Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

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Mon Sep 22, 2014 10:21 am

Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2011 12:33 am
Posts: 101

Measured my old Ultra 1200's with a color temp meter. They show 4,980, 5,120 K over the power range. They also have one of the UV tubes (i.e. Ones sold in the 1990's for Ektachrome film.) in the head along with one clear one. Color hasn't been problematic and I prefer the warmer look. Maybe with both clears they would be 5,300 K or so, but not a big deal.

However, one a Nikon SB-900 it is really blue and measured at 6,100 K. An older Vivitar 285 was close to 5,200 K but it has a yellowish window too where the Nikon is clear.

I was curious though that as these things age, what happens to the color temperature from the tube? Does it warm or cool?

Tia.

Mack




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Mon Sep 22, 2014 12:25 pm

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Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:43 am
Posts: 5266

Part of this will be how you define "warm" and "cool". Warm in tone (i.e. yellow) is cooler in temperature (i.e 5100K) while cooler tones (i.e. blue) has a higher temperature (6100K).

Over time, a flash tube can yellow. The speed at which this happens will vary based on flash power, and stability of that particular tube. Also, the plastics used in the Fresnel lenses of speedlights can yellow at a different rate, or may be slightly yellowed intentionally to reduce UV emissions.

Speedlights tend to be bluish out of the box, often measuring 6000K or more. For this reason, I do not recommend using the flash icon white balance setting as it will compensate for too much blue. A custom white balance is preferred.




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