LEDs, Anyone?

[Jack Lynt]

From A.P.E.'s other thread:

I've never used CFLs so couldn't tell you what they look like. LEDs are okay for highlight lits, but I wouldn't light a person with them. The colour spikes are weird, the falloff is too sudden and the quality of light I just do not like at all. Probably to do with the high CRI of a lot of LED fixtures, at least the low cost ones - I'd be more than happy with an array of Arri L7's, but lower cost LEDs do not look or work anything like the L7 series.

Jax, sorry to quote you in another thread like this, but I didn't want to hijack A.P.E.'s thread any further. Hope it's all right?

So yeah, I just bought my first household LEDs yesterday. I have one in the lamp I keep next to my PC.

Well, so far, sitting here, reading the LCD screen, I think I notice the LED to be boggling my eyes in an annoying way, more so than incandescents or CFLs seem to have, if they did at all. And this is with the light, a supposed 40W equivalent, bouncing off the wall and ceiling, so not like it's direct light. Now here I am switching between the LED and an incandescent bulb to try to determine if it's real, or just my imagination. Well, maybe it is just my imagination, or maybe it's too soon to tell. Maybe you get used to it. Maybe if I just go with it, I'll realize it's not so and it's just fine.

Anyway, this LED light is very, very white. Very white and stark and cold looking.

Maybe we'll have to adapt by surrounding them in fairly heavy shades/diffusers etc. Would that work?

But of course the energy savings would be verrry nice. And, I gotta say, it is amazing how cool to the touch it remains. I was able to touch it in order to change it immediately after turning it off, which I would not have been able to do with either an incandescent or a CFL. Yep, just tried touching it while it's on; I can touch it no problem. Try doing that with the others. Pretty something, all right.

Anybody else getting on the LED Train, or have opinions about the different kinds of lighting now available, either for the household or for filmmaking?


I take it that those of you in Europe can't even use incandescents anymore, even if you wanted to? Or yes you can?


Oh, not so fast. From Wikipedia:

European Union

The initial Europe wide ban only applies to general-purpose, non-directional incandescent bulbs, so does not affect any bulbs with reflective surfaces (e.g. spotlights and halogen down lighters) or special purpose bulbs including those used in devices such as household appliances, traffic lights, and infrared lamps. The sale of the most inefficient bulbs will be phased out. The first types to go are non-clear (frosted) bulbs, which are off the market since September 2009. Also from September 2009 clear bulbs over 100W were made of more efficient types. This limit was moved down to lower wattages, and the efficiency levels raised by the end of 2012.[17]

In practice, the "ban" is fictious because the bulbs are still available on the market, just marketed as "rough-service" or "shock-resistant" bulbs.[18] Since first bans were introduced however, prices of these bulbs have risen by 20-25%.[19]

Also, the EU has given the target of 2016 to phase out halogen bulbs, and any bulb available for purchase after the 2016 date must have at least a 'B' energy rating.

And:

United Kingdom

The UK government announced in 2007 that incandescent bulbs would be phased out by 2011.[25] The UK followed the EU-wide ban on 60w incandescent bulbs that came into effect on 1 September 2011;[26] 40w and lower ratings will be phased out in 2012[citation needed]. In the UK a program is run by the Energy Saving Trust to identify lighting products that meet energy conservation and performance guidelines;[27] the intent of the program is to reduce consumer concerns due to variable quality of products.

And:

Australia

In February 2007, Australia enacted a law that will, in effect, by legislating efficiency standards, disallow most sales of incandescent light bulbs by 2010.[51] The Australian Federal Government announced minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) for lighting products. The new minimum standard efficiency level is 15 lumens per watt (lm/W). From November 2008, no non-compliant lighting (including some incandescent globes) were imported into Australia, and from November 2009, the retail sale of non-compliant lighting was banned.[52] According to the current proposal,[53] all regular light bulbs and some other kinds of light bulbs sold from October 2009 have to meet the new minimum energy performance standards. Incandescent light bulbs that meet the new standards, for example high-efficiency halogen bulbs, continue to be available.[54]

It is estimated that greenhouse gas emissions will be cut by 800,000 tonnes (Australia's current emission total is 564.7 million tonnes), a saving of approximately 0.14%.[55]

There have been some initiatives to encourage people to switch to compact fluorescent lamps ahead of the phase out.[56]

I think I was a fairly early adaptor of CFLs, changing all of my lights out to them years ago. But lately I've rethought that and no longer want them in my home. So there.