LED lights??

rachelrach11 · Nov 12, 2012

I was curious to see if anyone had experience using LED lights for photography? My sweet friend has 2 lights ( previously her dads) currently in storage and told me that I was more than welcome to use them.

She doesn't know much more than " It looks like a big 1980's Light Brite peg board box that has a million LED lights and they both have like a 20 ft plug. I think it has a knob to adjust settings"

Her father "dabbled " in photography hence the reason that I'm assuming this was what it was used for??

I wouldn't want her to make a special trip to get the lights out of storage and haul them in her car to let me "use" if this isn't something that I would be interested in......

tirediron · Nov 12, 2012

If it's from the 80s, it's not a LED type lightboard, could be a bank of microbulbs... If it's a relatively recent purchase, than it could well be an LED system. They do provide a nice light, BUT if they're not high-end units you will have LOTS of issues with colour shifts, oddball WB, etc.

KmH · Nov 12, 2012

Constant lights, or any kind, don't work well for things that move or people photography.

Timbo1961 · Nov 14, 2012

KmH said:
Constant lights, or any kind, don't work well for things that move or people photography.

I looked at LEDs recently and they are still not the best. I was looking for constant lights and ended up with the Westcott TD6 Spiderlites.
They have a colour reproduction index of 90+ and are constant no flicker.
I have a standard portrait setup with two lights and have exposure at ISO400 of 1/80 at f8.
thye allow me to adjust the f stop continuously with the beautiful depth of focus that you normally can't get with strobes.
As well, LEDs have colour shift as stated above.... there are really expensive ones that are better but not as bright.
If these are LEDs you are going to use ... be careful, shoot raw, and take a colour balance reading before.
Just my 2cents.
Tim

gsgary · Nov 14, 2012

Timbo1961 said:
I looked at LEDs recently and they are still not the best. I was looking for constant lights and ended up with the Westcott TD6 Spiderlites.
They have a colour reproduction index of 90+ and are constant no flicker.
I have a standard portrait setup with two lights and have exposure at ISO400 of 1/80 at f8.
thye allow me to adjust the f stop continuously with the beautiful depth of focus that you normally can't get with strobes.
As well, LEDs have colour shift as stated above.... there are really expensive ones that are better but not as bright.
If these are LEDs you are going to use ... be careful, shoot raw, and take a colour balance reading before.
Just my 2cents.
Tim

They are if you spend a lot of money some were tested in a pro UK mag and they were good but not cheap

lesliemorris85 · Jan 21, 2013

Ive been working with LED panels to create portraits for a while now, and Im not sure Id be comfortable going back to an all-flash studio at this point. Let me explain. I think any continuous light source is better at showing you what youll end up with. Its just easier to visualize what each light does for the subject and what all the lights do to each other when you mix them together.

greybeard · Jan 21, 2013

I bought an LED ring macro light a while back. It was a waste of money.

Derrel · Jan 21, 2013

lesliemorris85 said:
I’ve been working with LED panels to create portraits for a while now, and I’m not sure I’d be comfortable going back to an all-flash studio at this point. Let me explain. I think any continuous light source is better at showing you what you’ll end up with. It’s just easier to visualize what each light does for the subject and what all the lights do to each other when you mix them together.

I watched The Doug Gordon Experience photography workshop...Doug showed,over and over, how to use a small, hand-held LED light for fill and or accent lighting on individual- and two-person portraiture outdoors, even at twilight. Worked quite well. The key seems to be understanding how to USE continuous lighting for people work...Doug understands it quite well. He, and quite a few other wedding and event shooters understand how to use continuous lighting on-location; I would have to say, the vast,vast majority of shooters today are utterly uninformed about how to use this method. I know that I am NOT well-versed in it, whatsoever....until I actually SAW what he was able to do, I must admit, I had serious doubts...