When to use 85 filter?

[Dieter Vansteenwegen]

Hi,

 

I'm starting as 1st AC and just finished a small documentary shot on s16. One evening we were out shooting sundown when the cameraman asked to put on an 85 filter.

I was wondering... Troughout the day, the colour of the sunlight changes because of a longer path throught the atmoshpere, right?

So "daylight" is something subjective and not always the same as the 6500K that the 85 converts to 3200K I guess...

 

When one has only an 85, are you supposed to use it all day long, or how is this done? When the sun is under the horizon it seems to be more blue, which justifies the orange filter, but right after sunset it's really yellowish, is the 85 needed then?

And when for instance an 81 and others are available, but a colorimeter isn't how do you know what filter to use?

 

Thanks !

[David Mullen ASC]

Normally you would use the 85B filter all day long when shooting in daylight on tungsten-balanced stock. As the sun got warmer late in the day, you would accurately capture this.

 

Some might switch to a lighter filter like the 81EF when the light got really warm to get rid of some of the warmth. Or one might add even more warmth for an effect.