http://www.skinnypanel.com/

LED panels in different sizes and color temps.

Cooler
Longer life span
Can be placed closer to a subject without discomfort
Pricey. Very pricey.

 

Yea light panels are very cool, although I'm not sure how they are durability wise.

 

motion picture world crosses over once again

 

I would still think these would be fairly limiting for still photography due to the lower amount of light they put out compared to a strobe.

 

All the ones I've seen are damn bright, and come with dimmers.

 

I guess I just assumed these panels weren't too terribly bright since they're spinning the "place right next to the subject" aspect. Even if these things produce no negligible heat, there's no way a person is going to be able to tolerate a light source as bright as a strobe being continuously shined at them. OK, so you dim it down to make it tolerable, then you're back at being limited to what apertures and ISO settings you can use. Of course, if it's a continuous light source, then you don't have to worry about flash sync and can also adjust your shutter speed.

 

lol, I know about all that I'm a film student and I've been doing photography my whole life. The fact that they're so small and compact, run off batteries but put out a lot of light makes them incredibly useful and more versatile then conventional lights. I wish I had some when I was doing my doc, they definitely would have come in handy.

I'd rather buy the less pretty, more conventional LED panels over those though. Just throw on some diffusion of your own and save some money.

 

It seems like, color temp issues aside, these might be a good DIY project...

Plenty of LED options readily available. Plenty of diffusion materials available.