filter for Halogens

Post by **booper** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 9:29 pm

Hello,

I shot some K-40 inside with Halogens lights. I don't have any tungstens. Anyway, as one might expect the color wasn't what I wanted. It was too yellow. Can someone tell what filter I should use to get more realistic color?

Thanks

Post by **paul** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 9:32 pm

Halogen lights are Tungstens! So you should put the switch on your camera on tungsten (the light bulb). That way you will loose the yellow.

regards
Paul

Post by **booper** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 9:41 pm

Thanks for the quick repy Paul. I didn't know that! I have a Chinon and the only switch is a screw hole on the top that would be engaged if the original lights were screwed in. Should I just put a screw in the hole to engage it? There is a filter an ND filter on it, but that wasn't on.

Thanks

Post by **paul** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 9:44 pm

Should I just put a screw in the hole to engage it?

If you can find one, yes! Don't force anything.

Paul

Post by **booper** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 9:52 pm

There is definitely one there (I've got a copy of the manual here) and I have a screw that fits it. So, doing that will take care of my yellow problem and I won't need a filter for the lens?

Thanks again.

Post by **Freya** » Sun Aug 31, 2003 9:14 pm

booper wrote:There is definitely one there (I've got a copy of the manual here) and I have a screw that fits it. So, doing that will take care of my yellow problem and I won't need a filter for the lens?

Thanks again.

Nearly all Super8 cameras come with a built in filter for this purpose.
Kodachrome40 is a tungsten balanced film and from what I understand, halogen lights are very close to the colour temperature of tungsten film, even more so than regular light bulbs.

I think the problem you are having is that the daylight filter is actually being used! You need to switch it out! So for tungsten balanced film you actually want no filter!

See what your manual says about the daylight filter.

I'd love to hear how your filming came out! What wattage lights did you use? I have just aquired a couple of 500 watt halogen lights, so I'm curious to hear about the results you managed.

One thing I would add quickly tho, if you also have a window, letting in the daylight when filming, then once you switch out the daylight filter, then the daylight will be producing a colour cast! lol! The thing to do in that situation is to either block out the window light (a shame because it is free light!) or put a coloured gel over the window to filter the light from it!

love

Freya

Post by BK » Mon Sep 01, 2003 7:17 am

Freya wrote:The thing to do in that situation is to either block out the window light (a shame because it is free light!) or put a coloured gel over the window to filter the light from it!

It would be easier just to put some blue gels over the tungsten lights ( Full C.T. Blue ) to balance the daylight ( fill ) from the window.

Have a look at the Lee filters site, they have a wide range of gels, but expensive though since it's for the professional market.

http://www.leefilters.com/home.asp

Bill

Post by **mattias** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 10:44 am

BK wrote:It would be easier just to put some blue gels over the tungsten lights ( Full C.T. Blue ) to balance the daylight ( fill ) from the window.

beg to differ. as long as you have enough cto to cover the windows i've never found that hard at all. on the contrary it's almost impossible to match the light level of even very diffused and dim daylight with small tungsten lights, especially if they're brought down more than one stop by full blues...

/matt