LED Ring Light

R

readw

Member
Below is two pictures of a prototype of a LED Ring Light designed to work with a DVX100

I still have a few minor design refinements to make but essentially it is complete and works very well.

It is dimmable and powered by a battery pack that can be worn on a belt or velcroed to something.

The Ring light uses 66 LEDS and is housed in a CNC machined housing.

Although designed to fit on a DVX camera but it will fit most cameras with appropriate adapter rings.

Ring%20Light%20020b.jpg


Ring%20Light%20007b.jpg
 
Nice design!!! If you are gona go all the way and offer them for sale, why not have 3 rows of light instead of 1, would be nice as a fill for close-up's and would make it a real handy add on to any lighting kit.
 
I've heard of these ring adapters before, but what's really the benefit of them (i.e. applications/benefits)? How much would something like this cost for sale?
 
Jon Oskar said:
Nice design!!! If you are gona go all the way and offer them for sale, why not have 3 rows of light instead of 1, would be nice as a fill for close-up's and would make it a real handy add on to any lighting kit.
Click to expand...

They are a very nice design. I'm impressed. However I agree on the 3 rows of led's. Maybe even more, a la light panels (http://www.litepanels.com/RL.html). I just feel like it needs to brighter than that 66 leds can produce.

Your on the right track though. It looks great and the dimmer switch is a great option. Also, as I mentioned in the previous thread that this light was introduced in, the idea of being able to use this light on both my dvx100 and my canon 20D is awsome.

What about price!?:thumbsup:
 
Also, what about adding a reflective material behind the led's instead of the black plastic. Throw some more light.
 
Well, hell, get REAL fancy and make additional attachable rings that would just snap on for increased light. :)
 
Very nice! Yeah I have to back up the idea of having more LED's because even with the 198 leds I have on mine I'm only matching the light output of a 40-50w on camera light.

Brandon- Having a silver surface BEHIND the leds will have almost no effect. Sounds strange I know but take a closer look at leds and you will notice that all light is directed forward - sometimes in a very tight beam. It's one of the reasons why LEDs are so effiecent - each one of them is basically a light with a focusing projecting lens. One negative effect of light light this though is that its hard on the talents eyes. I find myself sometimes diffusing my led panel not for softness (because by its size and layout it already is soft) but because the tiny pin points of light are much harder on the eyes than a large even source giving out the same amount of light.
 
I am most definitely interested in this item if you intend to make and sell them. Nice design.
 
I saw this chinese lady selling some nice bright LED mini flashlights. they were fairly blinding far away as I was on the recieving end. The bigger one costs 6 bucks each. you think its worth it if I make something out of it? Something tells me something powered by AA batts have some limits right?
 
Thanks everyone for all the comments, suggestions and great feedback.

The light output is actually quite bright but very directional. Even with this light it is almost painfull to look at due to the pin source as already pointed out. This easily fixed by using some diffusion gel.

The light is manufactured from aluminum and anodised black. After taking all the costs into account it is not a cheap light.

This type of light will work fine as a catch light to pop the eyes and some more testing will confirm that this is will work as designed. I'll post some pictures shortly to show how it works.

I did not originally intend to use this light as key or fill.


The light was also designed to be a chroma key light similar to the concept adopted by reflectomedia. I have not built the green LED version as yet and I am still to find a suitable source for the green screen.


I will machine a 5 row light and see how that looks, with 5 rows of LEDs the light will be very good as a key or fill.


Thanks

Warren
 
Brett Erskine said:
Having a silver surface BEHIND the leds will have almost no effect. Sounds strange I know but take a closer look at leds and you will notice that all light is directed forward - sometimes in a very tight beam. It's one of the reasons why LEDs are so effiecent - each one of them is basically a light with a focusing projecting lens. One negative effect of light light this though is that its hard on the talents eyes. I find myself sometimes diffusing my led panel not for softness (because by its size and layout it already is soft) but because the tiny pin points of light are much harder on the eyes than a large even source giving out the same amount of light.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about this comment yesterday and had a thought. What if you put a parabolic reflective surface over the LEDs facing the back of the unit. Then put a wider parabolic reflective surface behind the LEDs to reflect back out the correct direction. It seems this would give you brighter light from the reflection and solve the problem of the direct pinpoint light blinding the talent, maybe.

Other than that, this is a really cool device. I'm looking forward to seeing it when you get the 5 ring setup built.
 
readw said:
The light was also designed to be a chroma key light similar to the concept adopted by reflectomedia. I have not built the green LED version as yet and I am still to find a suitable source for the green screen.
Click to expand...

Would not any large pearl surface projection screen work with a green LED croma key light? That's what I have seen in a TV weather studio (with blue LED ringlight).
 
Petrus said:
Would not any large pearl surface projection screen work with a green LED croma key light? That's what I have seen in a TV weather studio (with blue LED ringlight).
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You have to use glass beaded surfaces for that particular application, because you want the light to be reflected toward the light-source. Examples of screens that should work fine:

Da-Lite Glass Beaded
Da-Lite Hi Power (better)

http://www.dalite.com/products/selecting.php
 
I am sure that's what you meant indeed. However, the "pearl" name can be quite confusing, because some screens do use tiny glass pearls to increase the gain, but I think some of these are not the screens you are looking for. I personally do have such a "Pearl" screen, and, while it is excellent for projection (gain of 1.5 and wide viewing angle), it does NOT reflect the light toward the source! The light is reflected-scattered by the tiny pearls and this is why you have a (relatively) wide viewing angle.

In other words, be very careful when you choose your screen fabric! I know the Da-Lite Hi Power is among the best fabrics for that particular application, so why take any chance?

Edit: I don't work for da-lite :) But I have some experience in the field of "home theater"...
 
readw said:
I have not built the green LED version as yet and I am still to find a suitable source for the green screen.
Click to expand...
Some film productions in the 70s/80s used Scotchlite as a "front projection" screen. It reflects nearly all light back toward the source at a very narrow angle.

Scotchlite is also the material used for safety reflectors on clothing. Here's a link.

Even in the front projection days, this was quite expensive because you need such a large surface.
 
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