LATEST LEDS
RED-HOT LIGHTING TECH FULL BEAM AHEAD
Don’t fall behind in the race for great lighting – check out our tests of the latest LEDs
WORDS ADAM DUCKWORTH
W ith more competition coming into the business all the time, it makes sense to invest in your filmmaking by being more creative than ever. Choosing and using the latest LED lighting is a key path to more professional, polished work. One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to lighting. Sometimes you need a powerful fixture that can be used to project a lot of light or be softened to create a flattering wash of illumination. For these, the latest crop of COB lights are ideal. These ‘chip on board’ units are made up of multiple LED chips bonded closely together to form a smaller, single module.
since they can be practical lights or easily hidden in a scene for interesting effects. For something even more creative, tube lights are appearing everywhere – as they too can be used as practicals, hidden lights or even visible on-set as funky props themselves. In many cases, instead of the whole light having to be white or tungsten-balanced white, a rainbow of colours can be illuminated along the length of the tube. They often don’t need AC power as they have internal batteries. So, we’ve got our hands on some of the very latest lights to hit the market in a ton of different categories – and at a range of both prices and specs.
They pump out lots of power, but as the LED is small they act like punchy, hard, single-point light sources rather than larger panels – ideal with softboxes, projectors and gobos. The latest versions aren’t just daylight or bicolour, but offer a full spectrum of colours for maximum creative potential. Sometimes you will want the small form factor and softness of an LED light panel to use up close for flattering light, without the need for massive softboxes. To get even closer, or for on-camera use, a small LED light panel is an ideal addition to the kitbag that takes up barely any space. These are especially handy
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