Constant light or flash: Hi all, Just been buying a few bulbs I bought a cheap 3 light set up with 3 45 watt E27 lamps stands bulb holders and a couple of umbrellas, not impressive I...

blackest Loc: Ireland

Hi all,
Just been buying a few bulbs I bought a cheap 3 light set up with 3 45 watt E27 lamps stands bulb holders and a couple of umbrellas, not impressive I was using my black magic cinema camera at 24fps so 1/48th shutter speed base iso 800 and was maybe 2 stops under exposed.

So I looked at the setup I was cribbing from, 105watt cfl lamps, couple of those for around 20 dollars on amazon and I measured the light from around 10 feet bouncing from a large reflective umbrella and my Minolta measured
ISO 800 f2 1/60th adding the second set up similarly mounted and it metered ISO 800 f2 1/120th.

Which matches what I expected double the light gives 1 more stop of light.

I wanted a third light so this time I bought a 40watt led bulb about the same price as both 105 watt cfl bulbs (all daylight balanced 5500k bulbs) that arrived this morning and gave ISO 800 f2 and 1/250th

Yep 1 stop more than both 105 watt CFLs combined. Probably can’t dim these but with nd filters it’s not too much of a problem.

Light is logarithmic the closer the subject is to the light the brighter the exposure and more rapid the fall off. 1.4 2 2.8 if your subject is at 2 then the light at 1.4 is doubled and at 2.8 is half at 4 it’s a 1/4 sound familiar ..
It’s unit less so if it’s 2 feet then 4 feet would be 2 stops light in meters it’s the same fall off but a greater distance.
Now you can use your knowledge of f stops to figure out where you want your subject, background and lights to be.

Light modifiers, I have L type speed light mounts which lets me use Bowen’s S mount and elenchrome light modifiers
These come with the little light stand holder bits of aluminium, which are not needed for most light stands but I used one to screw onto the back of the l bracket instead of the cold shoe which enabled me to fit the e27 bulb holder in its place and use lamps instead of speed lights. A very easy modification giving me most of the modifiers I have for speed lights. Temperatures even with a 105 watt cfl were warm not hot. The only modifier I couldn’t use was my snoot I don’t think it will fit over the bulbs and wouldn’t give much cooling if I did.

So what can I say constant light doesn’t have to be expensive the bulbs are fairly cheap and at light levels where you can keep ISO Fairly low. Obviously not as flexible as the studio lights that you can adjust the power but you can easily spend $1000 on a single light compared with a $20 led bulb. Hope this has been interesting and now to get told why this is horrible lighting 😀

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

blackest wrote:

Hi all,
Just been buying a few bulbs I bought a cheap 3 light set up with 3 45 watt E27 lamps stands bulb holders and a couple of umbrellas, not impressive I was using my black magic cinema camera at 24fps so 1/48th shutter speed base iso 800 and was maybe 2 stops under exposed.

So I looked at the setup I was cribbing from, 105watt cfl lamps, couple of those for around 20 dollars on amazon and I measured the light from around 10 feet bouncing from a large reflective umbrella and my Minolta measured
ISO 800 f2 1/60th adding the second set up similarly mounted and it metered ISO 800 f2 1/120th.

Which matches what I expected double the light gives 1 more stop of light.

I wanted a third light so this time I bought a 40watt led bulb about the same price as both 105 watt cfl bulbs (all daylight balanced 5500k bulbs) that arrived this morning and gave ISO 800 f2 and 1/250th

Yep 1 stop more than both 105 watt CFLs combined. Probably can’t dim these but with nd filters it’s not too much of a problem.

Light is logarithmic the closer the subject is to the light the brighter the exposure and more rapid the fall off. 1.4 2 2.8 if your subject is at 2 then the light at 1.4 is doubled and at 2.8 is half at 4 it’s a 1/4 sound familiar ..
It’s unit less so if it’s 2 feet then 4 feet would be 2 stops light in meters it’s the same fall off but a greater distance.
Now you can use your knowledge of f stops to figure out where you want your subject, background and lights to be.

