Mole Richardson LED Softlite?

E

ectobuilder

Veteran
Anyone used these? If so, I would like to know how soft the light is with no diffusion?

If you are able to compare to other lights such as remote phosphor (Area 48) or a Kino Flo Celeb that would be great.
 
after going through just about most LED options i came across the mole richardson line and fond memories of using them in the past came rushing back, checking out the specs the first thing that popped out to me was the relatively low CRI....looke for test/review and could not really find much....so i called them up and ended up getting a demo at their studio space in LA....went there with color and light meters and was blown away....i ended up with the 150 babyLEDs but the soft light LEDs are very interesting as well....i was looking mostly for throw and power when i was there so i just played with the soft ones a little but again, was very impressed with the output....my biggest issue with almost all LEDs is that once you put diffusion over the heads, panels, light source, there just isn't much light left and you have to put the fixtures in way too close.....
the 500w one you are looking at is a very nice light, WAAAAY more powerful then any other led, (i would say it is maybe 4 stops more then the area, and even more if you put diffusion over that) and still has a nice diffused light, which isn't always the case with LED...i have found that shooting (even a powerful big) LEDs though a silk it does not necessarily look the same as HMI...you can't the same look but you probably have to use different materials....
anyway, i liked the mole richardson softlite "bare" without the diffusion panel in place....it still works well with the panel in place but at that point the light just does not have a lot of direction at all....
in terms of CRI...i used to have panels with higher ratings that visibly spiked in certain color areas....although these have low (90) rating, i have no problem with them at all, so far only shot on sony FS7 with them, and no problems there....i used my red with pretty much all the other LEDs i have owned, and some combinations were better then others...
if you are going the mole richardson route, check out their baby LEDs, chimera makes a speed ring and i found that using an octa gives me a better diffused light....i am thinking about the softlite in the future but would probably only use it as fill, just the way i used to in the hot light studio days....
 
Paul schefz said:
after going through just about most LED options i came across the mole richardson line and fond memories of using them in the past came rushing back, checking out the specs the first thing that popped out to me was the relatively low CRI....looke for test/review and could not really find much....so i called them up and ended up getting a demo at their studio space in LA....went there with color and light meters and was blown away....i ended up with the 150 babyLEDs but the soft light LEDs are very interesting as well....i was looking mostly for throw and power when i was there so i just played with the soft ones a little but again, was very impressed with the output....my biggest issue with almost all LEDs is that once you put diffusion over the heads, panels, light source, there just isn't much light left and you have to put the fixtures in way too close.....
the 500w one you are looking at is a very nice light, WAAAAY more powerful then any other led, (i would say it is maybe 4 stops more then the area, and even more if you put diffusion over that) and still has a nice diffused light, which isn't always the case with LED...i have found that shooting (even a powerful big) LEDs though a silk it does not necessarily look the same as HMI...you can't the same look but you probably have to use different materials....
anyway, i liked the mole richardson softlite "bare" without the diffusion panel in place....it still works well with the panel in place but at that point the light just does not have a lot of direction at all....
in terms of CRI...i used to have panels with higher ratings that visibly spiked in certain color areas....although these have low (90) rating, i have no problem with them at all, so far only shot on sony FS7 with them, and no problems there....i used my red with pretty much all the other LEDs i have owned, and some combinations were better then others...
if you are going the mole richardson route, check out their baby LEDs, chimera makes a speed ring and i found that using an octa gives me a better diffused light....i am thinking about the softlite in the future but would probably only use it as fill, just the way i used to in the hot light studio days....
Click to expand...

thanks so much for the detailed description, this will help me decide big time. I wish mole had more video demos and reviews about their products though. I would have gone with the Area48 because they had more demos on youtube/vimeo but now you may have changed my mind.
 
As someone who owns around 30 Mole lights I was very interested in the new Mole LED lights. But after further investigation I felt they were not the right choice for me.
 
David W. Jones said:
As someone who owns around 30 Mole lights I was very interested in the new Mole LED lights. But after further investigation I felt they were not the right choice for me.
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What would be the reason why it is not the right choice for you?

