What think ye ... of LEDs?

Moving Pictures · February 12, 2012

The Lady and I recently purchased a new lamp for our living room - one of those dual-light jobs, the second, lower light intended for reading/whatever. I slid a three-way CFL in the top socket, and a 40W LED equivalent in the second socket. The LED light is quite bright, and seems white-ish, leaning to warm.

Now, the LED lights are spendy .... we paid, methinks, $35 for the one. But I wonder if they'd have any studio or portable lighting applications?

Anyone try these? I have pondered buying one and using in a portable clamp-mounted light frame I have ... In the news biz, I do a lot of work on-site, where I have to create the best of what's usually a home or other less-than-ideally-lit environment, and one of these might add some interesting contrasts/moods, etc. (translation: Me want toy. OK it be me buy toy?)

PS: Not sure what area this should be posted in - move as needed.

pathfinder · February 12, 2012

GE makes some nice led floodlights with a stated color temp of 3000K, that I have in my kitchen can sockets in the ceiling. The light looks quite nice, and I suspect will give good imaging if shot with an in camera custom color adjustment.

They are expensive, about $40 a pop at Lowe's, but only use about 10 watts of power and are dimmable.
I suspect a bank of them behind a behind a diffusion screen might give nice soft light, but have not tried it yet myself.

divamum · February 12, 2012

I just bought one of these. IN.LOVE.

Now, I wouldn't use it as a main light in formal portraits, but as a hairlight, kicker, or lightweight, close-to-subject fill in my small space (and probably outdoors too)? An excellent cheap addition to the gearbox.

angevin1 · February 12, 2012

Moving Pictures wrote: »

.

Now, the LED lights are spendy .... we paid, methinks, $35 for the one. But I wonder if they'd have any studio or portable lighting applications?

Anyone try these? I have pondered buying one and using in a portable clamp-mounted light frame I have ... In the news biz, I do a lot of work on-site, where I have to create the best of what's usually a home or other less-than-ideally-lit environment, and one of these might add some interesting contrasts/moods, etc. (translation: Me want toy. OK it be me buy toy?)
.

Plenty of studio application to be found. Borrowlenses in fact rents a nice kit that I think retails for about $3800. Renting is what I'd recommend before deciding to spend any money. If you're thinking you're gonna use these same lamps you bought in a studio app...I'd say not without buying a box or 2 of them.

As far as a bulb to bring with you to add to a interior 'news' scene, I'd think yes, something to try.

angevin1 · February 12, 2012

divamum wrote: »

I just bought one of these. IN.LOVE.

Now, I wouldn't use it as a main light in formal portraits, but as a hairlight, kicker, or lightweight, close-to-subject fill in my small space (and probably outdoors too)? An excellent cheap addition to the gearbox.

I'm still waiting to see the results of this...or did I miss it? I used mine recently on a Video interview just to add some side kick. But that was at 1600 ISO,f/4, and 1/60th with a bunch of interior light in place...so until I see those results I am skeptical!

divamum · February 12, 2012

angevin1 wrote: »

I'm still waiting to see the results of this...or did I miss it? I used mine recently on a Video interview just to add some side kick. But that was at 1600 ISO,f/4, and 1/60th with a bunch of interior light in place...so until I see those results I am skeptical!

You did miss it!! It's never going to work as a main light, but as a kicker it's great, especially for $35! The last shot in this blog post was used as a hairlight behind her (and you can also see where it's shining through her hair on camera left - subtle, but that's what I like about it! There's another one where the hairlight is more visible in this post here - I like that it's more visible as a rim, but against the dark bg it kind of looked like artefacting. I did some where it's a hairlight against a lighter bg, and I like the way it actually warmed/toned the bg (that particular BG is one side of a b/w combo, and the black bleeds through a little making the white look kinda blue - the light warmed it just enough

). I think I was only using it on about half-power for these, so it really was just a tickle of extra light.

angevin1 · February 12, 2012

divamum wrote: »

You did miss it!! It's never going to work as a main light, but as a kicker it's great, especially for $35! The last shot in this blog post was used as a hairlight behind her (and you can also see where it's shining through her hair on camera left - subtle, but that's what I like about it! There's another one where the hairlight is more visible in this post here - I like that it's more visible as a rim, but against the dark bg it kind of looked like artefacting. I did some where it's a hairlight against a lighter bg, and I like the way it actually warmed/toned the bg (that particular BG is one side of a b/w combo, and the black bleeds through a little making the white look kinda blue - the light warmed it just enough ). I think I was only using it on about half-power for these, so it really was just a tickle of extra light.

