LED color temp for outside city night shots

A

astigmatic

Well-known member
I'm going to film in the city at night. I want to light the talent with a portable battery powered LED(maybe coollights). I'm figuring the lights outside will be mixed... so I'm not sure which temp to go with, 3200 or 5600?
 
I would think 3200K but you can always use your camera to set manually set white balance to get the correct output. I also think 4500K will be a good mix to be used too.
 
I think it all revolves around the other lighting that may be around in the area that you can't control. Predominantly higher color temperature, use the daylight version and see how well it matches--gel if necessary to match or if you like the look, leave it.

Predominantly tungsten colored? Use either daylight with gel or the tungsten version of the LED 600.
 
I would recommend the cool lights LED 5600k with the gels. And adapt accordingly by doing lighting tests before you actually shoot.

5600k is more versatile, imo, than 3200k.
 
What kind of outdoor lights are these? Are they street lamps? The ones around my house are usually under 3200k, and very orange/yellow. Meaning you'd have to use CTO's (3200k 85 filter gels), maybe even 2 of them to balance properly.

If it's fluorescent, then it's probably closer to 5600k.

But I would guess you'll be needing 3200k.

Tests are always your friend. Would you even be able to see the street lamps? How strong are they?
 
thakns for the responses, I think I may go 56oo with gels then. The lights are pretty typical downtown, a mix of street lamps and lights coming from shops, but I have a feeling most of the street lamps are under 3200...

Also, Richard, how does the light output of a spot with a softbox compare to a flood without a softbox?
 
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