Using JTL Everlight/ Superlight

Continuous tungsten lights are popular, affordable and easy to learn.

KNOWING THE COLOR TEMPERATURE

Taking pictures with JTL Everlight or Superlight is easy and interesting. To take great pictures with tungsten lights and your digital camera, understanding color temperature and setting white balance is necessary. All JTL tungsten lights come with high quality halogen bulbs made by Ushio Lighting CO, Japan. These bulbs are manufactured to meet the standards of the photography and television industries.               

The color temperature of halogen bulb included with the JTL Everlight and Superlight is 3000 Kelvin (3000 k). It is different from the color temperature of daylight, or what is sometimes referred as “white light.” Before taking any pictures, we must first tell the camera what type of lights we are working with. This crucial step is called white balance setting. When done correctly the pictures or videos recorded should look very similar to what our eyes see, with true colors, under normal daylight condition.

Normally, the Auto White Balance, AWB, setting on most professional digital cameras will set the optimum white balance automatically. If natural-looking colors cannot be obtained with AWB, you can set the white balance manually by using one of the following methods.

SETTING WHITE BALANCE

Depending on the camera model, these are some of the settings you may use to set the proper white balance: Preset Profile, Color Temperature, or Custom.
 

1. Preset Profile: Select “Tungsten” as the light source, usually indicated by a bulb icon . If there are more than one Tungsten setting, select the one with color temperature closest to 3000K
2. Set by Color Temperature: Select the “Color Temperature” mode, usually indicated by K . Then adjust the numerical value of the color temperature to 3000˚ K. Most professional cameras can set the color temperature from 2800K to 10000K in 100K increments.

3. Custom White Balance: Select “Custom WB” mode for the white balance setting, usually indicated by . In this mode, you will be prompted to shoot a white object that serves as a reference point for white balance setting. Usually a piece of white paper, a white wall, or a white plastic lid would do. For the most accurate white balance, use a dedicated white balance filter such as ExpoDisc or ExpoCap. By selecting this image just taken as a reference shot, the camera imported the data of this image and set it as the color white. Then the camera will create a profile to offset all other colors according to this reference white.  

With a digital camera, the color temperature can be adjusted with software so that the colors in the image look more natural. Your digital camera may have a function to correct the standard color temperature for the white balance setting. This adjustment will have the same effect as using a color compensation filter, and each color can be corrected. Please look at your digital camera instruction manual for more detail information for white balance setting or correction.

How to Set up JTL Everlight/ Superlight Kit

1. Mount your JTL Everlight/ Superlight on to the JTL Light stand (protective caps must be removed from top of stands before attempting to mount the lights). Remove protective cover from your JTL Everlight/ Superlight body, and install the bulbs. Note: Avoid touching the bulbs with bare hand. The grease from human skin will cause the bulb surface to be heated unevenly and thus shorten bulb life.
2. Assemble the soft boxes and attach the soft box to the front of the Everlight/ Superlight by aligning the three prongs on the connector with the slots on the light (for soft box assembly refer to soft box assembly instructions).
3. Once the Everlight/ Superlight is mounted on the stand, you can now adjust the height of the light by unlocking the three extension collars on the light stand. It is not recommended to adjust the height or position of the light while it is on.