Barn doors for LED Panels

[Matthew B]

The company where I work have a couple of these https://www.fotodioxpro.com/studio-...immable-dual-color-photo-video-light-kit.html only there's have no barn doors. I have been scouring the web to try and buy the barn doors by themselves, but can't seem to find them anywhere. Have even tried contacting Fotodiox directly, with no response.

Are there any solutions, be it DIY or off-the-shelf that can add some barn doors to these little panels?

 

[David W. Jones]

In my opinion the only thing barn doors are good for on a panel like that, is for attaching diffusion and a grid.

 

[Phil Rhodes]

I tend to agree. The way to control things like that is with large solids on separate stands. Barn doors that are any practical size do next to nothing other than dim it slightly.

 

[David W. Jones]

The main issue is they cast multiple shadows.

 

[CharlesPapert]

The main issue is they cast multiple shadows.

True, if there is not any diffusion on the LED's. That unit has an integrated diffusion panel, but it looks like it only half-diffuses the LED's which I would call "taking the curse off".

So yes, probably the logical thing to do if one has barn doors on a unit like this is to remove the diffusion that is on top of the LED's and attach diffusion gel to the doors, as it will be softer and you may be able to go with a lighter grade which means greater transmission. With a thicker diffusion, you can widen out the doors and create a larger source than the original panel which is also very helpful. A little tricky to a grid because you'd have to find one that happens to fit whatever the dimensions of the barn doors become in that instance, but they could theoretically be cut down from a large one (and for the budget minded, you can get the same sort of thing sold as aquarium tops).

Above all, the takeaway here is that it a raw multi-LED source is a terror to try to cut or shape, the shadow pattern is horrendous.

 

[Lenilenapi]

I consider barn doors on an LED absolute necessity for the reasons Charles mentions. Sure they're useless for shaping the light but invaluable for diffusing it in an an effective and flexible way. Without diffusion they are ugly as hell. With diffusion on the barn doors they can be very effective lights.