Continuous light?

[AshleyC]

I want to do some portrature with my 5x4 which i cant fire a flash from, so i need a continuous light. Searching here shows the last thread a few years old, so im hoping there are some newer solutions

I do have a large beauty dish that i used to use with studio flash's which would be nice to use with one of these. Im hoping that heat dissipation is dealt with these days?

Anyway, can someone reccomend something? The dish is big and heavyish so a sturdy stand would be useful too.

 

[Garry Edwards]

Well, LED lighting can replace the old filament lighting for this purpose, but fluorescent lighting can't, because fluorescent lights are just too big and bulky for use with tools such as beauty dishes and fresnel spots - the old favourite for large format use.

Continuous lighting has always in fact suited large format portrait photography, it suits the pace and the 'single shot' approach to large format photography - but bear in mind that the traditional Hollywood glamour portraits used film set lighting with loads of power, and the subjects were skilled actresses who could hold a pose during very long exposures, and who had the discipline (as well as the makeup) to cope with the heat and blindingly bright lights.

If you're limited to photographing people without these skills, why not just use flash?
Bearing in mind that the normal operating aperture on a 5 x 4 might be something around f/45, the level of ambient lighting indoors should be low enough to allow say a half second exposure with the ambient causing problems, so just fire the flash manually during that half second.

 

[AshleyC]

thanks for that. Are there any LED lights that would have a mount to take the dish though? they all seem to be square. The dish has a circular hole in it.

 

[Garry Edwards]

thanks for that. Are there any LED lights that would have a mount to take the dish though? they all seem to be square. The dish has a circular hole in it.

Yes, we sell this one, and no doubt there are others too