Lighting for Video camera at 3200 K

Hi there,

Daylight is blue (5600K and above is outdoor), interior light is yellow. Our eyes automatically adjust for this. Those lights are good. The bulbs are 3200k (yellow), which means they are indoor which is the norm in TV/Film lighting.

Depending on the model of camera it may have a wheel that sets the cameras filter to indoor / outdoor. All you need to do is set up the lights, set your camera to indoor then do a white balance (place a white card in front of the camera and push the white balance button). Or it may simply have a white balance button in which case you set up the lights, and do a white balance. The camera then calibrates for the light. That’s it.

If a room has a lot of daylight, then ideally you don't want to mix daylight (blue) with indoor (yellow) lights. So you put blue gel on the lights which makes the colour 5600k matching the daylight, giving you matching colour light. Set your camera to exterior and do a white balance.


Mixing light can produce nice effects, like a splash of blue cold light in the background of an interview. But generally faces should always be lit in the colour the camera is balanced for. Good luck with the shoot.