Okay, I see it now. Great! Nice to see it works for you! I am amazed it can shine thru a flashed scene.

novicesnapper · February 22, 2012

Divamum, did you see some of the diffusers for those lights? I also was looking at them a few months ago, and some of the suppliers offered different covers, to change the light, almost like gels. I think I read where some where putting sheets of paper on them, to diffuse the intensity. I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one that noticed them lol. Also two differant sizes where out there, a large one and a smaller one.
Here's a search on Amazon, showing several different sizes http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=LED+Video+Light&x=0&y=0
Here's one with the filters http://www.amazon.com/NEEWER%C2%AE-Digital-Camcorder-Panasonic-Samsung/dp/B004JZL05Q/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1329921901&sr=1-7

lifeinfocus · February 22, 2012

How many Lumens?
I think the question to ask is how many lumens it produces, versus wattage? Wattage is how much power is being used whereas Lumens indicates how bright it is. This is not the color of the light.

I compared LEDs a few years ago to CFLs and the brightness was considerably better for CFL, but CFL bulbs can be very large and fragile. So, hopefully LEDs are brighter now.

Phil

pathfinder · February 22, 2012

Years ago I built a box out of Masonite with 8 Photoflood CFLs, and a white fiberglass scrim for diffusion, and it drew 800 watts. It was pretty dim actually and the color was not lovely, but for black and white film noir it was interesting at least. Now I want to upgrade it with the following.

8 of the GE LED Par 30 floodlights, ( GE # 64312 ) will draw 80 watts, and emit 4000 lumens ( 500 per bulb ) of 300K temperature. 4000 lumens is a lot of light, a lot of light..... for only 80 watts.

GE says that have an expected lifespan of 22.8 years - I am not sure how reliable that is just yet. We were all told CFLs would last a very long time also, but that has not been my general impression of CFLs.

angevin1 · February 23, 2012

pathfinder wrote: »

Years ago I built a box out of Masonite with 8 Photoflood CFLs, and a white fiberglass scrim for diffusion, and it drew 800 watts. It was pretty dim actually and the color was not lovely, but for black and white film noir it was interesting at least. Now I want to upgrade it with the following.

8 of the GE LED Par 30 floodlights, ( GE # 64312 ) will draw 80 watts, and emit 4000 lumens ( 500 per bulb ) of 300K temperature. 4000 lumens is a lot of light, a lot of light..... for only 80 watts.

GE says that have an expected lifespan of 22.8 years - I am not sure how reliable that is just yet. We were all told CFLs would last a very long time also, but that has not been my general impression of CFLs.

Hey, I want to see that result!

lifeinfocus · February 23, 2012

pathfinder wrote: »

Years ago I built a box out of Masonite with 8 Photoflood CFLs, and a white fiberglass scrim for diffusion, and it drew 800 watts. It was pretty dim actually and the color was not lovely, but for black and white film noir it was interesting at least. Now I want to upgrade it with the following.

8 of the GE LED Par 30 floodlights, ( GE # 64312 ) will draw 80 watts, and emit 4000 lumens ( 500 per bulb ) of 300K temperature. 4000 lumens is a lot of light, a lot of light..... for only 80 watts.

GE says that have an expected lifespan of 22.8 years - I am not sure how reliable that is just yet. We were all told CFLs would last a very long time also, but that has not been my general impression of CFLs.

I have used Alzo digital 45w and 85 watt CFLs, rated at 2,800 and 4,250 lumens per bulb. But the 85 watt is 10 inches long. Even with a mixture of these setup lighting was still an issue and the bulbs are fragile.

http://www.alzodigital.com/online_store/light_bulbs_compact_fluorescent-daylight.htm

What think ye ... of LEDs?

Comments