KinoFlos

[Jonathan Bryant]

I have worked on news sets where KinoFlos were used. One of our engineers said that you can get bulbs just like them (Tungsten balanced without the green spike and no flicker) and use them in normal flourescent light fixtures. Is that true?

 

If not what are some good generic KinoFlo type lights that are reasonably priced? I never got to shoot at different shutter speeds under the Kinos. Can you use any shutter speed with KinoFlos like tungsten and not get color shift or flicker?

 

I know that with regular Flourescents and Mercury Vapor lights you get a slow color shift on video unless you use a shutter of 1/60th, 1/120, and so on.

 

What are the possible shutter speeds you can use under these lights without color shift or flicker?

[David Mullen ASC]

You can use Kino tubes in ordinary fixtures but you no longer have the benefits of the high-frequency flicker-free Kino ballasts. So flicker problems are the same with ordinary fluorescents. But you do get the colors (Kino 55, Kino 32, Kino 29, greenscreen & bluescreen tubes, etc.)

 

Kino tubes cost more than ordinary tubes found at hardware stores.

[Matt Irwin]

If you're in the LA area (I see that Johnhollywood is not though), Visions In Color is a much more afordable Kino alternative for tubes.

Kinos tend to run aroud $40/tube while Visions In Color is around $10/tube. There are also Optima 32's and Vita Lites, but I'm not sure if the company that makes them still exists.

[John Pytlak RIP]

Flicker free ballasts (high frequency) and color temperature/color rendering of the phosphors are the forte of companies like Kinoflo:

 

http://www.kinoflo.com/

 

The R&D they invested, and the performance they obtained, command a higher price than "off the shelf" tubes and fixtures.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Flicker free ballasts (high frequency) and color temperature/color rendering of the phosphors are the forte of companies like Kinoflo:

 

http://www.kinoflo.com/

 

The R&D they invested, and the performance they obtained, command a higher price than "off the shelf" tubes and fixtures.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

By flicker free guys do you mean I can use any shutter speed without flicker or color shift?

[John Pytlak RIP]

By flicker free guys do you mean I can use any shutter speed without flicker or color shift?

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A high frequency ballast raises the lamp flicker rate so high that multiple cycles are captured during each opening of the shutter. Some lamp systems even operate on direct current.