DIY Flo Banks

T

Tony B

Active member
Hi guys,

I posted this over at the DIY forum, but thought moving it here would be better.

I am looking to build a fluorescent lighting setup. I design websites and currently use a worklight setup with photo umbrellas for product shots etc. Got the idea from a photography site that I visit.

It works good, but puts out a lot of heat and the big umbrellas make it a pain in small spaces.

Here's what I have in mind for my new fluorescent setup:

I want to create a 2' x 2' box with an open front (like a commercial photo/video flo light box) and mount 8 - 24" bulbs in it (from Lowes).

I will install the individual sockets and get one ballast to run all 8. Buying those premade shop strip lights would be pretty steep, not to mention a lot of extra weight.

I would make two of these and make them where I can put them together and latch them. (like a flight case). They would each mount onto the same worklight stands.

Question is, buying 16 professional flo bulbs would cost a good bit. What type of 24" bulb that you can get at Lowes would you guys reccommend?

I am trying to do more video work, and defiantly want to get a DVX100a when I can later, so keep in mind that I want to make an all around light setup.

I know I need daylight balanced, can any of you give me the correct bulb number?

Thanks!
 
Daylight flos at hardware stores are usually pretty good. That's the ones that are around 5500K. At the Home Depot around here thy have some 5500K tubes with a CRI of 90. CRI is the key you want a high CRI, the closer to 100 the better. 90 is good, pros are even often around 92-95, 85 can be ok but you may get a green spike in color that even the whitebalance won't get rid of. The thing with daylight tubes is that they will match well with sunlight but will look blue when compaired to tungsten. So if you white balance to a daylight source you won't be able to use your tungstens.

Tungsten lights are 3200K, 3000K is OK in video work but at the hardware store around here those tubes have a CRI of 85.

If you do get daylight bulbs and want to use tungsten light with it you can get CTO (Color Temp Orange) gel and put it over the daylight fixtures and not loose too much light. If you gel your tungsten lights to match daylight with CTB (Color Temp Blue) you will loose something like half of your light output.

As far as ballasts go, T8 or T5 are the best choice since they are electric they are almost silent and shouldn't have any strobbing that the camera can pick up. With T12 ballasts you are rolling the dice on noise and strobbing.
 
Good call Fitz. The "daylight" consumer tubes are the way to go. You will not find tubes anywhere near tungsten balanced. I have tried and found 4100K and some 2700K lights, but their CRI was way too low. Get the closest to 5600K and 100CRI you can and work from there. These cheap, high quality flos have changed how I light. it is so cool to have daylight sources and balance them to Tungsten, than the other way around. I do not use 85 gel on windows anymore (though ND is required in most cases). I have done a couple of shoots lately where I used "North light" through the windows as my key and consumer flos as fill. It worked out great.
 
Hey David, what kind of consumer flos do you have? I have an upcomming shoot in an office with skylights and big windows in some of the offices. How many of these things am I going to need and how big to mix with daylight comming in through a big picture window.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top