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Types of lighting

There are many types of lighting, all with their own advantages. You can work with flashlight, but there are also various types of continuous light. Are you looking for a modern LED solution, a daylight lamp, halogen lamps or lamps with a Fresnel lens? Benel will be happy to advise you on the solution that best suits you.

Concepts within the lighting market

Cri-value

The quality of light, also known as colour reproduction. The higher the value, the more beautiful the picture. Skin colours appear more natural and all colours are of a better quality. A cri-value up to 80 is moderate, from 80-90 is reasonable, from 90 to 95 is good and 95 to 100 is very good. 100 is the maximum cri-value.

Lux value

The strength of the light, i.e. the yield. Displayed on the basis of distance (e.g. 10,000 lux at 0.5 metres and 4,000 lux at 1 metre). Is measured with a light meter. In this way, all lamps can be compared with each other.

Color Temperature

How cool (blue shade) or warm (yellow shade) the light is. 3200K is warm and similar to an incandescent lamp. 5600K is cold (daylight) and similar to natural daylight. Some lamps have a colour temperature of up to 10,000, which allows all the colours of the rainbow to be displayed.

In the table below you will find an impression of the different applications.

Flashlight

Flash lights are associated with photographic studios, but can actually create more beautiful photos everywhere. Even in bright sunshine, a flash can help; flashlight reduces shadows and ensures that the environment is not overexposed. With enough light falling on the subject, you can adjust the camera settings so that both the subject and the environment are in perfect balance.

The power of the flash is expressed in Ws. Depending on the situation, choose a flash with the wattage you need. Generally speaking, we talk about low power for flash units up to 200 watts and high power for flash units of 600 watts or more. If you want to take a portrait photo of one person, then two flash units of 200 watts are sufficient. When you want to photograph a family from head to toe, you quickly need 400 to 600 watts of light per flash. Children and animals can sometimes be frightened by flashlight, which makes continuous illumination sometimes better.

Our flash units have a dial that allows you to infinitely adjust the flash power. So it's impossible to buy a flash with too high a wattage. Compared to other light sources, flash is still a technique in which you can count on the most light. In addition, flashes can illuminate the subject from a greater distance (a few meters). With other light sources, such as LED, the power after 1 meter is already much less.

Continuous lighting

The two main reasons for choosing continuous lighting are its versatility in video productions and the fact that you can see in advance how the light ‘falls’ on the subject. There are different types of continuous lighting:

LED lamp

Led lighting is available in many shapes and sizes. The unique features are that you can adjust the colour temperature to the ambient light, the lamps have a long life span (sometimes as long as 50,000 hours) and LED lighting becomes much less warm than traditional lamps. Moreover, when the lamps are used for a long time, you can make significant savings on energy costs.

Daylight bulb

A daylight bulb has an e14 or e27 fitting and can therefore be universally screwed into a lamp holder. They are called spiral lamps because of their twisted shape. If the wattage of a daylight lamp is multiplied by 5, you get the wattage of a traditional incandescent lamp.

Halogen lamp

Halogen lamps are compact and emit a large amount of warm light. Halogen lamps become very warm, you can literally burn your fingers on the housing. It is therefore necessary to allow the lamp to cool down for a few minutes after use before storing it. The price/quality comparison is good, but when used for a longer period of time the power costs are higher (like 1 euro for half a day per lamp).

Fresnel Lamp

Fresnel lamps work with a special lens, where you can adjust the beam of light. The fresnel lamps sold by Benel work on the basis of LED. In contrast to other LED lighting, Fresnel LED lamps can shine very far. In addition, you can adjust the colour temperature of some of the products if you want. Fresnel lamps are available in many sizes, from very compact to large and extra powerful.

RGB illumination

RGB lamps can show all the colours of the rainbow. This form of LED lighting can therefore be used for a wide range of creative purposes. RGB stands for red, green and blue.