Considering led lights on camera

A

Art Gannis

New member
Just was browsing around and saw this Frezzi model HyLight.*http://www.frezzi.com/hylight.htm
Seems interesting but my question is all about the recent talk concerning leds used for film and broadcast led use. Didn't litepanels make a huge issue over the leds a while ago. I mean how come companies are still introducing new models*
and have pending patents *of led lights when they know that litepanel has sued sony and others because of that. I am worried because if I purchase a led light from anyone and litepanels prevents them to service or sell leds, then if I need service or parts may be impossible to get. Leds last over 30 thousand hours.
 
Never heard of that light. It's an interesting concept but I bet it's overpriced AND with just one bulb it is going to create a MUCH harder light than if the led's are spread out. The bigger the source the softer the light. A hard lighting source is the last thing you want comming from on camera (and on camera isn't ideal to begin with). So unless they have a really good difussor system it's gonna look like an on camera flash.

And don't worry about the patent. There are already way too many companies making led lights, litepanels is stupid for trying to patent such a broad concept. Are they really going to go head to head with Arri and lowell and more importantly they can't stop the flow of chinese lights into the us. Also litepannels on camera led's SUCK as far as build quality. Worse than the cheapest chinese led's. There are way better options. If you are set on something high price and quality check out flolight. However, you can get very good lights though for a lot less and the cri is only about 3-4% less on the lishuai lights (rebranded as 144 and 209 and 312 bi color lights).
 
OK, I need a camera top led light, 3200K, no filters to change it from blue cast, very solid build, has to have a wide beam with no center hot area, dimmer, takes 7.2 volt camcorder battery on the light with no wires and has to be as bright or brighter than my 100 watt bescor halogen bulb unit and around the same size http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/208033-REG/Bescor_VS100AC_VS_100AC_100_Watt_AC.html. I don't need barndoors, or heavy as I am tired of my 15 lbs. lead acid brick belts. Don't need anything fancy like variable color, digital readout, battery charge indicator etc. Just a well made 3200K led light that is very bright with a battery on the back of it and with a run time of at least 2 hours. I came across such a light used by a videographer in NJ when I was up there for a wedding last year, used it for a couple of hours and looking back on that video was simply amazing. No color cast, no color correction, wide even beam, no filters on light, face colors perfect, white dress is white. Only thing, the light was a test model and not for sale as only 6 samples of them existed at the time, mentioned was that there was a model in the works that would click on the battery in the back. Any light that is similar for purchase ? I have a budget up to $500 for one. My battery belt alone would cost more than that and no longer keeps a good charge.
 
3200 led's limits your options because while most manufacturers make them, the distributors don't sell them. The one I know of that is reasonable quality and not as expensive as litepannels are the flolight microbeams. They come in 3200 and spot or flood. And you choose the battery plate.

http://www.flolight.com/microbeam-128.html
http://www.flolight.com/microbeam-256.html


If you want cheaper, get a 312 bi color on amazon or ebay for 180 bucks shipped and you will have 156 3200k led's plus you can mix in 5600k if you ever needed to. It's sorta big though.
 
Thanks , I was checking out the microbeam 256 . the flood 3200K one, as i always need the 3200K wide,it shows as being just over 1000 lux at 3 feet.I need 2 of them for more brightness. Unless i stack another one over it... it would be way too big and front heavy especially with batteries. The Comer 1800 needs a warming filter and along with that a diffuser, and we're back down again to that 1K lux mark. Gee it is tough to find one. C'mon manufacturers, not everyone shoots with cool tinted leds. Just give me a 1800 lux 3200K and not spotty.
 
That works - sort of... The light works on that DC scheme however it's going at only about 20-30% of the brightness that it gives on the original AC, however without the flicker. By this, all the individual LEDS are on, but really dim. What is even more strange - it works the same way (with a low output) in either polarity, which is odd taking the LED should only work one way.




LED Flood Light led strip lights LED Spotlight
 
Finally located a light I was looking for 6 months ago and was given one for a weekend tryout for a wedding in NY, although not the exact model I need, I will write a bit of technical facts I gathered from the maker during the brief time spent. The guy who custom makes them ( due to many orders, wishes to remain anonymous for the time being) in NJ, takes around a month to fill a custom order depending on the waiting list. He makes them one at a time by hand in his machine shop.He was a videographer himself for over 35 years and knows his tobacco.The lights are for on-camera use but I don't see any reason they can't be used for a really portable 3 point interview setup. They are not cheap in price yet affordable but the options are incredible. I had a choice of beam angles from 6 degree super spot to 125 degree flood without any diffusers, color temp from 2700K to 8000K, powering options ( 7.2 volts Dc to 20 VDC) from battery mounted in the back of the unit via battery plate. What is interesting is that I use the BP-U 14.4V Sony batteries for my EX-1 and asked if he can make one with that plate. No problem. I chose to have it at 3200K with dual beam angles of 20 degree spot and 50 degree wide. It will use only 2 leds , one with the wide and the other with the narrow reflector, great for single shadow illumination. What is interesting is that the unit will have a 125 W bulb equivalent at wide and 200W on narrow( great for hairlight) and only consume less than 20 watts from the battery allowing a 2.5 hour run time at full power. The dimmer goes from 0 to 100% and will not cause video banding or color shift. All parts are US made and he says that all wiring used is teflon 18G and hand soldered. There is also a provision to use external powering via a DC input plug that is revealed once the battery is taken off. The dimmer pot is mil spec to 100K turns and the dimmer knob is machined aluminum. The leds are the most recent ones with high CRI and the most efficient although he would not say who makes them or where he gets them from. The casing itself is made of a single block of aluminum which is actually a heat sink in itself, hard coat anodized, and the aluminum end plates are secured with allen screws. My unit will weigh in at 17 ounces without the battery. I find it a little heavy but he says that it is the smallest size that thermal calculations will allow. The light will have reverse polarity protection in case someone wires the input power the wrong way around. There is no fan inside but the unit will get hot ( that is the whole idea behind a heat sink) but not to be concerned as it was designed to be that way. I measured the size of the loaned light and is exactly 3 inches wide, 2.5 deep by 2.75 high.I was also shown a 4 led model that is slightly wider at 4 in. delivering 300w ( 5500 lux @3ft) with 40 degree beam. Considering it outputs more than some 1X1 panel designs while using only 4 leds in it, consuming 50 watts. He will custom make a dimmer that turns counterclockwise if needed, as well as having the on-off switch placed on the other side, he will custom make one with a gradient ND front panel that will evenly light a green screen from the top if needed. he can also make one with a wired remote dimmer if the light is used on a monopod high up, great for photographers who now do available or ambient light work.
I will post later on with more details as i get them, hoping that he can mass produce them at a lower price later on and advertise them nationally.
 
I heard these have an unique feature of turning on when power goes off and have less power consumotion. Is this true?
 
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