negative film/ lights for artwork photos

[Voyager]

I've been asked to photograph two-dimensional artwork in a gallery for their records. Needs to be negative film so they can archive the prints. I've done Google, PNet, and APUG, and I've got a lot of the details down fairly well. But most the film information is for slides. I am confused about looking for tungsten negative film, and the appropriate kelvin bulbs...I don't see it advertised on B+H, for example. If tungsten film isn't available, which daylight film would be recommended, then which floodlamps would match that daylight film?

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I don't think Kodak or Fuji is making a tungsten neg still film these days, so you would use a daylight film and an 80A filter with tungsten lights (either on the lens, or gels on the lights).

 

[Voyager]

Thanks for the response, David, and that's that for tungsten film. You're saying I can use outdoor film, 80A filter, and tungsten lights. One further question to you or anyone, please...when using a daylight film, can the bulbs known as "daylight" bulbs (the glass has a blue cast to it) be used in place of tungsten bulbs--T bulbs look fairly expensive (500 watts), and my hardware store sells these daylight bulbs, though albeit a lower wattage (125 watts--I figure I'll just move them closer). My neighbor thought the daylight bulbs might be for growing plants.

 

[PHOTOTONE]

Thanks for the response, David, and that's that for tungsten film. You're saying I can use outdoor film, 80A filter, and tungsten lights. One further question to you or anyone, please...when using a daylight film, can the bulbs known as "daylight" bulbs (the glass has a blue cast to it) be used in place of tungsten bulbs--T bulbs look fairly expensive (500 watts), and my hardware store sells these daylight bulbs, though albeit a lower wattage (125 watts--I figure I'll just move them closer). My neighbor thought the daylight bulbs might be for growing plants.

"Daylight" type household lightbulbs do not equal the color temperature of actual daylight. The only "blue" bulbs what will work with daylight film are the old blue photoflood bulbs that used to be sold for this purpose.

Also, any type of household general lighting tungsten bulb will not be a perfect match for an 80A filter, which was designed to correct the color from (non-blue) photofloods, which are a little bit less red than household bulbs. Photofloods were/are a type of tungsten bulb designed for photography. They have a short lifespan (10 hours), but very high output for their wattage as they are run overvoltage. In other words, they are designed for (as an example) 90 volts, yet run at 120 volts. This increases brightness and color temperature and shortens their life. The "blue" ones were dipped in a blue dye that corrected their output to approximate daylight.

You can also use a studio electronic flash set up with 2 heads equally spaced as in a normal copy set up, to get correct color balance on your shots on daylight balanced film. Electronic flash is equivalent in color balance to daylight.