LED Photography Lights v Studio Flash: Which Is REALLY Better?

[@miguelpinto8944]

surely this outcome was expected, you are comparing a much more powerful flash head to a less powerful LED so of course the amount of light coming off them gonna differ.. need to compare some wattage units both LET and flash!

[@eliapole]

I use Leds for indoor portraits because i mix those lamps with ambient light or practical lights, and cause i like to shoot wide open. Things you can't do all the time with flashes. I don't know how Leds can be used in any other way, speaking of portrait photography.

[@zamaraaldo]

i always have to decerase brightness to watch your videos lmao

[@MrMarkAMartin]

Wear something opaque over your eyes, hands etc., close them and turn away with strobes, or eye damage will result in long-term use. 40 years of studio shooting with 10,000 - 30,000 watts of strobes on commercial product sets, often with multi-pops on one frame. Learn from experience and prosper

[@arisskarpetis]

Ouch! Is there not a single industry that takes a physical toll?

[@donhull2440]

I'm old enough to remember sitting for portraits, and doing portrait work, before strobes were generally available. Your comment that continuous light is stressful is a huge understatement. To get the lights bright enough for 1/60sec at ISO 200 the lights invariably caused squinting and tearing. Not really good if you wanted a to capture a pleasant expression. A fine point, the sensitivity of a digital camera sensor is fixed. Changing the ISO setting has absolutely no effect on the sensitivity of the camera's sensor. The tiny analog electrical signals from the sensor are first amplified then converted into a digital values (i.e. into numbers) using an analog to digital converter (A/D). This numerical data is used by the camera to produce a JPG image or is stored in a JPG or raw data file. Importantly, the lower the amount of light reaching the sensor the smaller the range of numbers coming from the A/D converter, i.e. the lower the dynamic range of light captured and stored in the raw file. At first, as you increase the ISO setting of your camera, the values from the A/D are simply multiplied to make them bigger. At some point the dynamic range of the numbers from the A/D is so small that a viable image can't be produced using this simple multiplication. The dynamic range in the numbers has decreased so much that a viable image can't be produced because the shadow details are too blocked up. When simple multiplication can no longer produce a viable image the amount of amplification of the signals from the sensor is increased so that the analog to digital converter is working with larger signals. You now can produce a larger range of numbers and a viable image but the trade off is that you are stretching out shadow details so they aren't as clean and you have increased noise in the image. This multiplication followed by increased amplification repeats for some cameras as you continue to increase the ISO setting. If you want the best quality portraits with the minimum noise and enough dynamic range that you can adjust the shadows. mid-tones, and highlights (i.e. tone map the image) then you want to work with the base ISO of the camera and use strobes that are bright enough to allow this.

[@davida5296]

i've seen great fashion shots that have used either. and i'm not sure anyone is shooting f45 for headshots...

[@ug3047712]

Very helpful! Great video!

[@vtxgenie1]

I'm confused by so many of the comments, and get to wondering why the video and so many people are mentioning high ISO, unless their lenses and next, their cameras are not up to the task they're attempting to capture. I'm only learning flash, however in near dark, with a 1/125 shutter speed, ISO 80, and a 1.8 lens, my new model LED COB light on a 36" softbox only needs to be at 20-50% depending on how bright I want the subject to be, it's easy to look into, and I've only increased to 100% when using the light as a fill light in indirect sunlight (I'd probably use a reflector if the sunlight was more direct). I do love shallow depth of field unless the photo absolutely doesn't call for it though. Flash is still amazing for stopping motion, any situation where you need incredibly bright light that would blind a subject, or properly exposing both a bright background and a dark subject to the desired effect. At this point in time they should both be part of your kit, but really only after at least one fast prime.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

For most photography such as product or fashion we're shooting at at f16 which is 6.5 stops less light which is approximately 130 times darker and flash can still accommodate.

[@JerryC25]

I can’t believe how much that LED light is lol

[@AdamTV]

You can use a more powerful LED.

