What CFL color temp for B&W film?

BetterSense · Feb 24, 2010

I want to set up some cheap lighting just for shooting product-shot-type stuff in my house. I went to buy some CFL lights and they offered 3 color temperatures..."warm" 2700k, "medium" 4200k, and "cool" 5000k. For black-and-white film, I suppose it doesn't matter much, but was wondering if anyone had a preference.

2F/2F · Feb 24, 2010

5000K...unless, of course, you want 4200K or 2700K.

BetterSense · Feb 24, 2010

Actually I think I changed my mind on the CFLs anyway. High-output ones are bigger than their incandescent equivalents, and will stick out of the lamp I have. I think I will just use a 200W incandescent and wear gloves.

E76 · Feb 24, 2010

I would imagine using a CFL with a color temperature closer to tungsten (3200K) than daylight (5500K) would require a slight increase in exposure just like using a regular tungsten bulb would. In that case, go with the "cool" lamps.

Rick A · Feb 24, 2010

I have a set with "daylight" corrected lamps they work well for color

Rick

nickandre · Feb 24, 2010

Incandescents are the way to go. CFLs are perilous. They're low power, take forever to turn on, and present risk of mercury poisoning if broken.

John Koehrer · Feb 25, 2010

tiberiustibz said:
Incandescents are the way to go. CFLs are perilous. They're low power, take forever to turn on, and present risk of mercury poisoning if broken.

Just a minor rant. The marketing pitch is how great the CFL's are with NO MENTION of the downsides. See above^. What I used to toss in the garbage
I've got to recycle at the hardware store or other recycler & still haven't gotten the X,000 hours of life advertised.

olleorama · Feb 25, 2010

what 'temperature' does a halogen lamp have? I can get quite cheap halogen lamps here.

ic-racer · Feb 25, 2010

olleorama said:
what 'temperature' does a halogen lamp have? I can get quite cheap halogen lamps here.

You can check the specs of many halogen bulbs on "dons bulbs"

From my experience, generic bulbs that don't indicate the color temp are dim or yellow (low K).

jeffreyg · Feb 25, 2010

5000 Kelvin is considered shadowless daylight. I don't know how color film will react ie if some filtration is needed. The distance from the subject and the type of lens if any over the light fixture also can be an issue. You have to consider both the color temperature and the amount of light with color film. Home Depot sells 5000k tubes and they are not expensive. They should work fine with B&W fine and you can use them in regular fluorescent fixtures.

2F/2F · Feb 25, 2010

olleorama said:
what 'temperature' does a halogen lamp have? I can get quite cheap halogen lamps here.

Usually about 2,800 K.

Tim Gray · Feb 25, 2010

Halogen are in the 2.8k-3.5k range depending on the bulb. Cooler than a normal tungsten bulb, but not daylight. Remember halogen bulbs still have tungsten filaments. Tungsten bulbs should be fine, but if you have daylight balanced bulbs, exposure might be a hair better as mentioned above, and tonal rendition of some colors might be better too.

I've had no problem with any of the CFL bulbs I've bought over the years. The first set I bought in 2001 are still going strong. Just dispose of them properly.

What CFL color temp for B&W film?

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