Lighting for 16mm

S

SE7

Well-known member
Hello.. I'm pretty new to this field of cinematography, but I want to learn more about lighting, because I know it's one of the most important areas.

I am using a 16mm film camera (Krasnogorsk K-3) and want to light some indoor scenes. Running 250T film stock.

Someone told me I need 3200k lights to properly balance the temperature, but what happens if I DON'T use 3200 Kelvin lights? What would happen if I just bought some cheap worklights with the regular lights (that are included with them.. I'm not sure what they are)

Anyways... so how would the lighting turn out? If the temperatures were different?

(By the way, this isn't necessarily for 16mm film lighting, but any lighting for film in general)

Thanks alot,
Colin
 
well if your using Tungsten film...use Tungsten balanced lights...3200k

if you use Tungsten film and use daylight balanced lights/gelled...5600k then everything will come out with blue.

Now if you use Daylight film and use Tungsten balanced/gelled lights then everything will come out a reddish-orange tint.

Also another thing that helps when it comes to the developing process..using a graycard for a few seconds at the beginning of each reel so everything could be balanced out. That's what I was always told to do when working with film.

I'm pretty sure regular work lights are 3200k (the stuff at Home Depot), so then it should be fine.
 
Worklights are usually between 2800K-3000K, so they may look a bit warm. Some are closer to 3200K, though. You should be okay, but they may look a little warmer.
 
I believe you can change the bulbs to the right ones. Some here have found some 3200K bulbs that will work in worklight fixtures but I don't remember where the source was. Maybe someone will see this and chime in if they recall the source.
 
Thanks alot for the information guys... I will check back to see if anyone remembers where to get 3200k lights. (I can only find them online, which may be an option)

Also, is there a way of telling what Kelvin a light bulb is (I don't think it says it on the box) I'm talking about if I purchased it from a non-photography/film store... Is there a way of figuring out if it will work with tungsten film? (I've never seen any bulbs say there color temperature on the box... correct me if I'm wrong though.)

Thanks again guys! Great help!
Colin
 
The only ones that typically put color temp on the box are those specifically targeted to stage/studio lighting and fluorescent bulb do that too in many cases.
 
SE7 said:
Thanks alot for the information guys... I will check back to see if anyone remembers where to get 3200k lights. (I can only find them online, which may be an option)

Also, is there a way of telling what Kelvin a light bulb is (I don't think it says it on the box) I'm talking about if I purchased it from a non-photography/film store... Is there a way of figuring out if it will work with tungsten film? (I've never seen any bulbs say there color temperature on the box... correct me if I'm wrong though.)

Thanks again guys! Great help!
Colin
Click to expand...

Get yourself some 1/3 CTB gels from rosco or lee. I checked this out with a color meter some years ago and I never forgot. This will bring your home depot lights up to 3200K. You'll take a little bit of a hit in light output but not that much. One thing to watch out for in 250 film is grain. I use to crack open the iris an extra 1/3 stop on low light scenes if I was transfering to video. I'm sure someone will debate this.
 
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