Editor's Note: This article is a sidebar to a larger article entitled "Bringing LED's Into Focus", which includes an in-depth discussion on the state of the art in LED fixtures for theatrical and video applications
If your church is planning on using LED lighting for any video or broadcast application, Frank Kosuda, vice-president of DeSisti and Joe Bokelman, ETC architectural market manager, offer some useful pointers for camera testing. Whether you are planning to use LEDs for video IMAG, television broadcasting, webcasting, video capture for use at satellite locations, or simply archiving your services, it's important to know that cameras react differently to different light sources.
Kosuda: For LED fixtures there are several points that need to be addressed before a HOW makes a decision, especially for video lighting.
You will need:
A test chart/gray scale/gray card/DSC Chroma du monde/or similar
A person to check skin tones on their face
1. Record person and chart—use your own camera with your current lighting and your current camera set-up.
2. Record person and chart—with camera set to factory default settings for tungsten using light source you are testing.
3. Record person and chart—now white balance camera to test light source.
Next compare all three set-ups on a critical viewing monitor. Now everything is “apples to apples”—and you can make a viable decision—about color only.
The next tests are:
4. Compare brightness of fixtures
5. Check spot to flood—is the beam smooth in all settings?
6. Check dimming—what happens with brightness as you dim it? Does color change as brightness changes? Does smoothness of field change as brightness changes?
7. Do the controls on the light work correctly/easily?
Kosuda: These are some of the critical testing that needs to be done to make sure that the LED fixture being considered is a good alternative to a tungsten fixture. LED focusable fixtures are ready for the HOW market, but the end-user must do their homework and hire the proper professionals to offer the best solutions. In addition, a hands-on approach by the end-user is strongly recommended. If lighting for broadcast/video, the camera definitely sees the lighting differently than our eye.
Bokelman: Churches that do broadcast or intend to broadcast in the long run—whether webcasting, recording, or live work—need to choose their production lighting wisely. When you move into something like LED or a fluorescent lighting in those applications, you have to understand and pay attention to any flicker that may be perceived on camera. If people do choose LED sources, they should choose a product designed for use in broadcast studios—with a well-tested, higher-frequency driver technology that ensures that flicker is imperceptible on camera.
