change the light bulbs

E

edwave

New member
Hi
i'm gonna shoot in a pub with some lamps attached to the ceiling. Obviously these lamps are like this: http://www.errebian.it/catalogo/immagini/5440.jpg and so they have a lower colour temp than 3200K, that is the minimum i need.
Can i substitute these bulbs with some others with higher colour temp? Trying to keep the same bulb mount and not so expensive.
thanks for help

ed
 
I'm not sure where you are from, but yes, in the states you can get several options.

Verilux makes a "full spectrum", which is a little bluer than a normal bulb:

http://lightbulbsetc.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_142&products_id=2974

Why do you want to change the bulbs? Is it to match daylight thru the windows? If so, you could also shut or gel the windows to match. If not, then you could just white balance for the house bulbs...

-j
 
Yeah, you gotta watch out for the photo floods, with their higher wattage, you run the risk fo a fire hazzard, or blowing the circuit, plus they burn out so darned fast...

-j
 
Yeah photofloods are a way to go if you absolutely NEED 3200K color temperature lights (e.g., ECA 250W 3200K 20-hour life). But they tend to only have them in fairly high wattages (so get some dimmers or variacs). I've always just used household incandescents as practicals and either white balanced to those (if they were the primary source) or let them go slightly yellow if they're only used as background practicals.
 
if you just want a bluer tone but not more wattage, I most often just replace the house bulbs with daylight Philips or GE bulbs from home depot or hardware store. It's just a regiular bulb that has blue tint in the frosting which is like blue gelling a light.

I most often lower the wattage to a 40 so I don't get blowout or shadows and then use contorl lights and ambient fill where needed.
 
I would only worry about it if they were my source for lighting my actors. If they are practicals for the background, just let them go warm.
 
maybe i'm wrong

maybe i'm wrong

thanks everybody first of all..
well... i do need to change bulbs because my intention was to work with daylight lamps...but we don't have them. so we'll work with 1000W Quartz.
the pub has orange/yellow walls so i will try to get the coldest light possible and those lamps from the ceiling are too warm (i didn't mention that windows will be shut). so my intention is to gel them or change with something bluer...
am i right?

ed
 
If you are going to shut the windows, then why not just white balance to the house lights?

-j
 
If you white balance to the house bulbs, which you said are regular incandescent bulbs, the 1000 W quartz (1k) light will be "more blue", not much, but noticeable. If you switch out the house fixtures and are using the 1k. The difference between the lights will be much greater. If you white balance to the switched out bulbs, the 1k will be very orange, if you balance to the 1k, the switched out bulbs will be very blue. If you are going for a very stylized look, that may be fine for you. If you are going more realistic, I think that, as is posted above, balance to the 1k and let the regular house bulbs go warm, or balance to the house lights and let the 1k go blue (more blue). Do some tests and see what you like.
 
mmm

mmm

because i would have my quartz at 3200K and the house bulbs at a lower temp.
so how can i balance them?

ed
 
edwave said:
thanks everybody first of all..
well... i do need to change bulbs because my intention was to work with daylight lamps...but we don't have them. so we'll work with 1000W Quartz.
the pub has orange/yellow walls so i will try to get the coldest light possible and those lamps from the ceiling are too warm (i didn't mention that windows will be shut). so my intention is to gel them or change with something bluer...
am i right?

ed
Click to expand...


Are you going to gel the 1000W Quartz to match? and it sounds like you want the set to go blue and not match the Kelvin temp to your 1000 Quartz........

Most quartz lights are 3200 Kevlin and those regular light blubs are 2900 Kelvin so the warmness of the regular light blubs will not be off that much....
 
The only way to balance them is to put 3200K bulbs in the house fixtures. The problem is that the only incandescents that match that are photofloods. Photofloods are, relatively expensive, have short lives and change color temperature over time. I've tried to avoid them as much as possible. (I do keep a few R-40 around for a couple of Lowell lights I have, but don't use them that much). Unless you put 3200K bulbs in the house fixtures, the light will not be perfectly balanced. Like I said above, any choice besides that will be a compromise, and it is up to you to pick the compromise that fits your needs and aesthetic preferences.

I you want them balanced, get the photofloods.
 
Why not just put a 1/4 CTO infront of the 1k? Why change out a whole whouse full of bulbs when you can just clip a gel on a single light? (or just let it go...)

-j
 
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