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Hybrid Led Lights

(20 posts) (13 voices)

Started 1 year ago by sevencrossing
Latest reply from spraynpray
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sevencrossing

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Has anyone used the new Hybrid Led Lights?

As far as I can make out they work like a normal video led light but also have a back Lite LED to illuminate the camera commands, useful when shooting at night and you cannot afford or get hold of a D4

They have a Flash function, which gives 4x the output of the continuous mode. The Flash triggers at 1/1000 sec, so I suspect they cannot be used with Nikon Creative Lighting System

I normally use a SB900 but framing and focusing is tricky when working in near or total darkness

Posted 1 year ago #
El_Pickerel

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For conditions where it's so dark I can't make things out in the viewfinder, I'll just use a flashlight with whatever hand is on the lens (or my free hand, if it isn't a heavy lens). If you aren't planning to shoot video maybe that is an easier solution, and lets you still use CLS.

Posted 1 year ago #
TaoTeJared

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WTF?????

we will just ignore that one...

sevencrossing said:
Has anyone used the new Hybrid Led Lights?

As far as I can make out they work like a normal video led light but also have a back Lite LED to illuminate the camera commands, useful when shooting at night and you cannot afford or get hold of a D4

They have a Flash function, which gives 4x the output of the continuous mode. The Flash triggers at 1/1000 sec, so I suspect they cannot be used with Nikon Creative Lighting System

I normally use a SB900 but framing and focusing is tricky when working in near or total darkness

I'm not sure what you are referring to? A flash light, strobe, or contiguous video type light? Do you have a brand/product name or dare I say link as an example?

Just curious since I have looked at many LED options and have not seen anything that is really good yet that is a low cost option that has enough output for 10ft distances. (Once they hit that $350 mark, I would rather go for a flash)

Posted 1 year ago #
Ade Barkah

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LP MicroPro Hybrid is an example.

I don't think these hybrids sell very well. I use the regular MicroPro but use regular flash / strobes for stills.

Posted 1 year ago #
sevencrossing

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I was thinking of the The ManPhoto ML360 Midi Hybrid light

Posted 1 year ago #
TaoTeJared

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I have seen both that you both have mentioned. The thing that gets me is the Guide #s of them are around 1.7m @ iso 100 or less. Good if you are doing a head and shoulders shot with a 50mm lens or maybe macro/product work, but for people, at 10ft you are already at iso 800 which I don't see it being any different than no light at all. I don't think it could overpower any existing stray light either. For $400+, like I said, I would rather buy another flash for that. That's my take on them for photography.

For video - that's not my realm - I think that is what they are more for.

Posted 1 year ago #
msmoto

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I did a lot of study in the LED lights for developing a studio setup primarily for ease of use, cool light source, etc. My decision, after a lot of looking, was that I would have to spend a lot of money, upwards of $2000 USD, to get enough light for exposures of 1/500th, f/11. Actually I would then have such a bright setting, would not have any shots with eyes anything but pin point pupils. And a lot of squinting. So, as I am not into video, I went with three of the Elinchrom D-Lite 4 sets, which gives me six soft boxes, each with up to 400ws, or a total of 2400ws. About the same cost for a set of LED sources of soft lights (6 sources) and a much more satisfactory set up for me. I am just not sure about LEDs yet and this in the face of living in a new house with exclusively LED illumination....some 120v, some 15v off of controlled power supplies. I have as well a motorhome totally LED. And, my experience is the light temperature is very dependent on the supply voltage. Even within the same 5 meter piece of LED tape (1 SMD per 1.75 cm roughly) when this is cut into pieces and run off the same power supply, the length of the feeder wire changes the color temperature.

So, whether this is a problem with the ones being sold for photo use, I cannot say. But the Cree 120v units I have used do have some variance and they are quite expensive. I will be interested to hear how others have used LEDs. It is the future to replace incandescents, but the cost of a very high quality high output LED is also, very high. Price an LED street light sometime.

That is my thought for the day....

Posted 1 year ago #
DutchNikon

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The only thing i find Led illumination usefull for tíll now is macro9 / micro work. For most other subject they are simply not powerfull enough, but for macro/micro work they are very convenient...

Posted 1 year ago #
Ade Barkah

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Another problem with LED lights, even though they are not "powerful" they are actually very "sharp" lights since they consist of many tiny "point" sources (think laser beam). The LED output is very harsh to the eyes and your subject will tend to squint if they look directly into the light -- even with the dimmer turned way down. Some LEDs come with diffusers you can use to somewhat combat this.

Being compact and lightweight, I find LED lights convenient for filming documentaries in the field.

