Blues Dude

I'm a landscape and macro/close-up photographer. I've got a Nikon DF and I shoot completely manual.
I'm trying to decide on an off-camera lighting unit: a small flash or a continuous bicolor LED unit.
For shooting indoors, a LED would have the edge. But how well will it work on outdoors subjects?
Your comments and suggestions, please.

jimneotech Loc: Michigan

The flash has the advantage of stopping action which could be valuable in a wind.

JRiepe Loc: Southern Illinois

I have a ringlight on my macro lens that can be used either way, flash or constant on.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

I use my flash vs, LEDs 90% of the time both indoors and out.

photoman43

I use both for my macro work. My LED is balanced to daylight (Kelvin scale) which is important. Not all LEDs are so be careful. I use the LED mostly for setup photography. Camera and lens are on a tripod. I hold the light in my hand and place it where I want it. I usually trigger the shutter with a remote.

For other subjects I use a traditional flash.

Both have their uses.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I bought a small LED panel a couple of years ago, primarily for lighting near-foreground subjects in night sky photographs. It has 96 LEDs and the intensity can be varied with a small potentiometer. It works great for that (I usually turn it on for about 1 second when using ISOs around 4000. I'm learning to use it for other purposes, including using its cold shoe mount to attach it to my camera. It came with filters allowing it to produce light at a little bit more than 5000K, close to 4000K, and 3200K. While it is just right for my first intended application, I wish it were a little bit brighter for some of the other uses I'm investigating. It does have brackets on the top, bottom, and sides allowing additional units to be matrixed together, but they must still be individually controlled.

Other units are available with much broader color control and many more LEDs...up to 1,000 or more. One thing that you would want to watch out for is that some are (or have the option to be) battery powered. (Mine uses a commonly available Sony battery. It came with the battery and charger.)

I've played with the larger units (about 1,000 LEDs) at school They are a lot of fun to use, and it's like having a light box...since the source is fairly large, the light provides a very nice diffused look with no sharp shadows. They would be a big hassle to use outside for macro, though. Probably something bigger than mine and smaller then the 1,000 LED version would be a good balance.

I don't do much light-assisted macro photography, but could see a big advantage in not creating a flash that would startle the subject. I'd expect to have many more second and third opportunities with a LED panel. As for stopping motion, full-power flashess have a longer duration than most of us realize You would have to experiment and see if the additional light and not having a need to use a flash synch-limited shutter speed whether you could get the same or similar ability to stop motion from your shutter.

It seems that using LED panels for still photography is still a very new idea to many people. I've not found anyone close by who has used them, except at school. (Even there, the teacher who mostly uses them worked in the motion picture industry for several years.) They are not quite as bright as hot lights, but I've found them to be better from a color perspective than compact fluorescent lamps. You will probably have to decide if you are willing to adopt something new and not fully understood and do some experimenting to see how to best make it work.

CO

Agree. They do nothing to help freeze motion. I've used them during model photo shoots. I had to use slow shutter speeds sometimes because the continuous LED lighting could not produce an adequate light level. I ended up with plenty of blurry photos both from the model moving and camera shake. Give me a speedlight or studio strobe over continuous lighting.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Most of the LED units produced so far don't give the amount of light needed in my opinion for outdoor portrait fill unless your assistant holds it close to the model. That said they will work for close up and micro photography because you can place them very close to your subject. I have used the following Bolt product with success.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1213356-REG/bolt_vm_210_flexible_macro_light.html

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

Would a LED attract mosquitos and bugs when used outside?

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

What, now your shooting after dark?

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

Well I wasn't thinking of bright sunlight - but I wasn't shooting anyhow - the OP was - and he didn't mention a time

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

My work is similar. I use a variety of electronic flash and LED units - each emits the same amount of light outdoors as in. What exactly is your question?

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

No, LED don't attract bugs the way other types of lamps do.

I have no idea why that is, but experienced the difference when I converted all the lighting in a camping trailer to LED. I did that to conserve power, but it also noticeably reduced the insects attracted at night.

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

That is interesting and worth knowing - for river boaters in UK especially.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

I don't know either, but suspect that the LED lamps do not emit ultraviolet light, which is attractive to many insects. Most incandescent lights emit at least a little UV, and fluorescent lamps can emit a lot of it.