Re: Thoughts on this fluorescent + LED Light setup for mostly Interviews

[Craig Seeman] "And that's when I go back to my tungsten lights. I don't see any "reasonable" cost/control replacement for these yet.
"

I completely agree, Craig.

I can make a basic limited area interview scene look good with my LED kit.

If I have my Arri kit- my grip bag, and access to stingers and dependable power - I can usually make the same scene much, much better than just "good."

With the hassle of schlepping lights and grip on a plane cross country to NYC (don't even mention the insane cost of the overweight baggage these days!) an all LED kit is a great tool.

It's just not a particularly good tool if it's your ONLY tool.

That's my position in a nutshell.

David (presuming you're reading this)

This is precisely why I own tungsten, LED and Fluorescent lights.

Each has their place and something they do better than the alternatives.

Tungsten is extremely controllable and lets you "paint" with your light - but it's heavy, sucks power, and generates tons of heat for the light.

Fluorescent is flattering for most human faces without the hassle of a bag over a tungsten fixture and the extra power needed to get the same light through the diffusion - drinks power more politely then tungsten, and you can swap out daylight or tungsten equivalent tubes for different locations.

LED sips hardly ANY power compared to the competition. And the light output per watt efficiency is nothing short of amazing. But it's WAY more difficult to control than tungsten, can be finicky as to spectrum, and takes quite a bit of getting used to, in my experience since you have to toss out most of your grip and control experience since the light generation is so totally different.

And that final one is the big issue.

If you buy nothing but LED - then you'll never LEARN to use the more traditional tools like tungsten fresnels with barn doors or cookies to paint with your lights. So when the new generation of LED fresnels finally gets affordable, you'll likely have a "knowledge defect" to overcome simply because you've never practiced with tools that let you get those kind of results.

My thinking anyway.

YMMV.

"Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions."-Justice O'Connor