Would anyone use 4200K Florecents?

D

Derrick_SA

Veteran
Hi there,

I can't find 3200K, or 5500K florecents in our stores, would anyone use a set of 4200K florecent lights?

all the lights will be 4200K, so I mean whitebalancing should make it all "play nice" together?

Thanks,
Derrick
 
Your assumption about being to balance the camera for these sources is correct, they should work fine, however, you should look at the CRI rating as well (90 or above is a good target).
 
Thought so, but fogot about the color rendering Index, thanks for that!

I'm sure playing around with some gels could get these closer to 3200K, and 5500K when needed?

- Derrick
 
90+ is preferable, but 84+ will work nearly as well. My office is bulbed entirely with 4100k fluorescents and I've shot in there and it all looks fine.
 
Ah!!! MY LUCKY DAY!

I got hold of OSRAM's head office and could order some lamps that are 3000K with a CRI rating of 90+, and some that are 5400K.

That's close enought aint it?

I'm thinking I'm gonna build something that holds 4 lamps and fittings.

Thanks,
Derrick
 
Derrick_SA said:
Ah!!! MY LUCKY DAY!

I got hold of OSRAM's head office and could order some lamps that are 3000K with a CRI rating of 90+, and some that are 5400K.

That's close enought aint it?

I'm thinking I'm gonna build something that holds 4 lamps and fittings.

Thanks,
Derrick
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Just make sure you use a good electronic ballast. I assume those are 4 foot bulbs that Osram is going to sell you right?
 
You guys are not going to believe this, they don't carry stock of the 3000K lamps, now I have to bring 'em in from Germany.

But it's still cheaper than buying pro lights. It's just gonna take a tad longer.

- Derrick
 
Derrick_SA said:
You guys are not going to believe this, they don't carry stock of the 3000K lamps, now I have to bring 'em in from Germany.

But it's still cheaper than buying pro lights. It's just gonna take a tad longer.

- Derrick
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Oh my, trust me I have heard that before. I lost 6 months of my life with them. By the way their products suck big time. To be fair I only have experience with consumer tungsten and thats a long time ago, but I doubt they made any progress. Go with Phillips, great quality and they deliver.

best
Andreas
 
Derrick_SA said:
Hi there,

Ah, i see you've got a DVD on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Cool-Lights-Fluorescent-Video-Lighting/dp/B000F6YVPY) about llghting, that's cool, hie hie. Do you discuss making your own softbox on that DVD ?

I think the lamps I ordered are closer to 3-foot. Would they do?

- Derrick
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Yes the softbox is covered pretty well there in two chapters.

3 foot is fine but I wonder if you having to order lamps whether it wouldn't be better to go the biax route? The whole reason to use a three foot or four foot tube (IMHO) would be cost and easily finding them in a Home Depot or something like that. If you have to go to the extraordinary measures of ordering something why not get a real solution like biax PL lamps and choose the appropriate ballast, like Philips, Advance, Universal, Fulham, etc. That's what I would do anyway if I had to special order a tube. I would never special order a 3 or 4 foot tube--I don't like their size and controllability as well as I do the 22" biax tubes. Besides, biax is quickly becoming the pro standard in studios. 3 and 4 foot tubes are used sometimes too but mostly for cyc lighting and where barn doors aren't so important (otherwise your barn doors are huge at 3 or 4 foot long!). A 22" barn door is already pretty big if you see what I mean. If barn doors mean something to you (and they should IMO) then go with the 22" biax lamp.
 
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Hi Richard,

I am really impressed with what I see in your website. Excellent work!

I use 5 foot T5 ! Have you tried T5, I like to hear your opinion.

best
Andreas
 
Andreas said:
Hi Richard,

I am really impressed with what I see in your website. Excellent work!

I use 5 foot T5 ! Have you tried T5, I like to hear your opinion.

best
Andreas
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Hi Andreas,

I remember you. You're using Philips ballasts. Wish we had those more generally available here in the USA.

Anyway we don't see too many 5 foot T5's here in the USA either. 4 foot is the most common one. A long time ago when I was making my original prototype fixtures I made a 12 bulb 4 foot T5 monster fixture. That was the experience that convinced me I didn't want to use 4 foot (or larger) anymore. It was too heavy, too bulky, too hard to mount on a stand (the yoke needed extra support to keep from bowing under from the weight). And forget barn doors for something that large too.

