Matt at DIY Perks recently got his hands on a monstrous, 1500W, single LED that he believes to be the brightest and most powerful single LED unit in the world. But actually getting this thing to work without blowing up or burning itself alive... that's not so easy.
RGB LEDs are a relatively new piece of technology, and a wonderful addition that photographers should be taking advantage of. Before this technology existed, we were forced to resort to adding gels to our strobes in order to add a pop of color into our images. This worked well (and still does) but having the ability to change the hue and saturation of your lights with the flip of a switch or turn of a dial is incredibly useful.
Can something be a clone if it's announced first? Only hours before Profoto officially unveiled its brand new C1 and C1 Plus smartphone lights, Godox had already announced their own round smartphone lights. Meet the Godox R1 and R1X—the round, magnetic LED light and LED flash for smartphones that beat Profoto to the punch.
Aputure unveiled a prototype of its most powerful continuous light yet at IBC 2019. With just a touch of fanfare, the company reveled the LS 600d LED light, which will boast "600 watts of raw LED power" according to Aputure President Ted Sim.
Earlier this week, high-end lighting brand Profoto released a teaser for a new light that it claimed would "forever change the world of photography." Don't get too excited though: according to the most recent rumors, this "game-changing" product is an expensive LED flash for smartphones.
Elinchrom has partnered up with Light & Motion to announce the new Elinchrom ELM8: a battery-powered continuous LED light for photo and video shooters that they're calling "the most versatile continuous LED light on the market."
Photon is a new modular mini studio for product photographers that features a powerful system of flexible LED lighting.
Canon is apparently looking into building continuous LED lights into the pop-up flashes on DSLR cameras, something that could come in handy for certain situations when shooting photo or video.
"The Dying Of The Light" is a new 4.5-minute short film by photographer and aerial cinematographer Ian Montgomery, who recently took a powerful drone lighting rig out into the desert to see what he could capture.
LiShield is a new LED light bulb technology that helps protect privacy by confusing cameras to prevent unauthorized photos. The bulb is the creation of a team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego.
Using drones to illuminate scenes and subjects using flashes and powerful LED lights is a new trend made possible by the emergence of affordable and intelligent consumer drones. If you'd like to see what the latest experimentation is producing, check out the 2.5-minute short film above, titled "mémoires". It was lit entirely with drone lights.
British LED lighting manufacturer Rotolight has announced an update to its NEO range with the new NEO 2, which is a solution for photographers and videographers looking for both strobe and continuous LED lighting.
Spiffy Gear has just launched a new innovative LED light system called Spekular. Touted as "the Swiss army knife of LED lighting," the modular kit consists of LED light bars that can be connected and arranged in whatever shape you desire.
After teasing the product and sharing some sample portraits, the Chinese flash manufacturer Godox has now officially announced the A1. It's a flash, LED, and trigger 3-in-1 unit designed for smartphone cameras.
Back in 2014, San Diego-based startup Lume Cube unveiled its eponymous cube LED light that can output 1,500 lumens while small enough to fit in your pocket. Now the company is launching its next product, a followup light called the Life Lite.
Back in November of 2015, filmmaker Daniel Riley created what he dubbed "the world's brightest flashlight": a 1000W LED panel that pumped out an insane 90000 lumens of light. This week, he took his invention to the skies.
Lighting company Aputure just released a light that we're pretty sure will make it into many (many many) photographer and videographer gear bags. It's called the Amaran M9, and it's tiny, ultra versatile, and costs only $45!
Canon will soon be announcing a new Canon EF-M 28mm STM Macro lens. Photos and specs of the lens leaded today, revealing that it will be the first Canon lens to boast a built-in LED ring light.
We've seen the potential for drones as a photographic tool, light painting tool, and even a photographic assistant, but a Japanese company called MicroAd just showed off the power of drones to be the art itself.
For his new project Lux Noctis, photographer Reuben Wu lit and photographed landscapes at night by mounting powerful LED lights to GPS-enabled drones.
Want to add some flexible LED panels to your lighting kit without breaking the bank? This 19-minute video tutorial by DIY Perks is for you. It's a step-by-step guide on how you can assemble your own LED panel for about $60 by buying high CRI LED strip lights (~$25), a PWM LED dimmer (~$8), an articulating DSLR camera arm (~$18), some faux leather for the backing, some wiring and a solder gun.
Need a light to illuminate clouds or a mountainside? Check out the world's most powerful flashlight, created by Daniel Riley of Stratus Productions. By stringing together a series of powerful 100W LEDs, Riley created an ultra-powerful 1000W light that puts out a whopping 90000 lumens.
Riley introduces his crazy light in the 5.5-minute video above.
This past May, photographer Grant Mallory and his girlfriend Maria celebrated Maria's college graduation by embarking on an epic road trip around the United States. Mallory wanted to capture each National Park's scenic locations in a unique way, so he brought along an LED hula hoop and had Maria pose for light painting portraits.
Back in May, we featured a clever hack by photographer Paul Adshead that involved using an IKEA storage box as a $6 laptop sun shade for outdoor shoots. Now he's back again with another nifty photo trick: using a smartphone and a car phone mount for photographic lighting.
Aputure's latest Light Storm LS 1c is a powerful accessory for any photographer looking to light up their workspace. Today, we're taking a look at how well the system handles, along with some of the unique features it has to offer including built-in wireless control and DMX light controller compatibility.
Over the past half year, Latvian photographer Gvido Mūrnieks has been testing out a DIY ring light he made for himself. The light is large enough to shoot with longer focal length, but at the same time it's small and light enough to quickly throw into the trunk of your car on the way to a shoot.
There are already a good number of portable lighting studios on the market, but WhiteBison’s SOOC Studio strives to be the best full-featured option. The kit includes a foldable carrying case that transforms into a durable 18x16x12-inch setup with built-in 6,000K LED strips and an easy-to-clean plastic infinity curve.
Want a portable and powerful LED light for illuminating your shots? The "Sun-Blaster" is a 1000 watt equivalent LED flashlight that you can build yourself for around $40.
Taking photos is one of the main ways people use smartphones these days, and phone makers are trying all kinds of ideas for one-upping its competitors in photo features. ASUS just showed off its latest idea today: a powerful xenon flash dongle that attaches to the back of the phone.
For a new marketing campaign titled "Inspired Light," Infiniti invited Canadian professional light painting photographer Patrick Rochon to Dubai to transform three of its cars into "moving light painting brushes."