LED light output

I did, after all, say in my books at the start that LEDs were no good. Then I said that LEDs require huge LED panels and that there are no decent light modifiers for them. And now I’ve been to Imaging World and seen LED spotlights with outputs of up to 2.4 kW. With a perfectly standard Bowens bayonet mount for light modifiers fitted at the front. With colour control and all those colour effects – fire simulation, thunderstorm simulation, emergency lights simulation.

Even the ‘small’ 600-watt LEDs make your hands feel warm when you hold them in front of them. The 600-watt ‘grill’ from Godox costs around 2,200 euros on the high street.

Patona now has these as well, in green. 100-watt: 179 Euro, 200-watt: 199, 300-watt: 249, and 600-watt: 899.

And 1,200 watts too – I didn’t even ask about the price.

What are we to make of this?

The luminance is brutal. If you accidentally look into one of those 600-watt lights, coloured circles dance before your eyes for minutes on end. When it comes to photographing fast movements with short exposure times and high continuous shooting rates, these lights are absolutely brilliant. Or for workshops where everyone wants to take photos at the same time. (The fact that I’m not keen on that – because only one person ever has the good angle and everyone else misses out – is another matter entirely.)

For photography in a small studio, three or four 200-watt spotlights would be enough for everything; if you use snoots, then perhaps two 300-watt ones as well. That means you can set up a complete continuous-light studio for 900 euros. That’s pretty impressive.

Who would still want to use flashes then? You’d need radio triggers. You’d have to factor in flash recycling times. Synchronisation times. You’ll have problems with exposure metering and, under certain circumstances, even with white balance. With an electronic viewfinder, you’ll need viewfinder illumination, and high-resolution shots become a problem.

So, should you get rid of the flashes and buy LEDs instead?

The flashes still have a few advantages: they’re far more energy-efficient. They don’t need 400 watts all the time – just when they’re firing. They don’t generate nearly as much heat in the studio. Because even though LEDs are more energy-efficient than incandescent bulbs, the 600 watts are converted entirely into heat. And with 1.2 kilowatts of light in the studio, I’ve got the equivalent of a fan heater.

And, probably the biggest problem: nobody wants to look into this light for any length of time. LED lighting is unsuitable for portrait photography.