Let There Be (Fluorescent) Light!

Posted April 16th, 2008 by Graham

As a freelance videographer and filmmaker I’m always learning new things, new techniques, old techniques, etc. In the world of video and/or film-making everyone has their own tastes, their own processes, and their own ideas about how things should be done. I’ve had the basics of video and film lighting drilled into my head. Now I’m beginning to experiment with specific techniques to see what I like best. Recently I’ve learned that fluorescent light is not the archenemy of video that it’s made out to be in TV production classes.

Quite the opposite really, ever since the advent of the compact fluorescent bulbs, (You know, the funny looking ones that save you $50 in energy bills over 6 years!) certain types of fluorescent light are actually perfect for video, and here’s the kicker for young filmmakers and freelance video enthusiasts everywhere: It’s cheap!

Head out to your local Wal-Mart or home improvement store and pick up some of those compact fluorescent bulbs. But wait! There’s one thing you need to be careful about when buying: Look for the ones that are daylight-calibrated. Not the soft white ones. This is where color temperature comes into play.

It’s not bad. It’s just misunderstood.

Fluorescents (especially in the past) have had a bad rep with video because their inconsistent color temperatures and erratic pulsing lighting curves wreaked havoc on the white balance algorithms in most cameras. This is because most fluorescent lights are of the cool white/soft white variety. The cool white fluorescents are missing parts of the color spectrum, so you’ll tend to see the colors fluctuate in your video even after you’ve white balanced your shot.

But with daylight-calibrated fluorescent lights, you’re working with light that has been calibrated to the same color temperature of outdoor lighting conditions. Cameras like the Panasonic DVX-100 have a white balance preset called 5.6K which is approximately the color temperature of light from the Sun. So when you use the daylight-calibrated fluorescents, the camera adjusts itself to the color temperature and reproduces the colors of your subject with great results. For all other cameras, a manual white balance underneath the daylight-calibrated fluorescent lights will work just fine.

Looking for a great setup?

For those who are seriously considering getting some video lighting equipment, but don’t want to break the bank can check out Lowel’s very generous collection of fluorescent lighting systems. (http://www.lowel.com/systemsFluorescent.html) I’ve already ordered a kit and I expect it to be in on time for a shoot this weekend. I’ll report back on how the lights perform