LED Lite Panels

[Barry_S]

Shades of the Jarred special. *I just saw an ad for these led-based lights. *

http://www.litepanels.com/

It's got 140 leds, but it's only producing 10 fc @ 6 feet. *Seems like they could make it brighter with more efficient leds. *No price yet, but for those of you heading to NAB--check it out and report back. *

I've just assembled all the parts for my DIY on-camera light with 20 leds. *It'll be interesting to see how many fc's it puts out.

Barry S.

[Zoomforce]

Yeah.. there is a big difference if you use high output LEDS. Damn litepanels stole my desing ha ha.

Its great if you have 120 leds... but if each led puts out 1/4 of the light as a high output model, then you should be good. Now to put 120 high output LEDS in my little DIY..

[Barry_Green]

Wow, that thing's tiny. Looks like they're competing against the Kino Mini-Flo. And compared to a Mini-Flo, that Lite Panel is putting out a whole lot more light. Wonder what the pricing is like?

[Terry_Lasater]

I thought I saw a link somewhere for some new LED fixtures where you could not only dim them but could dial in the exact color you want. How cool!

Yeah, here it is... it's Kino-Flo themselves.
http://www.kinoflo.com/sales_catalog_2004/koloris/001_kol/koloris_system.html

[herb]

I emailed them

$2100!!!!!!!!!!

Just a tad pricey

[Neil Rowe]

..is that all? :P

[ardo]

Just a bit of a DIY off-topic: has anyone bougth LEDs from these guys:
http://www.lsdiodes.com/5mm/
Their 6000mcd are $0.60 each, 8000 for $0.75, and 12000 for $0.90. The only problem: there's no color temp. data available.

I have a couple of 'oldish' Samsung cell phones, and I'm planning to give them a second life as on-camera LED lights. Well, one of them, anyway... *;D *BTW, does anyone (Jarred, help!) know where to get a cheap flash shoe adapter - I mean, the one that's on the flash, not the camera.

Well, decided that I can afford to spend $6.50 :) , and ordered two of each for testing. I'll keep you posted.

[Barry_S]

That price is insane--really!

Ardo--check the odds n' ends bins at your local camera stores for flash shoes. You can salvage one from a broken flash or flash adapter. Or you can get a little fancier and buy a little ball head. Here's the one I'm using---

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=279160&is=REG

If you want something simpler and cheaper---

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=WishList.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=53726&is=REG

[Terry_Lasater]

Dammit, Jarred!

Now I gots to have me one of them sweet li'l LED on-cam lights. 8)

Are you making/selling/providing plans for them? *


----------------------------------------------------------


What is the color temperature?

[Zoomforce]

not making them.. pretty easy to make actually, just buy some LED's and put them in a box :) there is no schematic as im not using any resistors etc.

[Beat Takeshi]

The LEDs in the stop lights here in NYC are bright as hell. I wonder if theres a warehouse where i could make a connection...either that or wait for someone to crash into one and run out with my tool box.

[Neil Rowe]

you can probably find some birght leds like that through an aftermarket auto light manufacturer. they make a lot of led lights for marker, and tail lights for cars now that are very bright like the stoplight ones. some of the lights for the new style of street cars come in clear as well.

[Neil Rowe]

http://www.superbrightleds.com/1157.htm

http://www.litepanels.com/html/homeb.html

or hers a link with some traffic signal leds..
http://www.lcled.com/main.html

[Terry_Lasater]

IAL, Thanks for the links!

-------------------------------

Any idea what color temperature the "white" LEDs are?

[Jive]

Check ebay, that's where I get them from (many US suppliers even get them from the same source as me). *I'm about to get some 10,000mcd whites. *Not sure about color temp tho, but you could always email and ask :)

[Barry_S]

Here's a circuit diagram for using the same leds that Jarred specified in his original plans (which I couldn't find). I asked my father for some advice on the resistors and he sent me this diagram (can you tell he's an EE? :-) I found the same white 8000mcd/3.2 volt leds on ebay. You do need to drop the voltage with the resistors so you're not overdriving the leds. When overdriven the leds will shift toward blue.
http://www.zoomforce.com/dvxuser/photos/images//83201900.jpg

[Zoomforce]

yeah.. I just happened to buy 3.6volt LED's so I was pretty lucky, no need for resistors.

