No, I would not buy these to replace Fresnel light. For me, lighting is a bag of tricks and tools. I can't have too many. Each has its purpose. Each of us has different needs. These lights may be perfect for one application, and be lousy for another. The amount of light provided per watt is wonderful. A stop brighter than a 650w Fresnel. That's nice. Many different light modifiers with the Bowen S-mount. Terrific. But it doesn't replace a Fresnel.
150W LED (Similar to Alzo) Compared to 650W Fresnel
- Thread starter Paul F
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No, I would not buy these to replace Fresnel light. For me, lighting is a bag of tricks and tools. I can't have too many. Each has its purpose. Each of us has different needs. These lights may be perfect for one application, and be lousy for another. The amount of light provided per watt is wonderful. A stop brighter than a 650w Fresnel. That's nice. Many different light modifiers with the Bowen S-mount. Terrific. But it doesn't replace a Fresnel.
Yes, I am referring to the Nicefoto version. I should restate "it doesn't replace a Fresnel" to say nor does a Fresnel replace the Nicefoto. It has many features the Fresnel doesn't have. So they each have their purpose.
Regarding skin tones - I'm not one to make judgements or opinions about that. You'll have to decide for yourself.
Yes.
paulears
Veteran
What nobody seems to mention is the longevity of any test like this. The lamps we pop in a Fresnel produce identical results if an identical class lamp is put in twenty years apart from small differences in perhaps brightness and lifespan, but in six months the LEDs being made will be brighter and have different colour spectrums but be put in identical housings. I have been buying LED products for a while now and if I need ten LED PAR cans I buy twelve so I have identical spares. My first ever batch of 10 are down to six now, new ones with the same model number look very different, output wise. CRI is meaningless, designed for quantifying a totally different type of light. This kind of test shows the problems pretty well. Colours respond differently to what we learned. For me, the test shows the LED is pretty neutral apart from certain colours, not the overall colour shift we are used to with tungsten v daylight. The colours that are wrong can't be recovered by gel, because then the ones that are right will become wrong. LED is just different. Initially very against, I'm now for, but I treat each light source as unique. I accept blending issues as a 'feature' and not a fault, and I never buy singles, because the idea you can up your inventory later is flawed. At the budget end, the people assembling them just order a pile of LEDs. They don't test them for colouremetry and attempt matching. Things like Arris probably have colour matched LEDs between batches but look at the cost. At the cheap end the test is if they light up! Maybe it's just another colourist's problem in post. A job that never even existed just a few years ago.
Me, yes.
I'm just over using hot lights I have to say though. And these (speaking of Alzo with fan mod) offer great possibilities to model the light with the quick mount, are cheap but good quality, plenty of nice daylight, can be set up in seconds, dimmable.
If they can or should replace a tungsten fresnel I don't know.
Paulears raises good points. It's a whole new way of working with fixtures. The tungsten fixture is a lifetime fixture with spare lamps. The LEDs are throw away. What happens when that one chip on the Alzo fails or the power supply goes out? If it is a Chinese one, you throw it away and pull out your $300 spare LED light. If it is a serviceable one, you pull our your $300 spare light and ship the defective one back for repair and get it back in x weeks and pay how much to get it fixed? Does it get fixed?
So instead of carrying spare bulbs, you are bringing spare lights.
Paul throws them away as they age as he needs consistent output. Others may be able to tolerate a mixed bag.
So instead of carrying spare bulbs, you are bringing spare lights.
Paul throws them away as they age as he needs consistent output. Others may be able to tolerate a mixed bag.
paulears
Veteran
The other thing to watch is that very often when you buy from China, you aren't buying from a factory at all - you're buying from a kind of 'cooperative'. They don't manufacture anything at all, they just buy bits and pieces from other similar firms in the same building. So if the product needs sheet metal work, this is made in building 1 room 10. The LEDs are soldered in room 15 into PCBs made in room 22. The power supply is a stock item made by the people in room 30. The stand you get as part of 'the deal' is made by the people in room 30, and the cardboard packaging comes from room 40. If it arrives back for repair in 6 months time, they probably won't even remember making it. This explains the huge similarity between certain items. It's a kind of cottage industry. They probably sell video lights, ice cream makers and curling tongs - whatever seems a good idea this month!
I can attest to that. I was in China many many years ago. Their processes were amazing. There were lathes right out on the sidewalk of a busy street making parts. I was on the 20th floor in a office building. Above me on the 21st floor were big punch presses thundering out parts. How did they get the presses up there? They cut a hole in the building and hoisted them up. Was the building designed to take that load? Who cares! One person I met was reverse engineering some product they were stealing. Anything goes.
Norman99
Well-known member
Disposable ? absolutely, especially in the video/broadcast industry. How many format changes were made including broadcast standards, media storage, content delivery, not counting in cameras both photo and video that are updated/improved by the month and CRT TV sets that are on the sidewalk/garbage. I changed 4 DSLR cameras since 2005 as the sensors were getting better and better. I Updated my software and editing system 3 times and my hardware 4 times. Change is expensive, but if we don't go with the flow, we tend to lose out. Now some of my clients are looking for their wedding video to be done on 4K for next year. Does that mean I have to invest more in a 4K camera, editing, hardware, etc.... I think so. The only piece of gear that perhaps is immune to change is the tripod and the tungsten fixture. I remember photographers in the film era were using the same pro camera for over 40 years ( the Hasselblad ) and any improvements were due to film emulsions. The led light's advantage is it's portability factor and low power draw that allows it to be used in almost any environment where generators or large batteries are impractical. It too will become obsolete and disposable only to be replaced with something better, perhaps cheaper. No matter how well made a product is, when the technology and trends change, then that well made product is not useful any more to serve it's purpose as a money making tool and is either discarded/sold or put inside a glass showcase and admired as an antique.