My wife uses a Digital Rebel for macro photography. At times the lack of control over the built in strobe really causes problems with overexposure (and we aren't ready to try the hack to let us control the flash exposure yet).

I'm wondering about just skipping the strobe altogether and having her use a 3W video light.

Have any of you used video lights for your still photography? Suggestions?

Thanks.

The lights are only 3 watts? Does it provide enough illumination? You can control the flash without the hack. Use diffusion material to soften the light. You can also use distance form flash to subject to reduce the intensity of the flash. A cheap little slave flash ($20) can provide fill flash to balance out the shadows.

Not sure about the 3W (those are the cheap mini-DV lights) but the distance to subject is measured in inches. If 3W didn't work then it would be easy enough to go to 10w or even 20w but that is probably too much light. I know that some UW photographers use video lights rather than strobes since it is easier to see ahead of time what the scene looks like (replacing colors lost to water diffusing light frequencies).

She currently use the exposure settings to dial down the exposure. I've suggested diffusion on the strobe, neutral density filters on the lens and reflectors but she wants to keep it simple.

If the lights work, use them. You can do a manual white balance and fix the colors.

Jeff, take a look at this page at B&H
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=NavBar&A=search&Q=&ci=9597