Litepanels LED Fresnel: good as a key light?

N

Nicholas Natteau

Veteran
Would a Litepanels LED Fresnel work as a good key light for a talking head interview?

My idea would be to use an LED Fresnel for my key light, 1x1 litepanel flood as a fill, the miniplus or micro to light the top / back of the interviewee's head to create volume.

The problem is that the Litepanels LED Fresnel is very expensive for me to buy.

I already own a 1x1 Litepanel, 2 miniplus litepanels, and a micro litepanel. So would these be enough to cover me for a talking head interview? In that scenario, my 1x1 litepanel would serve as my key light, and the minis would act as fill light, top light, and back light respectively.

Thanks in advance for any help / feedback.
 
I guess it could work well as a key light. So could your 1x1. Depends on what you want out of a key light. An interview could look great using only a window and some white foamcore.

I own good lights. Expensive lights (no off-brand, nothing from China, etc.). But I wouldn't spend any money on an LED Fresnel at this time, because I don't believe it's a very sensible expense (in fact, there's only one LED fixture that I choose to own and use - several Litepanels MiniPlus units). If you need a Fresnel with the output that fixture offers, there's no shortage of established, professional fixtures available second-hand.

It appears that you are really into LEDs and want to go that route. But if you're open to the plethora of professional fixtures available, perhaps you might be better served by describing the typical setups you do and asking what others might prefer/bring/use for that type of work.
 
Hi maplecup,

Thanks very much for your feedback. Yes, I really am into LEDs because of their very low temperature. My litepanels give off nearly no heat at all. I never enjoyed working with regular lights: safety issue and some interviewees would complain about the heat from my old lights. So after Litepanels, I never looked back. I'm also looking into the Kinoflo Diva 400 and thinking I might just need one KinoFLo Diva 400 and I'm done.

But essentially, my lighting setup would be strictly for talking head interviews: key light, fill light, top light, back light, done. I was very impressed with the Litepanel Fresnel but it remains prohibitely expensive for me at this time, maybe they'll come down in price, with time or I'll just settle for the less costly Diva 400.
 
I work in TV News and I use my 1x1 LED Panel all the time for Live shots as a Key. It works awesome and spreads the light evenly on the talent!
 
I've seen 1x1s used as keys many times. I played with one once but never shot with it. But I would definitely use it for interviews to get that nice soft light (and light weight!), it looked like it could hold it's own.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top