Review Digital Camera World 04-04-2014

Digital Camera World

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Best LED panels for photographers: 6 top models tested and rated Apr 3rd 2014, 23:01, by jmeyer Delivering constant illumination, LED panels have their uses for photography, but you need to choose one carefully. Here we’ve rounded up 6 of the best LED panels for photographers to see which offers the best value for money. As light sources, arrays of high-efficiency LED panels have found favour in everything from torches that you can wear on your head to low-energy lights for homes, offices and shops. LED panels also have advantages over flashguns for photographic use. Instead of a bright but very short pulse of light they deliver constant output, which makes it easier to view lighting effects while composing a shot. The down side is that the maximum output of LED panels is typically much less powerful than that of a flashgun, so you'll often find you need to place an LED panel very close to what you're shooting. Constant lighting is essential for video shooting. LED panels can be effective for this, but be wary of models which give a flickering output, especially when the power setting is reduced. None of the LED panels in this test group exhibit flickering. To test the maximum output of competing panels, we used a Sekonic Litemaster Pro L478DR in incident metering mode, placed at a distance of one metre from each panel in turn. The aperture for a correct exposure was measured in the dark at ISO200 and a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second. SEE MORE: A layman’s guide to LED light panels Best LED panels for photographers: 01 Interfit Matinee LED 320 Price: £165, $240 Despite being the second cheapest panel in the group, the Matinee boasts a fairly sizeable active surface area of 25x8cm. It's still lightweight enough to be mounted in a hotshoe, and a mini ball head for this or tripod fitment is supplied. A mains power pack is also included. Alternatively, you can run the panel from a Li-ion camera-style battery, which can be bought separately complete with mains charger. The maximum claimed output of 1900 Lux is impressive for a panel of this size, and dual-colour LEDs enable you to vary the colour temperature between 3200-5600K. SEE MORE: What is colour temperature: free photography cheat sheet Adjustments for this as well as output power are easily made using the two rotary knobs. In our tests, the maximum power in operation equated to a lens aperture of f/3.6. Verdict Pros Fairly powerful yet light; variable colour temperature. Cons Can't be powered from regular AA batteries. We say Large enough for soft lighting, and unbeatable value. Score: 4/5 Best LED panels for photographers: 01 Interfit Matinee LED 320 Best LED panels for photographers: 02 Kaiser StarCluster LED Camera Light Best LED panels for photographers: 03 Manfrotto Spectra LED Light 900FT Best LED panels for photographers: 04 Rosco LitePad Axiom 152mm x 152mm Best LED panels for photographers: 05 F&V K4000S Bi-Color LED Studio Panel Best LED panels for photographers: 06 Limelite Mosaic Daylight 30cm LED Panel Five things to look for when buying an LED panel READ MORE Studio lighting – 4 seriously simple lighting techniques to try at home How to set up studio lighting: 3 classic setups for dramatically different effects Home studio setups: 6 things every photographer needs Best studio flash kit: 6 top models tested and rated Full-frame lenses: 4 quick tips for the first-timer Apr 3rd 2014, 11:41, by jmeyer All lenses create a circular image, and your camera’s sensor simply records a rectangular portion of this. A full-frame compatible lens creates an image circle the covers the full-frame sensor, and provides a cropped image with a smaller ‘crop-factor’ sensor. In this quick guide we offer four must-know tips for getting to grips with full-frame lenses for the first time. 1 Compatibility Full-frame lenses are designed to work with cameras with full-frame sensors, but are fully compatible with smaller APS-C sensors. You'll need to multiply the focal length of the lens by x1.6 to work out the 'effective' focal length. SEE MORE: Full frame sensor size – how to exploit its advantages and cool effects 2 Wide-angle woes The sensor size has a negative impact when using a wide full-frame lens on an APS-C camera: a 24mm full-frame lens gives roughly the same angle of view as 40mm lens. When it comes to choosing a wide full-frame lens, go wider than you think you'll need… 3 Tele advantage …this magnification effect is a bonus for long lenses. A 70-200mm lens on an APS-C camera delivers the same view as 112-320mm on a full-frame camera, while a 500mm telephoto lens effectively becomes a whopping 800mm! 4 Full frame Using a full-frame lens on a full-frame camera means that not only do you get the full picture when shooting wide-angle pictures, you can also achieve shallow depth of field effects more easily – great for producing pro-looking portraits. READ MORE How to buy a flashgun: the most important features every photographer should have 49 seriously good Canon DSLR tips, tricks, shortcuts and time savers 100 Nikon DSLR tips you need to know right now 77 photography techniques, tips and tricks for taking pictures of anything

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