It never really stops.
It was a "first world" problem. I had too much cash in my pockets. Too many large denomination bills vying for space with my car key and my extra DLUX camera battery. Something had to change. So I pulled out the offending currency, crammed it into an envelope and mailed it to B&H Camera store with a cryptic note. It basically said, "Keep sending me stuff. The office is not full yet! Best, Kirk."
Today the Fedex man pulled into the driveway and disgorged a box from his truck. We stopped for half an hour to play pickle ball and he left in a huff after I beat him soundly in the game. As I always do. Only then did I pay attention to the box. It was from B&H. I decided to look inside.
The image above is a good likeness of the actual product they sent along. It's an LED light but instead of all the ones I've tried before this one is a "full color" system. In past iterations one could only buy a single color temperature unit (usually 3200° or 5600° Kelvin -- but not both) or one could buy a bi-color unit. The bi-color units are made up of 50% daylight emitters and 50% tungsten light balanced emitters. One can increase or decrease the percentage that each group of individual LED locations spits out which gives you the ability to range across the color range with the proviso that you'll only get about 1/2 the power output that you will get from a single color temperature unit. Why? Because if you want, say 4400 K as your color temperature each set of LED bulbs will be operating at 50% and combining their output together.
The other issue with bi-color or single color LED lights is that you can end up with a green spike or an over-corrected magenta spike on some of the light units. The only way to remediate the color cast is to find the right filter to put over the front of the light and making a global correction for the spike.
The Full-Color LED lights are also called RGB LEDs. They have the ability to not only shift across a wide range of color temperatures but also to make huge and precise corrections to the green/magenta hues in order to delivery a completely neutral light output. That's beyond cool. So beyond cool.
When I saw the output of the new light and ran it through preliminary tests I was hooked. I grabbed my satellite phone, shushed the super models frolicking in the hot tube, and called the team at B&H right away. Would they send a second one to keep the first RGB LED light company? Of course they would.
The light I'm somewhat gushing over is the FS-300C. It's a true RGB unit. It's fan-cooled but so far the fan noise is acceptably low. The light is heavy but forgoes the usual external power supply --- which makes it easier to set up, easier to use, and easier to pack. The unit's name is an indication of the power of the output. It's 300 watts. That's a lot. And it's a very bright unit. With a color meter one can get painstaking accuracy for both color and hue. And it works with all the other accessories I have for my other Nanlite FS lighting machines.
The team at B&H inferred that they chose to send this product along because it's really good, fits with my previous purchase patterns, and because they knew that it's $200 discount from the usual pricing would fit into my wheelhouse since I am an incredibly frugal, retired photographer. They seemed delighted when I ordered a second one. But you know my rule: things photographic should travel in pairs. Same with coffee. And hiking shoes. Two pairs. Always...
This unit is an astounding bargain at $299. They are usually priced at $499. And ten years ago buying this sort of technology and performance would have cost many multiples more.
Yeah. I know. I was just writing last week about having given away three big LED panels. But sometimes you have to be strategic. I might use them for something very worthwhile. You never know. If not I'll have some of the most accurate office lighting in all of North America.
And so, the New Year starts with its characteristic bang. Desire temporarily quenched.
The image above was made with light from one of the FS-300B, bicolor units. They look so much alike from the outside.
Thank goodness for the labeling on the sides.
Rush out and get one. Or not. Either way doesn't affect me. We are consistently non-profit here at VSL. At least for the moment...
5 comments:
It won’t do to deny one’s own nature, Kirk. Self-awareness is very important. So you do you and enjoy those new lights. As for myself, I keep hearing the M3 43 calling and I’m trying to see how much other gear I can sell off in order to swing such a purchase. Happy New Year!
Make that the Q3 43 that’s calling me…
I didn't know about bi-colour LEDs working that way, but then I have never done any studio work. Very educational. Every day I find a few things I knew nothing about, makes you wonder about people who are convinced they know everything. My wife and I went down an online video rabbit hole about pencils thanks to you: Derwent in UK (which she uses), Caran d'Ache in Geneva, wonder what else the algorithm will send our way. It's interesting that they are small indie enterprises and intend to stay that way. Funny how when a big rich Corp buys up small successful businesses, they end up wrecking them. We've also watched mini documentaries about Gamblin in that criminal hell hole Portland, Oregon and a couple about handmade cotton rag watercolour paper manufacturer Arches in France. Arches has been around continuously since 1492, older than many trees and countries. Arches's apprenticeship program lasts about 10 years, longer than the birth and death of most online influencer channels. We have been getting winter windchills up here that can rip the skin off your face so I've been inside a lot playing with my underused macro lens. One day, I might even get a photo worth looking at.
KirkThe Full-Color LED lights are also called RGB LEDs. They have the ability to not only shift across a wide range of color temperatures but also to make huge and precise corrections to the green/magenta hues in order to delivery a completely neutral light output.
What does shooting under this kind of precision lighting mean for (1) camera settings and (2) post-processing? I’m not aware of any camera that allows the user to set a precise color temperature for the capture: it’s either “auto” white balance or some preset that is supposed to approximate a certain type of illumination (daylight, shadow, etc.). Assuming a raw file, does the subject appear the way you expect when you set the color temperature of the image in post to match the temperature set on the lights or do you still need to do some kind of manual finagling?
Hi Chris, A number of current cameras allow for pretty precise color temperature settings. Some as fine as 100°K steps. And most also allow, in a submenu, for the camera operator to change hues in a neat graph. The benefit of having lights that can be precisely color controlled comes when calibrating two or more light sources that will all be used to light the same scene. Differences in the colors between multiple lights are hard to correct in final post processing. Matching two or more LED RGB lights can be made much simpler. If you match all the lights to each other all you have to do for a custom color to be very accurate in camera is to do a custom white balance in the camera; generally using a gray card or white card as a target.
The benefit of calibrated lights, and a camera using a custom white balance, is total consistency in the files you bring into Photoshop or Lightroom. Works with raw files as well as Jpegs. Be sure to choose "use camera settings" in Adobe when importing raw files.
Post a Comment