The Best On-Camera LED Light

[justin231]

Hi guys! I am a newbie here at dvxuser and this is my first post! =)

I need your guys' help. I am looking for an affordable and effective LED light for my Sony FX7.
My budget is about 100-200. I am now currently looking at the Rotolight, the Opteka VL-126 and the CowboyStudio CN-160. The Opteka and the CowboyStudio are the on the top of my list because they are cheap and very effective (according to the reviews and tests that I have seen). What do you guys think? I need your opinion on this. If you know another video light that is better and also affordable, please tell me.

Thanks so much you guys!!

[mcgeedigital]

I just bough the HDV Z96 for $89 shipped and it rocks.
Dimmable, 5600k, 800 lumens, uses sony or aa batteries.

it is a good value.

[mcgeedigital]

http://cheesycam.com/z96-dimmable-ds...ht-vs-126-led/

[justin231]

Thanks for the quick reply!
I am actually looking at that light right now. Why would you think this is better though? (i mean, this only has 96 led lights while some has 120 or 160 lights).

And also, how is the build quality? Pretty solid?

And last question. Why do other people sell it at $200 plus? Is the $89 one the same as the $200 one?

Thanks again!

[mcgeedigital]

The 96 Led model is crazy bright.

Build quality is quite good, but it is all plastic.

Back battery door can be somewhat finicky, but it works.

I bought it off of ebay direct from China.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...ht_8989wt_1141

It is cheaper since they build it there.

You may have to wait a few weeks to get it, but it was worth the price savings for me.

[stip]

My Z96 died today. Something on the inside just collapsed. I have 126LED which is built like crap and has much greener light output and the Yongnuo 135 LED which I like best.

[justin231]

What do you use the Z96 with? A dslr? or an HD camera?

[justin231]

Are you talking about the Opteka 126? or the CowboyStudio 126?

[Marduk]

http://cheesycam.com/z96-dimmable-ds...ht-vs-126-led/

i dont know if its because i had just finished watching bourne but did anybody ever tell you that you sound just like Matt Damon lol.

anyways back to the subject, have you used any of the comer lights before. i have the comer 1800 and compared to some basic ones i have used, the comer seems to be the best one. i want to get a second one with about the same kind of brightness as the comer 1800 and cannot spend that kind of money again. i was wondering which of the generics/ebay/china do you recommend.

thanks in advance

[Norman99]

800 lumens, seems like a lot of light output, along with a bluish/greenish color cast. i am wondering how bright that would be with the often used color correction filter (yellow one) that is included. Perhaps it drops down to 600 lumens or less, also, when used in conjunction with the diffuser to spread the light, now we have around 400 or less lumens as useable real situation color balanced for tungsten and wide enough for the coverage of the light to not vignette at the camera's lens racked out to full wide setting. To many, 400 to 500 lumens is a really bright light. A little math will say it is around a 25 watt light bulb equivalent that consumes around 7 watts. Not bad for efficiency but really not a bright light. Also to take in consideration is that the CRI or color rendering index ( the ability of the light to render most colors accurately as noon day sun as over 90 CRI) is most likely in the mid 70's. That is why most of the led units in the "too good to be true" price, are lacking not only in build quality but also in light quality. For the money, it is a excellent buy, but consider the camera to subject distance that it will be most often used as one of the prime considerations. Sure, any light is powerful enough at any distance if the gain is racked up far enough. I would like to see a 1200 lumen led with around 90 CRI and natively at around 3000K color temperature and a nice wide beam of 80 degrees or more WITHOUT any diffusion or CC gels for under $250.