strobes or constant light?

Anyone use LED panels for stills? They seem to be catching on for video. They're still pretty expensive, though.

afoord82 wrote in post #12488897
right now i use a 430exii flash (in a softbox) and reflector only, but would love to get a cheap constant lighting kit. For me I would like to see how the light hits the subject before I shoot. Any suggestions on an affordble 3 piece constant lighting rig? I have shop lights which I could use, but would like something more professional.

You can do a lot with a 430EX, softbox and reflector..

xn2b8r wrote in post #12492475
Anyone use LED panels for stills? They seem to be catching on for video. They're still pretty expensive, though.

Low power. Video covers a lot of IQ issues that would be grossly apparent in a still image, but are resolvable with enough light.

The only disadvantage electronic flash faces compared to quality-equivalent continuous light is that it is not perfectly wysiwyg. In all other ways, it is operationally superior (primarily in terms of electrical power requirements) and has the easy potential of providing a superior image. But between modeling lights and the LCD, that one disadvantage is hugely mitigated.

A constant light setup for under $500 generally means a tungsten hot light setup. It's going to be very, very hot and, for any type of shooting that requires freezing even minor movement, you will be shooting at ISO 400 and 800 all the time. Also, forget about smaller apertures if you're shooting anything other than still life; for people, you will probably be shooting at f/5.6 or wider.

I recommend Alien Bees, as they are cheap and decent.