Given the fact that they may be coated with god knows what and that even then they tend to get warmer with age I think it would be very difficult if not impossible to determine the exact spectral output of any given bulb without the use of a color temperature meter. I would expect that one could get acceptable results if the end result is of printed form by exercising corrective techniques in post. If you are attempting to get correct results on a transparency then your options are to either: A- beg borrow purchase or steal a colour temperature meter and correct accordingly or B- take a sample transparency down to the lab and discuss it over a color correct lightbox with a techie or C- shoot a lot of film and bracket with each of the filters designed to correct incandescent/tungsten light to daylight. From lightest to darkest in order they are, 82, 82A, 82B, 82C, 80D, 80C, 80B and 80A. Be mindful that you can achieve intermediate corrections by combining two or more of these filters. ie: an 80D with an 82A will put you between 80D and 80C. or D- guess and get lucky. Colour correction with filtration requires that particular attention be paid to proper exposure as well. Don't forget to bracket. good luck, r "Emily L. Ferguson" wrote: > > OK, you techies out there. I'm on to the annual > ornament-by-tree-light shooting game. Tungsten film notwithstanding, > all the pix come out yellow. > > How do I determine what temperature those little, tiny, > not-really-white lights are, and which type of filter to correct with? > > Does anyone of you (Bobberty?) just know, or do I have to purchase > some fancy expensive light meter?