[@jacobh5817]

Very good summary. I often get workshop attendees who are disappointed in the performance of their just purchased LED set. Clearly they were expecting a substitute for monolights. LEDs work great for video and small scale studio work like product photography or very intimate portraits or boudoir. At best in a darkened room. Because of the portability, LEDs are often mistaken for great outdoor kits. However, they’re totally unable to act as more than just a fill-in light at best. Next to our Profoto gear we have some Rotolights for flexibility. The great thing of the Rotolights is their flash capability, though they’re still no match for a 400W/s studio flash. Another thing to remember: LED panels give horrible catchlights. Also for that the round Rotolights despite their limitations are much better but nevertheless, no substitute for a decent monolight flash.

[@jktz122]

LED are mainly for video .. unless you really like shooting wide open and doing shallow depth of field.. flash duration speed causes the freeze action

[@torkuhaemmanuel1593]

Powerful 📝 notes to note

[@costashaniaalejpoly]

great video,thank you Karl ! i bought an Led light for video work (godox fv150) . I put it in comparison with a simple speedlight (godox tt600) and the results are hilarious ....150w led light in full power gave the same exposure with the speedight on 1/64+0.3 !!! So i am thinking that if i want a powerful led light for video work that will be equally powerful with a speedlight i am looking for a 9600w led light.....if i did any mistake in calculations feel free to correct me, cheers from Greece

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thanks for sharing!

[@xiao7debeibao]

Why LED is a little blur at the thing's edge? but Flash light doesn't have that blur, thant means Flash is much clear than LED. the Aperture is same, the shutspeed is high like 120-160(not same), iso is different.

[@Man_Cave]

I disagree. The LED would be equivalent to ambient light in the exposure formula.

[@ChrisBrown-wr5wf]

It amuses me when I see sellers point the camera DIRECTLY at an LED to show how "bright" they are. NONE of them ever show an incident light meter reading!

[@MarkWodjykl]

Great points. This is the great scam of the Peter Hurley crowd. Now you know why Peter and his subjects are always squinting horribly in every LED lighted shot, because it is painful to the eyes to sit under a bright light while the photographer fiddles with their settings!

[@MeMyselfAndBob]

Shouldn't the retractable lumisphere be in retracted position when measuring light from one direction? When the lumisphere is out, one measures the light falling from 180° onto the meter. So in the first measurement, also the light from the continuous LED was captured. In the second measurement, you turned off the modelling lamp on the flash, so the result qua light power should have been always lower in my opinion.

[@pego99]

Why do you call a monolight or strobe light a flashlight?

[@VisualEducationStudio]

In the UK we call them Studio Flash whether it's a monobloc or a pack system. We also call speedlites 'flash' and use the term 'flash' generally for any light that puts out a flash of light. I believe in the USA what we call a torch they call a 'flashlight' which is odd as it doesn't flash?

[@rustyschackleford5800]

My first seizure was in a studio at age 26. So I don't have the choice. But 125/sec is plenty fast for portraits in my case.

[@ravimathew4123]

Sir, you removed the doubts from my mind once and for all regarding Led's v/s Flash. Thank you very much. 🙏

[@kenspo]

Good video as always. I use LED most of the times, due to working out in the field with both stills and video. I don't wanna travel with too much. In studio I often use more flash then LED :) You can't work the same way with LED as you do with flash for photography.

[@joelee24]

You are comparing LED constant light to a Xenon flash that's not quite right, and you mention the LED has to be on full power so hard on the eyes, but the modeling light of the flash if set to the same level of the actual flash for taking the photo hurts too. Modeling light is just for providing a preview of the lighting effect, we still need to adjust the final exposure

[@castielvargastv7931]

Leds are great. If the light is strong enough there is no reason to prefer flash in a studio setting.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

There are only the reasons explained in this video.

[@realthoprivate]

Is it fair to say, in general, that flash tubes produce better light quality (better colour rendering) than LED lights? To my eye, flash looks richer.

[@the_learner12]

This video was so enlightening. It explains why my portrait photos with LED lights were not as sharp (slow shutter) and were grainy (high ISO). I automatically assumed the LEDs pumped out the same power as the studio lights. After this, I know why my studio lights will give me better results. Thank you.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thanks for your comments Norm.

