Cinematography Tip: Are LED Lights Replacing HMIs?

For over a decade, one light has been the gold standard on my sets for punching through windows or bouncing into massive frames: the ARRI M90. This HMI has been a powerful workhorse, a tool that expanded my creativity and could beautifully replicate the sun. It was an oldie, but a goodie. But as filmmakers, we must constantly ask ourselves: Is there a better, more efficient, more versatile way to achieve the looks we need?

The answer is a resounding yes.

We are in a revolution in the lighting world. High-powered LEDs are now ready to challenge the reigning champions. In this Cinematography Tip, we’re putting the legendary ARRI M90 HMI head-to-head with the Nanlux Evoke 5000B LED. I’ll walk you through a series of tests that reveal the frustrations of older tech and the incredible versatility of the new, showing you why modern LEDs are increasingly replacing HMIs in my arsenal.

THE BENCHMARK: UNDERSTANDING THE ARRI M90 HMI

To understand the evolution, we first need to appreciate the benchmark. The ARRI M90 is a powerful 9,000-watt HMI known for its incredible punch. 

In our test, positioned 30 feet away, it delivered a reading of f/45 and three-tenths at 800 ISO and 24fps when set to its full 15-degree spot. It has the power to rip through backgrounds and fill huge diffusion frames.

However, this power comes with classic HMI challenges.

THE HMI CHALLENGE 1: CUTTING AND SHADOW QUALITY

The M90 uses a parabolic reflector, which creates a beautiful beam but is notoriously difficult to control for a clean, hard shadow. In our test, we brought in a 4×8 piece of foam core to create a cut. 

At full spot, the M90 produced six distinct, soft-edged shadows. This messy cut is far from ideal when you need a sharp, defined line of light on a wall or across an actor. Even when adjusted to a 45-degree beam, it still produced four separate shadows.

THE HMI CHALLENGE 2: HEAT AND EXPENDABLES

The second major issue is heat. When we tried to add a Rosco 179 Chrome Orange gel to create a golden glow, it began to smoke and melt almost instantly. The only solution is to use a heat shield and create distance, which is cumbersome. 

As I’ve seen throughout my career, this intense heat means you “end up blowing through gel left and right,” creating significant and often wasteful expendable costs on your production.

THE CONTENDER: THE VERSATILE NANLUX EVOKE 5000B LED

Now, let’s turn to the Nanlux Evoke 5000B. This high-powered LED is designed to compete directly with large HMIs. While the M90 has about 1 1/3 stops more power at its absolute tightest spot, the Nanlux offers a suite of accessories—including 30, 45, and 60-degree reflectors, a Fresnel, a bare bulb attachment, and a parabolic beam attachment—that give it unparalleled versatility. With its parabolic attachment, the 5000B was able to perfectly match the M90’s output at a 30-degree beam angle.

This is where the advantages of the LED become clear.

SOLVING THE SHADOW PROBLEM

When we put the Nanlux 5000B through the same shadow test, the results were dramatically different. Using the Fresnel attachment, it produced one beautiful, hard shadow—a clean, perfect cut. Even with just the 30-degree reflector, which I expected to create multiple shadows like the M90, it still produced a surprisingly clean, hard cut. 

For the absolute hardest shadow possible, similar to taking the lens off an old tungsten Tweenie, the Nanlux offers a bare bulb attachment. This gives you ultimate control over your shadow quality, a level of precision the HMI simply cannot match.

SOLVING THE HEAT PROBLEM

With the 5000B, heat is a non-issue. We placed the same 179 Chrome Orange gel right in front of the 30-degree reflector at full power. The result? A beautiful, golden glow with absolutely no smoking or burning. This saves time, reduces expendable costs, and is significantly safer on set.

BEYOND THE BASICS: THE LED ADVANTAGE IN CONTROL & EFFICIENCY

The benefits of modern LEDs like the Nanlux 5000B extend even further, solving some of the most persistent frustrations of working with HMIs.

PRECISION COLOR CONTROL

One of the biggest challenges with HMIs is color consistency. As an HMI bulb ages, it shifts green. A new bulb might be slightly magenta. You’re constantly adding gels to try and balance it to a perfect 5600K. The Nanlux, however, is incredibly stable. 

In our tests, we dimmed it all the way down to 1% output, and it maintained a perfect 5600K color temperature with a negligible .1 magenta shift. This is unheard of with most LEDs, which often go significantly green at low intensities. The ability to dial in your color temperature (from 2700K to 6500K) and precisely adjust your tint (+/- Green/Magenta) gives you complete creative control without ever touching a gel.

SIMPLICITY AND EFFICIENCY

Look at the M90 setup, and you’ll see the head, a long head cable, and a separate, heavy ballast. This creates multiple variables and points of failure. If the light doesn’t strike, is it the bulb? The cable? The ballast? 

With the Nanlux 5000B, the ballast is built directly into the light head. There are no head cables to run and no separate ballast to move. This streamlines the setup process, reduces the number of variables, and makes the entire system more efficient and reliable.

THE BOTTOM LINE: A NEW ERA OF LIGHTING

While the ARRI M90 is a legendary light with incredible power, this comparison makes the evolution clear. The Nanlux Evoke 5000B LED offers vastly superior versatility and control. You can shape it into a Fresnel, a PAR, a mole beam, or a bare bulb source. You have precise, stable control over color temperature and tint. And its efficient, all-in-one design simplifies the on-set workflow, saving time, money, and labor.

The cinematography tip is this: it’s time to re-evaluate our reliance on older technology. For many on-set applications, the creative control, stability, and efficiency of modern high-powered LEDs now outweigh the brute force of traditional HMIs.

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This episode is proudly lit exclusively by Nanlux-Nanlite Lights and sponsored by B&H and Hollyland.

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