Kino flo 4 bank t-12 tube versus kino flo 55w biax light?

P

PIMP

Well-known member
So I am about to plunk down money on some kinos for my cool light fixture. My fixture takes 55w biax tubes like those of the diva. I ve rented a 4 bank kino flo which i loved how it lit my talent (that is the reason i am switching out my tubes) My question is this "is there a light quality difference between the 4 bank t-12 tubes and the 55w biax kino tubes from the diva? I ve never tested the 55w kino tubes so i want to know before spending money on them. I realize the 4 banks are bigger bulbs since the fixture itself is bigger. But i want to know that i am getting the exact same type of light from the 55w that i did with the 4 bank.

thanks so much
 
Pimp,

What you're doing is about the same as asking a doctor to diagnose an issue over the phone then prescribe the medicine. If he can't see the patient, he can't really make an accurate diagnosis and you might get the wrong medicine. And you told him there's an issue but no details on symptoms. Is it really possible to find out what's going on like that?

We have no idea what it is you are really seeing or what the real issue is. Just these kind of vague questions posted here in the DVXUser lighting forum, which by the way is not where we support Cool Lights products.

Might I suggest a more efficient method would be either to post a comparison footage (with both the one you think is "pleasing" and the one that is "not what you want--whatever that may be") here with description of what you think is the difference if you want some community opinion or more appropriately, send me an email to info@coollights.biz with links to the footage in question as well as a more accurate description of the issue, whatever it may be.

In both cases we also would need to know more about the other conditions like is the camera used the same, what are the settings on the camera like shutter speed, what white balance did you do for kino bulbs and what one for cool lights bulbs, what other light is present in the room, what was the color temperature of the kino 4 foot bulbs, the color temperature of the cool lights bulbs (5600K is what I show on your order), what other conditions about the room or setting may be different, etc.

You have in no way given enough information for anyone to help you though at this point and no one can say with any certainty that those expensive bulbs will fix any issue you see.

My personal opinion is you won't see much difference between the Kino 55w and ours but its a preliminary diagnosis and not enough info for a full one.

If it is an issue of "softness" vs. "hardness" for example, I would say in general there should be cheaper fixes for this. For example, bouncing the light off the ceiling, a reflector or a large bounce card. Or, simply adding 1 stop softbox type silk over the barndoors like a "flozier". Or putting the light through a larger silk frame to make the source quite a bit bigger.

I will repeat though: if you really want help, more details are necessary. Otherwise, its just a guessing game.
 
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I would say that they are definitely different kinds of light, ....the biax tubes are a smaller source but more intense light...the t12 tube is a bigger source and less intense light. The t12 fixture creates a softer light than the biax but less intense...the biax fixture is much brighter so there would be a deeper shadow...it all depends what you want to accomplish.

My opinion is that a biax fixture is more versatile, as cool light said put it through some diffusion(make the source bigger) and it yields softer light, or use it with no diffusion, but t12 fixtures are soft out of the gate.
 
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