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  1. #1
    Active Amateur havana_joe's Avatar
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    LED light vs flash?

    I had a $10 Best Buy coupon to use, I found an open box Dynex LED light for $15, and it’s for use with a camcorder/camera. It screws onto the shoe, although there are no contacts as it's just a “dumb” light, not “smart” like a flash. It uses 2 AAA batteries, it’s bright but the range does seem to be somewhat limited. I have not had time to really use it, but I did take a few quick snaps around my apartment.

    It seems like it would be fine for fill light for photographing objects, but I think for photographing people it has limited use, since the non-stop light would be annoying and cause a lot of squinting.

    Has anyone had luck using one of these? It seems like it would work well for getting close-ups of items for websites or Ebay, and I like that you can see the shadows and reposition before you take the picture, vs. a flash where you can’t always predict where the shadows will be. Maybe it would work well as fill light outdoors? I’m using the Nikkor 35mm 1.8 on a D40.

    Thoughts?
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  2. #2
    Senior Member Anbesol's Avatar
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    Re: LED light vs flash?

    it will be duller than dirt. A real flash would do better than it for any and everything. What can you really expect for $15 anyway? You may as well use a desklamp.

  3. #3
    Active Amateur havana_joe's Avatar
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    Re: LED light vs flash?

    Quote Originally Posted by Anbesol
    it will be duller than dirt. A real flash would do better than it for any and everything. What can you really expect for $15 anyway? You may as well use a desklamp.
    Desk lamps seem a bit yellow to me and hard to carry around, especially outdoors. I don't expect a $15 LED to work like a $400+ flash or $4,000+ studio setup. I was simply asking about limited use, such as fill light when photographing still objects for online use, to see if anyone had experience with this.

    Thank you for your response.
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  4. #4
    Senior Member Anbesol's Avatar
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    Re: LED light vs flash?

    I was being facetious, sorry if it came off as rude. I have seen these items before and I honestly found them entirely worthless. What little that can do, your stock flash should do much better.

    By the way - you can get bulbs with better spectrum, not all lights cast yellow. You can also compensate with custom white balance to offset the yellow cast.

  5. #5
    Captain of the Ship Photo-John's Avatar
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    Re: LED light vs flash?

    Those things are only good for video. Better to invest in an inexpensive flash. Yes, you'll spend more. But you'll use it a lot more and for a lot longer.
    Photo-John

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  6. #6
    Active Amateur havana_joe's Avatar
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    Re: LED light vs flash?

    Quote Originally Posted by Photo-John
    Those things are only good for video. Better to invest in an inexpensive flash. Yes, you'll spend more. But you'll use it a lot more and for a lot longer.
    Thanks John, I actually have 3 different flashes, I just like to try different things. I figure that the more things you try, the more you learn!
    http://havanajoe08.shutterfly.com/

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  7. #7
    Captain of the Ship Photo-John's Avatar
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    Re: LED light vs flash?

    Quote Originally Posted by havana_joe
    Thanks John, I actually have 3 different flashes, I just like to try different things. I figure that the more things you try, the more you learn!
    Oh - well that's different. In that case, buy it and show us the results!
    Photo-John

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