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Thanks, Bob. I appreciate the insights.

Say, last question. Do you (or anybody) know where the deals-of-a-lifetime are with regards to daylight balanced CFL bulbs?

I saw a 100 watt equivalent at Home Depot for $8, which seemed steep for a bulb, but then was very surprised to see that same price as standard across the net, even in multi-packs.

Is anyplace out there famous for selling them cheap? (Any wattage.)

-JOHN

By the way, I saw cheapie CFLs on eBay ... 180w equivalents with daylight balanced 5500k ... but I didn't consider them because I found an article about videography that said to look for a CRI of 92 or greater. Don't know what that means, but these were only 84.

http://cgi.ebay.com/36W-Studio-Daylight ... 2a0ffca7ef

CRI stands for Color Rendering Index which means how true all the colors are reflected (and realize all color is a reflection from the surface of an object) by the light.

You will run into this most often with say a purple dress where when you white balance and then tweak the white balance to get nice facial tones it turns the purple dress into a midnight blue.

I found out at one of my first weddings I ever shot that if the bride choose purple dresses for the bridesmaids she really doesn't want them to appear midnight blue in the video even if you get the skin tone right.

Of course, she'll be pissed if you nail the purple, but it causes her face to look sickly green.

That is the type of stuff that can happen with fluorescent bulbs with a low CRI.

More important than daylight balanced is a high CRI, also often described as full spectrum.

You might want to look into a reflector or white foam core boards to act as reflectors instead of trying to match light sources. You might also want to check out this website and even attend a seminar if you can. http://www.poweroflighting.com/

Thank you, guys.

It's amazing how fast I can learn stuff if I get quality info and links like yours rather than just going blind into google.

I found this, which I think is the end of my search.

5500k CFL bulbs ... in a variety of wattages ... with CRI of 91, which seems to be as good as it gets for CFL (from what I've found).

http://www.alzodigital.com/full_spectrum_lighting.htm

-JOHN

I wonder if I can ask one more question along this line.

This business of not being able to mix a halogen-lighted subject with daylight-lighted background ...

... is there anything like a filter or colored glass or gel or whatever that can be put on the front of cheapie Home Depot halogen shoplights to make them compatible with sunlight?

I saw firsthand what happened when I shoplighted my face for an outdoor interview with sunlight lighting the nature background ... didn't work at all ... but now in hindsight I wonder if there isn't something that can be slapped onto the front of my halogen lights to make everything even up.

-JOHN