Can you comment on their three main led categories:
- LED Fresnel
- LED Softlite
- LED Spacelite
 
ectobuilder said:
At 4 stops more, is the Mole Softlite LED as soft as the Area48? Usually a brighter light lacks softness since bright+soft is very hard to achieve.
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Softness, is purely a function of the size of the light source relative to the subject. The Mole LED scoop light looks to be a similar size to the Area48 so it's probably safe to assume that it's comparably soft when used directly on talent. The brightness is irrelevant. The Mole has over four times the wattage of the Area48 so it seems reasonable to assume it can muster four times the intensity.

I wish I could test out the colour quality of the Mole LEDs, but alas, I don't believe there's a single one down here at the end of the world (I hear there's a couple up in Sydney, but that's all). The output of their softlight would make it fantastic for key and fill lighting.

A couple of points in the Area48's favour though - they're battery operable and you can change colour temperature without losing output. It looks like the Mole is only available in Daylight or Tungsten versions.
 
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Grug said:
Softness, is purely a function of the size of the light source relative to the subject. The Mole LED scoop light looks to be a similar size to the Area48 so it's probably safe to assume that it's comparably soft when used directly on talent. The brightness is irrelevant. The Mole has over four times the wattage of the Area48 so it seems reasonable to assume it can muster four times the intensity.

I wish I could test out the colour quality of the Mole LEDs, but alas, I don't believe there's a single one down here at the end of the world (I hear there's a couple up in Sydney, but that's all). The output of their softlight would make it fantastic for key and fill lighting.

A couple of points in the Area48's favour though - they're battery operable and you can change colour temperature without losing output. It looks like the Mole is only available in Daylight or Tungsten versions.
Click to expand...
you are correct about the intensity/softness....
the problem i always had with pretty much all LED light i tried (mostly panels from litepanel, dracast as well as single point source ones like hexolux and fiilex) is that the bare light usually has decent output but once you get into shaping/diffusion (if that is even an option) the output gets cut so much that it becomes barely useable....especially outside in sunny CA....
there are advantages and disadvantages to most these products, the new fiilex Q heads are pretty awesome and their system is incredible....the Q1000 with their para is an amazing light....but it still needs an extra 2 stops IMO.....
i just have a hard time using lights that have to be within 3 feet of the subject to work.....
so after going through all this and realizing that i really did not need V-lock power or adjustable color temp ( batteries just don't give enough power and adjustable color LEDs are usually half the power of single color ones) i came across the mole richardson ones.....cold not really find any reviews, what i found wasn't really conclusive and the thing that struck me the most was that on paper these were almost too good to be true....large fresnel with enough power to use just like an HMI, even shoot it through a silk.....but there was the nagging CRI 90....
so i called them up and they were happy to give me a demo....i looked at every single unit them have....with light and color meters....i thought i would need the 400W junior but ended up with the baby 150.....the soft light really wasn't on my list but it really is a perfect compliment to the fresnels, so i am pretty sure there is a place for it in my future....i also saw the variable color versions which have much higher CRI btw but since i really use daylight balanced and usually shoot through silk or octabank, i have nob need for it....and again, the output is much lower....
as with all lights all this is pretty subjective and one should definitely try to check them out in person....BH has the best prices on these btw, better then mole richardson (and even with their local LA discount!)...
as for battery power....i use goalzero yeti solar powered generators....they are heavy and not cheap but silent and work great...
 
Grug said:
Softness, is purely a function of the size of the light source relative to the subject. The Mole LED scoop light looks to be a similar size to the Area48 so it's probably safe to assume that it's comparably soft when used directly on talent. The brightness is irrelevant. The Mole has over four times the wattage of the Area48 so it seems reasonable to assume it can muster four times the intensity.

I wish I could test out the colour quality of the Mole LEDs, but alas, I don't believe there's a single one down here at the end of the world (I hear there's a couple up in Sydney, but that's all). The output of their softlight would make it fantastic for key and fill lighting.

A couple of points in the Area48's favour though - they're battery operable and you can change colour temperature without losing output. It looks like the Mole is only available in Daylight or Tungsten versions.
Click to expand...

But size doesn't have to be physical, it can also be "apparent size". So we can take a small fixture with incredible output and stick diffusion infront of it to make appear bigger than it is. So I don' think we can judge the Mole by simply the size of the fixture.

And why do you think there are so little Mole Softlites out there?
 
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