Light modifiers, I have L type speed light mounts which lets me use Bowen’s S mount and elenchrome light modifiers
These come with the little light stand holder bits of aluminium, which are not needed for most light stands but I used one to screw onto the back of the l bracket instead of the cold shoe which enabled me to fit the e27 bulb holder in its place and use lamps instead of speed lights. A very easy modification giving me most of the modifiers I have for speed lights. Temperatures even with a 105 watt cfl were warm not hot. The only modifier I couldn’t use was my snoot I don’t think it will fit over the bulbs and wouldn’t give much cooling if I did.

So what can I say constant light doesn’t have to be expensive the bulbs are fairly cheap and at light levels where you can keep ISO Fairly low. Obviously not as flexible as the studio lights that you can adjust the power but you can easily spend $1000 on a single light compared with a $20 led bulb. Hope this has been interesting and now to get told why this is horrible lighting 😀

Hi all, br Just been buying a few bulbs I bought a... (show quote)

But they won't stop action!!!!!

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I just recently purchased an inexpensive light set. https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1323079-REG/savage_led60k_r_savage_500w_led_studio.html/c/product/1323079-REG/Savage_500W_LED_Studio_Light_Kit

I'm quite pleased with it. I like the constant light source due to the ability to precisely place shadows and highlights that can be a hit or miss proposition with strobes. These lights are remotely controlled for brightness and can be combined with a strobe or two if one desires to have some accent lights, as well.
--Bob

blackest wrote:

Hi all,
Just been buying a few bulbs I bought a cheap 3 light set up with 3 45 watt E27 lamps stands bulb holders and a couple of umbrellas, not impressive I was using my black magic cinema camera at 24fps so 1/48th shutter speed base iso 800 and was maybe 2 stops under exposed.

So I looked at the setup I was cribbing from, 105watt cfl lamps, couple of those for around 20 dollars on amazon and I measured the light from around 10 feet bouncing from a large reflective umbrella and my Minolta measured
ISO 800 f2 1/60th adding the second set up similarly mounted and it metered ISO 800 f2 1/120th.

Which matches what I expected double the light gives 1 more stop of light.

I wanted a third light so this time I bought a 40watt led bulb about the same price as both 105 watt cfl bulbs (all daylight balanced 5500k bulbs) that arrived this morning and gave ISO 800 f2 and 1/250th

Yep 1 stop more than both 105 watt CFLs combined. Probably can’t dim these but with nd filters it’s not too much of a problem.

Light is logarithmic the closer the subject is to the light the brighter the exposure and more rapid the fall off. 1.4 2 2.8 if your subject is at 2 then the light at 1.4 is doubled and at 2.8 is half at 4 it’s a 1/4 sound familiar ..
It’s unit less so if it’s 2 feet then 4 feet would be 2 stops light in meters it’s the same fall off but a greater distance.
Now you can use your knowledge of f stops to figure out where you want your subject, background and lights to be.

Light modifiers, I have L type speed light mounts which lets me use Bowen’s S mount and elenchrome light modifiers
These come with the little light stand holder bits of aluminium, which are not needed for most light stands but I used one to screw onto the back of the l bracket instead of the cold shoe which enabled me to fit the e27 bulb holder in its place and use lamps instead of speed lights. A very easy modification giving me most of the modifiers I have for speed lights. Temperatures even with a 105 watt cfl were warm not hot. The only modifier I couldn’t use was my snoot I don’t think it will fit over the bulbs and wouldn’t give much cooling if I did.

So what can I say constant light doesn’t have to be expensive the bulbs are fairly cheap and at light levels where you can keep ISO Fairly low. Obviously not as flexible as the studio lights that you can adjust the power but you can easily spend $1000 on a single light compared with a $20 led bulb. Hope this has been interesting and now to get told why this is horrible lighting 😀

Hi all, br Just been buying a few bulbs I bought a... (show quote)

lsimpkins Loc: SE Pennsylvania

I, too, would prefer constant light to strobes in order to control shadows, reflections, etc. However, I wonder if you will have white balance problems with the mix of CFL and LED lamps. Even LEDs with a (relatively) high CRI value are difficult since LEDs emit light in specific tight wavelengths that are then filtered internally to produce an approximation of white. Let us know how this works out.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

blackest wrote:

Hi all,
Just been buying a few bulbs I bought a cheap 3 light set up with 3 45 watt E27 lamps stands bulb holders and a couple of umbrellas, not impressive I was using my black magic cinema camera at 24fps so 1/48th shutter speed base iso 800 and was maybe 2 stops under exposed.

