How Do Tungsten and LED Lighting Fixtures Compare?
The use of various lighting and fixtures on the set is something that filmmakers often review, testing and trying out new equipment in an effort to find what works best and is most suitable for their current needs. As a cinematographer, you’ve probably spent a lot of time reviewing various lighting options and wondered, “How do tungsten and LED lighting fixtures compare?”
This is a common concern for gaffers as well as for independent videographers seeking to maximize their lighting value without maximizing their equipment costs.
Naturally, you want to get the most useful, effective lighting for your investment, but without a true comparison of how Tungsten and LED lighting fixtures compare, side-by-side, it can be difficult to choose the lighting source that’s most suitable for your individual needs.
About LED Lighting Fixtures
LED lighting fixtures are the future, but they’re also probably what’s best Right Now too. LED bulbs are being more and more widely used on film sets because they are incredibly efficient, they have very long life-spans, and they don’t cause near the heat or hazard that can occur with other forms of lighting, especially when comparing them to Tungsten lights.
The average LED bulb will last 50K hours, or approximately 5.5 years. So, when someone asks, “How do tungsten and LED lighting fixtures compare?” The life-span alone is enough to make us recommend LED lighting fixtures over the older incandescent style lights or tungsten lighting.
About Tungsten Lighting Fixtures
You may not know these lights by the term “Tungsten lighting.” In fact, you’ve probably only ever heard them called incandescent lights before.
These lighting fixtures and bulbs are incredibly inefficient, although they were once very widely used throughout the industry as well as for many personal off-set uses as well.
Unfortunately, these lights have a significantly shorter life-span than LED Lighting and they can get incredibly hot when they are used, especially when multiple styles and types of these lights are used all around a set.
Semi-recent legislation has resulted in regulations that are looking to minimize wattage for these lights which means you can’t buy Tungsten lighting in the high wattage options that were once available and soon, these lights will phase out completely.
Comparing Tungsten vs LED Lighting
When comparing LED lighting and Tungsten lighting side-by-side, the most prominent elements of the comparison seem to be the life-span of each fixture and the actual color of the hue that comes from each light source. LED lighting lasts significantly longer than Tungsten lights.
Additionally, when someone asks, “How do tungsten and LED lighting fixtures compare?” the heat and risk for fire with old incandescent lights cannot simply be overlooked — those things are incredibly dangerous, and HOT! LED lights are so much safer to use all around the film set.
Furthermore, LED lights have an incredible range of light and can be manipulated in literally limitless combinations to produce nearly any color of light imaginable, and since they’re not hot, they can be moved or changed without added equipment like gloves or other gear.
Since LEDs are more efficient, they also utilize less power which means fewer cords, power strips, and resources on the circuit when working the set.
So, when we’re asked, “How do tungsten and LED lighting fixtures compare?” the easiest answer is — they don’t! LED lighting is so much better than tungsten lighting ever was or will be. Once you get LEDs you’ll never go back!