4.4Adventures in Lighting: Light Sources 101, Part IV—LEDs

One of the woes of location shooting, especially on small productions when you can’t afford a generator or a qualified electrician to tap into existing power, is being limited to wall-socket power in the 15 Amp or, at most, 20 Amp variety. This limits you to, at most, a 2,000W fixture (which is definitely stretching the boundaries of safety). In the HMI world, you’re limited to 1,200W fixture (or perhaps the Arri M18 1,800W fixture), if you can afford the HMIs. Fluorescent figures are a great alternative, but you’re limited to soft lights and they’re not necessarily compact or easy to transport.

LEDs came on to the scene several years ago, but for quite a while they were small units ...

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