Best slide film for still lifes....

[jason_wolters]

I want to try some indoor still lifes with color slide film, but I'm

not sure if I should use tungsten film or just regular daylight

balanced film.

 

I'll be indoors and won't be using any expensive studio lighting,

just a cheap floor lamp (has swivel spotlights on it) as directional

lighting to emphasize shadow and highlights...maybe with a white

sheet as a diffuser. I'll probably first try shooting some colorful

fruit arrangements with a plain black sheet draped as background.

 

Are regular household lightbulbs considered tungsten lights? Most of

all, I want to get accurate color, but not sure if tungsten film is

the answer.

 

Any information you can provide is appreciated!

[jason_wolters]

Also, I looked at Kodak's website for specs on their 64T film and saw that it says the following:

 

"It is designed for exposure with tungsten illumination (3200 K)".

 

In this case, what is 3200K? Is this more powerful than regular 100watt household lightbulbs? If so, what would happen if I just use a regular 100w bulb?

 

Thanks

[hans_beckert]

3200K lamps are high-wattage (250W and 500W) photographic bulbs, available in standard screw base as well as special quartz sizes for large photographic reflectors (650W and 1000W). Ordinary household bulbs are quite a bit lower in color temperature, perhaps about 2600K. This will mean a redder light is produced from them than the 3200K lights, so using these lights with a film that is balanced for 3200K will give a slightly reddish result. You may want to use an 82 series filter to make up for the difference....

[ellis_vener_photography]

A regular 100 watt household buld has a color temperature of around 2700K. A

Quartz-Halogen bulb has a color temperature of 3200K. User a dimmer with either

and the color temperature drops. As color temperature drops the color balance shifts

to red/yellow ("orangish").

 

I would try both Fuji 64TII and the Kodak 64T slide films.

[EricM]

Just to be clear, wattage and Kelvin temperature have nothing to do with each other. Unless altered on a dimmer like Ellis said. However, it�s quite common and coincidental that our cheap house hold bulbs run warmer than 3200K. Incandescent can run anywhere today. Most Quartz lamps run near 3200K and some of these are only 25w. If you want to run tungsten properly on house hold appliances, most photo supply stores offer correct tungsten 3200K modeling bulbs for studio power packs and lighting systems. They also offer daylight corrected bulbs for the same purpose, and will fit your house hold lamps. Fluorescents from a gardening hardware store offer an assortment of temps too. However, I would suggest trying your shoot next to a window during the day with daylight film and an assortment of reflectors, such as tin foil, small mirrors, and white cardboard. You can bounce light around very creatively and under more control than with a couple lamps in a dark room. But try both, it�s all about playing and getting into it.

[jason_wolters]

Thank you! Two follow-up questions...

 

1. If I use an 82 series filter, which would you recommend...A,B or C?

 

2. Do you think an Ace Hardware store would carry a 3200K tungsten bulb? If so, is wattage irrelevant?

 

Thanks

[EricM]

The reason I don�t advice filters in this case, is because you don�t know what your temp�s are to begin with. If you did know this constant, then the suggestion of another constant, (filters for the camera or light source) would be acceptable. But we don�t�How accurate do you need to be? Are we just splitting hairs? You may not notice much with tungsten film under halogens, with a diffuser. Can you correct slightly in photoshop?

 

Unfortunately, house hold bulbs don�t provide the temp on the package. There are so many bulbs each manufactured with different marketing names, and uses.

 

The more powerful the better in this case.

[oskar_ojala]

If possible, try window light: it will make color correction a lot easier. If you need tungsten anyway, check out the data sheets on the films you're going to use for specific details on filtration. It's either getting the 3200 K lamp(s) and using tungsten slide film or deciding that the film selection is too limited and getting a set of filters.

 

In any case, I find working with films that have very good reciprocity characteristics, such as Fuji Provia 100F, easier in these circumstances, since I don't have to worry about reciprocity effects.

[jason_wolters]

I just want to be accurate with color...if it's not accurate, I won't be too happy. I cannot adjust in PS, so I want original slides.

 

Just one more question...If I were to go to a pro photo lab, and were to ask for a 3200k bulb, would it be likely that there is one that fits into a regular household floor lamp? Or are these bulbs for special lighting fixtures only?

 

Thanks again!

[Robert_Lai]

Jason,<p>I seriously suggest that you try Home Depot or another hardware store. I thought the reflectors on my copy stand lights were too confining, so I purchased larger spun aluminum reflectors. They are available on the work lamps - the kind that have a clamp to attach to any available beam or pipe, and provide illumination for work crews. These lamp bases are designed for high wattage bulbs such as the 250W BCA (4800K, near daylight) bulbs. It was apparent that the old lamp bases on my copy stand were getting burnt, so I put some of the work lamp bases to use on the stand also. <p>Two or three of these lamps plus two or three BCA bulbs should be under $50 anyway. The advantage of the BCA bulbs is that they are effectively daylight balanced. I purchased them from my local photo shop for about $5 a bulb.

[hans_beckert]

Jason Wolters , feb 19, 2004; 02:28 p.m.

