Eco-lighting: LED is changing the way we work on set
On February, INNPORT, a company that specializes in the distribution of LED light fixtures for film and video, invited me to manage and create the lighting for an event.
Gaël Ollier (INNPORT’s founder) is a specialist in LED lights and fixtures for film, for many years. He has always shared the products he discovers, as well as new technologies being introduced into that field, with me.
I’m grateful to him for this. Thanks to Gaël’s friendship I was able to compare many LED fixtures and assess the impact they have on my craft as a cinematographer.
Nowadays, LED lights are flooding the industry, but all of them produce a different quality of light.
Let’s go a bit back in time to understand the intrinsic qualities and issues of those lights.
TV Commercial shooting with classic HMI lights - © Christophe Persoz, 2015
I started to use LED lights on film 2 years ago. Until that time I refused to light actor’s or any product with LED fixtures. The quality of these lights impacted the ability to know if the skin tones or the product’s color rendition was accurate or constant (unbalanced color and spikes in color spectrum). The CRI (Color Rendition Index) was poor, and thus, I could not imagine using them at that time.
However CRI is not precise enough to define a LED or SSL (Solid State Light). The different technologies used in SSL (phosphor / RGB or color LEDs / mix of RGB and phosphor / etc.) requires a full understanding and knowledge of the spectrum for these lights, whatever technology they are made of. These technologies produce a discontinuous color spectrum which are responsible for the poor color rendition on products, wardrobes and sets, as well as on skin tones.
In addition we have to consider that digital cameras also have their own perception based on the visible light spectrum. This is due to the sensor structure and sensitivity, the RAW interpretation when the debayering is done, and after all the numeric treatment that occurs. The problem is not simple to solve.
The Color Science of the cameras is certainly getting better which solves the majors issues and shifts.
However, with all these unknown drifts, how can you determine the final result you desire?
This is exactly the issue that the AMPAS, SMPTE, CST and numerous cinematographers and associations are raising.
In my professional experience, the early life of LED lighting for my craft was so poor that I preferred to keep them out (do you remember the poor light quality of Litepanel and similar panels?). Since then, I kept an eye on the LED evolution and continued to perform my own tests and measurements. The great advantage of doing this, is that today I am familiar with numerous kinds of LED fixtures and I can choose exactly those I want for a specific mood or effect that I’m looking for. I know their advantages, as well as their drifts, for a large number of what is on the market.
Articles and publications that have been done by the AMPAS (their first article is no longer publicly available) and the CST on LEDs fixtures helped me to learn about the evolution of this technology.
Today, if you compare the CIE D55 reference curve (corresponding to daylight in mid-afternoon of 5500K) to one of the best actual daylight LED fixtures, you can easily see that they are comparable. I won’t be surprised if in the coming years they will be a perfect match.
CIE D55 curve - © Christophe Persoz, 2015
IRC is commonly used to define the quality of the light, but due to non-uniform spectrum, it’s not enough. If you really want to know which LED fixture to use, a spectrometer is the only thing that will allow you to understand the color rendition of this light.
The CRI define the quality of color rendition but Ra, and TLCI values (Television Lighting Consistency Index) are much more accurate and dedicated to our activities. Of course, a real test will validate whether or not it works for make-up, wardrobe, etc. or solve issues that colorists and DPs can often times see during the color grading.
So, back to the event with Gael that I mentioned. He organized an exhibition with other partners of the Montpellier region of France to show LED light fixtures and large sensor cameras. We had several contributors, including INNPORT who was in charge of providing the lights, Images Photo Montpellier for large sensor digital cameras and accessories, ArtFX (visual effects school) in charge of the sets, Fujinon France provided Cabrio zoom lenses, and Sony France contributed with their latest camera, PXW-FS7. I would like to thank them for their support.
I used my experience as a cinematographer to setup realistic scenes where cameras and LED lighting would show best, rather than just exposing them as usually done in exhibitions.
The day was split in two parts. The morning was dedicated to the Art FX’s students and the afternoon for professionals.
There were three different stages, all lit up by LED fixtures.
One with a green screen of approximately 300 square feet, with a two person interview in the foreground.
Green screen with interview set - © ArfFX, 2015
A smaller set that illustrated how to simply light a black car model.
Car style packshot set - © ArfFX, 2015
And finally, a small product packshot setup.
Small product packshot - © Christophe Persoz, 2015
For the camera, I had a Red Epic Dragon, a Sony F5 in duo with the Sony FS7, and a Canon C300 (which has historically some difficulties with mixed color temperatures). The lenses were zoom and prime: Fujinon Cabrio 19-90mm and 85-300mm, Canon Cinema prime lenses or Leica Summicron-C.
