vision_filmz
Carbonite Member
Title says it all
Thanks
Thanks
Looking to buy some Gels.... Any recommendations?
- Thread starter vision_filmz
- Start date
Michael Carter
Veteran
No, it really doesn't.
My gel case currently has more diffusion than anything else. A whole lot of CTB in 1/2 and full. Some CTO, straw, and pale rose. Some various ND. And a really fat roll of colors, lots of greenish blues for some reason.
That help?
Jordan Scott Price
Veteran
There's over a thousand gels, diffusers, and light-altering expendables made for cinema lighting between Rosco and Lee alone.
Are you looking for tips on which to buy or where to buy?
Are you looking for tips on which to buy or where to buy?
vision_filmz
Carbonite Member
My Apologies, I am looking for tips on what to buy. Since I mainly focus on Music Videos, I would like to try some interesting things
Thanks!!
starcentral
Veteran
I use a gel made by a company called "dippidy-doo", it's pretty good. Oh, you meant lighting gels?
I suggest you get an assorted pack of them, and this way you can try what you like. Lee Filters has a pack with 12"x12" gels in it which is pretty good. Not huge, but can easily be placed over top of lights with barn doors on them...
I suggest you get an assorted pack of them, and this way you can try what you like. Lee Filters has a pack with 12"x12" gels in it which is pretty good. Not huge, but can easily be placed over top of lights with barn doors on them...
NVentive
Well-known member
Learn to read the color chords....you also might want to spend some time looking into what the theatre people are up to -- you can catch up on some interesting discussions on the "Live Design" forums. A lot of good inspiration there.....
You also need to consider the instruments you are wanting to gel -- a lot of video/film folks are moving away traditional point-light sources. You may end up buying your gels in rolls or even sleeves in the near future. Yet another concern is how you organize and transport everything when your gel book begins to grow.. I am working a project now that is color-intensive, just keeping everything where we can get to it easily on location takes forethought. Especially in this heat..... :=(
You also need to consider the instruments you are wanting to gel -- a lot of video/film folks are moving away traditional point-light sources. You may end up buying your gels in rolls or even sleeves in the near future. Yet another concern is how you organize and transport everything when your gel book begins to grow.. I am working a project now that is color-intensive, just keeping everything where we can get to it easily on location takes forethought. Especially in this heat..... :=(
Felipe Henao
Well-known member
I've found in Rosco Cinegel a very good selection, Also very durable and consistent the 20x24 size allows a wide usage for different light sources
cutting them to your needs, price is very competitive, Manfrotto makes a few kits that just as well very well made and consistent, however they are
30x30", that limits you to sources that size or smaller, Lowel gels are good but have a very limited selection.
My advice go with Rosco.
cutting them to your needs, price is very competitive, Manfrotto makes a few kits that just as well very well made and consistent, however they are
30x30", that limits you to sources that size or smaller, Lowel gels are good but have a very limited selection.
My advice go with Rosco.
Gels neatly divide into categories.
Color correction gels are used to change the spectrum of light from one type source to mimic that from another type source. For example, tungsten lamps produce light from a filament that burns at about 3200 degrees Kelvin (Celsius sized degrees above absolute zero) and its light is rich in yellow and orange but weak in blue. Daylight, on the other hand, whose "color temperature" is about 5600K has lots of blue and a roughly equal distribution of color intensities along the visible rainbow from red through violet.
To give tungsten light about the same color spectrum as daylight you use color temperature blue gel, CTB. To give light from a daylight source, such as an HMI or daylight fluorescent, about the same spectrum as a tungsten source you use color temperature orange, CTO, gel (or more precisely, 3/4 strength CTO). Each subtracts a lot of light from the beam, CTB losing nearly two stops, passing just about 1/4 of the light, and 3/4 CTO losing almost one stop, that is, passing only half the light.
The next useful category of gels is diffusion. These gels comes in various strengths, such as full, half, quarter and many more and they scatter the light striking them on one side into myriad directions as it passes through to the other. They are ubiquitous in film production because they soften the shadows produced by a lamp, a very commonly desired effect.
The last category is gels used to add color for various eye-catching effects. These are party or theatrical gels and there are zillions of them. For music videos you will undoubtedly want to use party colors for strictly artistic reasons. Think about every concert you've ever been to. Colors of all kinds are used and the colors are blended together, played clean and pure, the beams are moved for kinetic looks, colors wash the walls, the haze, etc., etc. Look at concert pictures, put some you like on your phone or PC and go to a theatrical lighting store. They can help you match them.
And oh, BTW, gels aren't cheap. Bring money.
Color correction gels are used to change the spectrum of light from one type source to mimic that from another type source. For example, tungsten lamps produce light from a filament that burns at about 3200 degrees Kelvin (Celsius sized degrees above absolute zero) and its light is rich in yellow and orange but weak in blue. Daylight, on the other hand, whose "color temperature" is about 5600K has lots of blue and a roughly equal distribution of color intensities along the visible rainbow from red through violet.
To give tungsten light about the same color spectrum as daylight you use color temperature blue gel, CTB. To give light from a daylight source, such as an HMI or daylight fluorescent, about the same spectrum as a tungsten source you use color temperature orange, CTO, gel (or more precisely, 3/4 strength CTO). Each subtracts a lot of light from the beam, CTB losing nearly two stops, passing just about 1/4 of the light, and 3/4 CTO losing almost one stop, that is, passing only half the light.
The next useful category of gels is diffusion. These gels comes in various strengths, such as full, half, quarter and many more and they scatter the light striking them on one side into myriad directions as it passes through to the other. They are ubiquitous in film production because they soften the shadows produced by a lamp, a very commonly desired effect.
The last category is gels used to add color for various eye-catching effects. These are party or theatrical gels and there are zillions of them. For music videos you will undoubtedly want to use party colors for strictly artistic reasons. Think about every concert you've ever been to. Colors of all kinds are used and the colors are blended together, played clean and pure, the beams are moved for kinetic looks, colors wash the walls, the haze, etc., etc. Look at concert pictures, put some you like on your phone or PC and go to a theatrical lighting store. They can help you match them.
And oh, BTW, gels aren't cheap. Bring money.
Felipe Henao
Well-known member
For output and color neutrality I replaced the CTB with dichroic glass filters
Bern Caughey
Veteran
And oh, BTW, gels aren't cheap. Bring money.
Expendables add up, but can be had at discount prices.
http://www.expendablesrecycler.com/
vision_filmz
Carbonite Member
Any good places online in the U.S. where I can buy these? Thanks for the help
Felipe Henao
Well-known member
bhphoto.com
For complementary color effects a useful trick is to select a warm/cool pair from a swatch book that produces neutral gray when you look through them together. With video you would overlay the swatches in front of your camera lens to see the color effect. Pick color pairs that you can white balance to a neutral color tone. This way you get warm or cool highlights where one color strikes the subject, and a full normal color range where they mix together.
Last edited:
Nice, thanks. I'll try this.