March 25th, 2009, 08:54 PM

CTO really is kind of the minus blue so to speak although many don't think of it that way. Thats really the way you take any thing thats too blue down lower. I recommend looking at the 1/2 or 1/4 CTOs. It won't make it more orange, just less blue is the better way to think about it. The reason is the same reason that magenta works to take out green in lighting. You pick the color you want to counteract and then pick the color opposite to it on the color wheel to do that. Here's an example color wheel:

4096 Color Wheel Version 2.1

Just put your cursor on a color area like green and look across from it to see what the colors are there.

It happens to be orange for blue and magenta for green. So, its not a question of it necessarily making the light more magenta or orange tinted, its just making it less green or blue.

Tim Polster · March 25th, 2009, 09:07 PM

Thanks Richard.

I will give it some more effort.

BTW, your LED light is a very nice instrument.

I shot with it as a hair light (with 1/8th minus green) across from your 4x flo light using daylight balance and it looked really nice.

The bank selectors are great.

Richard Andrewski · March 25th, 2009, 09:59 PM

Thanks for your kind words! Makes eating Chinese food 3 time a day a bit more worthwhile ;-)

March 25th, 2009, 03:34 PM	#1
Tim Polster Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Arlington, TX Posts: 2,231	Help with Gelling El Cheapo LEDs Hello, I have an LED fixture from Coolights and thought it would be nice to have an all battery powered small setup. I came across some very inexpensive copies of the "Mic Light" on Ebay and ordered a few. The light is a little more blue than the 5400k Cool Light fixture, I would guess 6500-7000k. Any ideas on gelling the light down 1000-1500 degrees? They will be used as small hair lights, so they do not need to be an exact match, but close enough. Thanks

March 25th, 2009, 05:15 PM	#2
Richard Andrewski Major Player Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Shenzhen, China Posts: 781	Just pretending for a moment that the light might be 8000K, a 3/4 CTO should take it down pretty well to 5600K. If it is lower than 8000K then try a 1/2 or 1/4 CTO. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have all those gels around anyhow for when you really need them. The 3/4 CTO can also be used of course to take the LED600 down to 3200K for those times you might need that. __________________ Richard Andrewski - Cool Lights USA - RED #114 http://www.coollights.biz

March 25th, 2009, 08:54 PM	#4
Richard Andrewski Major Player Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Shenzhen, China Posts: 781	CTO really is kind of the minus blue so to speak although many don't think of it that way. Thats really the way you take any thing thats too blue down lower. I recommend looking at the 1/2 or 1/4 CTOs. It won't make it more orange, just less blue is the better way to think about it. The reason is the same reason that magenta works to take out green in lighting. You pick the color you want to counteract and then pick the color opposite to it on the color wheel to do that. Here's an example color wheel: 4096 Color Wheel Version 2.1 Just put your cursor on a color area like green and look across from it to see what the colors are there. It happens to be orange for blue and magenta for green. So, its not a question of it necessarily making the light more magenta or orange tinted, its just making it less green or blue. __________________ Richard Andrewski - Cool Lights USA - RED #114 http://www.coollights.biz

March 25th, 2009, 09:59 PM	#6
Richard Andrewski Major Player Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Shenzhen, China Posts: 781	Thanks for your kind words! Makes eating Chinese food 3 time a day a bit more worthwhile ;-) __________________ Richard Andrewski - Cool Lights USA - RED #114 http://www.coollights.biz

March 25th, 2009, 08:04 PM	#3
Tim Polster Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Arlington, TX Posts: 2,231	Thanks for your input Richard. I took the lights to a local shop here and they held up a few filters and said I was out of luck. That there was no minus blue filter so to speak. Will the CTO give the lights an orange tint even though they are closer to 5600k? I should try to find another place to see the filter on before buying.

March 25th, 2009, 09:07 PM	#5
Tim Polster Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Arlington, TX Posts: 2,231	Thanks Richard. I will give it some more effort. BTW, your LED light is a very nice instrument. I shot with it as a hair light (with 1/8th minus green) across from your 4x flo light using daylight balance and it looked really nice. The bank selectors are great.