Yongnuo YN300 LED Photo Illuminator with High CRI
Recently, a videographer Andrei Tarakanov visited me and he had with him a Chinese illuminator, very popular with those who take photos and videos. We measured his parameters and found out whether he really has such a high color rendering index as promised.
Sellers provide the following technical parameters of the illuminator:
Light source: 96 LED beads
Color temperature: 3200-5500K
Output power: 18W
Lumen: 2000LM
Luminance angle: 110 °
Color rendering index: Greater than 95
Size and weight: 185x135x22mm, 500g
Power supply: Lithium battery / the external 8V, 5A DC power (NOT Included)
Average service life: 50000 hours The
illuminator works with standard batteries from Sony cameras and there is no battery included.
LEDs are used in two color temperatures - warm and cold. For each of the two arrays of LEDs, you can set the brightness level from 0 to 99.
Using the spectrometer UPRtek MK350D, I measured the color parameters of the illuminator in three modes.
100% warm light. The CRI of the illuminator is really very high - 95. The transmission level of the skin-colored R9 in this mode is almost 81. The color temperature is about 3200K.
100% cold light. CRI is almost 96, R9 is almost 91, the color temperature is about 6100K.
When turned on, 100% of both warm and cold LEDs CRI remains high - 95, R9 rises to 96 (this is very, very good), color temperature is about 4400K.
But with the luminous flux (the amount of light that the illuminator gives) everything is not so good.
The illuminator was at my disposal for only an hour and I did not have the opportunity to accurately measure its luminous flux in the laboratory in the two-meter sphere, so I resorted to the indirect method: the illuminator was placed on a tripod and shone on a wall covered with gray wallpaper. Using the same spectrometer, the illumination of the wall was measured from a fixed distance. Then a 10-watt searchlight was placed on the same tripod, the luminous flux of which (650 lm) was accurately measured earlier.
When all the LEDs were turned on for maximum brightness, the illuminator gave a result of 110 lux. Searchlight - 99 lux. Thus, the luminous flux of the illuminator is about 720 lm, and not 2000 lm, as the sellers promise.
When using the illuminator in the mode of only warm or only cold light, its luminous flux will be even less - it will produce no more light than the usual 40-watt Ilyich bulb.
Illuminator costs $ 40 without battery. It gives light of very high quality and is perfect for portrait photography and any other shooting where accurate color rendering is important, but when buying it you need to keep in mind that it will give much less light than promised.
© 2017, Alexey Nadyozhin
Sellers provide the following technical parameters of the illuminator:
Light source: 96 LED beads
Color temperature: 3200-5500K
Output power: 18W
Lumen: 2000LM
Luminance angle: 110 °
Color rendering index: Greater than 95
Size and weight: 185x135x22mm, 500g
Power supply: Lithium battery / the external 8V, 5A DC power (NOT Included)
Average service life: 50000 hours The
illuminator works with standard batteries from Sony cameras and there is no battery included.
LEDs are used in two color temperatures - warm and cold. For each of the two arrays of LEDs, you can set the brightness level from 0 to 99.
Using the spectrometer UPRtek MK350D, I measured the color parameters of the illuminator in three modes.
100% warm light. The CRI of the illuminator is really very high - 95. The transmission level of the skin-colored R9 in this mode is almost 81. The color temperature is about 3200K.
100% cold light. CRI is almost 96, R9 is almost 91, the color temperature is about 6100K.
When turned on, 100% of both warm and cold LEDs CRI remains high - 95, R9 rises to 96 (this is very, very good), color temperature is about 4400K.
But with the luminous flux (the amount of light that the illuminator gives) everything is not so good.
The illuminator was at my disposal for only an hour and I did not have the opportunity to accurately measure its luminous flux in the laboratory in the two-meter sphere, so I resorted to the indirect method: the illuminator was placed on a tripod and shone on a wall covered with gray wallpaper. Using the same spectrometer, the illumination of the wall was measured from a fixed distance. Then a 10-watt searchlight was placed on the same tripod, the luminous flux of which (650 lm) was accurately measured earlier.
When all the LEDs were turned on for maximum brightness, the illuminator gave a result of 110 lux. Searchlight - 99 lux. Thus, the luminous flux of the illuminator is about 720 lm, and not 2000 lm, as the sellers promise.
When using the illuminator in the mode of only warm or only cold light, its luminous flux will be even less - it will produce no more light than the usual 40-watt Ilyich bulb.
Illuminator costs $ 40 without battery. It gives light of very high quality and is perfect for portrait photography and any other shooting where accurate color rendering is important, but when buying it you need to keep in mind that it will give much less light than promised.
© 2017, Alexey Nadyozhin
