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LED lighting in filmmaking


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Hi everyone!

 

I am currently in the process of writing my University dissertation which is a comparative study between L.E.D lighting against traditional lighting fixtures in Hollywood film-making (such as Tungsten Halogen lighting fixtures) and was wondering if anyone could help me answer some questions on the subject.

 

How far do you believe CRI plays in a role for choosing either LED or tungsten fixtures?

With improved sensors able to operate in less light will this be advantageous for less powerful LED lights.

Do certain camera (ARRI, RED) have an influence on what look it achieves when LED and Tungsten fixtures are used?

Is there still a need in film-making (especially Hollywood film-making) for the bigger lighting fixtures? (e.g lighting fixtures such as the Sunray 24K Fresnel light)

How far would you compare thew tonal range between LED and Tungsten?

In your experience, is there a certain piece of LED technology that challenges Tungsten?

If you have anymore questions you want to add in, please do.

 

 

Thank you very much for your time. 

 
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How far do you believe CRI plays in a role for choosing either LED or tungsten fixtures?

CRI uses a limited number of color patches to give a rating. The newer TLCI measurement is more precise. Take a look at this article.

In general, good LED lights are now "good enough" and the usability, features, efficiency more than make up for the few imperfections in color rendition. If a light has a CRI above, say, 95, that's fine by me unless it is some kind of critical application. However, anything under that and I would not use it as a key light but only as an accent or background light.

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Is there still a need in film-making (especially Hollywood film-making) for the bigger lighting fixtures? (e.g lighting fixtures such as the Sunray 24K Fresnel light)

Yes, absolutely! There will always be a need for big, powerful lights... regardless of the technology! One reason is lighting large areas, at night for example. Other times you need a high T-stop for depth, or high frame rates, or you need to compete against the sun. Another reason is that you need to work at a certain light level. Imagine that you are lighting a sound stage, so there is no light, and your brightest light is a 50w LED. You then use it to simulate sunlight... but now this 50w light has got to be the absolute brightest light in the scene. This means that everything else has to be much darker, because you need the contrast? In this theoretical scenario, can you imagine how dark the studio will be? A computer screen at normal brightness would light up the room!

That is why you always need big powerful lights. LED does not alleviate that need, it just makes it more power-efficient to get a lot of firepower.

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In your experience, is there a certain piece of LED technology that challenges Tungsten?

All of them... Lower heat, higher efficiency... And with the fixtures that have the ability to dim down without color shift, you can dial any color temperature or white balance by the press of a button. It is just the beginning, as I think we will see some wild features in the coming years! Portable video walls? Moving lights? The cinema industry can take a lot of inspiration from stage lighting technology. As long as the CRI (or TLCI...) is good.

Tungsten tech now has less uses and is becoming a low-budget short or specialty item even though some DPs still like to use Maxi Brutes or light arrays of tungsten lights. Personally I have rarely used tungsten lights over the past few years, except on sound stage where you need many units and it is still more cost-effective. On all other shoots, in my experience, tungsten lights have been almost completely phased out. They totally remain (and should remain forever) an available option. The one advantage of tungsten is that the color spectrum is excellent, and the same regardless what is the brand of the bulb or if it's a cheap bulb. The fixtures are much cheaper, too, and they do not become obsolete.

I have heard of a new tungsten technology by the MIT that would be more power-efficient than LED, but that was a while ago.

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