light temperature for video.. 5000k or 6500k?

[fish80]

Hi guys,

I am buying my first video light for my gopro 3 black. I am inclined on a big blue 1800 lumens model, however I noticed that the light temperature is 6500K, while I see that most other lights have 5000k or 5500k...

I am very ignorant on the topic... does it really make a difference? Which one do you recommend for a Gopro ?

Thank you so much!

 

[northernone]

To me it doesn't matter.

Bigger numbers are more 'blue' and lower numbers means more orange, compared to another light (the sun for example). Using a 6500°k to add to sunlight it would have a little blue tint. Warm sun orange is around 5600°k.

You can set your white balance in the gopro 4 to match any of those choices though. Otherwise other models the gopro will guess.

To learn more about it you can read up on 'kelvin white balance' with your friend Google.

As a side note, with a video light you'll likely not want your red filter on the go pro.

 

[fish80]

thank you!

 

[Diving Dubai]

As a lighting professional (TV)

3200-3400K the colour of incandescent lights (tungsten) which have a lot more red in the spectrum

As you go higher into the spectrum, the red gets less and there is a lot more blue.

5600K is considered to be daylight colour

LED units go upto 8000K

I would try to remain nearer the 5600K area, the white balance on a GoPro isn't that sophisticated.

All that said,the average video light also isn't that sophisticated, the LED arrays aren't balanced nor particularly calibrated, so it really doesn't matter too much at GoPro level

It only starts to make a difference when you get to higher spec cameras.

 

[tamas970]

Considering that water shifts the color temperature to the "cold" (funnily higher K) range and as DDubai mentioned, natural daylight is 5600K, I'd go with a 5000K version.

However, color reproduction (CRI, r9) matter more than simple color temperature. Usually warmer (<5500K) lights produce also better colors (90+ CRI).

 

[tbone1004]

High CRI – Best of both Worlds