The last 10 years have been exhilarating and exhausting for a gaffer. The lighting world has been changing rapidly.
My first 20 years as a set electrician, changes came at a slow and steady pace. Tungsten heads, especially Mole Richardson lights dominated (with technology that hasn't change much since the 1930s) and Arri HMIs for daylight work. One of the big revolution was the rise of fluorescent lighting especially Kino Flo. Then came LEDs. They were mediocre at first coming in awkward form-factors with poor color quality. For years, if I had the choice between tungsten or HMI lighting versus LEDs, I would always recommend the former. At first, LED technology improved slowly, but then came the deluge. LED lighting is now advancing so rapidly, I can barely keep up with the changes. All the improvements have been exhilarating. I can do things with lighting that I only dreamed of before.
Then there is the exhausting part. It seems like new lights and technology have been coming out almost weekly from a myriad of manufacturers. How is a gaffer to keep up? I have purchased lights to only feel a year later, they are obsolete. Exhausting.
I feel like new LED lights are beginning to arrive at a place where they will be in everyone's lighting inventory for at least a few years, if not longer. There are now LED lights that check all the boxes for a gaffers and directors of photography.
The picture above is one of those lights, an Aputure 1200X with fresnel, barndoors, and skid. The light performs superbly. I love the form factor. It's not packed away in some case. It sits on a shelf ready to use. It's the future. I'm planning (and hoping) to be using it for years to come.