Thoughts on flourescents v. tungsten before I pull the trigger?

[Paper_bag]

Haven't read it yet, but will do so. Thanks very much!

 

[brynsank]

The thing that makes the kino invaluable to me is that the light falls off quickly. This enables me to create depth. But then I'm lighting the background with fresnels

But that's due to the fact that the source is not directional rather than because it's fluorescent light, right? I mean, a hard tungsten source will fall of just as quickly when softened to the same degree.

 

[brynsank]

Have a look at this site, watch the videos and download the report http://www.oscars.org/science-technology/council/projects/ssl/index.html
Most of your questions will be answered there much better, than I ever could.

Frank

Wow, fantastic link. Thankyou for sharing!

 

[brynsank]

Would I need to buy a ballast for a kino flo or not? (I'm not entirely sure what the deal is with the ballast but it's my understanding if I'm plugging it into house/apartment outlets I should be fine, but if using a generator I'd need a ballast)

I'm answering this in the hope that someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Kino's have the ballast built in (as do all fluorescent fixtures). My understanding is that one of the biggest strengths of kino branded lights is the quality of their ballasts. Certainly you don't need an additional ballast to use kino's with regular 110/240v, but I can't speak to using them with a generator although I would think it is no different in that situation.

 

[maranfilms]

As stated if you can only afford one, go tungsten. You can always soften tungsten but you will never be able to do the opposite to flos.

+1