LED Lights Recommendations for Digital Photo Studio

I'm converting a utility room in our garage to be a dedicated digital photo studio. As such, I know I need much more controlled/accurate lighting. Note, that I do not plan to shoot photos/video in the room, just edit, evaluate, and display.The skylights have remote-controlled blackout shades. My initial thoughts about your products are as follows:

I was thinking of using your 16' LED strip mounted in an aluminum channel on the ceiling ridge, e.g. Centric Daylight strip 5000K. For the LED strips, do your aluminum channels have a system to interlock end-to-end or would you recommend other types of aluminum channels for reasonably diffuse light?

While the linear light fixtures could allow for an easier installation than the LED strip lights, the linear light fixtures are not dimmable. As such, your space might benefit from the LED strip light products, which allow for dimming functionality.

Further, the aluminum channel products unfortunately do not feature the ability to interlock. However, there may be third-party products available elsewhere which would allow for a continuous length of mounted LED light strips for installation along the trusses of the room.

I was thinking of using your FilmGrade Hybrid LED strip mounted in your corner aluminum channels mounted under the bottoms of the trusses in the photo to illuminate the right side wall where I would hang/display prints. How accurate are the hybrid strips in simulating various color temps, etc.? Equally important, what's a simple solution for a controller that would allow me to specify the desired color temperature and it would set the appropriate LED values? Is this doable, what would you recommend?

The FilmGrade™ HYBRID LED Strip Lights could be a great option for your space, and I am happy to confirm that this product can be used to simulate any color temperature between 3200K and 6500K by adjusting the intensity of each color temperature.

However, it might be valuable to know that a LED strip light product featuring a single dedicated color temperature is able to emit more light per foot than the individual colors of the HYBRID LED Strip Lights are able to. For example, the HYBRID LED strip lights emit 225 lumens per foot, per color, whereas the single-color FilmGrade™ WHITE LED Strip Lights emits 450 lumens per foot.

This product can be controlled using several different methods. Though the easiest implementation would likely be to utilize a color tunable LED controller, which would allow for you to easily adjust each color point. The below article contains detailed descriptions for each configuration method available for the product.

How to Connect Hybrid CCT Tunable LED Products: https://www.waveformlighting.com/film-photography/how-to-connect-hybrid-cct-tunable-led-products

You sell your T5 Linear light fixtures (D50) in 4 ft. I was thinking of using a couple of those to set up a dedicated print viewing station. Your website says they are out of stock but will ship on 12/14. Is availability still accurate as I would like to go ahead and order them to start experimenting?

We can confirm that the 5000K 4-ft NorthLux™ 95 CRI T5 LED Linear Light Fixture product is currently expected to be available by December 14th. In the event that you would like to place your order prior to that availability date, we would process the shipment as soon as the items become available.

Do all of your 5000K lights actually meet D50 spec or only where specifically indicated?

Not all of our 5000K color temperature products are designed to be compliant with the D50 standard. However, if you had a specific product in mind, I would be happy to review the item to check for D50 compliance.

Anything else you would advise or suggest that I consider?

Regarding installation suggestions, the primary consideration which comes to mind would be to test the LED strip light products within the space prior to cutting the product into segments or installing them completely, as we are unable to accept returns for these products as soon as they have been cut or altered.

Our second suggestion is to keep in mind that the FilmGrade™ HYBRID LED Strip Lights requires a 24V power supply.

Third, the HYBRID LED Strip Lights product has a maximum run of 32.8 ft, and draws a variable amount of power per foot depending on the color point adjustment. Details regarding this can be found on the product specification sheet. As such, you may want to consider a power supply which is capable of outputting enough power to accommodate the power draw needs of the lengths of your installation.

On the FilmHybrid LEDs, I saw the referenced setup with the two dimmers. But to use that, I need to figure out the dimmer settings that correspond to different Kelvin temperatures. I'm assuming to do that I would need to have a spectrophotometer that can measure incident light which I don't have. Is there another 3rd party solution that you could recommend that wouldn't be too complicated or expensive that would allow me specify the color temp and then set the appropriate values on the two LED channels of the hybrid film strip?

Any 3rd party aluminum channel manufacturers you recommend that might have interlocking sections? I'm still going to take a look at yours as well.

Unfortunately, the dimmer uses an analog dial to control the relative brightness levels of the two channels, so there is no way to digitally map the two output levels to a specific color temperature level. You may want to think of this as being similar to a traditional shower faucet, with one for hot and one for cold, without the ability to set a specific water temperature.

We are not aware of any third-party products or solutions that could incorporate our LED strip light to achieve the lighting controls you are looking for, but do hope to be able to offer such solutions in the near future. For the time being, we may recommend searching for cinematography and photography lighting products such as those manufactured by ARRI or Kino Flo, although these will likely be a much higher price point.

I've got a few questions on your 24V dimmable transformer that I purchased:

Is this designed to be driven at 100% rated load (96W) for a prolonged period of time? Is there any issue with splicing a pigtail and plugging it into an outlet (that has an AC dimmer upstream)? Is there a minimum load requirement on the transformer? Any issues if there is a GFI on the circuit?

The 24 volt dimmable power supply load is de-rated at 100% (full 96 watt capacity) until ambient temperatures exceed 105 F. Maximum allowable ambient temperature is 140 degrees F, at which the power supply output load is de-rated to 60% (59 watts capacity).

​We do not maintain a minimum load requirement on the power supply unit, but all dimmer tests are performed at 85% load.

With respect to your questions regarding installation through a wall outlet and the use of GFI components, I would consult with an electrician for further recommendations. From what I understand, there may be code compliance issues arising from:

• The installation of a dimmer switch on a power outlet (e.g. what happens is someone inadvertently plugs in a non-dimmable, non-lighting appliance into the "dimmable" power outlet?)
• Installing hard-wired products into a wall outlet using a spliced plug cord.

From a pure electrical standpoint, I do not believe there would be any performance issues, but such installation methods would be beyond the scope of our safety and reliability assurances.

.

Question posted under:

LED power suppliesLED bulbs (General)LED strip lightsArt studio lightingT5 linear fixturesLED dimmersColor matchingD50 (printing, digitizing)

Related Knowledge Base Questions

‹   Knowledge Base Home