Manfrotto Lumie Muse 8 Review
Manfrotto Lumie Muse 8
(if you don't want to read all of this review. I am very pleased with it and would recommend it)
Manfrotto Lumie Muse 8 (The AA battery is only for size reference the unit has an internal rechargeable battery)
I have just received a new LED light and since I could find out very little on the web about the light before I bought it I thought I would write another equipment review for my photographer friends.
To give you some background I already own a MicroPro panel LED and a Doug Gordon TorchLED TL-50 but both of these are a few years old and LED technology has moved on a bit.
At the SWPP trade show in January there were a vast number of LED lights to choose from which makes it difficult deciding which is best to invest in.
Basically the all the lights can be split into three categories:
1. 1. Large lights trying to replace studio continuous light sources with the obvious advantage that they run cool and low wattage. These typically require mains and are not all that portable. I was not looking for these as I wanted a light I could use easily on location for my portraiture and wedding photography.
2. 2. Medium size battery lights. These are lights that I would probably need to carry in a separate bag. For a wedding this sort of light would have to be useful for a number of shots to make it worthwhile carrying. Generally for weddings I like to go light using a belt pack and carrying only a reflector and light stand. That way I can move around quickly and fairly unobtrusively.
3. 3. Small lights that would fit into my belt pack and be no problem to carry.
What did I consider:
Westcott Ice Light & Ice Light II - To be fair I have not handled these lights and so cannot comment on the build quality, but I have seen them demonstrated and they look impressive. I like the long length as this distributes the light source giving an even soft light. However the downsides are it would need to be carried in a separate case. Also the reviews on Amazon are not good on the build quality or the consistency in light output which is worrying. Whilst the Ice Light I is retailing just below £300 if I was spending this sort of money I would probably go for the Ice Light II as it seems silly spending quite a bit and going for the old technology. The Ice Light II is about £450 and so price is a real factor without knowing how useful this light would be. Perhaps I should rent one for a while.
Rotolight Neo – I did play with this a bit at the show. I like the soft lighting it produces, the build quality and button operation is good and feels solid. I do think that it is aimed at the video market and as I don’t shoot video I would be paying for built in video effects that I would never use. The ability to dial in the colour temperature looks like a useful feature however I don’t have a colour meter and thus I would be setting this by eye. I wonder if I would just end up using it on a couple of settings, daylight or tungsten, and thus using gels might be just as easy. After all the Ice Light only uses gels, is this again something I am paying for but not getting a big benefit from. The bi colour led lights also tend to put out less power on daylight setting for a similar sized daylight only panel. The Neo uses 6 AA batteries, which whilst readily available, do weigh quite a bit. It might fit in my waist pouch but it would certainly add to the weight. The Neo is currently retailing just below the £300 price point which is still a fair investment.
Manfrotto lights – I did briefly look at these at the show and it was obvious that they were all quality products. They have a wide range of lights to choose from and as a company they are obviously backing the LED technology in a big way.
After weeks of deliberating and shifting my position from the above lights and cheap Chinese clones on Amazon I decided to invest in the Manfrotto Lumie Muse 8. Initially I had overlooked the Lumie Muse as being too small and thus not powerful enough. However the Lumie Muse 8 is claimed to give 550 lux at 1 meter. I checked my existing lights and this was about twice as much light as my MicroPro. From a package that is tiny and very light it seemed to good to be true. Consider it this way, it is half as much light output as the Rotolight Neo (clamed at 1077 lux) however two of these Lumie Muse lights would give equivalent light output and be considerably lighter and smaller to carry than one Neo with batteries. This would also be more flexible as you would have two light sources if needed on a shoot. Three of these lights would give the same light intensity as an Ice Light II, again much smaller, lighter and more flexible. Perhaps Manfrotto should consider a clip to join them together (remember I thought of this and any royalties for this idea would be welcome). The run time on full charge is claimed to be 60 minutes at full power which is as good as the Ice Light and should be enough for the way I will be using the light.
The light is extremely portable, easily pocket size. It is well made in a robust aluminium case. Using it in the palm of your hand is very easy and the on/off button functions as a four step power setting which is ideal for operating one handed. In fact this power control is much better than the usual rotary knob in that it is easy to adjust one handed and gives repeatable settings. The power button is also well recessed and so will not easily be knocked on while carrying in my case, this is a good design. Charging through a micro USB is fantastic, particularly if I am travelling since I always have a USB charger with me and so there is nothing else to carry. The Lumie Muse 8 comes with a small ball head and gels for diffusion and tungsten correction and a USB charge lead. Along with the 550 lux at one meter output Manfrotto claim a CRI (Colour Rendering Index) index > 92 and a beam angle of 50 degrees which is the same beam angle as the Neo. >92 for the CRI is good, 100 is max, This indicates how accurately the light can light the full spectrum of colours. The Neo is better at >95 but I am not sure how visible this would be in the finished photos.
I am always skeptic about manufacturers’ claims as they always seem to be taken “under ideal conditions” and so as soon as it arrived I ran some tests. I set the light up in a dark room six feet away from a Lastolite 6'x4' white background. I set the camera to 5600 kelvin, that being the white balance of the LED’s stated by Manfrotto. Firstly I measured the power using my Sekonic light meter and I registered 500 lux at one meter distance. An acceptable difference and more powerful than my other lights. I then shot my Colour Checker Passport test target and compared the output on my calibrated monitor. It looks spot on on all of the colour squares. The angle of beam also looks good and I can believe the 50 degrees quoted. It is also fairly uniform without hot spots.
Lumimuse 8 shot at 5600 K seems very good
Lumie Muse 8 lighting Lastolite 6x4 background from 6 feet
I did similar tests for the MicroPro panel and the Doug Gordon TorchLED. Out of these two the MicroPro was the best in spread and colour balance but noticeably not as good as the Lumie Muse. The MicroPro is the largest unit and runs off 6 AA batteries, not pocket size. I generally do not carry this unless I am shooting on location and want battery continuous lighting.
I have heard people saying you are wasting money on LED lights. “Why not just purchase cheap LED work lights” after all they can be purchased readily in garages and builders merchants for as little as £10. Well I thought I would show you a cheap panel inspection light that I have and how it performs on the same test.
Work light lighting background from 6 feet (The power output was one and a half stops less and the shutter speed has been adjusted to compensate)
There are two very obvious problems with this other than the power. The colour is too blue and the beam is very narrow. I was surprised that the beam was this narrow as it was a multi LED panel, as large as the MicroPro and not a single LED torch with a lens. The colour may be corrected with white balance in camera however in a mixed lighting scenario it would necessitate adding a warm up gel to use it in daylight and an even stronger gel to mix with tungsten. This would reduce the power which was already much less than the Lumie Muse. The beam is also very narrow for most applications and if you move the light further away to get a wider spread even more power would be lost. Thus the simple answer is with the purpose made units "you are paying for consistency in light output, colour accuracy and an even light spread over a reasonable area".
Other people complain that LED lights simply do not have enough output power to be useful and it is true they do not have anything like the output of flash. I think these LED panels are best used to enhance the ambient light rather than to completely light the scene. Modern cameras are very good at high ISO's and I use these lights to improve the quality of the existing light. I attended a Doug Gordon course a few years ago (when I bought his TorchLED) and he uses his torch in this way to lift the ambient light and most importantly to add a catch light into the portrait. Used in this way they have plenty of power.
Conclusion
Time will tell how useful the Lumie Muse is on my professional work however it is small, light and meets the claims by Manfrotto all for less that £100. It offers more output and with greater consistency than my existing LED lights. I think I may well get another one or possibly the Art which is slightly smaller to give me a two light setup.
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