ePhoto Bi-Color 1000 LED?

G

groveChuck

U-matic Member
I'm wondering if anyone has tried the ePhoto 1000 Color Adjustable 1000 LED?

http://www.ephotoinc.com/dimmable-1000-led-photography-video-light-panel-amp-color-temp-cha1000.html

I saw the Minimalist LED Kit thread, which mentions the 500 LED, and the skepticism of some on the quality of these lights.

I'm primarily curious if anyone has used these and can comment on the CRI, and especially on any knowledge of the Color Adjustable model.

I think the addition of one of these to my kit would be an economical enhancement ($599), if there are no significant, specific negatives. I did notice the CT range of 3500K-6000K, which is a bit odd.

If the CRI is decent, they might work out, unless the 500 (55K) is a better unit.
 
Without specific experience about this light all I can offer is a bit of insight to the manufacture of the unit. The fact that it uses 1,000 LED's puts it on the same playing field as just about any other inexpensive LED out there. What I mean is that these tiny little encapsulated LED's used in multiple are usually the least expensive way a manufacturer can put together an LED light for a given level of light. Each individual LED can easily cost less than $.05 each, even less in a very large bulk order. What kind of quality control can you expect for $.05? Even the way they're marketed seems strange, as if huge numbers of LED's is somehow better. Within their huge order of LED's to build this light, they will have some that are brighter than others, some that are warmer (lower CCT) and some that are cooler (higher CCT). They relative greenish and magenta tints will also fluctuate. As a consumer of this light, your hope is that the company putting it together weeded out the poor LED's, and matched together the appropriate CCT LED's so that you can expect consistent results that match their claims.

If instead of 1,000 little LED's several high output and high quality LED's were utilized, it is much more likely the manufacturer would be able to order specific CCT and tint LED's (known as "bins") so they could more easily assemble a light that met specifications. In addition, higher quality LED's will be more efficient, putting out more lumens per watt. Finally, higher quality LED's are capable of much better color rendition than inexpensive 3mm LED modules. High CRI LED's are becoming more and more commonplace.

I wouldn't expect this light to be any different than the 500, just brighter since it has more LED's.
 
Chuck, I own a 500 LED & 1000 LED which we just incorporated on a statewide TV spot shoot.
We just ordered the vari-color 1000 LED which will be here very soon, and I can give a little review once it comes in.
In my professional opinion, the positives of these LEDs far outweigh the negatives.

All the Best!

Dave
 
All good points and food for thought, Potato, thanks.

But wouldn't Coollights' LED600 be 600 LEDs?

As for the ePhoto 1000, I'm thinking it's 500 35Ks and 500 60Ks, which combined = 1000 LEDs.

I also think the (500/1000) number refers to the tungsten wattage equivalent?

I did see the test of the 500, it doesn't look bad:

http://cheesycam.com/bts-sample-with-cheap-500-led-video-light-panels/

David, I saw your suggestion of the vari-color 1000 in the minimal kit thread.

If you're happy with the (56K?) 500 and 1000, that bodes well for the vari-color 1000.
Are you using 1/4 minus green and/or diffusion? If so, clip them to the barn doors?
Look forward to your review, thanks!
 
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Yes, we are gelling and diffusing the 500 & 1000.
As a matter of fact, I am headed out the door to help another DVXuser with his LEDs right now.
 
I have yet to see ANY multi led ( those teeney weeney little ones ) that do not exhibit that ugly greenish spike. I mean that thing is not really green at all but a sickly mix of green and yellow that makes skin tones look like a yellowish olive like dracula sucked the blood out of them. There are some units that are good but those are way beyond the classification of affordable. I had been shown a light that the owner just purchased online with 256 leds in it and he was so enthusiastic about it that he found it was really great for the price he paid ($299). After his first video experience, he realized he paid $298 too much. The color correction time in post far outweighed the bargain price. The same goes for those variable color led units. As soon as the color is dialed in near the 3200K mark, the spike rears it's ugly head. Magenta to offset that is required and now you have the diffuser gel along with the magenta to lower the output.That overrated high lux unit was really not suitable for his needs as the much overlooked even beam spread is never mentioned in the ad that most of them multi led units advertise, as well as the CRI index. If they did say for example : 1600 lux led at a spotty 35 degree beam with center hotspot and falloff at the edges along with a CRI of 70 , greenish cast as a bonus, diffuser supplied to even out the hot spot that eventually lower the lux to 1100 and with the magenta added to that would further reduce the lux to 900. Would that affect the sales ? Why can't someone make a light that would say: 1600 lux led at an even spread beam of 70 degrees, no hot spot, CRI of 85 -90, no magenta filter necessary ? Why ? because it would cost way much more to produce ? Leds in the high Cri's and a wider beam spread are becoming so commonplace now that it surprises me that most video application lights mfrs don't make them readily available and affordable. If they do, they would consider it a niche market and charge a fortune for them, but not affordable. Give me a break.
 
