Diffusion gels

P

Park Edwards

Veteran
I just happened to find a set of lowel tota lights in my friend's parent's attic, with gel frames, and was curious if anyone here had some good diffusion gels they could recommend?
I live about an hour and a half away from the nearest lee dealer so it's tough for me to get there to look at their selection.

I'm looking to get a softbox like softness from the gels, if that's possible -- or something very close to that effect.


I was looking at
400 LEELux SEEN HERE http://www.leefilters.com/lighting/colour-details.html#400&filter=dc
And possibly some rosco gels. What about frost? Are they any good?
 
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Lee 216 is a good grade of diffusion. However, I would not get my heart set on "Soft box like softness" with those Tota-frames. While yes, the diffusion material has an effect on the quality of light passing through it the biggest determinate to light "Softness" is the actual size of the light source, that is the total area of the gel frame. What are those frames, like 18 inches square, or what ever. Light through that will never have the quality of the light from say a 48" X 48" soft box.
 
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Thanks, I know you won't get exactly the same look from a softbox, I was just trying to make a comparison in terms of softness.
 
At the end of the day..its a simple eye thing that determines the effect of diffusion.

Distance of ight source to the diffusion material and distance of the diffusion material to the subject ...and the size of the entire diff screen are all variable factors.

All controlleable as well.
 
Shooter said:
As he says. Exactly.
Click to expand...

Thanks Shooter.

Car3o said:
Thanks, I know you won't get exactly the same look from a softbox, I was just trying to make a comparison in terms of softness.
Click to expand...

Yeah, those Tota lights are a great find. Do you know the story as to why they were in your friend's parents attic? Sounds like you have a cool friend.

You can use the Tota-frames to add diffusion, but, personally I don't think that is the best way to soften up a light like a Tota. With those Tota frames you should set up a gel pack, cut to size, to go on the Tota-frames that includes diffusion and gels to your liking. I would get color gels, CTO, CTB and others, to taste, and ND gels. You can also get some hardware store metal window screening material and make some scrims to fit the Tota-frames, with those you can control the intensity of the light with out affecting the color temp of the lights (Like dimming causes... but you can surely put the Tota lights on dimmers. I put all of my incandescent lights on dimmers.). It has been a long time since I have used a Tota light, but, if I remember correctly, they have an integral umbrella holder in their base. You may want to really think about getting an umbrella for the lights. A lot of folks poo-poo umbrellas for video lighting, but I am actually a fan of using them. They are cheap, light weight, simple and quick to set up. I love the quality of the light from them. I like to use a white translucent umbrella and shoot through it (As opposed to bouncing out of it). I like a 33 inch white umbrella. Now they are not perfect and there are issues with controlling the light from them, especially spill and back splash reflected light with the way that I like to use them (Shooting through them). You can cut some duvatyne to shape and use as a bottom drape and do regular gripology to help control the light. I especially like to use them as a portraiture light on night exteriors. So, yeah, if you have a found set of Tota lights, I would spend the $15 and get a continuous lighting umbrella for sure.
 
I had a couple of Totas lying around from 20 years ago, and while they made pretty good shop lights bounced off the ceiling, I had written them off as something I would never use on a shoot again--then I stumbled on this item. Now I have an extra softbox source with more output than most types that use standard bulbs. The main issue with the Totas is not being able to accept scrims, so you do indeed need to dim them with the resulting color shift. Sometimes I use an Arri open face 600 with the same mount, which do take scrims. Just another thought.
 
In theatre, we use most of the Lee range of diffusion, and ploenty use the Rosco versions. The trouble is the results are so dependent on what you attach them to. My favourite for one piece of kit performs differently on something else, so why not get them to send you a swatch book where you can hold them up to the light and have a look. The softest ones are pretty opaque - so transmission is poorer, making them dim. The link you gave shows a transmission of 36% - nearly 2/3rd lost!
 
You can scrim tota's - just clip an arc of window screen across the barn doors. I tend to use those paper-clippish things vs. c41's. You can play with layers or adding a layer to 1/2 of the light for falloff, just like using half scrims on a fresnel.

When I've used Tota's, I generally shoot them through a large diffusion frame, but they're spill crazy lights. Not a big fan of 'em, they're seriously overpriced. I have a bunch of rectangular theatrical lights with full barn doors and recessed lamps, which take work light globes from 100 to 1k and change out quickly. Sometimes they show up used for next to nothing.
 
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