So I looked at the setup I was cribbing from, 105watt cfl lamps, couple of those for around 20 dollars on amazon and I measured the light from around 10 feet bouncing from a large reflective umbrella and my Minolta measured
ISO 800 f2 1/60th adding the second set up similarly mounted and it metered ISO 800 f2 1/120th.

Which matches what I expected double the light gives 1 more stop of light.

I wanted a third light so this time I bought a 40watt led bulb about the same price as both 105 watt cfl bulbs (all daylight balanced 5500k bulbs) that arrived this morning and gave ISO 800 f2 and 1/250th

Yep 1 stop more than both 105 watt CFLs combined. Probably can’t dim these but with nd filters it’s not too much of a problem.

Light is logarithmic the closer the subject is to the light the brighter the exposure and more rapid the fall off. 1.4 2 2.8 if your subject is at 2 then the light at 1.4 is doubled and at 2.8 is half at 4 it’s a 1/4 sound familiar ..
It’s unit less so if it’s 2 feet then 4 feet would be 2 stops light in meters it’s the same fall off but a greater distance.
Now you can use your knowledge of f stops to figure out where you want your subject, background and lights to be.

Light modifiers, I have L type speed light mounts which lets me use Bowen’s S mount and elenchrome light modifiers
These come with the little light stand holder bits of aluminium, which are not needed for most light stands but I used one to screw onto the back of the l bracket instead of the cold shoe which enabled me to fit the e27 bulb holder in its place and use lamps instead of speed lights. A very easy modification giving me most of the modifiers I have for speed lights. Temperatures even with a 105 watt cfl were warm not hot. The only modifier I couldn’t use was my snoot I don’t think it will fit over the bulbs and wouldn’t give much cooling if I did.

So what can I say constant light doesn’t have to be expensive the bulbs are fairly cheap and at light levels where you can keep ISO Fairly low. Obviously not as flexible as the studio lights that you can adjust the power but you can easily spend $1000 on a single light compared with a $20 led bulb. Hope this has been interesting and now to get told why this is horrible lighting 😀

Hi all, br Just been buying a few bulbs I bought a... (show quote)

I agree I anyway can get good lighting results with out spending much. I have three drafting / drawing lamps with CFL bubs. I just bought the cheap ones that are "daylight" 5000K, not even the photographic 5500K. The two longer lamp arms I got for nothing as they were my late Father-In-Law's. He was an architect, old school hand drawn plans. The short one came from a thrift store. I put medical gauze tubing over the lamps to diffuse the light a bit.

I would like to (also) move up to using LED lights (bulbs) but they cost a lot more even for standard home use bulbs. Also a couple small softboxes would be nice. For my birthday later this month I bought myself a couple new electronic flash units. That will be fun to play with. I have a few really old low power film era ones as well.

It is crazy but I do have sets of other lights that take up too much room in my house to use. I have a set of three hot 3200K Quartz lamps and stands. And an old school professional studio strobe system with the huge power supply and cords running everywhere to my two strobe heads. Again takes up too much space to set up. It may seem strange so many sea shells when I actually shoot flowers indoors and outdoors mostly.

Cowry Sea Shell - Living Room Table Top Studio.

(Download)

Spider Conch Sea Shell
Spider Conch Sea Shell...

(Download)

Queen Conch - One of my former instructors said I should try using a reflector to get more light on the front / inside. I tend to agree. This was primarily lite thru the photo table plastic.

(Download)

Cactus Flower Cut And Shot Indoors

(Download)

blackest Loc: Ireland

rmalarz wrote:

I just recently purchased an inexpensive light set... (show quote)

Not a bad set for the money. I have to revise my assessment of the led 40 watt reflected in an umbrella 44” at about 8 feet iso800 f2 1/120th

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01FJRW8G2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Can’t say how long it will live, reviews are mixed. Cri is 80 and it’s not dim able.

