5600K LED is the way of the future?

mcgeedigital said:
The problem with mixing temperatures is you are halving your total output of light.
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Agreed, this is something I would have never considered a few years ago with using dof adapters, I was always struggling for more light and would try to get everything the same,(color temp wise) I used to go as far as gelling windows, (on occasion I still do) But not often, With newer crop of sensors, I feel like we can experiment more and get away using less light and can create more little pockets of light as opposed to throwing a **** load just to get exposure, like the old days :) None the less, your absolutely spot on. It will only work in specific situations.
 
Oh yeah, gelling tungsten to daylight eats up your light but today with day light fluos and LEDs and the more sensitive cameras mixing temps is some what more easy.
 
I spent a bunch of time with the Hive guys out at NAB this year. They are a couple of smart fellows making some pretty cool new moves. Check out the video if you want.
[video]http://www.productionmeeting.com/group/nab/forum/topics/hive-lighting-at-nab-2013[/video]
 
Hives are supposed to give off great quality light. I also saw some remote phosphorous LED lighting that looked very interesting.
 
On a more specialty level, I'm a big fan of the Litegear products. They made their name with Literibbon but also have premade cards and you can assemble the ribbon into whatever shape you like, so for instance you can make up a 1x1 panel, or whatever. They have tungsten, daylight and hybrid versions. The original stuff was admittedly not great in terms of color purity but their new Pro series is very color accurate and I have been using it this season on Key & Peele to great effect. For tight spaces, this stuff is genius--I can stick it to the wall and it is all but flat. Yesterday we mounted two cards to the mattebox on a Steadicam shot, they weigh mere ounces. I sometimes run an 8 foot strip of the ribbon onto a length of PVC pipe and stick the pipe onto a horizontal C-stand arm--instant wide, smooth backlight, ad hoc menace arm (no counterweighting required). I'm going to start making up some diffusion and egg crate fixtures for the cards--any 3D printing enthusiasts here from LA who might want to get involved on this?
 
Charles, I've checked out LiteRibbon and it looks VERY interesting. But the website becomes almost jibberish when looking to actually place an order. I have NFC what all of this means, and they don't do a good job of explaining any it. I'm sure it's clear to those who use LiteRibbon, but to a newb, it might as well be hieroglyphs. http://store.litegear.com/category_s/1973.htm
 
I hear you on their website, it confuses me and I am familiar with most of their products! Fortunately being in LA, I can just go to their factory and buy direct (and see what new wrinkles they've come up with). I'll point the website confusion out next time I'm over there.
 
Another company that makes interesting products but don't make proper demostration videos..... what the heck is wrong with these guys? If I had made something nice like these coming out now, I would assemble a team to show what can be done with them, instead of plastering the product description with technical stuff I either don't give a hoot about or understand (mostly the last).

All that matters.... is how it looks on camera, all the sales BS, save that for the conference shows.
 
"These guys" have been quietly providing this product to the film industry for years, they are well known at this point by most industry DP's, gaffers, set designers etc. Literibbon has been used in all of the Iron Man suits since the first movie. Recently I spoke to them about the lanterns they rigged for "Django", which were required to burn actual flames. After making a protected chamber for the flame side which faced the camera, they built in a cluster of Literibbon to illuminate the actor from the other side, including a photosensor and processor to read the varying intensity of the flame and mimic that with the LED's. A battery was built into the bottom of the lantern so no wires were required. Fantastic gag, and one that I wish I had known about when I had to create this look on a feature that we ironically were shooting at the same time and place as Django (see here, 14 seconds in).

Anyway--guess what I'm trying to say is that the "legitimate" industry doesn't demand demo videos, it's managed this far without them for the most part, and that is who Litegear markets to. The lower end industry--I don't really know what to call it, let's say what used to be the "prosumer" end that has ballooned in recent years--has become a race to self-promote in ways that I continue to marvel at (and shake my head). Camera "tests" and product demos that look more like music videos and are filled with show-off editing and cinematography don't really do much for me, in fact they often infuriate me when I am trying to learn something. I'm old-fashioned, I guess. THAT to me is sales BS, not facts and figures such as one finds on the Litegear site.

If Litegear is interested in marketing to that segment of the industry, then adopt and adapt they will, no doubt.
 
BobbyMurcerFan said:
Charles, I've checked out LiteRibbon and it looks VERY interesting. But the website becomes almost jibberish when looking to actually place an order. I have NFC what all of this means, and they don't do a good job of explaining any it. I'm sure it's clear to those who use LiteRibbon, but to a newb, it might as well be hieroglyphs. http://store.litegear.com/category_s/1973.htm
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Hillarious! $12 spooled SMD's going for $225! Love it!
 
What you are getting is a color correct output. That much should be obvious from reading their website. Anyone who has shot with LED's know that there are units that are better than others at approaching full spectrum light. The original Literibbon was not particularly good at that (but it was good enough to be used in all three Iron Man suits). The new PRO series is very clean and I have been quite satisfied using it in conjunction with tungsten units. All of the inexpensive LED ribbon I've seen is far enough off base to be visible to the bare eye, let alone on camera. I've used it now on two TV shows and am going to start building fixtures with it as soon as the next one wraps.

Outside of the ribbon, the have a complete architecture for professional application of the technology, with quality dimmers and power supplies, DMX interfaces etc.

Sorry to have bothered you guys with this. This is clearly not the right board for this sort of product.
 
Sure it is... just don't make it more than it is, it's a vicious trait of this business.

Tell you what, I'll buy those ribbons just for the fun of it, shoot some tests and then we can talk about the results.
 
LiteRibbon is much better than the cheap alternatives, & become part of most Gaffers' toolkits.

Due to customer requests they may even start producing fixtures too.
 
Given that the terminal block they sell for $23 can be bought on Amazon for $8, I'm highly dubious that their product is radically different than the cheaper alternatives. If a 300% markup for a terminal block is acceptable to them, who's to say it's not the same for the LED lights.
 
Guys. You are all correct about the inconsistencies in LED spectral output. Particularly with wholesale/ ebay type purchases.
As I've said a lot before. emitters are binned at the factory and if you buy from an authorized distributor, you can spec the emitter bin that you prefer ( if you know how). Smart manufacturers mark up thier products to compensate, for the competition/demand for the neutral bins. I however, do sometimes use those off the shelf 'neutral white' ribbons and I have formulated my own 'Getto' color amelioration process that IMHO delivers superior color because it's 'mottled' and I can adjust color balance for various applications.
I almost forgot about this demo I made for a colleague, Andrew. Total cost including power supply- $45.00
here's the link to the kit I buy. takes 3 weeks to arrive from china. I use Sharpies to correct the emitter array color balance- Real getto!

Enjoy...
https://vimeo.com/52211495

 
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