In recent times growing number of people are falling for light painting photography. And why not? After all, the incredible effect of white or warm or even colorful lights on the subject creates surreal imagery. It brings life even into an ordinary-looking theme and leaves people spellbound. But guess what?
For an outstanding light painting, you must own an appropriate flashlight to emit the prominent rays for your photography. Also, you need DSLR, tripods, and other devices, but that’s another topic.
So, talking about best flashlights for light painting and you know what, ordinary flashlights will fall back here. You must use the top-rated ones if you want your photograph to stand apart among thousands of photos. That’s why light painting photography flashlights need to be high-performing, emit high lumen, and portable.
OVERALL BEST CHOICE
Cree XP-L LED 1050 Lumens Tactical Flashlight
You will find these in our in-depth review list.
What is Light Painting?
Light painting is a modern-day photography technique where variations of light are used to create different effects surrounding the subject. In light painting, usually, the camera shutter is open for a long time so that it gets more exposure to brighten up the dark subjects with low shine.
For light painting photography, the subject can be indoor with the dark surrounding or in the outdoor during night times.
1. Coast G26 Flashlight - Best Flashlight for Newbies
This extraordinary flashlight comes with necessary flashlight facilities and so, is ideal for the newbies. If you are a learner of light painting photography and don’t want to spend much of flashlight, the Coast G26 will best suit you. It’s portable, reasonably priced, and above all, delivers just about true lumen power for creating pleasing lighting effects.
Important Features:
2. J5 Tactical V1-PRO - Beginner Best With Long Battery
Any professional photographer would know the importance of a flashlight with long battery life, and ultra-bright LED for the best light painting experience. This J5 Tactical V1-Pro flashlight delivers both of these; its singe AA battery can run for hours while the 300-lumen ultra-bright three modes light emission will take your light painting to a whole new level.
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3. COAST HP7 530 - No 1 Flashlight for Long Running Time
This flashlight is our third pick from Coast, and this is for no ordinary reasons. The flashlight has different lumen settings options, seamless shifts between beam and flood, as well as extended running time. All these make the HP7 530 flashlight a popular choice for light painting photography.
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4. Cree XP-L LED 1050 Lumens Tactical Flashlight - Best Adjustable Flashlight:
Do you want higher lumen-power at a relatively reasonable price? If yes, then this Cree XP-L LED flashlight is meant for you. The Led flashlight comes with memory mode and a variety of lighting modes that enables photographers to adjust the lighting condition correctly.
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5. Nitecore Rechargeable Tactical Flashlight - RGB Powered Multipurpose Flashlight
Nitecore is a famous flashlight brand, and they are trustworthy also. Consequently, their Rechargeable SRT7GT Tactical Flashlight comes with powerful illumination and patented smart ring for butter smooth performance with RGB outputs.
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6.COAST HL27 LED Headlamp - Best Headlamp for Light Painting:
Ask any photographers, and they will answer that without a premium headlamp, nightlight photography becomes tough. Hence, we came up with this superior LED headlamp that delivers a promising performance with loaded features.
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Buying Guide - What to consider when choosing the Best Flashlights for Light Painting
For regular uses, any flashlight will do. But when it comes to the best flashlights for light painting, then the scenario is totally different. You will require to consider a whole lot of factors before purchasing a torch for light painting.
For instance, what sorts of color emissions you want? Yes, flashlights come in a variety of color-producing capacities such as natural white lights, RGB flashlights, and LED colored ones.
We realize that it will be daunting for you to consider all these factors so carefully. That’s why we have piled up the most influential factors that you must consider when choosing the light painting flashlights.
What's Most Important in A Light Painting Flashlight:
Now, let's see what the factors that we think you should consider when buying the flashlight for light painting photography is.
Lumen Power
The lumen power of a flashlight determines how much light the device will emit in one given time. Ideally, a flashlight is capable of producing around 1000 lumen power. It is sufficient for most light painting works.
However, some high-end flashlights may come with 1500-2000 lumen power, but these are expensive too.
Battery type
The luminous of a flashlight is attributed mainly to its battery type. The most popular batteries for flashlights are AA/AAA battery type. It’s run on an alkaline-based or rechargeable NiMH and produces around 300-500 lumen power.
Then, there’s the Li-ion battery. It produces 1000-2000 lumen power and is the best value for money choice. However, handling the Li-ion battery run flashlights needs some technical knowledge also. A portable power bank can be a great option if you have an option to charge up your battery.
Memory mode and light adjustment
Some higher-end flashlights feature mode memory. It enables photographers to turn on the light on the previous mode saving them from the setup.
The light adjustment facility comes from the momentary switch. It is often called a tactical switch that can be used to control the light emission by keeping the switch in the middle. Remember, it’s not a separate switch, the on/off switch performs the adjustment.
RGB vs. Color Mixing capacity
Adding colors in light painting creates eye-catchy images. You can use either RGB flashlights or color mixing flashlights for this purpose. Remember that, RGB flashlights come with automated color-changing options.
On the other hand, flashlights with color mixing capacity, let’s you pick any color to mix and focus on the subject. However, both RGB and color mixing flashlights have low lumen power, and so will need more exposure to the camera.
Also, you can choose between the warm and neutral white flashlights. To know which types of these two flashlights are perfect for light painting, read in the following section.
Cold or warm LED flashlights Which One to Choose for photography?
To speak the truth, the decision to choose one between warm and cold LED flashlights will depend upon what mood you aim to create. For instance, if you want to create a romantic or softer atmosphere, the warm LED flashlights will be right for you.
Nonetheless, if you want to create a harsh scenario with the subject, cold bright or white LED flashlights are preferable.
But you must also know that cold or warm are not the exact term for these flashlights. The cold torches are often tagged as 3500-4100k incandescent or halogen lights. Whereas warm lights are referred to as 2700K incandescent light.
Warm LEDs are better at creating a romantic and softer illusion, while photographers prefer the cold or neutral white LEDs for a bold photograph.
Conclusion
Light painting photography is a unique opportunity to show your creativity. But for this, you will need to acquire the best flashlight for light painting at first. These lights should be portable and long-lasting also. You should also maintain them regularly for optimal performance.
