Does the price of gels equal quality?

[mixedcolors10]

I'm looking into buying gels for my lighting set I'm putting together. I see cheap sets and I see really expensive ones. After doing some research I realize that gels are not made the same and you have to be careful that they can stand the heat of your lamps.

So my question is, I don't have 50 bucks to spend(if I have to, fine) on gels, are there are gels you can buy that are under 20 bucks that are going to be high standard gels, or am I going to have to spend some money on good ones? I was looking into Lee filters and they have good reviews but they are expensive as hell http://www.filmtools.com/lee-filters-master-location-lighting-pack.html


I'm wondering if a photography stores near me would sell these cheaper, I'll have to look, but in the mean time, any advice would be appreciated

 

[cheeseandachallenge]

I'm not a DoP or a gaffer, so I'm not really qualified to answer this. But one of the rental stores near me has bins full of free gels leftover from bigger productions. Sure, they can be a bit dusty, a little crinkled (though often there is a whole roll, so you can easily find undamaged stuff) and maybe you have to use to 1/4 gels to make a 1/2 gel. But it's free, and of good enough quality to be used on professional films, so that's good enough for me.

Maybe that's not common practice, but it may be worth asking rental stores near you if they have any offcuts they give away?

 

[jax_rox]

You can buy sheets for $20 or less. If it's Rosco or Lee gel then you shouldn't have any issue, unless you're attempting to use them on, say, te doors of a 12k.

 

[directorik]

As with just about everything; the cheaper a product is, the
cheaper the product is made. Cheep gels burn, melt and fade
faster than the good one. If you're using gels for five or six
shoots then the cheaper ones are fine. But spending the money
for the good ones means twenty to thirty shoots.