[@TampaPhotographer]

@@VisualEducationStudio Can we talk about an update with a "LED strobe" such as a Rotolight AEOS, StellaPro Reflex ... seems like there's a lot of technical stuff that could be discussed. (Or if you already have something on it, please advise where I can buy/watch it).

[@sohaibusman4900]

Thank you so much for this, Now I can finally chose between the two!

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Glad I could help!

[@Richfxx]

The light meter is not measuring the light flash it’s measuring total available light during the time in which you press the button the longer you press it the more light will be able to pass through the sensor like a longer shutter speed on a camera so when you typically use it with house lights you get zero because they’re so dim compared to the settings of the camera/ meter however if your shutter speed was slow and your ISO was up and you held the button long enough it would pick up on an amount of light it has nothing to do with how quick the light goes off it’s all about how much light was able to be captured during the time in which you had the button pressed

[@WorldMaidens]

We have been following your lectures on your KZbin channels. We had wanted to say thank you for all the high level of professionalism, honesty and great effective communication. We are learning and following as we are preparing to start a program. In other words, Knowledge is Power, and that's what you have technically shown. Thank you ever so much for your dedication, passion and compassion to humanity.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thank you for your kind words. You can also follow more in-depth classes on Karl Taylor Education.

[@bobsykes]

This is really helpful. The measurement of relative power, along with how blinding the continuous LED is on maximum power was a great example and memorable. I can see how a modern continuous light like yours could be great to enhance indoor, ambient lighting, being able to match color temperature of the ambient light and set a level appropriate for what I was trying to do. If I shot studio portraits, I find all the reasons you presented for flash to be extremely compelling.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thanks Bob, glad you found it helpful.

[@dongerramarco9617]

i am, confused , as I use video lights without problems ISO 100 f5 and up freeze motion i flash though

[@ChrisBrown-wr5wf]

Agree with everything you said 100%, except ... I think you're being a little unfair in the studio flash vs strobe. You're using an 800W flashgun - which is by default going to be a lot brighter. Maybe a 200W studio flash would be a nearer comparison. It's like saying: "This 1000W halogen lamp has aound 20X the light output than this 100W household tungsten bulb" Different technologies, and not really comparing like with like. I mainly do video (on a budget), and am looking at the 50W COB leds on a heatsink, or the 600mm x 600mm LED ceiling lamps, (similar to a 50 x 70 softbox) No idea if either will work until I try! (I used to use Kodachrome cine film - 64ASA in artificial light, 40ASA in daylight - with 1000W halogens, and 500W photofloods. No LED has a similar output! )

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thank you for commenting but we felt that 800J was a good comparison as it is a common power. Karl studio packs run up to 3200J and we don't recommend anything less that 400J to our students.

[@Artfulscience1]

For photography exclusively I’d agree that you much more creative flexibility with strobes than LED’s, especially for the money. But unfortunately strobes are worthless for cinematographers lol. Luckily aputure is making insanely bright daylight LED sources like their 600W fixture which seems to compete with 1.2k HMI’s. I often like shooting continuous to get stills and video without re-lighting. But there’s just no getting around that lighting for video is often far more expensive than lighting for stills.

[@CybekCusal]

If you used continuous light that equaled the lumens of the flash it would cost a fortune for the power and energy. If doing this as a full time job, the electrical cost savings are considerable with a light source that only fires for a fraction of a second.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

It also wouldn't be useable, it would be too bright to look at and work with.

[@motorvelo]

For still life LED is OK. 4sec exposure to get f45. then you say you would be working in the dark, but you wouldn't as the light would be on.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Hi yes what it meant about a dark studio was that it has to be dark without your LED photography lighting otherwise you will suffer light pollution in your photos from unwanted sources.

[@stephenmorgan5100]

In the nicest way possible he sounds like Ronnie Barker sitting behind his desk lol

[@kurtsteiner8384]

Is it the same for tungston lamps of 500 to 750 watts continious lamps

[@enduraman1]

When you slow the shutter speed to 1/50 second for video and use a Aputure Frensel 2x, the aperture can be stopped down much more.

[@JFRphotography]

7:42 Enough for me. You just saved me a few thousand dollars.

