Strobes vs. Video lights

[agompert]

Ok, 2 years ago when I first started out in photography, I bought myself some studio equipment. Upon setting the equipment up, my colleague who had been doing this a LOT longer than I have turns to me and says, "What made you buy Video lights instead of flash?" I said "These are video? whats the difference?" He said that most photographers use strobe lights that give a powerful burst of light, while video lights stay on all the time, and could make your model hot. But me, just starting out, I had NO IDEA what to buy and thought even so, that video would be easier to learn on because they stay on all the time and you can see the lighting you're working with.


But as I get a little more experience in the industry I'm seeing that literally ALL pro photographers use strobe.


So my question to you guys is, why???? is it JUST because they dont want to make the model hot, or what?

I'm thinking of changing the heads but this time I want to go in this educated so I know what to look for.

 

[Garry Edwards]

A few very good photographers do in fact use continuous lighting but you're right, nearly everyone uses flash.

Take a look at the articles in the Lencarta Learning Centre, and start with the one called 'How to choose your studio lights'. I think it will answer your questions.

You'll see that the mains reasons are
1. The ability to shape and control the light
2. Power, which allows a wide range of lens apertures to be used and freezes movement
3. Model comfort (nobody wants to be bombarded with bright lights and heat)
4. Fire safety (tungsten lighting is very hot and dangerous, flourescent lights designed for the amateur market don't produce accurate colour and HMI lighting is very expensive)

I think that those reasons are in the right order of importance.