(NOOB) Help choosing lightbulb for softbox

[Ya_Mi]

My softbox has arrived today but it doesnt came with the bulb.

The thing is i have no idea on which bulb should i choose especially when it comes to wattage and i just discovered chinese fake studio bulb which labeled 85W but only put up 15W, so yeah i need your help friend.

I understand CRI but i have no clear idea on how much wattage do i need.

I am planning to shoot in the basement and i shoot similar to content in Techquickie.

[mariushm]

A 15w led bulb would be the equivalent of around 85 watts of incandescent bulb, so maybe they're not lying.  Equivalent in the sense of light produced and all that. 

 

Yeah, get some good CRI, ideally 95 or better. Probably should get a warm-ish white, 2700-4000K light... 

 

As for how much watts, that will depend on the thickness of the wires and the current rating of the bulb socket... you also may have to pay attention to not overheat any material that softens the light.

Also keep in mind that higher wattage led bulbs often require some airflow around them to keep within reasonable temperatures (so being sealed inside a softbox with that warm air is not quite good for them)

 

 

[Ya_Mi]

5 minutes ago, mariushm said:

A 15w led bulb would be the equivalent of around 85 watts of incandescent bulb, so maybe they're not lying.  Equivalent in the sense of light produced and all that. 

Its a CFL, but does the same principle applied to CFL as well?

 

5 minutes ago, mariushm said:

As for how much watts, that will depend on the thickness of the wires and the current rating of the bulb socket... you also may have to pay attention to not overheat any material that softens the light.

Also keep in mind that higher wattage led bulbs often require some airflow around them to keep within reasonable temperatures (so being sealed inside a softbox with that warm air is not quite good for them)

Okay but lets ignore that for a moment, for my needs (i am sure you have seen techquickie) how many watt do i need?

[GDRRiley]

typically for a main light your going to want 300-600W before your soft box.

how many spots for bulbs do you have?

[Ya_Mi]

1 minute ago, GDRRiley said:

typically for a main light your going to want 300-600W before your soft box.

how many spots for bulbs do you have?

Sadly, only 1 but i can buy the 4x socket add-on if needed,

 

300-600W for a light bulb? thats quite a lot. I was thinking around 80W-135W.

[GDRRiley]

Just now, Ya_Mi said:

Sadly, only 1 but i can buy the 4x socket add-on if needed,

 

300-600W for a light bulb? thats quite a lot. I was thinking around 80W-135W.

your not going to get that in a normal light bulb but bulbs that fit into non standard lights can easily do that much and more.

I was talking total output converted to normal/tungsten bulbs

 

these should do decent. I'd get the 4x socket and run 4 in each. that should give you about 480W EQV output the soft box will cause you to lose some

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/980325-REG/impact_sf_32_120_spiral_fluorescent_lamp_32w_120v.html/specs

 

[mariushm]

CFLs have horrible CRI, and take a long time (5-10+ minutes) to stabilize. The easy to find retail CFL bulbs will typically have 80 or less CRI. There are some models with decent CRI but rare and more expensive.

 

LED bulbs stabilize much faster and have better CRI and should be available in more color temperatures.. some leds bulbs even have a mix of leds of different color temperatures, to give a better overall light or to allow you to select temperature according to your needs.  

 

600 watts sounds a bit much to me for a single light bulb, but I'm not an expert...  If the softbox has 4-12 sockets it could be, i guess.

 

Try searching youtube for various keywords like studio build behind the scenes etc etc

 

[Ya_Mi]

2 minutes ago, mariushm said:

CFLs have horrible CRI, and take a long time (5-10+ minutes) to stabilize. The easy to find retail CFL bulbs will typically have 80 or less CRI. There are some models with decent CRI but rare and more expensive.

 

LED bulbs stabilize much faster and have better CRI and should be available in more color temperatures.. some leds bulbs even have a mix of leds of different color temperatures, to give a better overall light or to allow you to select temperature according to your needs.  

 

600 watts sounds a bit much to me for a single light bulb, but I'm not an expert...  If the softbox has 4-12 sockets it could be, i guess.

 

Try searching youtube for various keywords like studio build behind the scenes etc etc

 

So, LED then?

[mariushm]

Just now, Ya_Mi said:

So, LED then?

Up to you. 

 

Start watching some of these videos and make your own decision: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=high+cri+soft+box

 

[Ya_Mi]

2 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Up to you. 

 

Start watching some of these videos and make your own decision: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=high+cri+soft+box

 

I have already done that and most LED bulb that are available are in 6500k, will it be okay? i thought 5500k is the sweetspot

[GDRRiley]

12 minutes ago, Ya_Mi said:

I have already done that and most LED bulb that are available are in 6500k, will it be okay? i thought 5500k is the sweetspot

LED can be 2000-1000K

5500k is around daylight. Most of the cheap LED bulbs you find in stores have major issues for video or photo work

16 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Start watching some of these videos and make your own decision: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=high+cri+soft+box

the random youtube search link isn't that helpful if you don't know enough then you don't have to answer

[Ya_Mi]

3 minutes ago, GDRRiley said:

Most of the cheap LED bulbs you find in stores have major issues for video or photo work

Example?

[GDRRiley]

2 minutes ago, Ya_Mi said:

Example?

flicker, bad color consistency, way off claimed color temp, heavy shifts in green or magenta tones and there is probably some I am missing.