In recent years, LED technology has evolved very much, giving photographers the possibility to use continuous lights instead of strobes. Before this technological advance, using continuous lights for photographing people was very difficult because they produced a lot of heat and were very energy-intensive.
In this short article, we will analyse the main advantages and disadvantages of both systems.
LED advantages
- What you see is what you get: It is true that there is also flash modelling light, but you still have to face the whole learning curve of using flashes, while with LEDs it is like photographing with ambient light, so the non-expert photographer knows how to manage it without problems.
- They allow you to change colour temperature (and colour itself if they are RGB) very easily compared to flashes, where you have to put gels. Further, you cannot own every coloured gel ever made, so the list of colours you can apply to your strobe light is limited.
- Hybrid system: LEDs allow you to take both photos and videos and switch from one to the other in a few moments. This is becoming more and more important in modern productions, as it is not only required to take photos but also videos to feed the social channels.
- There is no flash charging time (this is an advantage for bursts). It should be noted, however, that if we use low-power flashes, charging is almost instantaneous, so also in this case, it is possible to use bursts.
LED disadvantages
Much lower power compared to strobes.
In order to make a true comparison, I measured the exposure with my exposure meter of a 600Ws strobe and a 600W LED. They have both the Bowens mount, so I used the same reflector for both and measured the maximum exposure they were able to provide at 1 m distance. The measures were taken at ISO 100 and with an exposure time of 1/200.
- The strobe with reflector gave f/64.
- The LED light, with the same reflector, at 1/200 gave f/8, while slowing the exposure time to 1/100, which is, however, a usable time in portrait photography, gave f/11. Obviously, with the strobe, changing the exposure time does not influence the result.
This means that there are six stops of difference (five if we consider using exposure time equal to 1/100). But how is it possible, as the strobe is 600 Ws and the LED 600 W? It should be remembered that the power in W (LED) and in Ws (flash) are two different things. 100 W is approximately 5% (1/15) of 100 Ws. It is possible to understand physically why, but it will be, if of interest, the topic of another article.
So, what are the consequences of the lower power of LEDs?
- Some photos just can’t be taken (e.g. sun outdoors).
- In the studio, you often find yourself dealing with high ISO, wide apertures, or slow exposure times.
- In the studio, even if you use fairly fast shutter speeds (1/200), there may still be motion blur, while with the strobes, except in some cases, the image is always frozen. The reason for this can be found in the t0.1 time, which is a flash characteristic. Some strobes are faster than others, but in general, with a normal portrait, it is almost impossible to find blur.
They bother the eyes of models (especially those with light eyes).
In general, they are more bulky than flashes, and you have to take into account external batteries if you don’t use AC power.
Conclusions
In conclusion, for whom is it useful to use LED instead of a flash?
- For those who have to learn the various positions of the lights and their roles. In fact, I found LEDs very useful in my educational workshops, also because this way all the participants in the courses can shoot.
- For those who want to experiment with creative filters of which you often don’t know what the result will be if not once the photo has been taken.
- For night photographers (but these don’t need great powers).
- For those who want to play with colours, there are RGB LEDs that allow you to have any colour you want. It can also be done with flashes, but you need to have a lot of coloured gels.
- For still life photographers because they can see exactly where the shadows end up, how they lighten up, etc.
- For some types of commercial photography where reflections are important (for example, photos of subjects wearing glasses).
- For hybrid photographers, who have to take both photos and videos quickly, switching from one system to another.
About the Author
Stefano Tealdi is a professional photographer and educator based in Milan, Italy. His YouTube channel features over 200 videos primarily focused on off-camera flash.
“I became passionate about photography at the beginning of 2008 and since that day I have improved by deepening my photographic knowledge.”
“Everyone can learn!” is his motto. Stefano Tealdi teaches flash photography through his workshops and YouTube videos. Stefano’s educational content is primarily in Italian, but you can turn on the English (or other language) subtitles to his YouTube videos under the settings feature.