On-Cam LED light and Flag

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DNathan

Well-known member
I've been dreaming of the ultimate DIY LED. My goals:

1. Dimmable
2. Collapsable (No need to mount it each time)
3. Fairly high above my cam
4. As wide as possible (Considering #2) for the soft-box effect
5. Doubles as a flag for surprise sun flares
6. Dimmer knob on the cam
7. Battery on the cam
8. Razor thin LED unit due to 6 & 7
9. Powered by Panasonic battery (Because they are light, long lasting and a quick backup for my camera during the day)
10. With a detachable magnetic (grey) white balance card (like a refrigerator magnet)
11. Checkerboard or row system layout of amber/white LEDs, so instead of using a gel to get a warm color temperature, I could just flip a switch at the base

That's a tall order, plus I know little about electronics.

I'm considering something like this gooseneck lamp. I'm not sure if the gooseneck would give me stabilization problems, but here it is:
HOT_HL3.jpg


I would modify the base to be powered with the Panasonic battery. Would I modify a charger to do that?

Am I smoking crack?
 
Weddings. The gooseneck is just for the attachment. For the light itself I would use or build something like what you just bought:
1002028icon.gif


You weren't thinking I'd have that little snorkel thing sticking up!?! :grin: That's funny!

Currently I'm using Litepanels, but they have a tiny battery life with AAs. I have no time to swap them out during a wedding.
 
Yeah I hear you... I did a few shots with a micro till i got the comer... always need huge rechargeables when it comes to lights...

Ill let you know how these work! they take the same sony batts...
 
DNathan said:
I've been dreaming of the ultimate DIY LED. My goals:

1. Dimmable
2. Collapsable (No need to mount it each time)
3. Fairly high above my cam
4. As wide as possible (Considering #2) for the soft-box effect
5. Doubles as a flag for surprise sun flares
6. Dimmer knob on the cam
7. Battery on the cam
8. Razor thin LED unit due to 6 & 7
9. Powered by Panasonic battery (Because they are light, long lasting and a quick backup for my camera during the day)
10. With a detachable magnetic (grey) white balance card (like a refrigerator magnet)
11. Checkerboard or row system layout of amber/white LEDs, so instead of using a gel to get a warm color temperature, I could just flip a switch at the base

That's a tall order, plus I know little about electronics.

Am I smoking crack?
Click to expand...

I've been thinking something along the same lines... I found these for cheap: http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1107

However, I've been researching LEDs and seems they normally run around 6500k (as I'm sure these probably do too). Too blue for my desired applications and although they could be stepped down to 5500k with 1/2 CTO, it does nothing for helping in situations where everything is 3600k.

Then I found these: http://ledsupply.com/07007-pwn-10-3.php

4100k which could be corrected via a 1/2 CTO or CTB respectively. Problem is that they are kinda expensive... although with 3 you'd get 900 lumens, effectively, hella bright. I could blind someone, literally. Don't know if they'd be dimmable though... that could be a problem.

You're looking for a lot more criteria than me. I pretty much just want something to be better and cheaper than a litepanel mini and I'd be happy... although, the idea of putting a softbox on has my intrigued.

I don't think you're smoking crack... I do however want some of what you are smoking... cause everything here sounds good.

-David
 
Okay Mad, I bought two of the 126 LED lights and am selling my two Litepanels on eBay. I hope they're awesome!
 
I'm really concerned about how yellow the light is. Photographers will not like that. I can white balance to fix it, but I'd rather project natural indoor light like the litepanels. I tried using the lite panel amber gel sheet and it gave me the same color as the plastic warm filter included with the LED 126.

I need to calibrate this color, possibly with other gel sheets. Any idea how to do that?
 
Hey Nathan,

Hrm, I am not sure man... I just don't use the amber gel... diffuse it with the normal white one.

It was a back up for me, and performed very well tonight after a lot of use. I really needed a few comer 1800's... (that's what you should have sold the LP's for lol) but at the price of the 128, you cant complain :P
 
You use the white for indoor use? Isn't that too blue? I would think photographers wouldn't want it on.
 
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