🌞 Daylight vs. Tungsten: What’s the Difference?

These terms refer to color temperature, which describes the color of light emitted by different sources. It’s measured in Kelvin (K) and directly affects how your film or camera renders color.

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🌤️ Daylight-Balanced (Around 5500K–5600K)

What It Means:

Daylight-balanced film or sensors are calibrated for shooting in natural sunlight, which has a blue-white quality.

Common Situations:

• Outdoors in direct sunlight

• Bright overcast skies

• Flash photography (most flashes are daylight-balanced)

  
  

Examples:

• Kodak Vision3 50D

• Kodak Ektachrome 100D

  
  

If You Use It Indoors:

Indoor lighting (like standard tungsten bulbs) will look orange/yellow unless you:

• Use color correction filters (like an 80A blue filter)

• Color grade digitally after scanning.

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💡 Tungsten-Balanced (Around 3200K)

What It Means:

Tungsten-balanced film is designed for indoor lighting, specifically the warm, yellow-orange glow of tungsten incandescent bulbs.

Common Situations:

• Indoors under incandescent bulbs

• Stage or theater lighting

• Night interiors with warm practicals

Examples:

• Kodak Vision3 200T

• Kodak Vision3 500T

If You Use It Outdoors:

It will render a more blue hue unless you:

• Use an 85 filter (an amber filter that corrects tungsten to daylight)

• Color grade later if shooting on negative film 

🧠 Pro Tip:

Some filmmakers prefer the blue hue and thus shoot Tungsten outdoors with no filter

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🎨 Why This Matters

If you shoot film with the wrong color balance, your footage may end up with:

• Unwanted color casts (too blue or too orange)

• Skin tones that look a bit unnatural

• Difficulties in color correction if shooting reversal film like Ektachrome

With negative film (like Vision3 stocks), you have more flexibility to correct in post. With reversal film, accuracy matters more because it’s harder to fix after the fact.

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🔧 Quick Reference:

Light Source	Color Temp (K)	Best Film Type	Correction Filter
Midday Sunlight	~5500K	Daylight (D)	None
Flash	~5500K	Daylight (D)	None
Tungsten Bulb	~3200K	Tungsten (T)	None
Tungsten w/ Daylight Film	~3200K	Daylight (D)	80A (blue)
Daylight w/ Tungsten Film	~5500K	Tungsten (T)	85 (amber)

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🧠 Pro Tip:

If you're unsure what lighting you'll face or want flexibility, tungsten-balanced film (like 500T) is often the safer bet—it’s easier to correct blue-ish footage than footage that’s too warm, especially in post-production.