Anyone tried consumer LED bulbs?

L

LorenzSchattenmann

New member
Hi,

I own some Flolight gear, but wish to get rid of it and buy something more powerful.
I'm considering buying E26 light sockets and build my own equipment.

Anyone tried using consumer LED bulbs? If so, what about the result?

I could, of course, use halogen bulbs made specifically for photo/video use. But the LED have advantages of their own. I'm just unsure whether or not they are suitable.

Thanks,
Lorenz
 
Hi Lorenz. By more powerful, what model Flolight are you talking about ? There are many important considerations when building a led light for video use .Consumer leds are designed for general household use are not the ideal choice for making a video light with them. You will have to find a way to dim them ( almost impossible, as the driver is already pre-designed without dimming function and is an integral part of the bulb). The light output may be too low as to having to use several of them ( they really are equivalent to anywhere from 15 to 60 W halogen bulbs at best. The CRI (color rendering index is marginal for video use, around 75 ish) . Would require the AC mains voltage to drive them, as the built in driver will reduce that to a DC value for the leds, unless the leds are the MR-16 type that would require 12 VDC source. Beam angle is somewhat spotty (30 to 40 degrees usually). You can really go out, buy only one, do some tests with your camera and see if they would be suitable for your use. If not, it would make a fine table lamp substitute or you can bring it back for a refund.If your intended use is for a studio set-up on tripods, then you may need quite a bit of them and having to design an enclosure for gelling/filter on them in mind. Also important to consider is the fact that putting a few together ( 2 or more) per enclosure would introduce multiple shadows and by diffusing/bouncing them will reduce their output by a good margin. You may find that if you make your own using quality led components, dimmable drivers, optics/lenses, enclosure, heat management considerations, mathematical calculations, component sourcing, energy, tooling, and lots of patience, that it may well be more advantageous just to purchase a ready made unit. Unless you find the E26 consumer led is suitable.
 
Orange light ?? where ?, have you noticed the CRI of 94 and the fact that it is a direct replacement of a halo. ?
Orange would really be in the area of 2000K or lower.
 
Bruce Watson said:
Yet another orange light. And this they call "truewhite"? Feh.
Click to expand...

What they're really advertising is the 90+ CRI. Yes, the CCT is 2700K. If you want a high CRI LED in most cases you have to settle for color temperatures in the incandescent range. Hopefully this changes in the near future.

Question for the OP - What's wrong with staying with floros? Compared to incandescents they put less heat and use less energy for the same brightness. They're also available in a wide range of color temperatures. What are you looking for that's different than what you have?
 
Norman99 said:
Orange light ?? where ?, have you noticed the CRI of 94 and the fact that it is a direct replacement of a halo. ?
Orange would really be in the area of 2000K or lower.
Click to expand...

I noticed a claim of 90+ CRI, not 94. White (daylight) is in the 5000-5600K range. Above that it goes blue. Below that it goes orange. And this thing is way off on the orange side of the spectrum.

True, it's not as orange as candlelight. But it's considerably closer to candlelight than it is to daylight.
 
Norman99 said:
http://www.creeledlighting.com/Libraries/Detailed_Product_Information/LRP-38.sflb.ashx

Ok here's the CRI 94 puppy at 2700K , spotty and 600 lumens.

Wait till Cree offers a 1200 lumen flood at that CRI. and 3200K. Nothing at Cree is impossible.
Click to expand...

Cree is commuting distance from my house. I love Cree. But they are barking up the wrong tree offering low color temperature lamps. Especially if they are trying to sell them to museums and galleries. Most of those places know the difference between daylight and tungsten. Many (most?) of them are now using the Solux bulbs for color critical applications (like displaying paintings and photographs). The 4700K bulbs have a CRI very close to 100. Closest match I've ever seen to natural daylight (I bought mine before they came out with the 5000K bulbs).

Now if Cree would offer that, using LEDs, I'd be all over it. That's what I'm waiting for. To be able to fill the practicals with those and be able to shoot at 5600K white point, that's what dreams are made of.

OK, so my dreams are boring. What can I tell ya? :shocked:
 
Depending on the environment that one is shooting, the 5600K white point is fine for daylight lighting fill or main, but daylight is sometimes evening and, as we all know, the color temperature around those hours drop with the sun. In many surveys I have done as a Kelvin color preference, the majority is for the balancing of background tungsten ( 2800-3500K) for indoor shooting unless one is shooting ENG in outdoor noon on a cloudless day. As usual, gels and filtration is needed for overcast bluish or late setting sun scenario where deep yellow is called for. For many years videographers have always done well with the halogen bulbs at the 3500K ish color and when needed, the blue flip down or gell/filter was the tool of choice to balance things out in the outdoor arena. Today all the buzz is, of course, the led lights as the compelling factor is really the elimination of heavy batteries rather than the longevity. Here we have the opposite, as leds are usually given in the blue tones and a yellow filter is always included . You would never see a halogen with a yellow filter. The ideal native color temp, in my humble opinion, would be 4200K , as that would represent the neutral mid point by which little CC filtration would be needed to swing either way, thereby cutting a little from the output. With a 5600K to balance to 2800K would need some serious light robbing CC in the deep amber rather than a light yellow. I agree that natural daylight 5600K is great at a high CRI when used straight up for certain applications, but for videographers on the run and gun situations perhaps a versatile 3 temperature led unit is all that is needed without having to gell things. Interesting times indeed.
 
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