[@jktz122]

hes comparing a 160 watt led to a 800 ws strobe yes the led will lose every time

[@longliveclassicmusic]

Wow. This was sure enlightening. I assumed a 150W LED continuous for example would be comparable to a 200W flash. Guess when it comes to LED continuous versus flash tube, watts translate differently regarding actual lumen output. I am up to 5 studio strobes and am aiming for more… Love my modeling lights, love my color accuracy mode, love everything about them. I've invested good money in learning to use them. But apart from straining a subject's eyes, I figured continuous would be about the same outputs in many cases! So this really was valuable to learn from for me!

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Great thank you.

[@DrJorgeReynal]

Karl Taylor using a light meter????? I am flabbergasted!!!! ;-😮 😲;-)

[@VisualEducationStudio]

What is the world coming too! 🤣

[@Ella19990]

I want the light u are using on this video i want my living to be bright as the light u are using on this video

[@vickosis]

Would have been great to hear about examples of using LED lights in combinatino with Flash e.g to shine a projection (gobo/cookie) onto a subject and/or backgroujnd etc. The LED light you used displayed 160 on the side of it and it metered around f/2 if I recall correctly, but what if you had a much stronger COB LED like say a 300W, 500W or possibly 800W one. Would this be more usable in conjunction with flash?

[@emadrahmany4801]

Good reason

[@irishabermann3569]

Not really. Because the brighter the LED gets, the more the subject will be blinded. Maybe in a sunglass shoot ;)

[@vtxgenie1]

From my experience you wouldn't need more than 100-200w COB LED unless the subject is in sunlight. Especially with a good softbox it isn't difficult to look into the light, those reflectors do look harsh to look at though. You can get great effects with flash though, in combination or alone.

[@forrwhat]

Now if only Strobe manufactures would put LED modeling lights into the strobes we might get bi color modeling lights.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

That would be good but the unit would be very big to accommodate the necessary electronics, maybe they will get there eventually.

[@nightdonutstudio]

Godox has new light that combine strobe with bright daylight led. But the strobe is so weak. Test shows even weaker than a top of line speedlight. But the led is very bright...so I guess it is mainly for video work and slightly photography work.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thanks for the info, I'm sure there will be lots of tech advancements in this in the future.

[@BMJotzo]

Great explanation, nine stops really is a huge difference. Thanks a lot! 👍

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Glad it was helpful

[@cesarm6131]

what is the output power of that LED light equivalent in terms of WATTs compared to the flash strobe?

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Well in the test it was about 10 fstops less than the Siros which is 800j or W/s so do the math: one stop less than 800 is 400, two stops less than 800 is 200 etc, halves each time.

[@harvymckiernan93]

Another issue with Led's, especially with Wedding photography, the "camera phone paparazzi" as I like to call them can steal your shot. You've basically handed the scene free of charge on a plate. Not only have I set up the composition, posed the couple, tidied up the scene, I've now positioned all the Led lights ready for them too. I might as well employ my services as an art director and not a photographer. Lesson learned...I've reverted back to flash regardless.

Best reason.

[@Smoothblue90]

That's actually a pretty good point.

[@gadgeteer57]

You are %100 right!

[@TheHoodGourmet]

facts. you could put this in your offer and charge for it... since the overall coverage of the wedding including the photos of the guests benefit of your light setup.. (but hard to sell i guess lol)

[@sstobbe1817]

You really think that people are able to "steel" your shot? Are you serious in comparing a camera phone with a camera handled by a professional? I think you might have a complete different problem if that's true. Yes, a lot of people nowadays are used to phone camera photos and often think those are very good. That's a problem we have these days. Everybody can do something. However, they don't have any idea what your settings are and most of the time even don't change the automatic phone camera settings. Are you shooting at f/2.8? f/11? f/??? They don't know. They also don't know what photo you take. Furthermore, they only see a scenery you created. In that scenery you can make a lot of different photos (close-up, overviews, angles, etc.). Besides that, you're the professional there. If the people who hired you think your photos are less good than the ones made by you, something else is going on. They probably wouldn't have hired you in the first place. Simply put, there's more to a photo than the scenery setup and lighting.

