BUYERS’ GUIDE
The latest crop of LED tube lights could be a vital part of your filmmaking kit WORDS ADAM DUCKWORTH TURN ON THE TUBE RAISING THE BAR
F or filmmakers of a certain vintage, as soon as you see a tube light, you think of the old Kino Flos. These were often grouped together to form a bank of soft, flattering light. But the latest crop are far more advanced. They feature RGBWW LEDs that do so much more than Kino Flos ever could. 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. By altering the colour of each group, this rainbow can be made to move through it. They are ideal in the frame itself as
a funky practical light, or set as standard lights to be used as practicals on-set. When set-dressing a quirky location, they are good to have handy – or can even be held by dancers. Normally easy to mount, because they’re light, in many cases they don’t need AC power due to internal batteries. Longer tubes could be regular LEDs, allowing a full range of RGBWW colours and tunable white to give lovely, soft output for close-ups. So, let’s look at some of the most popular LED tube lights at a range of prices – and all kinds of specs.
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