I chose an aperture of 4.0 ⅓ to 5.6 for the key light on the three sets. All the camera sensitivities were set on 800 ISO (850 ISO for the Canon C300), 25 fps and shutter at 180°.
RED Dragon with Leica Summicron-C with ND 0.6 - © Christophe Persoz, 2015
For the light, the fixtures I used for this event were:
ALADDIN Flexlite, the product that cinematographers and gaffers were waiting for for years. It’s a 10 inch square flexible panel, thin (0.8" thick) available in tungsten or daylight (with an CRI > 95 and uniform spectrum) and weighs only 150g. The perfect tool for many situations. Equipped with a pancake DoP Choice, in 3200K, I placed it above the interviewer’s table as fill light, a perfect soft light for faces. I love working with this versatile light!
Aladdin Flexlite Tungsten measured with UPRTek 350S - © Christophe Persoz, 2015
FIILEX Light, Q500, P360EX, P200, and P180E. They are amazing lights. They are perfectly built, smart to use (powerful, magnetic attachment system for accessories, lightweight, and with fine tuned CCT knobs) with an incredible quality of light.
I used P360 and P180E as the key and back light for the interview setup. The key-light was equipped with a Fresnel lens that was set to 3200K. The Q500 was placed on the side to light the decor (an old 35mm film projector, several film rolls, etc.), and the P200 equipped with its fiber was placed inside the decor to add some color.
Fiilex P360EX measured with UPRTek 350S - © Christophe Persoz, 2015
The TGL Luniq panels, which exits in several versions, makes you think, at first glance, of the KinoFlo Celeb products, except that these have a much better color rendition and are more powerful. I used two Luniq100 (100W of power consumption) to light the green screen. Then, I placed a Luniq 200, set at 15% of its power output to light the packshot in backlight. Studio and location are the best places for those lights. With a DMX controller attached to them, you can adjust CCT and the intensity with ease to conform the set to your needs.
TGL Luniq100 at 5600K, measured with UPRTek 350S - © Christophe Persoz
Finally, the VISIOLIGHT Zoom range which offers powerful Fresnel LED fixtures: In terms of comparison, the 350W version delivers almost the same intensity as an ARRI Compact 1200 HMI. We can now say that a powerful fixture exists on the market.
At this event I had used a 200W fixture, in 5600K, diffused through a ½ grid cloth frame to light the car model. Barndoors allows me to perfectly cut the light inside the frame. Another big advantage of these fixtures is the heat dissipation. Even at 2" from the ceiling, there is no risk of burn or overheating them. This is a big advantage too.
VisioLight Zoom 350 measured with UPRTek 350S - © INNPORT
Of course, those fixtures are not the only one I like, there is also the CineoLighting HS, the ARRI LoCaster, panels mades by The Light, and the Smartlight SL1.
The Guild of Television Cameramen keeps the updated results of their tests and publishes them online here. It’s a good way to compare most of the current LED fixtures existing on the market. By doing so, it will help you to consider, on your own, which one can be tested for your project.
These lights are providing several great advantages compared to the classic ones: they are small and compact, lightweight, have a low consumption, and their light quality and power output is still increasing. The low heat emitted is particularly pleasant for actors and electricians.
All of this means big changes for the environment and around behaviors: quicker setups, lighter stands, smaller trucks, less fuel, and battery as the power supply in some cases. All of this needs to be taught and communicated to production and light teams (gaffer, best boy, electrician).
In regard to power consumption, the total for the three sets was below 4kW… compared to the average of 10kW had I been working with tungsten light! With these kind of fixtures you can light a set on location without getting into trouble with electrical issues.
Today, the advantages provided by this technology (whatever the LED that is used, SMD, COB or Phosphor) give me the freedom to work in total confidence on sets, TV studios and features. I know that the color rendition is now as good as I’m looking for to create the light on film, and I don’t feel I’ll betray the trust of directors and producers by using this technology.
Despite all these advantages, keep in mind that you will need to prepare and test your lighting more accurately than you have in the past - You can’t have everything!
Last year I worked on a film for 3 months, all around the world, and the lights I used were only LED fixtures (key and backlights) and large lightweight chimera frames for diffusion and bounce. In the past it would have been much more complicated to organize than it was.
If you have questions or if you want to set up a studio with only LED equipment, do not hesitate to contact me!
Please note that I have not being paid or rewards by the company that are mentioned in this article, I just only use their products regularly.
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