85 filter inquiry

[Eric Ornelas]

My director has a perfect indoor location that he does not want to change. He wants to use the existing lights as practicals. The lights are color corrected daylight bulbs but we're shooting on 7219 500T film. The light ballasts are damn near impossible to change out without having to take apart their complicated assembly. If I put an 85 filter in my matte box on tungsten film will it appear orange? If so, would it be easier to put full CTO over the lights themselves to correct the color? I looked into switching to daylight film but it isn't as fast as the tungsten film and I am reading 1.4 from the practicals so I think the faster film is the wiser choice.

[David Mullen ASC]

Whether you out an 85 filter on the camera or Full CTO on the lights, the result is the same and the 2/3-stop light loss is the same. If you're only reading an f/1.4 at 500 ASA, it sounds like you are better off using neither a filter or gel and correcting-out the blue cast in post instead.