[@quirkworks4076]

Wonderful and extremely helpful, Karl. I'm a product and composite photographer and use strobes almost exclusively. Once you get the workflow down and the settings sort of dialed into your head, it's almost instinctive.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Glad it was helpful!

[@kanansuria7496]

Simple led for videos flash for photos.

[@nixonmanuel6459]

Karl Taylor never disappoints!

[@WOWAudioBlog]

Hello Karl, I am a beginner and I do have the amazon setup lighting. I have realized that my pictures are getting better but I see that its not where I want them to be. I see that I need to understand lighting more and also invest in speedlights. I know that I will get better at this cause I love it.

[@ImagesByLyricsPhotography]

I think it's beneficial for me to use both because I came from sunlight to Flash now I'm shooting video and photography. For some people it just takes a little bit more time to understand and learn how to use Flash But once they are familiar they will not go back

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Yes.

[@marianobazan2601]

You must change the way you think about lighting if you use continuous light, it would no longer be photography lighting, you have to think of it as cinema lighting ;)

[@VisualEducationStudio]

I'd agree with that.

[@RapzoneProductions]

If we lit the whole frame with tungsten light & clicking the picture with by using a flash 📸 in it so what will be the white balance?

[@VisualEducationStudio]

You'd have an ugly mixed lighting balance, but why do that just turn the tungsten off or cut it out more with a higher shutter speed.

[@fabiogloor]

It's a bit a comparison of apple with pears. The usage of LED lights is completely different. You mentioned, LED are much better for video for example. But for slow motion, what you mentioned also, I would go for HMI with more power, because when you are filming with lets say 2000 fps, than you need a lot of these LEDs. Every light has a different reason, so why compare them.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

I agree but we compare them because people ask questions about them and don't understand the difference, so we make videos that explain the difference. You should remember from your days at bron that there are photographers of all different levels and we cater for all levels. We also have the HMIs but I wasn't going to confuse this video for a new audience further, bron have a good blog post on a photographer using these LEDs on slow motion product splash shots, so it is possible.

[@fabiogloor]

@@VisualEducationStudio Thx for your reply. I agree with that, it would be confusing to explain everything in a KZbin Video. I just wanted to mention, that you really should choose the light by what you are doing. It depends on your "project" you want to do. But keep going like this, even with my comment I like the video and appreciate. It gives a good overview/introduction in the topic 👍

[@DerekComer]

This video has just saved me some money as I was thinking about buying some LED LIGHTS to simplify my photography “it’s a hobby”. Not my job. I use Bowens lights “might be spelt wrong” 😂. Will stick with what iv got. Thanks 👍

[@Foche_T._Schitt]

One other benefit of continuous lighting is with vintage camera's that do not have a means to trigger a flash.

[@waynosfotos]

Horses for courses, I have invested in continuous lighting as I do mostly video, but for off camera stills work, flash is better, especially for outside work to fill or exposing for the background.

[@michaelbellis2279]

I got into using flash photographing fashion during the mid 1980's, still use it today in the studio, However, for video I would use LED.

[@returntohome330]

Rofl i never thought someone would be stupid enough to try & light video footage with strobe but hey this made me chuckle. :)

[@m77ast]

@@returntohome330 strobes have a modelling lamp. That can be used for lighting videos.

[@returntohome330]

@@m77ast Modeling lamps are used to see where light falls. But I guess if you like filming at 1/60th of a second at 6400+ ISO go for it dude!.

[@bartnagel]

I've been watching and enjoying your videos for a couple of months now, and I just looked up where you're located. Now I'm very curious about what it's like to have a photo studio in Guernsey. I assume you live there as well? Maybe you've talked about this in previous videos but I wonder what life and business are like on that island. Do clients, models, props and other supplies have to be ferried in? It looks absolutely idyllic. I don't think I could work there, though-I'd just lay in one of those lush green fields and drink gallons and gallons of delicious milk.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thanks. Before all this Covid stuff I used to work regularly all over the world, either shooting or giving presentations on photography. Back 10-15 years ago when my main focus was commercial photography I would be shooting here in the Channel Islands and in the UK (we normally have 5 short flights a day to London). This allowed me to shoot some products that were shipped to me at my studio or work anywhere as many photographers do these days when they no longer have their own studio. I was born here and grew up here but in the mid 90's I spent a significant time overseas (SE Asia) shooting photojournalism. I then came back and in the late 90's set up my studio. 12 years ago I started the education side of the business and now most of our focus is on that whilst I still shoot for a few select clients, either here or away. Obviously the current situation isn't making any of the 'away' stuff possible for anyone. I've had the opportunities to pursue a more commercial focused career in the city but I'm not a fan of cities and my other passion is the ocean and wreck diving which we have a lot of round here!

