Still relevant with LED technology
September 16, 2020
There are still very valid reasons, like color fidelity, to purchase and use gels even with professional LED lights instead of relying on the filter presets and other built in color controls.
Recently however I heard a gaffer make the smart suggestion that anytime a DP asks to see the ROSCO and/or LEE filter presets in his LED lights, he hands them the swatch book so that they can pick the one they like the best.
I liked the suggestion so much that I bought both the ROSCO filter book and the LEE filter book for that exact reason, and it works perfectly.
Instead of cycling through the built in filters (which are ordered numerically) it's much easier to flip through the swatch book, find the one you'd like to see, and then set the light to the respective number. For only a few bucks it's definitely a worthwhile purchase when you have LEDs!
