Mercury Vapour Lights

Hi everyone,

I know that question has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything in the archives. Sorry guys. I am gaffing a feature in a few weeks and there are quite a few night exteriors. The DoP wants to use the existing street lights and just enhance them from out of frame. The street lights are Mercury Vapour lights. Can anyone suggest a good combination of gels to match the colour of these lights (one combination for HMI and one for tungsten). We are shooting on tungsten balanced stock.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Thomas Wittmann
Gaffer /Cinematographer

>Can anyone suggest a good combination of gels to match the colour of >these lights

Tungsten sources: combine Lee 3/4 Plus Green and Rosco Cal Color 30 Blue

HMI sources: combination of Lee Full Plus Green and Rosco Cal Color 15 Blue

Wendell Greene
Cinematographer - L.A.

Thomas :

You do not say where you are shooting, but if you are in the US, try LIGHTNING STRIKES

http://www.lightningstrikes.com/lightningstrikes.html#general.

They have a new line of TRUE Mercury Vapor and Sodium Vapor rental lights. I went to a demo for their new line of products and these were among those demonstrated. Easy to use and true to color.

Cheers,

John Sheeren
Operator, AC
Houston, Texas

Sorry John for not mentioning ...

We are shooting in Adelaide (Australia). As far as I could find out, you can't hire Mercury Vapour lights over here. I talked to Sylvania about buying some fixtures, but unfortunately it'll take them about five weeks to rig a couple of them. Due to non existing request for those fixtures they don't store any. Does anyone else has an idea where to get some Mercury Vapour lights in Sydney or Adelaide?

Cheers,

Thomas Wittmann
Gaffer/Cinematographer - Germany/Australia

Thomas Wittmann wrote :

>we are shooting in Adelaide (Australia). You can't hire Mercury Vapour >lights over here.

Try to purchase them an electrical contractor's supply house or a big home improvement store with a good lighting department. They sell them in both places here in the States.

Hope this helps.

Jim Sofranko
NY/DP

I've used Lee 104 (straw) and quarter plus green on Mighties. I also added some light diffusion to spread the beam a bit. We underslung-mounted them on Mombo combos with a baby offset, allowing the light to be aimed almost straight down.

I am curious about the sodium vapor rental lights -- are they actually narrow spectrum vapor lights?

Rick Lopez NYC DP
www.lopezfilm.com