is there any smaller, lighter, less expensive color LED fresnel than the Arri L7C???

N

Nicholas Natteau

Veteran
The Arri L7C sounds like an incredible light in terms of it's versality, being able to emit any color light and the wide spectrum of color temperature light from 2700K up to 10,000 K:

http://www.arri.com/l-series/features.html

For me the only problem is that the Arri L7C is $2,600 (out of my budget), weighs 24 pounds, and supposedly does not run on v-mount or anton bauer batteries, but instead requires an AC outlet or generator.

Does anyone know if Arri (or any other company) might be developing (possibly for NAB 2014?) a smaller, lighter, less expensive multi-colored LED fresnel?

Thank you in advance for your feedback.
 
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Nicholas,
The short answer is "no, I don't know of any."
However, I was wondering if you really needed DMX control and variable color temp. If you're setting up a studio, then maybe you do. But those features add considerably to the price.

I've been very happy with a couple of non-DMX Mole-Richardson Tweeny LED fresnels :thumbsup:, using gels to control the color temp. But these units don't meet all your criteria:(.
But who knows what the next NAB will bring. Keep watching Arri, Litepanels, and Mole-Richardson.
-- Ken

P.S. -- If you don't need fresnel, take a look at ETC.
 
Do you need the light to be a fresnel lensed unit? Do you need the light to be variable color or just accurate color? There are lots of options out there.

If you don't need a lensed light, meaning that you can deal with a panel that can be diffused or in general you just want soft light, then look at these:
- Cineo TruColor HS & LS Remote Phosphor LED lights. Swap phosphor panels to adjust color. Gorgeous color and very efficient.
- Area 42 Remote Phosphor.
- ARRI Tricaster. Same color control as the L7C in an LED array.
- Zylight IS3c. Similar controls to ARRI.

If you want a lensed light of accurate color but don't need to interchange those colors, try the MoleLED lights from Mole Richardson. They used Quantum Dot technology to make excellent color.
 
Ken and Mitch, thank you both very much for your feedback. I don't have a studio, but I'm doing a lot of lighting tests and I'm a one man band so to speak. So I was looking for a fresnel LED with remote dimming capacity. I already use an Ikan 576 LED panel which is great in that respect as it has wireless control, so I can dim the light with their remote. I don't believe any LED fresnel out there does that, but I know that the Litepanels Sola and Inca have DMX ports.

Now I heard that for DMX dimming I need something like this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/487078-REG/Litepanels_LP_DMX_DMX_Interface_Module.html

But do I also need a lighting control board or will that device be sufficent fo just remote dimming?

Thank you both for all those suggestions. I'll be looking into them all to see what would work best.
 
Nicholas Natteau said:
Ken and Mitch, thank you both very much for your feedback. I don't have a studio, but I'm doing a lot of lighting tests and I'm a one man band so to speak. So I was looking for a fresnel LED with remote dimming capacity. I already use an Ikan 576 LED panel which is great in that respect as it has wireless control, so I can dim the light with their remote. I don't believe any LED fresnel out there does that, but I know that the Litepanels Sola and Inca have DMX ports.

Now I heard that for DMX dimming I need something like this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/487078-REG/Litepanels_LP_DMX_DMX_Interface_Module.html

But do I also need a lighting control board or will that device be sufficent fo just remote dimming?

Thank you both for all those suggestions. I'll be looking into them all to see what would work best.
Click to expand...

That looks like it is for adding dmx capability to a fixture that doesn't have it built in. If the fixture already has dmx control (usually a 5 pin xlr connector) than you can use something like this:
http://www.enttec.com/index.php?main_menu=Products&prod=70304&show=links
Just add control software to the computer of your choice and you have dmx lighting control
 
The Arri is designed to replace a tungsten unit of similar size and performance. If you need battery power, then you are looking at dimmer products.

Your question was:
1.gif
is there any smaller, lighter, less expensive color LED fresnel than the Arri L7C???
The question perhaps should have been appended with "that is the same quality?".

