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Europe’s switch to LED lights is visible from space, scientists are concerned

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In an attempt to reduce energy consumption and make street lighting more environmentally friendly, Europe has been switching to LEDs in its street lights. However, it’s not necessarily a good choice, at least not in all aspects.

The switch to LEDs is already visible from space, as well as the light pollution they cause. Of course, it’s not only our photos and the view of the night sky that are being affected. As scientists warm, the increased use of LED lights will also mess with living creatures and their life cycles, including both animals and humans.

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Digitalfoto’s new FS-100S is a 100W bi-colour COB LED that’s shaped like a camera

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Digitalfoto has announced their new FS-100S bi-colour COB LED light, and the first review already appears to be up on YouTube. It’s an interesting if slightly odd-looking LED light in the fact that it seems to be emulating the look of a (somewhat large) mirrorless camera. It features a “Mini Bowens Mount” and comes with a gobo projector lens and an adapter for using the projector on lights with regular Bowens mounts.

Given the cost of 100W LEDs, the Digitalfoto FS-100S is not inexpensive. At $365, it sits well above the cost of similarly powered bi-colour COB LEDs from companies such as Aputure, Godox, Colbor, Nanlite and others. The Digitalfoto FS-100S does come with a little extra accessory that the others don’t, though; A gobo projector lens to let you project patterns onto a surface or subject. Why’s it shaped like a camera, though?

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Godox grows its LED Tube Light lineup with the new long Godox TL180

Godox has expanded its tube line lineup again with the new 180cm long Godox TL180 bringing the family up to four lights including the foot-long TL30, the 60cm long TL60 introduced at the end of 2020 and the 120cm long TL120, released in February of this year. The new TL180, Godox says, offers unique advantages over its shorter siblings for lighting larger scenes, lighting effects options or for using as a key or fill light.

As with the rest of the Godox TL lineup, the Godox TL180 can be controlled via the onboard controls, the Godox Smartphone app, DMX or the 2.4Ghz Godox RC-R9 remote. It has Bluetooth range of 30m and 2.4Ghz wireless control with the RC-R9 remote up to 50 metres. White balance range has actually increased, going from 2700K up to 6500K (the other two go up to 5600K) with a CRI of 96 and TLCI of 98.

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Colbor quietly releases low-budget CL60 bi-colour and daylight portable modular LED lights

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The world of LED lights has certainly heated up over the last few years with lots of releases from companies like Godox, Aputure and Nanlite. It’s also seen a few newcomers, too, like Colbor. After announcing their first LED light last year, the Colbor CL100, now it looks like they’re back with a more compact and modular version, the Colbor CL60, available in both bi-colour and CL60M daylight-only varieties.

It’s a small portable LED mount that offers a bunch of different power options including the usual NP-F style batteries or V-Mount as well as USB Power Delivery. It’s pretty tiny, coming in at only 80 x 90 x 140mm in size (similar to your average 24-70mm f/2.8 lens), but as you can see from the image above, they’re stackable to create huge light banks when you need more power.

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Aputure has announced the MT Pro – Its first full-colour mini LED tube light

Aputure has announced its new Aputure MT Pro light – a compact 11.8″ RGBWW LED tube light designed for small-scale scenes and hiding in small places on set. The light comes in a kit along with a USB-C power cord, a 45° grid and a small mini tripod to which you can attach it inside a semi-hard zip-up case. As well as basic RGBWW operation, it features a bunch of built-in effects and can be remotely controlled from the Sidus Link smartphone app.

The diminutive footlong LED light contains 36 RGBWW “pixels” with 0-100% dimming with near-stepless increments and a colour temperature adjustable from 2000K up to 10,000K with green/magenta adjustments. Aputure says it can reproduce 90% of the colours in the Rec.2020 colour space, with CRI and TLCI of 95 and 98 respectively.

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How to shoot portraits in natural light and enhance them with LED lights

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The vast majority of us learn photography with the aid of natural light. Whether we started years ago with our parent’s film camera, or whether you found your passion for photography thanks to your smartphone, natural light was most likely the sole source of light in your shots.

For many, making that first step into the world of controlling the light can be a daunting one. Which light should I use and how do I learn to use it? Regardless of whatever light you choose though, one of the simplest first steps, is to use that supplemental light in conjunction with natural light and in this article I aim to show you a simple method of combining your lights with the ever-faithful natural light.

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Godox has announced the Knowled M600Bi – A bi-colour version of its powerful Knowled M600 LED light

Godox has announced the new Godox Knowled M600Bi, a bi-colour version of the Godox Knowled M600D announced last November. Designed for studio, film and TV production, the powerful bi-colour LED light has a temperature range of 2800-6500K, runs of AC or V-Mount battery and features radio, DMX and Bluetooth wireless control. It also has fanless to minimise the impact it has on audio during recording.

It has a CRI of 96 and a TLCI of 97 with 4 dimming curves and 21 (or 7?) lighting effects. On the front is the familiar Bowens mount, so you can use it with all of the Bowens modifiers you already own. When on AC power, it runs on 100-220v AC meaning you can use it just about anywhere in the world.

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This DIY 3D printed adapter lets you use your speedlight softboxes on Bowens mount strobes and LEDs

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For a lot of photographers, when we started dabbling with flash, we used speedlights. And even if we didn’t, we might have bought a small strobe like the Godox AD200 and one of those 60cm square softbox kits with the S1 or S2 bracket. But as we upgrade to larger Bowens mount strobes or LED lights, those softboxes kind of just sit there on the shelf doing nothing.

Well, Farrukh Pitafi has solved that issue by designing a 3D printable adapter that mounts into your light’s Bowens mount socket and provides the ring around the outside to let you use those speedlight softboxes. And he’s made the files available to download so you can make your own.

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Zhiyun enters the lighting market with the Fiveray FR100C portable LED light stick

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LED lights seem to be the 2022 version of 2021’s wireless microphones. Every company seems to be jumping on them. And while they didn’t release a wireless microphone, Zhiyun has entered the LED market by releasing the Fiveray FR100C LED light stick. They say it’s “5x brighter than the alternatives” at 100W and it has a built-in 6-cell (22.2v) 2600mAh battery.

It was actually announced yesterday along with the company’s new Weebill 3 gimbal, although it seemed to slip largely under the radar. But it’s both bicolour and RGB, offering a colour temperature range between 2700K up to 6300K and full RGB control over high, saturation and brightness using the HSI full-colour mode.

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Nanlite expands its studio line of AC-powered LED lights with the FS-300B bi-colour spot

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Nanlite has announced its new FS-300B AC-powered bi-colour LED spot light. As an AC-powered light, it’s designed for use in the studio rather than on location and offers 11,130 Lux bare at 1 metre and up to 38×720 lux when using the included reflector. It offers a bi-colour range of 2700K to 6500K with a constant output mode ensuring that your brightness stays consistent throughout the range.

It has an average CRI of 96 and TLCI of 97 to help ensure accuracy on-camera and offers 12 built-in practical effects that can be adjusted by brightness, colour temperature and speed. It’s simple interface is controlled by just a couple of knobs and a button with a 1.3″ OLED on the back to show you what you’re doing. But, you also get built-in Bluetooth and 2.4G for wireless control with the Nanlink App from your smartphone.

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