Are there differences between compact fluorescent light bulbs?

You bet your sweet killowatt there is!

There are many, many differences between compact flourescent light bulbs. In fact there are so many differences that this section could get pretty complicated...and boring. So I will start broad and end narrow so you can quit reading when you've had enough.

Compact fluorescent can be U-Tube, spiral, A-shape (like tradititional bulbs),  flood type, par shape, globes, torpodoes, and a few others.

They can have regular medium bases (E26), candelabra bases (E12), 2-pin, 4-pin and even others that are less common.

There are basically three (3) types that we are interested in. These are the U-tube type, the spiral type and the circline type.

But those are just physical differences.

The differences that matter to you is how they act...how they perform for you and how will they work where you want to put them.

The biggest differences to consider for most of the common bulbs are color of light, how quick do they turn on, how long do they take to get to full brightness, how long do they last, how efficient they are, how they render colors and their size.

Light color is determined by something called color temperature. Color temperature is explained in more detail in another section, but all you really need to know is that most of the compact fluorescent light bulbs that you find in the mass retail outlets are either 'Soft White' which is 2700K (Degrees Kelvin) and is kind of a yellow-red in color or they can be 'Daylight' color which can range from 5500K to 6400K, which is distinctly more bluish in color.

For right now all you need to know is that 'Soft White' or 'Warm White' bulbs are yellowish-red and have a color temperature of about 2700K (Degrees Kelvin) and 'Daylight' bulbs can range from 5500K to 6400K and have a distinctive bluish tint to them to resemble the color of daylight. The higher the number the more blue they are.

There are many other different color temperatures available, but not generally in the mass retail outlets.

We make our "PhotoClear"  bulbs to the color temperatures that are used in television and professional studios. we make the indoor ones to 3200K, which is a more pure white than the yellow-red one that you find in most of the mass retailer outlets. We make the daylight ones to the same color as HMI lights that are also used on TV sets and movies for daylight color balance and fill. Most daylight color film is balanced for 5500K.

We think our color temperatures are the best for use indoors and out and there is no doubt that they will perform much better for photographic and video applications.

So you might ask. "How do I determine which color of light I want?" That is a very subjective question and really depends on your personal choice.

The next thing to consider is how quick your bulbs startup and how long it takes them to reach their peak brightness. Many of the inexpensive bulbs don't come on immediately when you switch them on. There's a delay. It may be a fraction of a second or even a full second or longer. And even when they finally turn on, they take up to a few minutes to get to their full brightness. We don't like that.

We make our lights to be quick starting. When you turn on the switch, they come on immediately and they are very close to their full brightness right out of the shoot. We have to give up 2000 hours of bulb life to get them to do that. (Our bulbs last for 6,000 hours instead of 8,000 hours). But, we feel it is worth it, not to have that nagging delay everytime you switch on the light.