[@Noname-yu8qw]

I combine both and it depends on what I do, for example for portraits at f1.4 or 2.8 continuous light is a nice help, for products also...

[@MrJohanswa]

it's clear to me! for now i'm using my old compuls 165 and 65 flash. and for very fast flash times my nikon flashes.. For film it's perfect to work with LED.

[@peterknight9873]

Karl… So… Sorry…. Another great professional video 😳😳😄 Just thought to say an additional benefit with strobe is a single long exposure with multiple strobe flashes with an action figure movement. Looks fantastic with martial arts with a single shots with frozen action movements caught by the strobe flashes to show the flow from a to b… A lot easier with strobe…

[@MegaDogsBreakfast]

I was just thinking about this last night, funny timing. LED lights typically have the number of lumens for output vs conventional lights have watts and guide numbers. Eventually someone smarter than me will figure out the equivalency and make it easier for customers to cross-shop. It is impressive some of the light output capable by some of the LED lights now.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

I believe 1 joule is around 700Lm

[@sixlitrehair]

Is very rare to see so high level of profesionality. Thank you

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Wow, thank you!

[@JPBerkleeDude]

It would be interesting to see a comparison with the rotolight LED flash models to see how the power output compares!

I often have shoots with photographers and filmmakers on set. Last time we shoot through a window to get the window shadows inside the room ... end of the stroy was the filmmaker used a aputure 1200D with the longest hyper reflector and the photographer used a godox ad200 with the fresnel and it was considerably sharper and brighter than the 1200D

[@trevtog]

I have been strictly a flash shooter but with the new LEDs and doing more video work I have added LED lighting to my still and video work.

[@oregolelefinger]

that's what I struggle with I'm into photography & video so it's hard to choose between the 2 but leaning to led

[@DrL33productions]

He is comparing a 800w flash to a 160w LED light 🤷🏾‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Yes I am. There aren't many LEDs that are significantly brighter than these that also have a fitting for a broad range of modifiers. Even if it was 320W it would still be 8 stops less light than the 800J studio flash. The point of the video is to help people appreciate the comparative usability of each type of system and where one will benefit over the other.

[@DrL33productions]

I appreciate the info and have learned a lot from the channel, but this comparison is not fair at all. If you did a bit more digging you will find out that there are now 500w LED light with great color accuracy Aperture just launch a new led light 500w output also the Forza 500 LED Monolight from NanLite. Now the output won’t be equivalent to a 500w strobe, but definitely will be a close comparison. Either way good info and keep up the amazing work sir.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thanks for your comments but with your example of a 500W LED you are gaining less than 2 stops exposure over the one I tested, so with a shutter speed of 1/120th of a second that is still 7.25 stops less powerful than the 800J studio flash head. At 1/250th shutter speed (at least more useful) it's 8.25 stops less power, that's 150 times less light so it won't be a close comparison. And as you start to use LEDs that are that physically bright with a continuous light you are not going to get portrait subjects/models sitting comfortably for long.

[@NemouseJurado]

Im about to get a MS300 Godox studio light, (its a starter cheap/performance light) is there any similiar good performance LED light anyone can suggest? (arround 110us) Thanks

[@lordr9485]

Very very useful and thank you mr Karl 😘🙏🏼🍻

[@VisualEducationStudio]

My pleasure!

