Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I have 2 AB400, 2 AB800, and am considering adding two E640s.
I understand that using the ABs at different power settings will change the color temps.
I always seem to use different power settings with my ABs and haven't notice anything that bugs me (or jumps out at me even) with regards to Color temp discrepancies.
How will adding the E640 into the mix affect color temps? Any issues to be aware?
Thanks,
Paul

while using a mix of only AB800 and AB400 lights, you may notice an issue if one light is at significantly higher power than the other, but it also depends heavily on modifiers, as well. If you are using a big softbox, you might goose the power up, but the softbox itself will tend to warm the light, which might mask the effect somewhat, so it will be more comparable to another AB at lower power.

You could see some differences when adding Einsteins to your mix, but it depends greatly on setup, usage, modifiers, etc.

The larger issue when adding Einsteins to your kit is that you just won't want to use your ABs anymore :-)

If you're shooting people, there's a bit of "magic" that helps with mixed lights. The fill light and the hair light can be substantially warmer than the main without attracting any attention. In fact, warm fill is so popular that you see a variety of gold, half gold, gold weave, etc. reflectors for outdoor use.

It's much more noticeable when the fill or hair lights are cooler than the main. The main sets the tone for the eye's recognition of "memory colors" like skin, and then the cool fill adds "cyanotic" tones to the filled part of a face, and cool hair light adds greenish overtones to hair (blue light + blond or brown hair = green).

Put the coolest light on main, balance to that, and let the other lights be warmer. Einsteins are the coolest lights, and constant color temperature (set WB once, and forget it) which makes them perfect for main or fill. Bees are always warmer (hard to notice at full power, pretty obvious at 1/16) so they're naturals for hair, fill, background, etc.

And, like BDP said, your soft boxes and umbrellas will warm lights, so put the warmest modifier on the main. ;)

thanks you guys.
i'm happy that i know enough to understand/remember what you have written.
Paul

Actually, I'm finding the frosted dome on Einstein is lowering the stated 5600° by a couple hundred degrees. This places the color temp pretty much in the middle power range of AB and RX600/300, so they play nice together. On the other hand, Profoto D1 produces about 6000°K at full power, dropping to about 5300 at lowered power. They are a complete mismatch for the compact series they replaced with their 5100°/4900° or so color.

Thanks Paul. I did see your E640's 'Color Lowering Pyrex Glass Dome' item during a search.
Paul