ModelMayhem.com - Vanity mirror - halogen or flourescent lights?

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Photographer

Posts: 2

Ljubljana, Osrednjeslovenska, Slovenia

Hi folks!

I'm building a vanity mirror (3 actually) for my studio and I browsed around the web for some build ideas. Mostly people still use regular halogen (4000-5500K) E27 bulbs, why not fluorescent? They're much cheaper, easier to build, come in 4000K oz 6000K (not sure for 5000/5500K, didn't search enough yet), cooler as well.. so why not? Am I missing something? The new bulbs with electronic starter are virtually flicker free as well, so that's not an issue either..

Any ideas?

TIA,
Mat

Feb 27 15 11:58 pm Link

Photographer

Michael Bots

Posts: 8020

Kingston, Ontario, Canada

The issue is the color spectrum of the light produced. Fluorescent has a very uneven spectrum because of the discrete emission levels of the phosphors used in the lamps.
Automatic white balance in a digital camera can compensate for much of it but applying make up so that it looks right to the eye with "bad" light will appear wrong to the camera.
Halogen lamps emit a much smoother light spectrum, more like an ideal "black body".emitter (including the unwanted infrared).

Fluorescent Lamp Phosphors
https://www.electrochem.org/dl/interfac … e28-31.pdf

Feb 28 15 06:02 pm Link

Photographer

Carl Herbert

Posts: 387

Bellevue, Washington, US

Halogen lamps may be more correctable than fluorescents but I think the light color is not as desirable. Warmer light is more pleasing, and people generally look better under warmer light, but preparation under halogen certainly isn't ideal. I found for my workspace that I like a mix of 5600K and 4100K fluorescent lamps. The combined color is very comfortable for me and color perception for objects I'm viewing feels about right. You may find that lamps with color greater than 5000K are just too intense, and the warmer colors are just too muddy. Mixing lamps gives a good compromise, though they look a bit odd situated close to each other. You might best ask makeup artists what they think about the issue.

Feb 28 15 08:36 pm Link

Photographer

MaticKos

Posts: 2

Ljubljana, Osrednjeslovenska, Slovenia

As for kelvins, I'd prefer something in the 5000/5500K range, same as studio lights. I saw fluorescent lights have 90CRI index, which isn't that bad.
I guess the power/size is "a problem", since with halogen people usually use 40/60W bulbs, and have 9 - 20 of them around a mirror.. so that's a huge light source. Fluorescent come in 18W with about 60cm (24") lenght so it's hard to use more then 2 on each side due to size. Even with that you only get around 108W.
Halogen are easier to replace and mix, so that's a plus..
Someone mentioned led stips on another forum, that's something I haven't considered. But I'm not sure if leds have good cri index.

Feb 28 15 10:33 pm Link

Photographer

Michael Bots

Posts: 8020

Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Mar 02 15 02:14 am Link

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