Supplier of high CRI daylight-balanced CFL in Canada?
 

Hi,

Anyone know where I might find high-CRI, daylight-balanced (5000 - 5700K) CFL (i.e. suitable for photo/videography) in Canada?

The Home Depot N:Vision bulbs seem well recommended, but unfortunately Home Depot here in Canada don't stock them.

Cheers.

My brother has been using the N:Vision daylight bulbs from Home Depot. I don't do professional product photography, but I've seen decent results for my eBay posts with the 300W warm white CFL from Home Depot. 300W !! The bulb is huge, but it's easier than dealing with the Y-sockets and two 100W bulbs. The 150W N:vision bulbs always flickered for me.

Do you realize that Home Depot also sells the high CRI Philips ColorTone C50 T12 tubes? You can break a case and get them for cheap. if you buy them individually packaged on the shelf, it's twice as much. Occasionally, you'll see the C50 two-packs that are as inexpensive as the "broken case" price.

Yes, I know there are some high quality T12 tubes out there (although, again, I cannot see the Philips ColorTone 50 tubes in the Home Depot Canada on-line catalogue), but I'm really looking for compact spiral/twister bulbs to use in a DIY soft-box.

I'm thinking of either a single 85 - 100 Watt bulb or maybe 4 x 27 watt bulbs using a 4-in-1 adapter like this:

4 IN 1 LAMP SOCKET ADAPTER CONVERT 1 BUBL TO 4 BULBS - eBay (item 310148436991 end time Jul-12-09 17:37:21 PDT)

Tried a Philips 27 Watt 'Marathon' CFL (5000K). Not sure about the CRI, but there was a definite blue cast (spike) that persisted after white balancing.

If my only and last resort is to ship in from the US, I'll likely go for the Alzo 5500K cool-lite bulbs, which have a good reputation:

Replacement Photo Light Bulbs from ALZO digital

Yes, I know there are some high quality T12 tubes out there (although, again, I cannot see the Philips ColorTone 50 tubes in the Home Depot Canada on-line catalogue), but I'm really looking for compact spiral/twister bulbs to use in a DIY soft-box.

I'm thinking of either a single 85 - 100 Watt bulb or maybe 4 x 27 watt bulbs using a 4-in-1 adapter like this:

4 IN 1 LAMP SOCKET ADAPTER CONVERT 1 BUBL TO 4 BULBS - eBay (item 310148436991 end time Jul-12-09 17:37:21 PDT)

Tried a Philips 27 Watt 'Marathon' CFL (5000K). Not sure what the CRI is, but there was a definite blue cast (spike) that persisted after white balancing.

If my only and last resort is to ship in from the US, I'll likely go for the Alzo 5500K cool-lite bulbs, which have a good reputation:

Replacement Photo Light Bulbs from ALZO digital