Compact fluorescents on 35mm FILM

F

FirstOD

Member
Hi there!

I'm DP'ing a short film in a couple of weeks and i was wondering if anyone has experience with compact fluorescents on 35mm film.

I'm confident with most scenes, but there is a night exterior that i am a little worried about.

The scene involves the characters driving up in a car, exiting and walking up to the front door of the house, where they pass 2 wall mounted fixtures.

I'm concidering placing CFL's in these 2 fixtures and defusing them, then adding some hidden soft boxes if needed. My plan is to use as much practical light sources as possible, though.

Now, does anyone know if CFL's photograph like normal tube fluorescents lights (green)? Or will the colour temperatures actually come through on film?
 
Yes, i know that.

But, fluorescent lights appear green on film and in most cases filters are required.

My question is: Do CFL's also appear green?
 
Yes, in my opinion they most probably will appear green. What we find in digital is fluorescents work pretty well in general as long as the CRI is good. In film however, they are much more susceptible to the green spike of mercury found in them. What we can white balance out with digital, you cannot. This is where you may find some magenta gel to come in handy. Otherwise known as minus green. Some flo tubes made for film work actually have a surplus of magenta in the phosphor to counteract this problem. We have no need for such a tube in digital work, but in your case if you're using the self-ballasted CFLs, just use some of the minus green gel.

Hope this helps.
 
Thank you, Cool Lights.


Can anyone else confirm this?

Any suggestions?
Should i forget the practicals?
Use normal Light bulbs and sneak in some soft boxes?
 
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