Using an LED for Macro Photography (Ulanzi VL49 Mini LED)
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- I love to use natural light for my Macro Photography but a little enhancement can really help, particularly when it comes to brightening up shadow areas. In this video I'm using a small LED for macro photography in the field and it's really improving my images.
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Filmed with Canon M50 and 15-45mm lens.
Equipment: Canon 1DX Mark i, Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens; Ulanzi VL49 Mini LED Video Light
Music:
Sunny Over the Horizon by RAGE
Memory Card Full by Birocratic
I use the Panasonic little light panel and love it. Light panels are also good for photographing cave formations where it can be really hard to focus otherwise. Besides a mini tripod you can also use a wimberley plant clamp called a plamp to hold the small light panel and/or a small reflector.
That sounds good. Yes, you could use a plamp.
I have been using 2 godox 64 LED lamps for years for my macro, portraits and video shooting powered by Panasonic eneloop batteries. One of the best macro bits of kit after my canon ef 100 IS USM may ro lens. I attach the 2nd LED to a gorillapod to illuminate the subject from either below or behind. Also I have have set of cheap Chinese colour jels which I can attach to said LED'S to change the colour temperature. For a very inexpensive bit of kit they can have big impact on your macro shooting. Plus I use them for DIY in cupboards, the car ect. One more benefit for my LED'S is that they are stackable, so I mouth another 3 LED'S on a single lamp which can be on my hotshot !
Been using my Aldi brand bike led but not on top of camera, rather attached to flash bar , and defused where needed with a bit of old cotton sock.
I bought one after watching this. As I do 2x macro I use a flash but it is nice to be able to add light from another source to lift the shadow areas. Cheers
That's the main use I think, to lift the shadows. Also it can be good to create some side-lighting or back-lighting. Hopefully I can experiment more with that.
A tiny piece of equipment that pack a lot in ( re usage ) .Nice video Paul .👍.Have a great weekend .
It's great. I'm so glad I tried it.
Great video...I have a pair of these I am using for table top photography...For the money, they are brilliant little lights. One suggestion would be to add an 11" magic arm to your kit...It would allow you to mount the light in many more positions, rather than just directly on the camera. Get the version that comes with the removable magic clamp and again the versatility increases even further....The generic non branded versions can be had for about £15 and work just fine...
Thanks for the suggestions Peter.
Love these lights - you can get versions with light temperature shift. Not sure that light mounted on the hotshot really helps much that far away from the end of your lens if you are shooting something close. The lens (and hood if you have it on) blocks that light. Move it closer to the end of the lens. The alternate light mounts work better as you see.
very interesting something to think about nice little filling light source for macro
this is just perfect for what i wanted to run alongside my macro 4/3 olympus 60mm (120mm) how i missed this video in the first place i dont know, now i will have an ultra light set-up when the back plays up and dont have to carry the 5D mkIII & sigma 150mm macro, great video.
Best of luck!
Thank you for your video Paul, I have a light but hardly used it. Your demonstration here shows us how, so I tried it indoors and photographed our dogs head with great results. See you soon.
Great to hear. Just experiment. You can get others where you can change colour balance too.
Nice movie- I use a lume cube glad you made this video awesome!!
Ohhh! i do this! because I only have a cheap manual 50mm macro lens, and its too close to the subject and casts shadows. nice!
For $29 you can one with different color settings also. I think maybe it is the new version of that one since it carries exactly the same model number. I like to use these things on ground level shots of mushrooms. Hide them behind or under a leaf and they provide very nice effects.
I will probably get that too. I don't worry as much about colour balance but no doubt I'll decide I want it in the future.!
Hi. I'm new to LED lighting for macro and really enjoyed this video. Will be purchasing this light! Just one question, is it not necessary to use a diffuser or soft box with this type of lighting?
Nice video, exactly what I was looking for!
Looks ok for video, otherwise i would just use an off body diffused flash for a single exposure.
Nice video. I use a small manfrotto LED in a similar way and find a low setting give some nice highlights and/or pools of light without being too noticeable.
Cool. It's all about not overdoing it.
Ah ahh so that’s what it is a light . Beautiful shots .
Yes! Thank you Debbie.
Super video Paul. Just purchased one. Thanks!
Excellent.
What a neat bit of kit. I wish I had known about this last year, I could have saved myself some dosh. I bought a kenro ring flash for my macro lens. This would have been a much better option. Still not got to grips with it yet. As I said before, this would have been much better. Oh well...
