bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

Many LED lights run off of small included transformers that will handle an input from 120-240VAC or will have built in multi-power transformers. Look on the power block that is part of the line cord or the LED light specification for the specifications. As an alternative, you can buy an inexpensive 240 to 120VAC step-down transformer from any electrical supply company. The step-down transformer will drop the 240VAC to 120VAC and allow you to run any 120VAC device as long as the power or current rating of the device is within the rating of the transformer. Australia uses a 60Hz line frequency, so there should be no problem.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

An excellent way to do it. My Son has a larger version (approx. 24" LED lite bank, rechargeable with a handle he uses for Auto/Truck/ATV/Boat repair work) that is rechargeable and puts out bright light for a few hours. I have many smaller units and they do make decent photo lights (not perfect, but very good). I don't know about AK, but they are very available and inexpensive at many outlets.

TheShoe Loc: Lacey, WA

What part of reasonable does it fit?

survivaldealer Loc: NE Utah

I use:
https://floydhumpherys.com/downloads/DSCN0682.JPG battery operated light turned off
https://floydhumpherys.com/downloads/DSCN0683.JPG battery operated light turned on


The settings are 0 to 100 It is set at 40 right now. I use it for 4k video and stills.

I bought it here: https://www.pictureline.com/collections/led-lights/products/f-v-z96-ultracolor-led-video-light

You can also plug it in and it comes with battery and charger

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I don't understand what you are asking or suggesting I was wrong about.

Bipod

Before buying an LED light, borrow an artist's pallete that's seen some use.
In dark room, illuminate it with the LED light and photograph it. If it doesn't
look the same as it does when photographed in sunlight, then don't buy the
LED light.

If that's too much trouble, then at least check the LED's Extended CRI rating.
Or if no Extended CRI rating is available, check it's CRI rating. If the rating is below
90, don't buy the light.
https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/color-rendering-index-leds/

Even a rating above 90 isn't no guarantee, but at least it will probably work
render most targest well enough with your camera. Color sensors differ in the particular
color triangle they use in their Color Filter Array: the exact center values of R, G and B
and how wide each band is. All are different than the human eye.

Or you could buy the light someplace where returns are not a hassle, and if it doesn't
work out, return it.

There have been big problems with LED lighting in photography and TV studios.
The NBC Peacock had some gray feathers.

survivaldealer Loc: NE Utah

There is more information on true full spectrum lighting here: https://www.waveformlighting.com/full-spectrum-led-lighting

I was told the F&V Z96 I spoke of above is full spectrum. Apparently marijuana growers like it because it is so close to the sun.

User ID

A very useful test, but a bit heavy handed or overstated. IOW, my own
el cheapo LED fails your overly stringent test. Some difference is visible
in the SOOC images. But the difference is well within an easy correction
range. So the LED's spectrum has sufficient levels of R, G, and B even
tho the balance is not quite a match for daylight. Different proportions,
but no actual "missing elements" of the spectrum.

I'd just adjust your advice a bit, from "reject it if it looks different" to
"reject it if it's not readily rebalanced to look the same or very similar"
to the photo of the same subject by real daylight.

-------------------------------------------------------------------


Image-wise, "if it looks good, it IS good" represents the pragmatic
approach for all but the most technical uses of photography. Color
of fabric, for instance, demands perfection in fashion work, but in
other applications "looks good IS good" rules. Natcherly, agreed
that "looks bad definitely sux !"

And acoarst, no one who doesn't have ready access to well used
artists' palette should ever pretend to be a photographer, so nolo
problemo on that matter .....

.

art pear Loc: North Dakota

Good answer. Lumecube is all you need to know.

Bipod

Only light produced by very hot filaments or plasma is truly continuous spectrum. These devices approximate a "black body radiator"
(hence the concept of "color temperature").

Cold lights rely fluorescence. White LEDs are like white fluorescent lights: a primary UV lights source causes a "phosphor"
layer to fluoresce A mixture of phosphors gives a mixture of colors -- ususally 3 or more bands -- which are combined to make "white"
light. The eye sees in RGB, so it looks white. So do digital cameras (but not the same RGB triangle), so it looks white to the camera
as well. But we aren't photographing the lamp, we are photographing a subject!

For illumination to work, the color the subject reflects (which might be a very narrow band) has to be present in the light source.
If it's not, that area will appear gray or black.

From a photographic standpoint,white LEDs have the same problems as fluorscent tubes: every one is different. A few are good; but most
are bad. The companies that sell you the light don't make the LEDs, so they are limited to what they can buy. Different batches of the same
part # LED can have different spectra--just as fluroscent tubes can vary.