Just a general note for a soft light you should aim to have the subject distance the same as the diameter of the light e.g my beauty dish is around 42cm and needs to be about 16 inches away, for my reflective umbrella that’s 43 inches.

Bigger is better and smaller may not work and be a waste of money. It’s a real pain learning physics through your wallet.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Thanks for the pointer on subject distance. Due to the excessive heat outdoors this weekend, it will be an excellent chance for me to check that out.
--Bob

blackest wrote:

Not a bad set for the money. I have to revise my a... (show quote)

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

lamiaceae wrote:

I agree I anyway can get good lighting results wit... (show quote)

Excellent shots!

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

Manglesphoto wrote:

But they won't stop action!!!!!

Neither will his camera.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

blackest wrote:

Hi all,
Just been buying a few bulbs I bought a cheap 3 light set up with 3 45 watt E27 lamps stands bulb holders and a couple of umbrellas, not impressive I was using my black magic cinema camera at 24fps so 1/48th shutter speed base iso 800 and was maybe 2 stops under exposed.

So I looked at the setup I was cribbing from, 105watt cfl lamps, couple of those for around 20 dollars on amazon and I measured the light from around 10 feet bouncing from a large reflective umbrella and my Minolta measured
ISO 800 f2 1/60th adding the second set up similarly mounted and it metered ISO 800 f2 1/120th.

Which matches what I expected double the light gives 1 more stop of light.

I wanted a third light so this time I bought a 40watt led bulb about the same price as both 105 watt cfl bulbs (all daylight balanced 5500k bulbs) that arrived this morning and gave ISO 800 f2 and 1/250th

Yep 1 stop more than both 105 watt CFLs combined. Probably can’t dim these but with nd filters it’s not too much of a problem.

Light is logarithmic the closer the subject is to the light the brighter the exposure and more rapid the fall off. 1.4 2 2.8 if your subject is at 2 then the light at 1.4 is doubled and at 2.8 is half at 4 it’s a 1/4 sound familiar ..
It’s unit less so if it’s 2 feet then 4 feet would be 2 stops light in meters it’s the same fall off but a greater distance.
Now you can use your knowledge of f stops to figure out where you want your subject, background and lights to be.

Light modifiers, I have L type speed light mounts which lets me use Bowen’s S mount and elenchrome light modifiers
These come with the little light stand holder bits of aluminium, which are not needed for most light stands but I used one to screw onto the back of the l bracket instead of the cold shoe which enabled me to fit the e27 bulb holder in its place and use lamps instead of speed lights. A very easy modification giving me most of the modifiers I have for speed lights. Temperatures even with a 105 watt cfl were warm not hot. The only modifier I couldn’t use was my snoot I don’t think it will fit over the bulbs and wouldn’t give much cooling if I did.

So what can I say constant light doesn’t have to be expensive the bulbs are fairly cheap and at light levels where you can keep ISO Fairly low. Obviously not as flexible as the studio lights that you can adjust the power but you can easily spend $1000 on a single light compared with a $20 led bulb. Hope this has been interesting and now to get told why this is horrible lighting 😀

Hi all, br Just been buying a few bulbs I bought a... (show quote)

Technically, it might not be the best choice, but honestly, will anyone know? Will anyone watch a film and give a flying fart in the wind that one or two colors of the spectrum are a little dull, or bright, or off? I doubt it.

I've used cheap 5000K CFL and lately LED bulbs from Home Depot to do copy work, video, and setup photography. Every time, I was somewhere where someone wanted me to do some impromptu work, and I didn't have any "serious" lighting gear with me. It was "clamp lamps," white FomeCor, and bed sheets... or nothing!

Frankly, the first time I did it, I was shocked at the results. They were good enough for the purpose at hand, which wasn't high end.

Sometimes, the marginal improvement from a shift from cheap to expensive is just not worth the considerable increase in cost.

blackest Loc: Ireland

burkphoto wrote:

Technically, it might not be the best choice, but ... (show quote)

The funny thing is most films are not true to life color. An example might be the orange and teal palette that is used at times, teal for shadows and orange for highlights. Color helps set mood and atmosphere. It’s not so used in photography but in film everything is used to tell the story. If you look at film looks for imitating traditional film stocks there is a palette but it isn’t true to life.