[@christianschneiderphoto]

Great video. I have both in my studio. A flash with a beauty box imo is untouched when shooting portraits etc. But the LEDs are great for kids and animals, on a low setting of course. Lots of product brands wants to shoot video of their products at the same time, that’s also when I take out the LEDs. Other than that, flash is king imo. I use macro for my portraits and I need to be like f11 / f13 to get the whole face in focus and that’s like impossible with LEDs I think.

[@eltonfoster]

I would love to see a comparative between flash and HMI and see the differences in the shoot. I know some great photographers using HMI and I’m very curious to see if are different in the quality of the light.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

HMI's give the same quality as flash, they burn extremely hot with full spectrum CRI100 light. The only problem with them is they are extremely bright for models to look at when working with certain modifiers.

[@RS-Amsterdam]

Karl, Happy New Year and the best wishes. Thanks for this enlightening explanation. Totally agree. LED's looks like the best thing on earth until you are using it and then the second thoughts come up. They are useful but first make up your mind what you want to archive with them. Been there, done that hehehehe Thanks for sharing.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Yes exactly, thanks.

[@althafunique5199]

Sir you are the king of photography ❤️... I have seen many tutorials but you are far better than all of them... Please keep on posting sir it will help us alot... Love from India ❤️

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thank you so much 😀

[@wellwhatthen10101]

I have always said that LED lights are only good for stills or product photograph. And should never be used for portrait work. Karl it has been a pleasure to here that you have the same opinion that I have been saying for a few year's now. It must be so uncomfortable for model otany person to have to strain n their eyes in a photo session

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thanks for your comments

[@NeonShores]

Strobes for portraits and wanting some pop, continuous for still life or product photography for ease and consistency.

[@shaneroachford892]

This is great. Just getting into photography and have been using strictly continuous light, focusing on understanding and manipulating it. Thanks for the great content and the attention to detail in your courses and videos.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

You're welcome.

[@JR-lx8nn]

Flash ' Strobe is my favorite, while LEDs can be useful in some cases. As the narrator suggests, best to have some of each in your bag. JT

[@grantdecker1190]

Both all the way with lots of different modifiers. Qty2 Godox SL200ii (stuck at 5600K) but I just use cco or ccb gels. Qty3 Falcon Eye F2 for rim, background lights, Qty1 Godox V1-S, Qty 4 AD200Pro. This has taken care of my lighting so far. The continuous leds are good to have for special effects for video. Ambulance, cops, firetruck, candle flicker, lightning, etc.

[@mattorrz759]

The best and most helpful explanation I’ve seen. Cheers Karl 🥃

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks

[@salimnazer]

You are the best when it comes to breaking down technical jargon to human language. I would love to hear your opinion on hybrid LED lights like Godox FV200 if you had a chance to check it out. Is the flash power on these good enough ?

[@1bncxlr]

What are your feelings on using LEDs as a hair light or a background light? I am the staff videographer at a small corporation. Now my role is expanding to headshots. Thinking of using my strobe as a key light and my continuous LEDs behind the subject.

[@fahleenfang4642]

Hello 💙 May I ask if I have to buy a separate flash lights and continuous light? or is there a product that can do both?

[@VisualEducationStudio]

You'd only need both if you plan on doing lots of video work as well as high quality stills that require fast flash durations. There is no real caliber product that can do both at this time.

[@fahleenfang4642]

@@VisualEducationStudio Thaank you💙

[@cdmikelis]

As wedding videographer I hated photographers that constantly pop flashes. Especially after CMOS sensors, which did not capture whole flash but only in stripes. But as photographer I like flash better. You pointed out main reasons: People hated me with video light glaring into them, while photographer was stealth(ier). Another consideration is power consumption and weight/bulkiness. Flashgun will give me whole day of usage, whereas similar bright led light will give me an hour. Also flashgun can be fit in the pocket (or ThinkTank pouch), not so with led panel. For wedding a flashgun is more versatile. Why burn batteries when it is not needed. I need to test RotoLight one day, which can act as flash in photo-mode. Because it just flashes light, LED modules can be vastly overdriven and not overheat, since it is just a brief moment of usage; e.g. same light give much more power as flash, than as continuous light output. Than there is heat and noise. Very powerful continuous lights generate a lot of heat and they need to be cooled down. True, powerful flashes also have fans inside, but not all the time we need 800 Ws, so they do not warm up space so quick. As ex videographer I was tempted to use video lights, but later went back to flashes.

