compact florescents = ugly colored light!

urbanaries

I've grown to love GE Reveal lights for the reduced color cast. Doing my part...just bought a bunch of of CFLs at Menards (Sylvania, I believe) and they are on the opposite side of the color cast spectrum...pukey greenish/gray colored light. I bought several sizes/wattages and they all have this horror-movie feel to them. I busted out my Roscos and even tried to "gel" them...sorta works, but something tells me Smokey the Bear would not approve.

What brand/type CFLs do you guys use?

Llywellyn

I have nothing to add that would be helpful, but you've given me lighting ideas next time I want to shoot a zombie theme.

Art Scott

mine are amix of Phillipsand GE......I get standard greenish yellow flourscent glow off mine and I believe that any flourscent is bad for your eyes and can cause headaches...but even the high dollar incandescents were only lasting me a very short few months and the CFL I am getting 1-3+ years on.....I haveone in my basement that has constantly run for 4 yrs......it actually looks like a reg. house bulb......yeah 4 yrs never been turned off.

urbanaries

Llywellyn wrote:

I have nothing to add that would be helpful, but you've given me lighting ideas next time I want to shoot a zombie theme.

I will ship them to you! :grim

Pupator

This series of tests will tell you about the color casts of each of the major brands:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/home_improvement/4215199.html

I quit using CFLs myself (after outfitting our whole house with them). The need for them to be recycled at special facilities, the inherent danger of the mercury inside (total PITA if you break one), and learning that they take so much more energy to produce that it's nearly impossible for them to "make up" the energy differential between them and incandescent bulbs no matter how much less energy they use when turned on. Of course, YMMV, but I was disappointed to learn all the hazards and secrets about this technology hyped by, turns out, the company that makes them.

ziggy53

Inexpensive fluorescent bulbs of any kind do not deliver continuous spectrum light. You would need to get very expensive systems like the Kino Flo to get a fairly reliable spectrum of light and "normal" color tones, which is extremely important for proper skin tines, for instance.

For some product lighting I have used compact fluorescent bulbs with a fairly high CRI (Color Rendering Index) rating (CRI 95 or better).The color isn't perfect but for subjects that don't need perfect color it can work pretty well.

Here's an example:

darkdragon

I haven't had much luck with photography and using the compact FL lights from local retailers (of any brand).

However, i have been using the Daylight balanced 5500K from ALZO and just love them. When I set my camera on Daylight it actually balances exactly the same as if I set my WB for Daylight and shoot outside in daylight. The best thing is that they stay so cool (not as cool as LED though), so when I'm shooting for hours on a still-life I don't have to worry about the set or my own body getting burned on the lights. They also didn't light the paper on fire when I clipped a diffuser paper to the front

I get them from amazon.com (marketplace seller, not direct).

Here's an example:

urbanaries

sorry, i'm not really talking about using them for photography lighting, just life in general! It's just funny b/c when I try to talk about kelvin temp with my nonphotog friends they don't know what i'm talking about!

I did discover some CFL bulbs I bought at IKEA about 5 years ago that still work in my bathroom, they look very similar to normal incandescent light, so I think I'll just buy those in the future, hopefully they sell them online!

oddity

I don't care for the pure-white office-building type fluroescents
But nearly every light in the house is relatively natural looking compact fluorescent
The eye adapts to any color weirdness quickly
As for weird photo tones, corrected in about 2 seconds with white balance in lightroom, aperture, photoshop, etc.

It is so worth it for the long bulb lifetimes alone.
Lots of cost savings too..
Those incandescents are practically space heaters that happen to glow...
In the summer especially, you have to pay to make all that heat, and then pay again to air condition it away.
Hidden savings right there :P

The mercury is a non-issue as well.
I've never had one break...
And if one did break, just open a window and leave for a half hour. Mercury evaporates. Sweep it up with a small magnet if you're in the mood to be a little more paranoid :P You're going to get a LOT more mercury in your system from the pollution in the air and your fish than from a single bulb :P

Now... if you break an entire crate of bulbs, you may be in some trouble
Be careful if you're the forklift guy that has to load them onto the truck.