@msmoto: professional video LED lights tend to have good temperature control, not any worse than professional flash units I think.

The only time I've used LED for stills was for a long exposure photograph where I needed some light for a part of the picture.

Posted 1 year ago #
mieebucy

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Im doing a lighting project and I need to use a series of resistors to dim an LED array, but i dont know at what current an LED will be 'very dim', other than zero amps. I want to use the resistors to dim the light in 5-10 increments, so i can place the wire at different points to create different levels of light, like a dimmer switch.

As (on a 12V battery) the LEDs would run at 3.3W, would a series of 0.4W resistors do the job? Do they work at 0.4W, or resist that much each? Here are links to the LEDs and resistors im thinking of getting

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LED Spotlight manufacturer flexible led strip light led flood lights

Posted 1 year ago #
scoobysmak

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It all depends if the LED's are can be adjusted. The LED's I have seen basically come on at a certian voltage and stay pretty much the same brightness reguardless of the amout of voltage put to them. For instance our 3W LED's came on at 5 Volts and then didn't really adjust output after they came on. I am not sure if there are variable LED's out there but I doubt it. You would have to adjust say like a row of LEDs to turn them off Vs just the entire LED array.

Posted 1 year ago #
TheLostNinja

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Don't use resistors for controlling LED grids. There are small variations between each LED that makes controlling them difficult - some might be switched off, some full on and some others at 50%.

Pulse width modulation of the current is the proper way to go. Those circuits usually involve a transistor (used as a switch) and a simple small PWM controller chip that can be used to control the pulse duration. Googling pictures for "pwm circuit led" should get you started.

Posted 1 year ago #
NoahDicola

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I want to use the resistors to dim the light in 5-10 increments, so i can place the wire at different points to create different levels of light, like a dimmer switch.

Posted 8 months ago #
msmoto

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The problem with all LEDs is the wide variations in suppliers and quality. Multiple failures in some of the LED's are almost commonplace. If anyone wants some experience from me, I have built a house, totally LED's for illumination, and converted two RV's including a Tiffin Allegro Bus. So, I can guide someone with good suppliers if they PM me.

Posted 8 months ago #
Eric

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The challenge with LEDs is that they have a steep non-linear voltage/current curve. TheLostNinja is correct, but only if the modulating frequency is sufficiently high so that you don't get an interaction with the intended shutter speed. An alternative approach is to drive a set of series LEDs with a programmable current source. If you are using discrete LEDs, you can buy extras and match intensities so that LED to LED variations can be limited.

You can use resistors. In such a case, I would recommend running parallel sets of LEDs and resistors from a common constant voltage power supply. The resistors associated with each LED should actually be comprised of two resistors, the first is to limit the maximum current and it defines the maximum brightness, whereas the second is used for dimming. Be sure that the resistors you use have sufficient power dissipation for the anticipated voltage drop.

Lots of nuances here and many ways to solve the problem...

Posted 8 months ago #
tcole1983

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I actually looked these up to see what they were about. It seems that until you get into the very expensive versions they don't put out enough light. Even the flash of these hybrid lights in the reviews people said were not enough. Neat idea though.

Posted 8 months ago #
spraynpray

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Yeah, I expect them to be usable within a few years judging by the rate of advance in flashlight LED's, but right now they just aren't bright enough.

Posted 8 months ago #
msmoto

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Eric has an interesting point....the color of the LEDs, even from the same 5 meter strip, will vary when the strip is cut and wired via number 14 AWG stranded copper wire as a result of differences in the solder connection. I incorporated strips into shelves, and it is an amazing demonstration of just this. Extremely sensitive to voltage changes and all mine run off of controlled power sources. Thus, there is some utility in combining a bunch of them so as to balance out the colors. However, for product shots, not using strobes, the advantage is in the fact one does not have to deal with all the heat from tungsten light sources.

Posted 8 months ago #
DutchNikon

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To dim my leds, i uses a filter light gray foil in front of them, if i need to dim more i just stack 2 layers or three, after that there is not much left to dim... :-)

Posted 8 months ago #
spraynpray

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I have just bought a new TerraLUX TLE-6EXB to replace the older version in my flashlight and found the colour temperature is not only a greenish yellow (which is a step backwards on its own from the blueish white IMHO) but also varies with voltage (the old one didn't). I bought a new tech flash light and I note the colour temperature is more like the new TerraLUX LED but WAAAY brighter (1000 Vs 140 Lumens).

I don't know if this change in colour temp is limited to flashlight LEDS - I hope so.

@kimsoo: The 'PWM' wave shape in most LEDS now is not square so I am not sure it really qualifies as PWM.

Posted 6 months ago #