Anyway I'm curious what do you primarily use this fixture for in your work and how many bulbs are in yours? Are you using Philips bulbs in it and what color temp. If I had one I would use it mostly for green screen lighting as it would be really suited to that the best--putting a large amount of soft light across a large area and not worrying too much about control and spillage on other things. Other than that it would work well probably in concert with another one to light a very large area with lots of soft light.

By the way, nothing wrong with T5 technology in general. Biax bulbs are considered to be T5. In fact, the best way to think about them is like a 4 foot T5 bulb bent in half into a U shape and all the connections are on one end instead of two ends. Any ballast that will work for a 54w T5 will also work for a 55watt biax bulb. Another great thing about these T5 bulbs (biax included) is that you can dim them if you have the appropriate ballast. Not all fluorescent, non-ballasted bulbs can make this claim.
 
Thats right, I use Phillips ballast and lamps. 49W 6800K 3700lm.

As you correctly mentioned, I use them for green screen work mainly. I won't go to details for their performance because I haven't used them in a 100% controlled environment yet. I use them in 2X49W fixtures and I will probably make a 4X49W as well, all made with stainless steel. You are right about the size, but the vertical use of them is priceless. I will make some burn doors in the days to come. They will be made in a way that will allow me to use only the half of the lamps length !

Of what I 've read T5 HO is the only lamp that can maintain Kelvin and Lumens at a wider range then slightly over and bellow 25 C. This is another reason I stick with them.

Andreas
 
Andreas said:
Thats right, I use Phillips ballast and lamps. 49W 6800K 3700lm.
Click to expand...
A good example of where 6500/6800K would work very well.

Andreas said:
As you correctly mentioned, I use them for green screen work mainly. I won't go to details for their performance because I haven't used them in a 100% controlled environment yet. I use them in 2X49W fixtures and I will probably make a 4X49W as well, all made with stainless steel. You are right about the size, but the vertical use of them is priceless. I will make some burn doors in the days to come. They will be made in a way that will allow me to use only the half of the lamps length !
Click to expand...

Why don't you post pictures so we can see, people here love to see DIY fixtures!

Andreas said:
Of what I 've read T5 HO is the only lamp that can maintain Kelvin and Lumens at a wider range then slightly over and bellow 25 C. This is another reason I stick with them.
Click to expand...

This is one of the main reasons why T5 biax have such a foot hold in pro fixtures and are practically the standard now.
 
Thanks Richard and Andreas,


I'll do some more research over the weekend. But the phillips TL-D Super 80 36w/830 SLV seems to by nice, 3000K, and CRI of 85.

thanks,
Derrick
 
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AAAAH! You would believe this.

I can't get the TL5 range in SA, philips won't bring it in for me.
I can get the TL-D Super 80 36w/830 SLV though, they've got stock, gotta take a box of 25.

OSRAM can bring in the L 36 W /930 but I'll gotta wait til about 7 March.

MY QUESTION:

The philips has an CRI of 85, the OSRAM has 90-100 rating, is that small a difference worth waiting for the OSRAM, or should I just go ahead and buy the PHILIPS ones (CRI 85) that are available?

Thanks,
Derrick
 
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Derrick,
You are mentioning only lamps, I suppose they have electronic ballasts in stock ? Be aware also that lamps are cheap, the ballasts can get expensive.

I have told you my opinion about OSRAM and PHILLIPS, so I will not repeat it again.

Richard,

I will most probably send a picture when I am finished. My eyes say that everything is OK but I want to make some more tests to be sure.

best
Andreas
 
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Thanks guys,

Tomorrow I'm gonna buy the electronic ballasts (if I can find!). And make a housing to fit 4 lamps out of either stainless or Aliminium.

And then monday I'll go pick up the phillips TL-D Super 80 36w/830 SLV lamps at $167 for 25 lamps (smallest QTY I can buy at this place).

I'll probably only have time in the evenings, but will post some pics of my home made DIY Rig in the week. If this works I'm gonna build about 4 of these.

Thanks,
Derrick
 
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