Perhaps an easy to spot use of color grading is the tv show stranger things.
https://youtu.be/YEG3bmU_WaI

Can you tell how the color palette is being manipulated?

So how do you want to use color? True to life or perhaps altered to help tell the story you want to tell?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

It depends on the film. Lots of LUTs are available for film looks, including nearly all the Eastman and Fujifilm stocks, and plenty of “mood” looks, too. Of course, you can fiddle with the controls yourself to develop your own look, or tweak someone else’s.

frangeo Loc: Texas

blackest wrote:

Hi all,
Just been buying a few bulbs I bought a cheap 3 light set up with 3 45 watt E27 lamps stands bulb holders and a couple of umbrellas, not impressive I was using my black magic cinema camera at 24fps so 1/48th shutter speed base iso 800 and was maybe 2 stops under exposed.

So I looked at the setup I was cribbing from, 105watt cfl lamps, couple of those for around 20 dollars on amazon and I measured the light from around 10 feet bouncing from a large reflective umbrella and my Minolta measured
ISO 800 f2 1/60th adding the second set up similarly mounted and it metered ISO 800 f2 1/120th.

Which matches what I expected double the light gives 1 more stop of light.

I wanted a third light so this time I bought a 40watt led bulb about the same price as both 105 watt cfl bulbs (all daylight balanced 5500k bulbs) that arrived this morning and gave ISO 800 f2 and 1/250th

Yep 1 stop more than both 105 watt CFLs combined. Probably can’t dim these but with nd filters it’s not too much of a problem.

Light is logarithmic the closer the subject is to the light the brighter the exposure and more rapid the fall off. 1.4 2 2.8 if your subject is at 2 then the light at 1.4 is doubled and at 2.8 is half at 4 it’s a 1/4 sound familiar ..
It’s unit less so if it’s 2 feet then 4 feet would be 2 stops light in meters it’s the same fall off but a greater distance.
Now you can use your knowledge of f stops to figure out where you want your subject, background and lights to be.

Light modifiers, I have L type speed light mounts which lets me use Bowen’s S mount and elenchrome light modifiers
These come with the little light stand holder bits of aluminium, which are not needed for most light stands but I used one to screw onto the back of the l bracket instead of the cold shoe which enabled me to fit the e27 bulb holder in its place and use lamps instead of speed lights. A very easy modification giving me most of the modifiers I have for speed lights. Temperatures even with a 105 watt cfl were warm not hot. The only modifier I couldn’t use was my snoot I don’t think it will fit over the bulbs and wouldn’t give much cooling if I did.

So what can I say constant light doesn’t have to be expensive the bulbs are fairly cheap and at light levels where you can keep ISO Fairly low. Obviously not as flexible as the studio lights that you can adjust the power but you can easily spend $1000 on a single light compared with a $20 led bulb. Hope this has been interesting and now to get told why this is horrible lighting 😀

Hi all, br Just been buying a few bulbs I bought a... (show quote)

I'm seeing some GREAT images in this thread with constant light. If you don't need a deep depth of field they sure do the job. I need f8 @ 200iso. I shoot people. Head shots, full length and groups. I can see shadows from the modeling lights and adjust as needed. If I use constant light thats a LOT of bright light in the models eyes. They will be squinting. I could go constant and jack the iso to 1600 but I'll comprimise the final image. Use what you need for what you do.

blackest Loc: Ireland

frangeo wrote:

I'm seeing some GREAT images in this thread with constant light. If you don't need a deep depth of field they sure do the job. I need f8 @ 200iso. I shoot people. Head shots, full length and groups. I can see shadows from the modeling lights and adjust as needed. If I use constant light thats a LOT of bright light in the models eyes. They will be squinting. I could go constant and jack the iso to 1600 but I'll comprimise the final image. Use what you need for what you do.

10 EV seems to be about where i am with constant light thats what about 5 stops down from daylight. Small hard light will be more of a jolt to the system than a large soft light that you have become used too. theres more time to record a less intense light.

Maybe with newer technology getting more light with less heat and power it's worth another look. Although Pupils will be less dilated which is generally less attractive. Maybe a good thing to capture more character and less "beauty".

hbernal

What about flash?