Lighting Comparison: Ott vs. Halogen

DesertDreamer · #1 2010-12-01, 1:44pm

Thanks to the vigilant Michael's sale informants, I scored a pair of the small Ott lights on Thanksgiving. I'll be eternally thankful to those who posted about them! I mentioned doing a comparison, so here it is.

Data: I'm using an Olympus C-4000, on super macro setting, at F/7.0 and white balance at +3.0. The Ott lights consistently allowed me to shoot at a shutter speed of 100 or 125, except for the single bead shot where I got extra close, and got 60 instead. The halogens allowed me a speed of 80-100, except the focal at 50. I had a white vinyl sheet for my base, and Leah's awesome frosted acrylic sheet arranged immediately below my lights in both set-ups. The only modifications I did on the pix was to resize to 500x375, and to format to .jpg. No cropping or lighting changes were made at all.

Blue set: I don't know if I should tell which shots are which, or let you guess.

Hmmmm, I'll share for the first set. Ott first, Halogens 2nd.

DesertDreamer · #2 2010-12-01, 1:46pm

Now another set with lots of purples, something I usually have trouble with.

DesertDreamer · #3 2010-12-01, 1:49pm

Finally, the focal. In person, there are very subtle colors in the wisps.

DesertDreamer · #4 2010-12-01, 1:52pm

One more pairing. These are the same photos as in the first group, run through the "Instant Fix" in my editing program.

parisgal · #5 2010-12-01, 3:12pm

Oh my, I'm guess that the Otts remained the first in all the sets? It definitely has the white balance right out of the box!

squid · #6 2010-12-01, 3:20pm

There is clearly a difference. The key to the Otts is the temperature bulb they use. Daylight or full spectrum bulbs are around 5500K - you can buy just the bulbs too

chrissij · #7 2010-12-01, 3:27pm

So the full spectrum bulbs I purchase for Tim's SAD are like Ott lights?

squid · #8 2010-12-01, 3:28pm

To boil it down to simple terms, yes

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DesertDreamer · #9 2010-12-01, 3:40pm

It's funny, because when I turn them on everything looks kind of gray and washed out, but obviously the camera doesn't think so. The Ott's pick up much better blues than the halogens. Admittedly, this isn't the greatest photo setup to begin with, but spending $36 on better lights sure seems to make a significant difference. I'm also loving that "diffuser" sheet from Leah. I keep wondering about building a whole box out of the diffuser panels....

Mike Jordan · #10 2010-12-01, 4:42pm

A couple of comments... the 2 sets of beads on the right are out of focus or you had camera shake. Did you use shoot these handheld? If so, the little extra shutter speed you got from the Ott's helped you right there. That's where a tripod really helps. Since most beads don't move around much while being photographed, you can go with slow shutter speeds, go with a smaller fstop and still get the same sharp focused images. Sometimes when I'm shooting low light stuff like this, I'll go with an exposure in the seconds so I can get a very small fstop and a deep depth of field.

Of the two, I like the diffussion of the halogens. The reflective highlights is more subdued than the reflected highlights from the Ott's. You need to get some more diffusion on the Ott's, although you are going to lose the light advantage because that's going to require you to slow down your shutter speed to compensate for the diffusion material.

You also didn't color balance for the halogen lights. Some people aren't going to believe it, but it doesn't matter what color of light you use (to a certain point anyway), you can get accurate color if you correctly color balance your camera correctly to the light source you are using. That means you can use florescent, incandescent, halogen, grow tubes, photo floods, iodine (barn floods), street lamps or flash and get accurate color balance.

The problem with the bulbs that are designed to be a certain tempurture, as you use them, they will deteriorate and change color tempurture. And it will be uneven as well, so hard to color correct for. And this could start happening after only a few hours of use. So when you are shooting, don't leave them on while you are doing other things. That will help prolong their useful photo life.

Oh, and very nice beads too.

Mike

szglassy · #11 2010-12-01, 6:39pm

I'm lost...

What is an "OTT"? Is it a bulb? A lighting fixture?
You buy these at Micheals?