The source of the light in an LED is electroluminescence The wavelength of the light is determined by the energy band gap of the
semiconductor. Only a very few semiconductors that emit light are feasible outside the laboratory: gallium arsenide and gallium nitride.
Some GaN are on a silicon substrate.

The first LEDs emitted low-intensity infrared light. Eventually someone figured out how to make one that emits red light.
That's all that were available for years. Both emitted a very narrow band of light--useless for photography and even
domestic lighting.

Eventually someone figured out how to make an LED that emitted UV light. UV will cause some substances to fluoresce.
Suddenly, green LEDs were possible. Eventually we got yellow and blue ones.

By combining different phosphors, it became possible to make a "white" LED -- just like a "white" fluorescent lights.
Are white fluorescent lights good for photography? Well a very few are, but most are terrible.

Color rending problems cannot be fixed by a filter or Photoshop. If two spectral hues in your subject don't exist in the
light, then they will both appear as shades of gray--perhaps the same shade. There's not fixing that.

Of course all manufacturers of LED lighitng for photography are going to claim their light's color rendoring is wonderful.
(And Maxwell House coffee is "good to the last drop" -- a slogan coined by Theodore Roosevelt.) Maybe some are.
But if you use flash, you are putting your trust in physics: all flash is continuous spectrum -- it's impossible to make a
flash that isn't except by putting a filter over the discharge tube. It works on the same principle -- plasma -- as the
surface of the sun. If you buy LED lights, your trusting that the batch of LEDs the manufacturer bought is a good blend
of "phosphors".

The company that made the studio light didn't make the LEDs--they bought them out of catalog, just as
you could. One hopes that they test each shipment--but who knows. The vast majority of white LEDs are purchased
for use as flashlights and such, where good color rendering is not a requirements. LEDs are made in places like
China and Malaysia--and sold by exporters. Often it's hard to tell where who actually manufactured a part. Common electronics
components are like commodities.

That's why Extended CRI and TV ratings by an independent lab are so important. If an good LED part gets discontinued
(happens all the time with semiconductors), the company isn't going to stop making it light. They are going to order a
substitute part--which may not be as good. They are not going to tell you that. (Believe me, I know.)

In one respect, and LED light is definitely worse than a fluorescent light: In the latter, if you don't like the tube you change
it to a different one! And it used to be that you could by a tube made by a giant company like GE that actually manufactured
the tube--they didn't buy it from a parts wholesaler. Unfortunately, small, cheap electronics components are all "grey market":
many brand-name parts are counterfeit. If you're going to buy a million of some part, you probably could buy direct from
a major manufactuer. Sony or Rayovac may be buy LEDs in that kind of quantity, but no studio lighting manufacture does.

BTW, marijuana growers prefer sodium vapor lamps. Green plants absorb yellow light but reflect green light. That's why leaves
are green--they are full of chlorophyll, which is intensely green. Sodium vapor lamps are efficient lamps, but even more so
in greenhouse applications because plants can use all of the emitted light.

survivaldealer Loc: NE Utah

Very informative!
Thanks for taking the time to post.

Bipod

You're welcome!

I got sick of guessing about light quality, so I built a spectroscope.
It doesn't tell me anything about color temperature or intensity of
various wavelengths, but I can spot a missing band.

For example, it can detect the Fraunhofer lines in sunlight
(which fortunately for photographers are very narrow).

I bought replica diffraction grating. I made the slit out of two razor blades.
It has a scale. I used spectra of known sources (e.g., sodium lines) to
roughly calibrate the scale (in angstrom units). This was years ago--since
then, several how-to websites have appeared:
http://www.inpharmix.com/jps/CD_spectro.html

Inexpensive spectroscopes for school use are sometimes available from Edmund
Optics and similar suppliers.

Anyway, it turns out some white LEDs are very good: what looks like a continuous
spectrum. But others are very bad, The good ones turn up in photographic lights,
house lighting, flashlights and indicator lights. So do the bad ones.

So if anyone happens to have an LED light that seems to give good color rendering,
don't sell it! Over time, technology usually gets better, 'tis true--but so do the
folks making counterfeit parts. Supply chains have never been more opaque then
they are today.

On another thread, gwilliams6 told me about a GE fluorescent tube that a
lot of photographers and labs used -- it was considered a "standard".
But GE has sold its lighting business to American Industrial Partners,
a NY-based private equity firm. Who knows if the quality will remain
as good, or if the new owner will focus on cutting costs?

Bipod

While you may be able to re-balance the color during processing
in this case -- say, turn aquamarine back into tourquoise-- the next
time it may be a lilac shade appearing as gray.

How do you re-balance gray to lilac?

To make an analogy: if there's an open man hole in the middle of
your patio, you may be able to step over it. But one of these days,
chances are you'll step into it. Same goes if you have a hole in your
lighting spectrum.