Well said light was just delivered. It is indeed 3mm LEDs split 50/50 DL/Studio.
So at first glance not the same output as a 1000 LED with all Daylight.
I'll know more once I get my meters out.
 
Looking forward to your thoughts, David! Especially as you approach 32K.

Do you have a CT meter?

If I remember correctly, this light (and/or the 56K 1000) has 60 degree spread flood bulbs, while the 500 has 30 degree spot bulbs?
 
A 60 degree spread ? from those leds ? not to be too skeptical, but when you take the light readings, can you read at the edge of that 60 degree beam and compare it with the dead center reading ? as well ? Just a simple comparison in either F stops or better yet, foot candles or lumens will do. Is that the light they claim to be 1000w equivalent but only consumes 40 watts ? A ratio of 25 to1.
 
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That's the color temperature measurement . That's fine, but the beam spread evenness and also the real output light value in lux. is really the crux of the matter. If you have a light meter, in a dark room,can you aim the light to an incident meter set say at 400 ASA at shutter speed of 1/30 sec. ( meter 3 feet away from the light, dead center) and take the aperture value reading ? I can calculate the resultant lux for you to a good degree of accuracy using a scale similar to this :
http://www.999-wed.com/pg/pg9-infrared-conversion-tables.htm

Thanks
 
Interesting. Is there any chance you could take some light measurements at 5600-6000K vs 8750K so we could get an idea of the output difference? 8750K would need a whole lot of CTO to get back down into a decent range.
 
If that unit would be cut from the high blue range to 6000K and cut down from the warm range to 2800K, then a 2800-6000K would seem ideal for most situations. Temperature color variation is simply a mix of those two extremities as the blue end would have the higher light output than the warm (yellow) end, UNLESS the design was to have EQUAL luminosity levels on all leds used, highly unlikely and expensive to get a match. A light meter reading at both color extremities would surely indicate the difference. Not critical to a light's performance as the level differences at various color settings can easily be compensated with camera's aperture control. Even the best of units do have a variation in that regard. Just off topic, if I may, in my design, the blue led (s) were chosen at a lower bin level at the sacrifice of lumen output in order to closely match the warmer leds. But even at that , there was a margin of difference in their lumen output. Trying to have a perfect match is almost impossible unless the led characteristics are altered. Anyway, one always compensates ( or the camera does ) for differences in light intensities.
 
I'll take some other readings when I can get to it.
I've got a lawn to mow, a garden mulch, and a 77 Ferrari all crying for my attention this weekend.

All he Best!

Dave
 
David W. Jones said:
Well this ePhoto vari-color 1000 LED unit has an advertised color temp from 3500K - 6000K.

I measured it at 3460K - 8750K.
Click to expand...

David- thanks for testing! Are there two dimmers, one for each CT, that operate independently of each other? So you could you warm up the 8750K?

And would you mind testing the CT of the 500 and 1000 also?

Thanks, hope the Ferrari mulching went well :huh:
 
The unit has a dimmer which controls the overall intensity, and a vari color control which let's you select between 3460k, 8750k, or any color temp in-between. Using my color temp meter it was very easy to dial in the exact daylight color balance I was after. Without such tools it would be hard for the average user to know what color temp the light is outputting. If you wanted to drop the color temp below 3460k you would need to gel the light.

As a side note... more rounds of thunderstorms prevented my much needed yard work, and that grass is getting tall.
And sidetracked the Ferrari repair. " A crazy neighbor thought it would be a good idea to shoot a car I restored some years back, 128 times with a high power pellet rifle."

All the Best!

Dave
 
David W. Jones said:
Well this ePhoto vari-color 1000 LED unit has an advertised color temp from 3500K - 6000K.

I measured it at 3460K - 8750K.
Click to expand...

Can you tell us what you used to measure it, David? Two or three color color temperature meters cannot be accurate on discontinuous sources.

I'd actually be more interested in stills of faces and a Macbeth card shot under the lighting instead of a color temperature meter's readings. What can you tell us or show us about how they render colors to the eye?
 
Hi David, can you do a light reading measurement to get an idea of how much lux the light produces at 3 feet. I just need the incident reading to the light at 3 feet at around the 4500K mark , or the color adj. set at the halfway mark. Set the meter at 400 asa and take an aperture reading at 1/30 sec. When you have the time. Thanks
 
slondon said:
Can you tell us what you used to measure it, David? Two or three color color temperature meters cannot be accurate on discontinuous sources.

I'd actually be more interested in stills of faces and a Macbeth card shot under the lighting instead of a color temperature meter's readings. What can you tell us or show us about how they render colors to the eye?
Click to expand...

You know what, I hate to be harsh but sorry guys and gals, I have a business to run and do not have time to appease every request like this. And quite frankly this stuff gets a little ridiculous don't you think?
 
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