[XDeathOrGloryX]

jarred,

what's the color temp on those LEDs in the DIY light you made shown in the pic above?

that thing is pretty awesome. id love to make one, but im borderline retarded when it comes to anything mechanical. it would be awesome if you could provide some specifics as far as building one of those things. i need an on camera light that can be powered with small battery like that. the pag light batteries are just a pain in the butt to drag around. =/

thanks.

[ardo]

Here is an interesting (IMHO) link:
http://dbserv.maxim-ic.com/quick_view2.cfm?pdf_num=2166
If I understand correctly, this IC allows to control the current through the LEDs, as opposed to voltage. It also means that it can suck the battery dry (not sure if I want to, but that's a feature, anyways), thus giving you extra shooting time.

I wish they'd offer them in a non-SMT package, soldering those babies may be a serious challenge!

[Zoomforce]

I just bouhgt a bag of 100 LED's, and a pot dimmer that doesnt drop voltage to dim the LEDs.. is it worth me taking pics of the assembly as I go or no?

[Neil Rowe]

please do:), its always fun to watch progress at hand.

[Zoomforce]

im not expecting much.. I got the Led's for $19.99 for 100 so im betting they are pretty low quality

[Zoomforce]

http://www.dvxuser.com/image/ledbig.jpg

[ardo]

Jarred, what's a 'pot dimmer that doesn't drop voltage'? I'm confused... I thought about using a 3-position switch, to control how many banks of my LEDs to turn on.

Are you soldering the LEDs onto a PCBoard? I'm thinking about using some kind of connectors where you could just push the LEDs in, and have the connector soldered to the PCBoard. I don't know if this would create extra resistance and , therefore, some power loss. Any ideas?

[Zoomforce]

ardo.. your idea is better.. the dimmer I used blows.. well its ok, but it isnt smooth. A 3 or 5 position switch to turn on each bank indipendantly is a rockin idea.

for this one I soldered the LED's onto a PC board in 2 layers. I know what you are talking about those push in things, but they are usually plastic and i dont trust them.. 100LED's do built up some heat when they are pushed this close together.

[Barry_S]

I finally shot some photos of the on-camera led light I built. I found the same leds Jarred specified on eBay and bought the Lenmar battery adapter and a Radio Shack project box. The whole thing cost about $25 without the camera adapter. I'm getting a small ballhead adapter from B&H for $20.

I didn't end up using the resistors in my circuit. Without the resistors, the leds were brighter and the color temp looked the same. I think the supplied voltage is at the upper end of the specs. Maybe they're being slightly overdriven, but I'm not too concerned.

The leds project in a narrower angle than I like, so next time I'll look for some leds that aren't as focussed. Also, they're not quite pure white--more like bluish with some green fringing, but they seem to work ok. I may end up putting on a 1/4 CTO or Straw gel and possibly some 216 to diffuse the light. These are 8000 mcd leds and they are a bit bright to shine directly in someone's eyes. It may be better use a larger grid of lower power leds for a softer effect.

http://www.lostpilgrim.com/Images/led_light_off.jpg
http://www.lostpilgrim.com/Images/led_light_on.jpg
http://www.lostpilgrim.com/Images/led_light_side.jpg

[Guest]

Can you post specs on building the light? I have a friend who is an electrician. He would like to build one, Thanks

[Terry_Lasater]

If your electrician friend is worth his weight in salt, then he should be able to glean all info he needs to build this simple device straight from Barry_S's post which comes complete with pics. ;)

[bilgami]

BiLGaMi Video Productions :thumbup: :thumbsup: :beer:


Barry S are you selling those lite panels?


bilgami@hotmail.com
http://www.bilgamivideo.com (http://www.bilgamivideo.com/)