My $12 LED on camera light

mainstreetprod

mainstreetprod

Veteran
I ran across some LED camping headlights on Ebay with 56 LED's. Thought
for about $12 it might be worth a try as an on camera eye light, so I ordered one. Although Hong Kong was listed as place of origin, it was shipped out of New York and came quickly.

Now I needed to adapt it to the hot shoe. I dug around in a box of misc camera light parts and found a hot shoe adaptor from the bottom of an old light, complete with knurled nut. I cut off the headlight strap, drilled a quarter inch hole in the plastic bracket and put it on the HVX (see photo).

There are 3 brightness settings - 10 LED, 27 LED and 56. A good range.
The pushbutton switch seems solid. The "flashing" setting is useless unless you want to stop traffic while filming. Build quality is OK for a $12 device.
If dropped it will break. So buy another one!

Takes 3 AA batteries. Duracells or similar should last several hours. They claim
30 but my estimate is probably closer- especially with all 56 LED's burning.

As has been commented before about these lights, they are quite blue. I simply cut a 1/2 CTO gel to fit and still get a good amount of corrected light.
With the gel, the color temp is close to daylight. I posted a with/without light
comparison here:

http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/21102/1185415537.mov


Since it was still daylight (about 7pm), it was almost impossible to see the
light in person. Looking at the clip, though, the difference is there. Definitely
fulfills the purpose of eyelight. in darker circumstances, could light your subject
enough for decent video, especially with the DVX. All in all, not a bad way to spend 12 bucks. Spend $24 and keep a backup in the bag. :thumbsup:




Note: the base of the light touches the mic holder when attached- making it tilt
slightly. I will have to grind a bit off to make it sit level, or remove the holder.

1185416141.jpg
 
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I like the concept but the video I downloaded had like 4 extended frames (like a timelapse). Not sure how looking at the clip tells me anything is there (need an a/b comparison).
 
The clip is pretty clear -- watch it carefully! In the beginning, the face is a lot darker than in the second half!

Mainstreet - any way you could estimate a light output, or compare with other LED lights? Got a link to this product?

Thanks!
 
I Was in Franklin and saw you shooting this on Tues eve. :) I was wondering what kind of light you had on the cam
 
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Matt S - Small world! You live in PA and happened to be in Franklin?



Movie Stunts:
Here is a link to one of the 12 or so LED lights on Ebay (this one is actually
$4 plus shipping!)


http://cgi.ebay.com/56-LED-Bicycle-...ryZ22689QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem



The clip consists of 4 still frames , one without light, one with, one without, and one with. You will see a jump and a change in the traffic when the frame changes. The difference is subtle but it's there.
 
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No- see the original post, 2nd paragraph.

The right size washer/bolt/thumbscrew could easily take the place of'
the hotshoe mount I found. The washer would slide into the hotshoe and
bolt/thumbscrew would tighten it. This is only possible because the HVX
"hotshoe" is not really hot, no power goes to it.
 
Can I suggest you do a test comparison on a darker scene so we can see what it looks like in low-light situations.

Thanks for your help.

Joseph
 
I have a feeling that this could also be used for lighting a vehicle interior where you have the talent actually driving the vehicle. It runs on batteries so that is a huge plus. The cheap cost means you can easily buy a bunch and reuse them on other scenes as well.
 
No human volunteers in the house, so I pointed the light at a shelf full of books and here is the result. The room was pitch dark. This is taken with an
HVX (needs a LOT of light). DVX and others may perform better.








1186356536.jpg




The light is concentrated and round like a flashlight, could use some diffusion.
This was taken without the CTO gel so is a bit bluish. One light would work for an interview or eyelight. If very dark or need to light a larger area, 2 or 3 lights would help. They would be great to clamp here and there for misc lighting needs due to the
small size, light weight, fairly powerful output and 3 settings.
 
I actually have the same little light myself. Never used it but I'm thinking of using it to fill some close face shots for interviews for a shoot I have coming up. Should be interesting...
 
those types of lights seem to be more like spot lights though right, it seems like you are walking around with a flash light attached to your camera when you look at the video you shot right?
 
The light is very concentrated, but better than a flashlight. Not a problem when used as an eyelight- but for walking around in the dark shooting, it is a bit too concentrated and distinctly round.
 
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