Tungsten film is
photographic film designed to accurately represent colors as perceived by humans under
tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...
light; the more usual color films are "daylight films", balanced to produce accurate colours under direct light from the sun or electronic flash. Tungsten film was developed for photographers who use tungsten lights, also known as
photoflood Photoflood lamps are a type of incandescent light bulb designed for use as a continuous light source for photographic
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by mea ...
s, which have a much lower
color temperature
Color temperature is the color of light emitted by an idealized opaque, non-reflective body at a particular temperature measured in kelvins. The color temperature scale is used to categorize the color of light emitted by other light sources ...
than daylight, at 3200
kelvin
The kelvin, symbol K, is the primary unit of temperature in the International System of Units (SI), used alongside its prefixed forms and the degree Celsius. It is named after the Belfast-born and University of Glasgow-based engineer and phy ...
s or 3400 kelvins. It also renders colors more accurately than daylight film under ordinary household incandescent lighting.
On daylight-balanced film
tungsten lighting
An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb with a vacuum or inert gas to protect the filament from oxidat ...
produces a spectrally accurate rendition of a scene; but human vision adjusts to the color of the lighting and perceives colors as if under daylight, seeing a spectrally accurate image as having a yellow-orange cast. Tungsten film is balanced in such a way that this lighting is recorded with a subjectively neutral color balance. When shot outdoors, tungsten film produces a strong blue cast, an effect which is often used purposely to create different color contrasts. In the motion picture industry the use of underexposed tungsten-balanced film in an outdoor setting is a common way of producing a "
day for night" effect, whereby film shot during the daytime looks as if it had been shot at night.
Tungsten slide films are designed to provide accurate exposure as well as color rendition even when exposed according to
exposure meter
A light meter is a device used to measure the amount of light. In photography, a light meter (more correctly an exposure meter) is used to determine the proper exposure for a photograph. The meter will include either a digital or analog calcula ...
readings indicating a long exposure; tungsten film can be used to avoid
reciprocity failure
In photography, reciprocity is the inverse relationship between the intensity and duration of light that determines the reaction of light-sensitive material. Within a normal exposure range for film stock, for example, the reciprocity law states t ...
which often occurs when using long exposures. Common
film speed
Film speed is the measure of a photographic film's sensitivity to light, determined by sensitometry and measured on various numerical scales, the most recent being the ISO system. A closely related ISO system is used to describe the relation ...
s for tungsten-balanced slide film are ISO 64, 160, and 320.
Examples
* Cinestill 800t
* Kodak 500t
* Ektachrome 64T
References
*Hedgecoe, John. ''The New Manual of Photography.'' 1st ed. New York: DK Inc, 2003. 128-130.
*https://cinestillfilm.com/collections/800tungs
*https://www.kodak.com/uploadedfiles/motion/TI2647.pdf
Photographic film types
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