John Foundas
Well-known member
Putting together a small kit (1000/500/200). Thoughts on FLO, COOL, IKAN, LOWEL?
Looking to hear from some hands on users…pro/cons
Thanks!
Looking to hear from some hands on users…pro/cons
Thanks!
Best cost effective LED lights?
- Thread starter John Foundas
- Start date
I have two recommendations.
If the budget stretches to it, the best lights I have found are Gekko Kelvin Tiles: http://www.gekkotechnology.com/kelvintile.htm
These lights have six different colours of LEDs. This allows one to dial in colour temperatures from 2200 K - 6500 K, which it does by turning up and down the relative intensities of all six colours to produce a much broader spectrum light than is obtainable from lights with just one or two LED colours.
The effect on skin tones is very flattering, resolving the main issues I have had with fluorescents and cheaper LED units. Those produced moderately horrid skin tones direct from the camera, but which could at least be easily resolved by pumping the red/orange up a bit in post (and maybe doing a little tweak on the green-magenta tints). But there's no substitute for having the right wavelengths of light present to record well in the first place! The colour rendition is very nice.
The Kelvin tiles can also be controlled by a separate DMX paintbox, which allows one independent control of all six LED colours individually, producing everything from out-of-gamut saturated reds through the sublest variants like tiny tweaks to CT on set (can I just get that three-quarters backlight about 1/8th CTB? Yes- twiddle the dial on the back!). It is like having a full gel catalogue with you on every shot.
They come with V-mount (and a power supply which slots into V mount instead of a battery) which makes them ideal location lights. They are solidly constructed (lots of metal) and feel much tougher than my cheaper panels.
The only drawback I have found so far is that they aren't as bright as the cheaper one-colour panels. This is necessarily so because they can't have all their LEDs at full power all the time, they need to dim some to get the white balance right. It isn't a problem for me, but if you need to fill large cathedral sized spaces you'll need more of them than you would cheaper panels.
Of course you can't get a really hard light from them either (same as any other tile-style LEDs). I gather they have a fresnel-style version called the Kedo for that but don't know if it is out yet.
If the budget won't stretch to the Gekkos, I've been shooting for the last year with Datavision 600 and 900 panels, daylight balanced.
These cheap and cheerful panels are bright, dimmable and have built-in v-mount and do a pretty good job of matching daylight for the cameras I've tried them with (AF100, 7D and RED One). However it is noticeable that they are a bit weak in the orange-deep red part of the spectrum, and gelling them to match Tungsten doesn't give as attractive a result as the Kelvin Tiles do.
However, they are half the price, significantly brighter, and lighter, and if you are willing to add a bit of red/orange back in in post, do an acceptable job.
Cheers, Hywel.
If the budget stretches to it, the best lights I have found are Gekko Kelvin Tiles: http://www.gekkotechnology.com/kelvintile.htm
These lights have six different colours of LEDs. This allows one to dial in colour temperatures from 2200 K - 6500 K, which it does by turning up and down the relative intensities of all six colours to produce a much broader spectrum light than is obtainable from lights with just one or two LED colours.
The effect on skin tones is very flattering, resolving the main issues I have had with fluorescents and cheaper LED units. Those produced moderately horrid skin tones direct from the camera, but which could at least be easily resolved by pumping the red/orange up a bit in post (and maybe doing a little tweak on the green-magenta tints). But there's no substitute for having the right wavelengths of light present to record well in the first place! The colour rendition is very nice.
The Kelvin tiles can also be controlled by a separate DMX paintbox, which allows one independent control of all six LED colours individually, producing everything from out-of-gamut saturated reds through the sublest variants like tiny tweaks to CT on set (can I just get that three-quarters backlight about 1/8th CTB? Yes- twiddle the dial on the back!). It is like having a full gel catalogue with you on every shot.
They come with V-mount (and a power supply which slots into V mount instead of a battery) which makes them ideal location lights. They are solidly constructed (lots of metal) and feel much tougher than my cheaper panels.
The only drawback I have found so far is that they aren't as bright as the cheaper one-colour panels. This is necessarily so because they can't have all their LEDs at full power all the time, they need to dim some to get the white balance right. It isn't a problem for me, but if you need to fill large cathedral sized spaces you'll need more of them than you would cheaper panels.
Of course you can't get a really hard light from them either (same as any other tile-style LEDs). I gather they have a fresnel-style version called the Kedo for that but don't know if it is out yet.
If the budget won't stretch to the Gekkos, I've been shooting for the last year with Datavision 600 and 900 panels, daylight balanced.
These cheap and cheerful panels are bright, dimmable and have built-in v-mount and do a pretty good job of matching daylight for the cameras I've tried them with (AF100, 7D and RED One). However it is noticeable that they are a bit weak in the orange-deep red part of the spectrum, and gelling them to match Tungsten doesn't give as attractive a result as the Kelvin Tiles do.
However, they are half the price, significantly brighter, and lighter, and if you are willing to add a bit of red/orange back in in post, do an acceptable job.
Cheers, Hywel.
Bern Caughey
Veteran
LED still has a long way to go. I choose other options whenever practical.
www.oscars.org/science-technology/council/projects/ssl/index.html
www.oscars.org/science-technology/council/projects/ssl/index.html
Alpha Beta Omega
Veteran
I have put together a small kit with three 312 LED bi-colour panels. They are small, inexpensive, runs on Sony NP batteries and looks good enough. No cable running and regardless of surrounding light they match.
John Foundas
Well-known member
Lots of info chaps, thanks!
Always concerned with the minus green issue.
I love my chimeras...sigh
Always concerned with the minus green issue.
I love my chimeras...sigh
Trucci
Well-known member
I actually built the same kit, except one of the lights is a single color (5600k) with an orange filter. I got one that did one color for those situations where I need all 312 leds active to get the most light. It's super versatile since it runs on batteries, changes color temp, is dimmable, doesn't get hot, and is lightweight. Cameras these days are so much more sensitive that we don't need as much light as before. For guerrilla filmmaking, these are a godsend. The guy who made Musgo used even smaller lights than these (the Z96 version).
Zephyrnoid
Veteran
dead wrong. The latest crop of high ISO sensors tells me that LED's are the bomb. I've been on the LED R&D side for about 10 years now and am pleased to report that my predictions about it's viability for Video have been proven, and I have the cash in the bank and stocks in hard to back that up.
