Basic question about flourescents with tungsten balanced film

[David Cavallo]

Starting production on a short next week and fluorescents are part of the equation in a number of scenes. I'll need to use a few approaches to deal with them and would greatly appreciate some advice. (I've read many informative posts but still don't have it down cold yet!)

 

I'm shooting s16 7218 500T under cool white fluoros (and filling with a kino fitted with the same) and want to keep that dirty green look (it's a welfare office). Should I still be shooting with an 85 on the lens for the tungsten film? (Are cool whites true daylight balance, just with a green spike?) The dailies will be one light, so I'll make a note on the cam report to leave IN the green. (And shoot a grey card under tungsten light with full (?) CTB for a "white light" reference.)

 

My thought is if it's "too much" green I'll be able to take some out in the final supervised tape to tape session. Any thoughts on that? Will skin tones get too magenta? I ask also because in another scene, I'm using a similar approach (augmenting cool whites with a kino filled with same) but simply want a bright institutional look (it's a waiting room) without the green, so I was planning on shooting the grey card under the greenish lights and having the lab time it all out. Again, wondering about skin tones...

 

Last question--is there a big difference between "cool whites" and "deluxe cool whites"? Any thoughts on how to tell which is which in an existing fixture? What's more common?

 

Just a note--there's a virtually non-exisitent budget for gels--I've barely receieved enough for a roll of diffusion!--so aside from my own small pack, I can't get large rolls to cover the overhead banks of fluoros and deal with the situation that way.

 

Thanks,

David

[David Mullen ASC]

These days, a Cool White is usually the equivalent of a tungsten lamp with 1/2 CTB + 1/2 Plus-Green gel. Technically they are around 4800K-ish. The "Deluxe" version probably has less green in it.

 

I've done this many times, shot a grey scale under tungsten and then the scene under Cool White, and it's not an extreme effect, just cool & greenish, which I think looks better than simply greenish.

 

If you simply want to remove the blue/green, shoot the grey scale under the Cool Whites, or use a fluoro filter on the camera.

 

250D stock would come closer to matching the Cool Whites than 500T.

[Chris Keth]

These days, a Cool White is usually the equivalent of a tungsten lamp with 1/2 CTB + 1/2 Plus-Green gel. Technically they are around 4800K-ish. The "Deluxe" version probably has less green in it.

 

I've done this many times, shot a grey scale under tungsten and then the scene under Cool White, and it's not an extreme effect, just cool & greenish, which I think looks better than simply greenish.

 

If you simply want to remove the blue/green, shoot the grey scale under the Cool Whites, or use a fluoro filter on the camera.

 

250D stock would come closer to matching the Cool Whites than 500T.

 

I have had good results shooting the card under tungsten like David has, too. It's actually quite a nice look for some things. If you want a bit dirtier look, you could underexpose a bit by rating the film at a bit higher ISO.

 

I shot something under fluoros with no correction and put it neutral in post. I thought skintones got a bit sickly and pallid looking, which is actually what I was hoping for. I think it would have been even more pronounced with a less saturated stock like expression 500t

Edited March 30, 2007 by Christopher D. Keth

[Richard Andrewski]

Cool whites are 4100/4200K and are the most common and cheap tube available. CRI can be around 60--hence the famous sickly palor. The Cool White Deluxe is a trademark of Osram and is just a higher CRI 4200K model. If you want to accentuate the green just get the cheapest tube with the lowest CRI possible and it should be just what you want. If they don't list CRI on the package, it's probably a 60. Osram is proud of their trademark and it should be printed on the bulb if it's a deluxe cool white.

Edited April 1, 2007 by Richard Andrewski

[David Cavallo]

I've done this many times, shot a grey scale under tungsten and then the scene under Cool White, and it's not an extreme effect, just cool & greenish, which I think looks better than simply greenish.

 

Thanks, David. Is there a scene in one of the films you've shot that's a good example of this? It sounds like it's truer to the "actual" look of the fluorescent bulbs...

 

Thank you,

David