The 411 on Various Lighting Types from WikiBooks:
Video/Film recording lights use many different bulb types. Some are standards from Edison (tungsten) but others are cutting edge of the 2000s (LED). Most bulb types use a filament-ignition process to produce light. A wire of some electrically excitable material is put under voltage in a oxygen-depleted environment, causing it to 'burn' without lighting afire. Fluorescent bulbs and LEDs function rather differently from filament bulbs.
Tungsten
A tungsten light is basically a more powerful version of a common household lightbulb. While a household light bulb may only take a few hundred watts at most, lights that are used to light film sets are easily 1000 watts (1K) and often over 20,000 watts (20K). The tungsten light bulb naturally produces an orange hue, similar to indoor lights. Tungsten lights have a color temperature ranging from 3200 to 3400 Kelvin. One typically uses a CTB filter to balance the color temperature with outdoor or HMI light.
Redheads
Redheads are a specific type of open-faced light made by Ianiro. They are very compact and come in 600 and 650 watt versions. They are also known as Mickey-Moles (when made by Mole-Richardson). The term is often used to loosely describe smaller, open-faced lights.
Blondes
Blondes are a 2k open-faced light. Because they are open-faced, they tend to put out more light than a 2k fresnel.
Halogen-Quartz
Halogen-Quartz bulbs, often known as "Halogens" or "Quartz" are a staple of lighting. Halogens rarely posses a color temperature outside of 3200°K. These same bulbs are often used in car headlights, portable worklights, and recently in house-decor lighting. The bulbs come in wattages ranging from 15W-3500W. Additionally the are manufactured in a wide range of enclosures, bases, and connectors. Common are the "T", and bayonet base. Halogens emit significant amounts of heat during operation, so much so that oils on the glass surface of the bulb case lead to un-even heat distribution and rupturing (through thermal shock to the glass) or heat build-up and exploding gas within the bulb.
HMI
An HMI light is used very often to light film sets. One requires a ballast in order to power and creates a loud noise when turning on, so it is set protocol to yell "striking" in order to warn others on set to both ignore the noise and avoid looking at the light. The HMI light is a different type of light bulb than the more common tungsten. An HMI emits ultra-violet lights and emits a blue hue. HMI lights produce a color temperature around 5600 Kelvin. One typically use a CTO filter to balance the color temperature with indoor or tungsten light.
Fluorescent
Fluorescent bulbs were not used for lighting film and video until recently. This was because of problems with flicker and a tendency to emit more of a greenish hue. The Fluorescent lights used in film now are made to be flicker-free and come in both daylight and tungsten balanced bulbs. "Kino-flo" is one of the major companies involved in making fluorescent bulbs and fixtures for film and video production. Fluorescent lights tend to be very soft, but do not put out much light in comparison to other lighting instruments.
LED
Until the last five to ten years Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) have seen little implimentation. Recent advances in production costs and chemical advances used in the diode junctions have led to inexpensive LED 'bulbs' as well as even color temperatures in multiple bulbs. LEDs are manufactured in all colors, and white comes in many color temperatures; 3200K being the most common, but ranging from 3000K to 5600K+. Diodes, due to their engineered design tend to have a very directional light. The front lens is parabolic, focusing the light to a small dot even several meters away.