Give this a try. I used it to fill in shadow on the low down Pyramidal Orchid.
Nice 👍 thanks for sharing
I managed to pick up a Manfrotto Lumimuse 3 cheap on Ebay. I can't remember how much I paid, but I think it was around £20. It has a little mini ball head attachment so you can adjust the direction of the light, and comes with 2 colour filters. I'm sure there's something wrong with it as one charge lasts for ages. I don't use it a lot, but it stays permanently in my kitbag as it's so small and light.
Now I just need to work on not scaring damselflies every time I point a camera at them.
nice vid good bit of kit always handy to have
I have a larger one but not so practical. This one is much better to use in the field.
I use the other model by them where you can change the white to other shades plus it has rgb colours too as well as brightness. Probably same price too.
I might get that one also.
not same price, that is three times costly
@@pakarmydrama7216 Or search for "Andoer W64 RGB LED Video Light", as there is a version of this with without the RGB. This comes with two dials, one for adjusting the colour temp and the other for brightness. About the same size and prize as the Ulanzi unit reviewed here.
Awesome video and information ❤. Got one and works superb.
Thank you
I guess this is for daylight photography and not at night!? I liked to do macro photography in the dark when I had a DSLR.
I am just using for daylight, yes. You've given me another idea now... thank you!
Thank you Mr Miguel. Have a super weekend. :)
That's really an interesting idea!
I try and avoid non natural light for macro but have the Manfrotto similar version ! Tends to sit in the bag , great for bad light though ! On reflection I should have got it out photographing the Adonis blue yesterday ! Didn't even think of it ! Subtle use is certainly the key here !!! 👍🤔
I'm with you - I don't like artificial light for macro (which sounds like a contradiction) but it's just that bit of addition that really helps. It's largely to brighten up shadow areas but I've also found it seems to give a bit of a warm glow which I actually quite like. Definitely - subtle is key.!
Paul I brought a couple the other week for continue lighting found them.ro be very good
Brilliant piece of kit.. Great idea. 👍
Cheers Craig. It's really improved my macro images in my opinion.
Interesting video. Have thought about using something similar to help highspeed shooting and stacking. But dunno looks little bright, washed out. Think i'll stick to my diffuser.
I does need to be done carefully. Already I can see some of my images where the effect is too much.
@@PaulMiguelPhotography Defo something I might try. Maybe a bit of customisation and a diffusion material on the front to soften the light. Great video and love your work. :-)
Very nice video, thanks ! Very nice damselfly shots. Same experience with the Godox64, great for macrovideo too. The Ulanzi L1 is also good, cheap and very small form factor
Nice tip again Paul as usual nice shot of damselflys 👍does it take just normal batteries?
You can charge it with a usb cable and it keeps power for a long time, I love mine :)
@@Monique.1709 Thank you.
As Monique says, you just charge it up via USBC. No need for batteries. Win - win.!
Very interesting video.L 229
I've got one very similar Paul. Great video as usual.
I've just bought one of these and am really happy with it, only I don't get what the M ( function button is for) I use the arrow to add/ subtract light. What is the M for?
Hi Paul i have two for video but i'll give it ago for macro looks great mine are slightly different as the colour changes as well, Got mine from Amazon like you say fairly inexpensive..Top Video as ever.
They can work well if you don't overdo it. Really like this bit of kit.
I had this for some time but don't use it much. I think I will try to use it more after watching your this video. IMO, it would be idea if there is some way to mount it to the camera with the position and angle adjustable.
I'm sure there will be something where you can angle it on the hotshoe. Will look. That would be perfect.!
Is Ulanzi LED VL49 too small for this type of photography? I wonder if I should buy a larger VL196 right away.
I think it depends. For me I am using this at pretty close range, maybe 1 or 2 feet. So it works for me.
I'm new to macro, waiting for the lens. I bought the meiki mk-320, how does this led compare? I know I'll need a diffuser for the flash, but would the results be better than this led?
I don't know that LED. I think it is trial and error to see what you prefer. Diffused flash can work well
Hello, I have Ulanzi RGB LED light but it doesn't work whenever I attach it to my Canon T7i camera. Could you please help me on how to use my LED to be used in my camera. Thank you 🙇🏽♂️
It is separate from the camera. You should be able to just switch on - but make sure it's charged
@@PaulMiguelPhotography
It fully charged, on. Do you think that the metal on both devices are not compatible?
Or there a setting that I need to do? Heeeeelp!
I have just bought the VL49 WHAT LIGHT BALANCE IS BEST when using ?