Enilghten me please

BellaBean · #12 2010-12-01, 7:52pm

It's a brand of light but you can just get the bulbs. Yes, Michael's has them. I also have noticed much less photo editing needed and better color with the Ott light.

pittypat · #13 2010-12-01, 8:56pm

OK, now I AM confused!! Could someone please explain to me exactly where the frosted panel goes? I thought it was under the beads.
Karen, is it possible for you to show your setup? I already have two ott lights I used for quilting, and now are at each side of my torch. BTW, your jewelry is beautiful....
Pat

DesertDreamer · #14 2010-12-01, 9:16pm

The frosted panel goes above the beads (I have a very simple frame, it's a Pendaflex hanging folder frame), and under the lights, to diffuse the light. I used to have a bright white nylon "sleeve" that fit over the frame, but didn't help very much.

Mike, how would I compensate for the halogens? I'm used to shooting in natural light (nature shots) so I'm at a loss with all this indoor stuff. And you're right, the shutter speeds for the halogen shots were very slow, so there's definitely some shaking going on. I'm always juggling shutter speed vs. depth of field for the overall shots. If I get f/7 I'm feeling lucky (but dissatisfied). And I admit it, I'm lazy about dragging out my tripod. My bad.

Thanks bunches for the compliments on my beads!

Here's the setup:

pittypat · #15 2010-12-01, 9:21pm

Jeezy Peezy!!! Thanks so much, Karen. I have one of those..think I will remove my light tent. I am trying to set up my photo area after moving and taking it all down...I have my halogen lights on the sides of my tent. Is that OK? I will have to try them on the top. I just knew I was not right when I put the frosted panel under my beads!! LOL

Thanks again, Pat

squid · #16 2010-12-01, 10:51pm

I have a tent - I will be using the acrylic on the bottom, not the top.

pittypat · #17 2010-12-01, 11:01pm

OK, Squiddie....are you trying to confuse me some more??? I tried it on the bottom and seem to be getting a shadow...is that right?
Thanks, Pat

Mike Jordan · #18 2010-12-01, 11:46pm

Karen, do you have the manual for your camera? It has several ways to adjust the white balance, from automatically (can be probmatic in tricky lighting, but good in normal light and sunlight), a number of presets (you get to select the type of light, again, good for normal lights and sunlight, but probmatic under tricky lighting) and there is One Touch (manual).

With One Touch, you press a button (I can't tell what the icon is, looks like a screen) which brings up the white balance screen. You point it at a white source with the light from your lamps falling evenlly on it (ideally here you would have a neuteral white source but a non-reflective white source will work) and fill the screen with the whihte object. You press another button, but again, I can't tell what the icon is, to set it and then press the same button until your white balance screen goes away. Your white balance should now be set for that light source as long as you don't move them around too much or add additional lights. If you add or take away lights or change to something different, you do the same thing again.

If you have Photoshop, you can also take a picture of a neutral white object and then use that picture to set the white balance for all of your other images taken at the same time under the same light.

A white piece of paper will work, although it's not the best. Paper has bleach and other brighteners to make it look white. This can show up funny under some lights and with some cameras. I've used white tee shirts, white tenna shoes (clean ones), white painted walls and white (un-used) coffee filters before to set white balance. I also have a number of things that are designed specifically to use for setting white balance too. Those work the best, but really, you just need to get it close if all you are going to do is show your images on the web. Some web software reduces the color information of images and a lot of monitors are not calibrated and don't show true colors anyway (although a lot of the new ones are pretty good at color) and actually enhance colors so they look better to our eyes.

If you don't have a manual, here is a link: http://www.olympusamerica.com/files/...ce_English.pdf

Mike

szglassy · #19 2010-12-02, 5:36pm

Thanks for the info on the OTT lights.

Nice set up Karen!

VivianLampwork · #20 2010-12-04, 3:32pm

I just revamped my photo area. I had a tent for the longest time & it finally started falling apart. I have 2 of those white plastic storage shelves & decided to use one of the shelves for making photos. I ran a thick wire from one side to the opposite side in a dome shape. It's sort of like an oblong X dome, if that makes sense. I got some white fabric from Hobby Lobby & draped it over the top. Then I clipped my lights on 2 sides. I realized the pictures came out better by having on in the front, shining on the beads, but behind the fabric. I put the frosted glass under the beads.

Mike Jordan · #21 2010-12-04, 10:57pm

White Sports Nylon from JoAnn's is pretty good as it is close to being the same thing as photo umbrellas and light boxes use. I've made a number of light panels and reflectors from it. The black Sports Nylon is good for controlling reflections and blocking light where you don't want it. When I bought it last it was about $6 a yard and cost a little more than the rip stop nylon but doesn't have the little zig-zag lines that rip stop has.

Mike