Does anyone with more knowledge than me think these might be useful? possibly for a ring-lite or
something?
http://www.mainlandmart.com/ledmart.html
something?
http://www.mainlandmart.com/ledmart.html
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check these LED lights out
- Thread starter PDX_DVX
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Cool Lights
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Could be. The first ones, that work on 12v DC are interesting--this allows you to control with a dimmer easier, perhaps hook up a battery easier and also is more of a guard against flicker. But it also depends upon the quality of the LEDS/brightness and the CRI of the light they put out.
I can find these things all over china pretty inexpensively but I didn't think to offer them because the damn housings are so heavy and don't seem so suited for video production needs. What they have to do to get them to work underwater seems like it makes it an overkill fixture.
In addition, I don't like the glass on the front--allows heat to build up inside and probably contributes to shortening the life of the LEDs. I think an LED spot for inside use, with no lens, the lightest weight housing and 12v operation would be more interesting. But if you try one of these out, let us know.
I can find these things all over china pretty inexpensively but I didn't think to offer them because the damn housings are so heavy and don't seem so suited for video production needs. What they have to do to get them to work underwater seems like it makes it an overkill fixture.
In addition, I don't like the glass on the front--allows heat to build up inside and probably contributes to shortening the life of the LEDs. I think an LED spot for inside use, with no lens, the lightest weight housing and 12v operation would be more interesting. But if you try one of these out, let us know.
Carlos_E._Martinez
Well-known member
Cool Lights said:
Which models are the ones you find interesting? The LED72 and LED144?
It's strange they spec them as 12 VAC, which I can't really say if it's watts or 12V AC.
The smaller type looks like aluminium cased, and it's probably heavier. The other is ABS, so it should be lighter. It would be good if they did specify the weight.
I don't think heat might be much of a problem, being LEDs. The ABS' front round glass seems to be detachable with six screws, so a frost glass or gel might be used for correction or effect.
The main problem for me, is how to attach it to the camera, as well as getting some barndoors to use with them. Certainly a dimmer would be great to have.
The LR-A120W looks interesting, you could probably remove the plastic support pieces on the inside and adapt it as a ring light somehow. The LED72 and 144's look good as well. Down toward the bottom, the QL-24W looks pretty cool as well. Might be good for car shooting or something
Carlos_E._Martinez
Well-known member
PDX_DVX said:
Looks good indeed, but I am not sure it's plastic. It could be aluminium too.
That could be a portable tripod mounting light indeed, certainly one to use to fake a TV or monitor light.
It's a bit long. If it was shorter it could be a beautiful Lite-Panel clone. Something with 100 Leds or so would do it, and feed off a video battery with 6VDC to 12VDC booster.
Cool Lights
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That's my point exactly--the quality of the light. Finding a true white one is a real challenge. I visited an LED factory recently and watched the process. Basically it involves manufacturing a run of what you hope will be a certain color but they put each LED through a testing machine which also sorts them by color temperature into different bins. No doubt, the white ones are more valuable and the bluer ones more plentiful and thus more cheap.PDX_DVX said:
Cool Lights
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Good eye Carlos, I didn't catch that. 12VAC seems strange to me too. You don't see that often. I wonder if its a misprint. The 144 led one caught my attention the most I guess. I tend to like the ones with more LEDs. But if it's AC of any voltage I wouldn't buy it. Makes dimming a harder or impossible challenge. And you always have the possibility of flicker too.Carlos_E._Martinez said:
On the heat. You'd be surprised how hot they get once packaged in a sealed aluminum or plastic container with a glass lens.
The problem of weight of the fixture, how and where to attach barndoors and method of attaching to camera are all of the biggest problems to solve with a unit like that.
A plastic, open faced housing seems like it would be the best to me. With the thinest, lightest barndoors you can dream up. No need for mirroring on a barndoor for an oncamera unit so just black/plain barndoors.
Also, I wonder how important a yoke would really be in an oncamera light. Maybe a yoke should be an option for when you want to put it on a stand--then weight is no problem at all.
Cool Lights
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On the subject of rings, let's say you did find a ring that was suitable, good color, etc. I wonder what would be the most elegant way to mount it around the lens or the sunshade. But given different sizes of lenses and sunshades in different cameras, you'd need something with a gentle clamping action so it wouldn't damage anything.
Carlos_E._Martinez
Well-known member
Cool Lights said:
I see your point. I didn't know they were so much over the place in temp color. Something to look up indeed, if white can be blue too.
Carlos_E._Martinez
Well-known member
Cool Lights said:
So do I. Except for the new Luxeon types, which seem to be a different technology. There are some 3-bulbs or more to try.
I am sure they are all DC, the question is what DC value. We should toss the AC part we do not need and make them DC. What I don't know is if they are 6v DCor 12v DC or what. Only buying one and measuring the supply under load would answer that.
OK. I wasn't too aware of that. In any case, getting rid of the glass should be easy.
Sounds good to me.
A camera support should be the first option, as well as some vertical adjustment. I wonder if there is some ready made part we can use for that.
Cool Lights
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On your question about voltage: they're probably 12vdc as that's the most common underneath all the different layers they put on these things.
I'm not so much a fan of those luxeon ones. Talk about heat output and sucking up battery power. I think the arrays of several rows of smaller LEDs have the most merit for a softlight type on camera fixture.
I'm not so much a fan of those luxeon ones. Talk about heat output and sucking up battery power. I think the arrays of several rows of smaller LEDs have the most merit for a softlight type on camera fixture.
Carlos_E._Martinez
Well-known member
Cool Lights said:
I agree that they are quite likely 12 v alright.
So why are luxeon being used on most modern designs, from Sony and others?
They are probably better color temp rated and stable. They also have a lens, which would help them reach longer. Heat is probably caused by voltage regulators, which is due to LEDs being made to work with higher voltages and not being designed for them.
Heat in such simple parts usually means wasted voltage, so I think ways should be found to improve on that. One thing I would like to do is get some luxeon parts and see how they work, and perhaps do something from that. But there might others who already did that.
The MR16 encapsulated luxeons are a reasonable way to try them in already existing video lights which use standard MR16 dichroic bulbs. But there's little feedback on people that used them.