Intellytech vs Litemat:

[Mitch Gross]

I have used Intellytech and Litecloth together successfully. You need to dial in color by eye -- don't trust any of the readouts. I own a 2-unit Intellytech LC-160 kit just like the others. It came in a small rolling case but the packaging is certainly not conducive to quick setup and break down. But yeah, beautiful light and they nicely replaced my old Rifa.

[rob norton]

Hello:

So I am in a dilemma trying to decide my next purchase. I currently own a LITEMAT 4 s2 and I love this light to death. So much so that I want to get another light to partner it up with. First thought was to get another LITEMAT but unfortunately as you all know they are really expensive. By chance I came across a video for INTELLYTECH lights. Judging from the videos alone they seem to be a great buy. Just wondering if anyone has experience dealing with both and are aware if I combine two different brand lights? I want to add I love to use my LITEMAT through unbleached muslin material, and that makes me lose a good amount of light. Will the light quality be different if I am using a LITEMAT and an ITELLYTECH light side by side through the same muslin material?

Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks

O.R

If you're in LA you should be able to rent one for peanuts.

There's great information here already but I'll add:

- even soft LEDs can have different enough beam angles that can be annoying when punching a few through diffusion. One light might need to be at a greater distance to the point where the closer light with wider beam angle is in the way.
- litemat might have stronger brand recognition and therefore could be easier to get $$$ if that's the way you do business.
- maybe you prefer the carrying case of two litemats vs. one litemat and one intellytech. I know it sounds trivial but might be the difference.
- Aaron at intellytech offers unbelievable customer service - one of the nicest people I've dealt with.
- shooting through muslin takes up too much light, have you tried bouncing!?

[morgan_moore]

ONce there was a thing called a shop. Yes it was a building in the same city as you with stock of product.

I bought Lupo because the importer was in my city - I dont thing it is dumb when considereing two brands with similar paper specs to go with the one available in your local shop

[ahalpert]

Especially true of bi-color. I find along the spectrum things can drift between brands. All the variables makes it more difficult to gel.

I feel like the tungsten setting on bicolors is usually less accurate than the daylight setting and often leans magenta. So, I totally agree that it's harder to mix and match once you start adjusting color temp. But I have 6 different brands of daylight LEDs and I feel like they all mix well except for 1 which was the cheapest per output and has a strong green bias

[Run&Gun]

I feel like the tungsten setting on bicolors is usually less accurate than the daylight setting and often leans magenta. So, I totally agree that it's harder to mix and match once you start adjusting color temp. But I have 6 different brands of daylight LEDs and I feel like they all mix well except for 1 which was the cheapest per output and has a strong green bias

I think that it depends heavily on the brand. AND on the camera. And if you're shooting baked-in, log, preset or WB for the source itself.

Ultimately it boils down to "How Does It Look On-Camera?". Which is why so many of these on-line video lighting shoot-outs aren't really that useful, because what is being done in the camera(and post) is such a huge variable. I've seen lots of tests show others getting opposite results that I get with some of my lights. There was an LED shootout a few years ago and the results from the Gemini's looked green. These are some of the best looking LED's available. But they were shooting the test RAW on a RED. So it all came down to how that sensor was seeing the light and how they were processing it in post. One of the few on-line testers I really trust is Matt at NewsShooter. His reviews are probably the most thorough and in-depth available. And he's a straight shooter. He's not gonna sugar coat it.

[ahalpert]

I think that it depends heavily on the brand. AND on the camera. And if you're shooting baked-in, log, preset or WB for the source itself.

Ultimately it boils down to "How Does It Look On-Camera?". Which is why so many of these on-line video lighting shoot-outs aren't really that useful, because what is being done in the camera(and post) is such a huge variable. I've seen lots of tests show others getting opposite results that I get with some of my lights. There was an LED shootout a few years ago and the results from the Gemini's looked green. These are some of the best looking LED's available. But they were shooting the test RAW on a RED. So it all came down to how that sensor was seeing the light and how they were processing it in post. One of the few on-line testers I really trust is Matt at NewsShooter. His reviews are probably the most thorough and in-depth available. And he's a straight shooter. He's not gonna sugar coat it.

are you talking about the color accuracy of the tungsten LEDs or about green bias? Doesn't mixing lights in the same shot give you some sense that one is objectively greener? especially if it looks green to the eye?

[Run&Gun]

are you talking about the color accuracy of the tungsten LEDs or about green bias? Doesn't mixing lights in the same shot give you some sense that one is objectively greener? especially if it looks green to the eye?

I'm talking about color accuracy in-general, but also using Gemini's as an example. I'm generally shooting my cameras in preset if I'm in controlled conditions and the Gemini's are clean(white light looks white), whether at 3200, 4300, 5600, etc. On a color meter, they have a very small magenta offset in both 3200k & 5600k(maybe .1 to.3), but nothing I have seen(or can see) with my naked eye or on-camera. I have yet to use the +/- green adjustment on them, whether just using them or mixing them with other LED's that I have. And I've mixed them numerous times on larger shoots where we have keyed with them and flown the lightweight Intellytech 2'x2' LC-160's as hair lights. I've also used them with my Quasar Tubes, keying with the Gemini's and using the tubes to light a seamless white background, all at preset 3200K. No color correction required. It was ready to air straight out of camera. Now compare that, to say my Nila's that I can see the green push with my naked eye, as well as on-camera(and why I only break them out in emergencies). Even with a white balance, I don't like the skin tone's they produce.

Back in the day, mixing LED's was a huge no-no and I was constantly telling people not to mix brands in the same shot. Most brands were so far off from one another it was an exercise in futility. Especially the lower priced and no-name stuff(generally speaking). But now, it's possible and not something I really even think about today, at least with the fixtures that I own(the exceptions are the Nila's). Don't get me wrong, they're not all gonna match, but it's not the absolute "none of them are gonna match" like it once was.

[mcbob]

hell, in the early days, there'd be significant variation in different copies of the same model of light

[Run&Gun]

hell, in the early days, there'd be significant variation in different copies of the same model of light

I remember part of Arri’s sales-pitch on their early LED’s, the lo-casters and broadcasters, was that their quality control was so high that they would swap out/replace any fixtures that didn’t match.