Thank you! Two follow-up questions...

 

1. If I use an 82 series filter, which would you recommend...A,B or C?

 

2. Do you think an Ace Hardware store would carry a 3200K tungsten bulb? If so, is wattage irrelevant?

 

Thanks

 

 

You have to know what the color temp of your lamps is, subtract the lower from the higher, and look it up to determine which 82 series filter comes closest.

 

Here is the table:

 

http://www.tpub.com/content/photography/14209/css/14209_69.htm

[staticlag]

Jason,

 

If you really want accuracy in color. Just buy a color meter. This reads the color temp of the lights and tells you exactly which filters to use to correct for the color shifts.

 

-Dan

[gary_a._hill]

Use 3200K film (Kodak 64T) and 3200K lamps. It should not be difficult to find 3200K lamps with an ordinary medium screw base at any photo supply store, but remember that these lamps are HOT. If you put them

in a plastic socket and leave them on, you could have a real problem.

Get a fixture designed for these lamps, and use them intermittently.

[James G. Dainis]

I'll add that most 3200K photo floods only have a working life of from 4 to 8 hours before they burn out. I would just go with regular household bulbs and filters.

[tim_klimowicz]

Just a quick suggestion...

 

I've had some success shooting [very] amateur shots using "daylight" bulbs like the one seen here: http://www.rewci.com/vercomfluorb.html

 

I bought mine for relatively cheap down on Canal St here in NYC for $8, but the poor thing burned out after just a couple months of use (unsure if the brand is bad, or the bulb was just defective).. Anyway, I'm sure they ALL don't burn out that quickly (heheh), and they have a 5500K temperature. My guess is that it's probably a lot easier and cost-effective if you could get your hands on a couple of these bulbs. They fit in a standard socket, and require quite a bit less wattage than typical bulbs. They're BRIGHT, WHITE, and CHEAP, and I used mine very successfully to get accurate color matches for my prints here at home (Epson 1280 printer).

[jason_wolters]

Thanks to all. I'm going to check the photo supply store today for bulbs and if they have a cheap fixture capable of withstanding the heat. If not, I think I'll just buy a couple of 82 series filters and experiment until I get it right. They are only about $30 apiece.

 

By the way, I looked at B&H's selection of color meters and they run about $900 on up. Not a good alternative for me.

[john_shriver]

Indoor shooting of transparency film is tricky. Exposures can get long, especially if you stop down for depth of focus. This causes reciprocity failure in the film. Reciprocity failure not only requires longer exposures than the meter claims, it can also cause further color shifts! (The three layers have different reciprocity characteristics.)

 

I've shot Kodachrome 64 under daylight floods. (Those are 3200K floods with a blue paint coating.) This was on a model railroad, so I was stopping down severely, and long exposures. I bracketed a lot, since reciprocity failure isn't very exactly calibrated, the lighting contrast was high, and Kodachrome 64 is so unforgiving under these conditions. In the end, I did get some great shots.

 

So you definitely want to bracket exposure. With a lot of experience with your lighting/film combination, you may eventually be able to "dial in" the reciprocity failure correction. But you may also have to bracket you color compensation filtering. The color temperature of the 3200K lights will vary as the line voltages changes...

 

This is why pro's who shoot transparancies indoors like to use electronic flash units. Less color temperature problems. But it's harder to visualize the results with flash, much easier with "hot lights".

 

Also, color slide film, since it is so contrasty, already emphasizes shadow and highlights. You may well need to control the contrast of your lighting to avoid blocking up the slide film.

[jason_fitzmaurice]

I would look into buying some color temperature blue gels. Cut these to the size needed, and secure in front of your lights.

 

This is often done on film sets, or to match indoor hot lights to window lights. I've always found it to work well shooting transparencies indoors. It has, whenever possible, been what I prefer to using a filter on the camera.

[scott_eaton]

I just recently shot some products (still lifes) for some brochures at work. Rather than screw around with strobes or tungsten lights I have a couple 5000k power compact florescents that screw into any standard light sockets. Mine are very, very bright and equivelant to 100watt tungsten bulbs. Personally I think they are brighter because they are too intense to look at.

 

I paid $17.79 a piece at a local lighting specialty store.

 

Given a choice between messing with tungsten lights, grainy, crappy Tungsten films and color filters I'll use these bulbs instead. They might not be perfectly 5000k, but they are damn close, and certainly deliver more neutrality and complete spectrum than any of the tungsten solutions.

[imaginator]

Why does it have to be slide film? Just wondering...

[gary_a._hill]

I concur with preceeding question: why slide film? I use Portra 100T unless I specifically need slides. Also quartz lights (Lowel tota-lights) are better than the cheap 3200K lamps (longer life, better stability, better fixture), yet still affordable.

[jason_wolters]

I prefer slide film b/c I can better assess what I did right or wrong. I don't really have a good pro lab nearby, so print film rarely comes out like I envisioned. I will also be an art teacher in the near future and want slides for showing my work. Yes, I could buy a scanner and a projector and all the accessories, but c'mon fellas, on a soon to be teacher's budget.