Gel sheets

aTog

aTog

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Looking to buy a few more sheets, anyone have a favourite retailer, please?

Need colour shift and theatrical.

Prefer Rosco / Lee, but will consider others.

For use with strobes/modifiers, not Speedlites :)
 
I use theatre suppliers for gels, because I mainly work in theatre. I buy it by the sheet, and generally just use offcuts for photography (but can obviously use whole sheets on softboxes etc.).
Theatre suppliers are likely to have better prices for gels, I guess (but note that I am only presuming here!), since they sell masses of the stuff compared to most photography suppliers.
Most theatre suppliers either stock both Lee and Rosco, or mainly one or the other. However, most will be perfectly happy to get in whatever you want. To be honest, both Lee and Rosco are excellent and, unless you need something *very* specific (such as Rosco's Hamburg diffusion range) they are, in most practical instances, interchangeable.

Since I'm in North Wales I've been used to dealing mainly with Welsh suppliers or those around the Manchester area, but all will send stuff to you.
I've always been very happy in my dealings with Stage Lighting Services in Cardiff: http://stagelightingservices.com/
Also T&M Technical Services (disclaimer: I've known Mark for years): http://tandm.co.uk/
Stage Electrics are also good: http://www.stage-electrics.co.uk/

Hope that helps! :)
 
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Although that price from that eBay seller might seem pretty good, 24" x 23" are, I believe, only half-size sheets. The inclusion of a free "sheet" of Blackwrap seems good (Blackwrap is seriously useful but expensive) - but is it for a sheet or for a full roll, I wonder? The photo shows both, which is very misleading. If it's a full roll it's a superb deal. But it appears to be just for a "sheet" of unspecified dimensions, and that's pretty shoddy.
Also, their range of colours/filters is seriously limited. It's only a fraction of the range Lee make, and contains very few of the filters that I personally use on a regular basis.
Personally, I would not buy from them - unless the selection offered actually contained the exact colours that I really wanted, and I only wanted half-size sheets.

Oh, and they charge £4.90 for what they call "Economy Delivery". Not bad by eBay standards, perhaps, but hardly any less than I pay for delivery for my gels. {shrug...}

If you're close to a sizeable city and don't want to pay postage, just search for a good theatrical supplier in your area. It will still probably cost you more in petrol for a two-way trip than it would in postage, but you'll be able to choose from a full range of gels in full-sized sheets, and you'll be able to get what you *really* need.
 
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Nionyn said:
Hope that helps! :)
Click to expand...

Awesome, thank you, Nionyn :) Do you know of any cheapy gels for the theatrical stuff? Six quid for a bit of plastic feels pricey and I hate spending money, lol
 
http://www.stage-electrics.co.uk

Several branches around the country, you can go in and browse gel samples, also buy samples something like 2 feet by 1 foot. I visit, but have been told by someone else they deliver all round the country at very reasonable rates. They do loads of stuff thats non electrical so dont be put off by the name.

They do Rosco and Lee gel brands.

Very nice people when I have spoken to them at the front desk, very helpful indeed.
 
Read around feature film lighting a while back and I would say the following prob applies to gels:

Proper gels are seemingly expensive, but you need to consider why that is before you get annoyed or before deciding to cut costs and go cheap, as the precision involved will be helpful if you get into proper lighting:
- Every batch needs to be precisely consistent in both colour and density and match other batches. Some colours seem to be industry standard even in rival makers, from looking at samples. The same colour names can be found across companies.
- Gels also need to be made of reliable heat resistant material to avoid melting in use (they are given some kind of grading system for heat) and prevent fires breaking out.
- Individual colours and densities have to be ultra precise as they may be used in conjunction with other gels to obtain specific effects. Perhaps one colour on the left, another on the right but where they overlap it becomes 'normal' colour as the opposing colours are colour balanced.
- Its a fairly limited market in that only specialist lighting designers will buy it (TV studios, feature film makers, photographers, stage lighting designers etc) so its probably produced in fairly smallish batches compared to say items of clothing for sale in a high street chain. Size of manufacture runs affect the costs of anything thats made
- Manufacturers have to make a huge range of accurate colours and keep them in stock.
- The manufacturers have to maintain a very high reputation for accuracy, lighting designers and film makers cannot afford to make a multimillion dollar film with expensive actors and technical staff only to find scenes are ruined by colour errors. It could cost them thousands of dollars in a single day and perhaps require re-shoots in addition.

If you want accuracy its more expensive, if you are just messing about experimenting for the first few times or lighting a school play, accuracy matters not so much, so you can buy cheap and not worry about getting any accuracy. Be aware of melting or fire risks though, so keep an eye on cheaper products if you use any lights that produce much heat. Also be aware of fading issues as your colours will change.
 
MidnightUK said:
Read around feature film lighting a while back and I would say the following prob applies to gels:

Proper gels are seemingly expensive, but you need to consider why that is before you get annoyed or before deciding to cut costs and go cheap, as the precision involved will be helpful if you get into proper lighting:
- Every batch needs to be precisely consistent in both colour and density and match other batches. Some colours seem to be industry standard even in rival makers, from looking at samples. The same colour names can be found across companies.
- Gels also need to be made of reliable heat resistant material to avoid melting in use (they are given some kind of grading system for heat) and prevent fires breaking out.
- Individual colours and densities have to be ultra precise as they may be used in conjunction with other gels to obtain specific effects. Perhaps one colour on the left, another on the right but where they overlap it becomes 'normal' colour as the opposing colours are colour balanced.
- Its a fairly limited market in that only specialist lighting designers will buy it (TV studios, feature film makers, photographers, stage lighting designers etc) so its probably produced in fairly smallish batches compared to say items of clothing for sale in a high street chain. Size of manufacture runs affect the costs of anything thats made
- Manufacturers have to make a huge range of accurate colours and keep them in stock.
- The manufacturers have to maintain a very high reputation for accuracy, lighting designers and film makers cannot afford to make a multimillion dollar film with expensive actors and technical staff only to find scenes are ruined by colour errors. It could cost them thousands of dollars in a single day and perhaps require re-shoots in addition.

If you want accuracy its more expensive, if you are just messing about experimenting for the first few times or lighting a school play, accuracy matters not so much, so you can buy cheap and not worry about getting any accuracy. Be aware of melting or fire risks though, so keep an eye on cheaper products if you use any lights that produce much heat. Also be aware of fading issues as your colours will change.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply, @MidnightUK

When using colour correction gels, I use Lee or Rosco. When using gels for pretty colours that don't need to be accurate, call me tight but I don't want to pay £6 for a bit of flimsy plastic! I don't often use the theatrical gels where they would get hot, so that's not an issue for me.
 
I don't think you are tight, just sensible :-)

Hope you have lots of fun.
 
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