There are plenty that are smaller, many lighter, quite a few cheaper - but the reason people buy these Arris is so they can do a swap, and be able to carry on as before. You also need to realise that Arri themselves realise the LED performance is going up every month, so they've made the light engine replaceable - so maybe next year they will have a brighter light source you can buy to do an upgrade. Damn expensive upgrade path though. Lots of video lighting is based on what happens in the theatre lighting world - where quality of light is the key, and LED moving heads are now getting better and brighter all the time, using fairly standard LED clusters - which more closely mimic a tungsten source in size. These moving head units started as 20W versions, and were broadly similar to 150W discharge sources - then we had 40W, then 60W and now even a few 90W versions appearing. Soon, somebody will start to put these in video lights, and with a Fresnel lens, these could be very handy. They are also much cheaper - so although you lose colour temp variation (which does waste light) you could get a decent amount of light output. They won't be long, I suspect. Physically these light sources might be a bit tight for the Arri 650W housings, but they could fit into the 2K housings and with the bigger lens, this could be interesting?

 
OK here is the back of my Litepanels Sola 4. It has a 4 pin XLR port and DMX ports. So dwiener, you are saying that with that setup I don't need a light control board then, correct? Regarding software, what would you recommend? I have a macbook pro retina running Mavericks.

photo.jpg
 
Nicholas,
Do whatever it takes to get the May 2013 issue of American Cinematographer. That issue has an excellent introductory article on DMX control.
BTW, your Sola 4 must be connected to a DMX network, which will include a DMX controller. A very simple controller would be the Enntec USB DMX Pro adapter box, which is hooked up to a laptop computer running Enntec software. The article suggests the Enntec unit is more for testing DMX networds, while more expensive units, like a Vista M1 or a Q Light Controller, would be used to actually control lights on a film set.

Good luck!
-- Ken
 
The ethernet connectors are the DMX ports. The 4 pin XLR is probably for battery power. To get DMX into the unit from your MacBook you will need a USB to DMX interface, and controlling software. 5 Pin XLR cables are the standard in the theatrical world so you will need XLR to ethernet adapters, male for the in, female for the out. DMX is a serial protocol and can be daisy chained from one unit to another. If you can physically do that between all your instruments than that keeps things simple. IF you need to run multiple data lines than you have to add an opto-isolating splitter and things start getting more complicated. If you're just running a few dimmable instruments you'll get by just fine with a single universe (512 channels) and controlling it from your laptop. If you're running a studio with 100's of lights then you'll probably want a real lighting console. Also the instrument at the end of each DMX run needs to be terminated so you will need some terminating adapters as well
Nicholas Natteau said:
OK here is the back of my Litepanels Sola 4. It has a 4 pin XLR port and DMX ports. So dwiener, you are saying that with that setup I don't need a light control board then, correct? Regarding software, what would you recommend? I have a macbook pro retina running Mavericks.

View attachment 79092
Click to expand...
 
Don't know why you want to control your lights from your computer. You can get a basic DMX lighting board for under $400. That can run all your DMX lights and you can program in a couple of basic scenes and transitions if you'd like.
 
Read the reviews. You will still need cables and adapters.

Nicholas Natteau said:
Thanks everybody. Hi Mitch, I'm not looking for software actually. I really want the easiest way to do this. Because all I'm looking to do is dim one or two lights (keylight, hairlight) from my seat as I check the C300's waveform monitor. Nothing more really.

Regarding basic editing boards, would this be the solution?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/483436-REG/NSI_Leviton_N3008_00D_3008_Dimmer_DMX_Control.html
Click to expand...
 
Just curious - what kind of work will you be doing that you need so much remote control and you need fresnels?

I like to have my key and backlights on dimmers for interviews so I can control from my seat also , but I use Flo's for the key and wireless controlled 1x1 LED's that are dirt cheap for the backs, but I don't want fresnels for any of those lights.
 
Fotodiox sells some led fresnels with remote control. Not sure if DMX though. Also I don't know how the size and weight compare, but they are less expensive.
 
Hi Lenilenapi, I've actually always used Litepanels 1x1's for 3-point lighting setups. But I've become quite interested in using the new LED fresnel in three point lighting setups. Normally I'll use my Sola 4 as a background light, but I'm now experimenting with it as a keylight. I'm just looking for the ability to dim it from my seat as I look at the waveform monitor to make fine adjustments. As I do my lighting tests alone, being able to remote control dim the lights makes it a lot easier.
 
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