This version is just one continuous white light so I can't change colour balance. I might get the other one in the future.
does this light work with 3 feet distance? for video shot with mobile?
I'd say it's more for close ups, like 1 foot away. You can buy bigger LEDs for video which are decent
Until now I can’t figure out which thing works best for macro. A flash or a video light. I always get conflicting answers and it is probably because different people have different experiences. Until recently I was shooting macro with my phone and a lens attachment because I don’t have a dedicated lens yet. This summer I upgraded my underwater macro kit and I see the need for the use of a light source. Still can’t figure out whether I should go down the video light path which is more affordable or whether I should invest in a flash for land photography and a strobe for underwater. Do you have any comparison videos maybe?
I really don't use much flash at all - only for fill-in occasionally. Personally I prefer the constant light source rather than flash for macro. For underwater - I have no idea.. that's a very specialised niche!
@@PaulMiguelPhotography thank you for your reply. I appreciate it. I know underwater photography is more specialized but pretty much the same principles apply. Most divers will use strobes for photography and diving lights for video. This of course does not exclude the use of video lights for macro photography. I have a small video light like the one you showed us and I will try to see if I can do anything with it and my olympus tg6. It is the only camera that I have currently that can shoot insane macro. Hoping one day to get a macro lens for my dslr as well. 😀
Hi Paul, just purchased a light, but the instructions say it has a working voltage of 3volts. how do you charge yours? do you use a 3v charger or the normal 5volt?
I don't know about the voltage. I just charge with a usb I think it is - similar cable that charges my ipad.
When you say you use a usb, do you plug it in to you're pc or a wall socket charger?
Hi Paul, after watching your VL49 video, bought the kit, as it seems a lot less faff than flash. Not much in the way of instructions though. What type of connection due you connect the cable to for charging the battery ? Am using an old mobile phone plug with usb port. It seems to take ages to charge.... it's been on all night and the red light is still on, but the light is now working. Does it go off/change colour to let you know it's charged ?
Hi Geoff. I've not charged it fully yet so I'm not sure. Seemed to be fairly quick charging up for me, no problem. I have an ipad charger for it, it's USBC.
@@PaulMiguelPhotography Hi Paul, thanks for your reply. I left the light charging for a couple more hours after sending you the message.When I checked about 1:30 PM the red light had finally turned green - so over 12 hours to fully charge from new ! Do you recharge after every use, or is this a "run flat" first before recharging, do you think ?
Did you manage to figure out what that M button on the VL49 is meant to do?
Sorry.. I can't remember!
The M button toggles between light intensity & remaining battery life.
Hi Paul. What do you think of the Nikon D3500 with the Tamron 18-400mm? Thanks!
This particular tamron is a very good choice for an all around lens. It would be ideal for walking around, travel etc when you don’t want to carry too many things due to weight restrictions. The other option is the nikkor 18-200mm but the tamron gives you twice the reach. However if you are thinking to do macro (since this video is on the macro subject) it is not meant for this particular use. 😃
@@marieta.s Thanks
Hi Paul , great video and great shots . Thank you ! One question though - does the macro lens not cast a shadow on the subject when you mount the light on the camera ?
Great question. I haven't experienced that I don't think. If angled downwards it could.
Aparelho Muito Bom ! Fiz um vídeo abrindo e dando uma olhada nele por dentro ! bem construído !!
Very informative video. How well does a single light work with stop down macro photography, or when using tubes? Using additional lights on the cold shoes could turn expensive quickly. Also, is the light continuous, or can it cause banding with electronic shutter?
Ooh, you've asked some good questions there my friend. Banding.. I am not sure at all, I'm sure someone can answer this question. I've only used this with just the macro lens so far.
What temperature is the led set to?
This one is constant - 5500K i think.
Very well advertized but this light will never work for macro photography unless you placed the light just a few cm close to your subject it´s not strong enough to iluminate the subject and if you shoot faster than 1/60 sec you´ll not even notice the light changes.
Thank you for your thoughts, I will certainly bear that in mind.
How do you trigger it off-camera ? Does it come with something, or what is needed to purchase as an extra?
I think it's a permanent light. So you can use it off camera with no problem.
It is a permanent light, unlike a flash. Switch it on and you're good to go.
@@PaulMiguelPhotography so it’s battery operated? Thank you.
@@rachelg7371 I guess it's like an internal battery, but you don't put batteries in it. Just attach a charger to it.
@@PaulMiguelPhotography oh ok thank you!