continous lighting soft and warm

wiganwez

wiganwez

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hi . i purchased some continous lighting 2 500watt heads with umberellas and have tried a few shots with them on but the shots seem soft and very warm not what i see in the photo sharing section sharp and nice catch lights etc ( i will post some pics up later) i think the bulbs im using are the wrong output of light maybe

heres the bulbs

http://www.lightbulbs-direct.com/product/2581/p1-2-photoflood-240v-500w-es/

does anyone else have problems with soft shots when using artificial light?

cheers all :)
 
I didn't know that those lamps were still available - the bulbs were discontinued some years ago. Was this an Ebay purchase?

The colour temperature issue will be because they burn at a theoretical 3200K, compared to 5500K for flash. In reality, they usually burn at somewhere between 2700-2900K, depending on whether or not someone switches an electric kettle on...
You can correct the colour temperature settings on your camera, AWB (auto white balance) usually does the trick.

The 'softness' could be anything but is probably blur caused by the need for a slow shutter speed - these lights certainly LOOK bright but they don't produce much light. To get anything near acceptable shutter speeds you'll probably need to set a high ISO on your camera, which will cause its own problems.

Another problem is that although the bulbs don't last long (usually between 2 and 5 hours) they darken as they age, so give out even less light towards the end of their life than at the beginning. They can also shatter.

If you're planning to use them, be very careful not to place anything combustible near them, they've caused a lot of fires.

Or in other words, send them back and get flash instead...
 
i got the lighting heads and stands at a decent price these are just the bulbs that i got off the bloke they look very old by the look of the box. i knew straight away the bulbs gave a crap light output,bright to the eye but camera light meter showing not so much light leading to a slow shutter speed.can you reccomend the sort of bulbs i should be using i guess 5500k bulbs? cheers for the help :)
 
Well, these bulbs won't have the heat or colour temperature problems and produce more power - if they aren't too big for your reflectors - but they are still continuous lighting, not flash.
 
cheers gary, them bulbs look much better. i would move to flash, but its down to cost i have a nissin di622i aswell as the continuous. just playing around at the moment with lighting and getting my head round it before i make a major commitment and spend a fortune.
 
Well, the 85W fluorescent bulbs will probably stick out of the reflectors a bit but will work, and will be much better than what you have now.

Your real answer is flash, but the fluorescent lights will get you going until you can get flash.
 
Some semi useless background info:

Photoflood bulbs were banned from sale a few years ago by our masters in government - as if anyone would use them for domestic purposes!

They were a staple instrument used many DoP's for Promos and Commercials - but in large banked quantities (direct, but with diffusion), or sometimes to replace conventional low wattage bulbs in Practicals.

When brand new, had a nice clean quality of light, but rapidly went off.

They were normally thrown away after each shoot, as the lifespan was rated at 50 hours (...on a good day), so were treated as consumables. Despite the high wattage, they were very inefficient even by tungsten standards, and changed colour temperature on even slight dimming (unlike normal tungsten).

They had particular uses and situations they suited, but the drawbacks and costs meant they were very much a niche product and decreasing in use even before the ignorant politicians found out about them and made lightbulbs the scapegoat for the environmental results of rampent population growth....woops going off topic :lol:
 
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