[@tano2120]

amazing content tks

[@Govannonart]

As always useful, Karl. Thanks a million for the video. I have done some shots with LED lights, didn't like them due to increased ISO. I prefer studio flash even when shooting outside. And next week I have to get my hands on my New year's present (battery studio flash) Later this year I'm planning to get 2 more flashes to make greater photos. Best regards from Mother Russia

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thanks for your feedback Nikolai.

[@mickue]

I prefer flash lights because of the power. Freezing motions or shooting against the sun is no problem.

[@KennethDillard]

Maybe I'm wrong, or not understanding things, but I think LEDs would be nice for weddings for say, those late-night bride-and-groom shots that people love, or for shooting the reception (to help keep the ambiance of the room intact). I see the benefit of having both types of lights in an arsenal.

[@muser7935]

Clear explanation

[@adrianvanleeuwen]

I tried studio continuous LED for product photos and for long use sessions, I find it hard on eyes to keep LED lights on while working. I like the stronger power of strobe flash for product photos, and only fires for fraction of second. I think the flash with softbox has a bit more crisper edges than LED in my opinion, but perhaps the softbox type factors into this for crispness.

[@returntohome330]

You would damage your eyes trying to use continuous lighting shooting product. Hell even computer monitor use damages the eyes after prolonged use!.

[@maxhilaire212]

Always enlightening.Thanks for your generosity!

[@VisualEducationStudio]

My pleasure!

[@pascoett]

I have problems to combine interesting ambient light and shadows with flash. I've always used flash everywhere and only recently enjoyed the benefits of the newest range of LED with Bowens mounts and modifiers. LED nowadays also come with adjustement of the Kelvin numbers. This overally evens out any situation.

[@Mattrossphoto]

Pretty much sums up why continuous blows😂. I too found out the hard way when I was repulsed by the iso noise and immediately threw on my on camera flash and had to bounce it around to get decent results. Godox stuff is so cheap there’s really no reason not to strobe up!

[@ronyghosh3616]

👍👍👍👍

[@Pokemon12345-n]

LEDs are useful in shooting small products like perfume bottles, very close up shots like wristwatch in hand. Also technology is giving more and more powerful LEDs in smaller sizes with great features. Recently I have added two godox ML60 Bi in my collection of flash units. These are very useful for creating unique effects. You are absolutely right that every professional photographer should have at least one LED light. Thank you very much for your great explanation.

[@theestategalleryllctegauct3901]

I use LEDs in my product and still portait studio with a darkened studio which i actually don't mind since our studio is small the Photo LEDs throw enough light around the studio so that we can all work and see what we need to see. I do as most others which is to use studio strobes when looking for fast shutter speeds and stop action work. Having both options is the best solution for photographers under current sensor and other hardware photography technology, but that may change in the future

[@jlwilliams]

Re LEDs, I'd usually rather use flash for the reasons mentioned in the video. But one way I think LEDs would be useful would be when trying to add light to a mixed-ambient-light environment (such as windows + fluorescent + incandescent.) Some newer LEDs can be adjusted both for color temperature and for tint, so in theory it should be possible to do this. But I'm not very good at "eyeballing" color mix, and while I've tried using a color-temperature phone app, it isn't very accurate. Would love to see an LED light with an ambient-light sensor that would automatically adjust itself to the surrounding light, then let me tweak setting from there. Surely somebody else must think this would be a good idea...? PS -- Fun to see Karl rocking a Minolta Flash Meter IV circa 1988. It's still a really good meter, and (as Karl explains in another video) he rarely uses a meter anyway. So, sticking with the old one is what I call pragmatic!

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Hi JL.... 'an ambient-light sensor that would automatically adjust itself to the surrounding light,' Now that would be cool! Ha and yes I've had that meter since 1991 it's been to almost every country on the planet with me, but the last 15 years it's been mostly in the cupboard :)

[@loozerid]

Wow as a beginner i was wondering just exactly why i was enjoying my flash so much more than trying continous lighting., Thank you