ON-Camera Light

filmelife

filmelife

Well-known member
Hi guys,

i need to know what are the best on camera lights, that must be long lasting, bright enough 50-100 watts, for a long wedding night, we're talking 3 to 5 hour continuous.

i owned the bescor light but it served its time and is dying on me.

thanks
 
Look into LED's, specifcally the vidLED. I'm not sure the equivalent wattage of one, but for people 4-6 feet away I have to dim it (they've got dimmers). There are a few options on batteries for them. I use the panny battery mount and a 5600mah battery and get 8-9 hours easily. The only drawback is that they cost a tad more than incadescents and dont have the long distance throw. But its a softer light that wraps more like a flourescent would.
 
Litepanels Mini (DVCK 50) will be the best choice. It fits easily on a camera, a stand, or elsewhere. Fully flicker-free, this unit offers output that is 3 times more efficient than a conventional tungsten camera light! Plus it's heat-free, and infinitely dimmable from 0 to 100%, with virtually no shift in color. Draws just 7 Watts.
Litepanels Mini is available in 3200°K & 5600°K Spot or Flood version.

Kwan
www.mightykwan.com
 
The Vidled is a great product at that price point.

To my thinking, the Zylight is far superior to the LitePanels. For one, the Zylight swtiches between 3200K/5600K, is dimable (like all of them), has built in ability for color light, and has bluetooth to control multiple units. The Z50 is about $675 and the Z90 is $950. That is for bare light. Any accessories extra. Much pricier than Videled. But you don't need to tape gels over the light and it has those other features. All depends upon your budget and personal preferences.

Ned Soltz
 
just got a vidled. amazing. i did a wedding with it -- no problems. and the things built like a tank. highly recommend it.
 
I just purchased a vidLED and will be using it for a wedding next month.

Vern, I'm glad to hear it went well for you. Did it seem very intrusive or distracting to the guest. Did you have it on the camera or on a stand. I'm thinking of having someone with a stand shining light where I need it so people aren't scared away from the camera shining in their face. Would this light be good for that? Is the throw pretty good?
 
I bought a vidLED and I'm a little disappointed. Even with diffusion it is very spotty - ala flashlight look, especially if you're using a wide angle. The mount should be a swivel mount so you can tilt the light vertically so if you wanted light up the person's body as well as their face you could. I know I can buy one, but this should be standard equipment to make the light more useful. Plus, I had to return the shoe mount because it was too thick for the DVX.
 
hmm please post grabs - without diffusion mine looks great and has no flashlight look to it all. i dont see why the mount should be standard - the vidled site is pretty straightforward about how the light mounts, you want a different mount then get a different mount. I didnt want one and am glad I didnt have to pay for one. kinda like saying the hvx should come with a tripod to make it more useful.
 
Most on-camera lights create a spotlight, cause that´s what they are tiny lights with a small lighting surface.
That´s why I went for the VidLeds, with diffusion I get an evenly lit broad surface - nice soft light.
I can imagine that when using sth like a 0.6x wideangle the FoV gets to wide, even for the VidLed, leaving the corners of the image unlit.
But I´m pretty sure that it whould be even worse with any conventional on-camera light...
 
The throw seemed great. I mean I had a pretty sorry excuse for a light before. But still, didn't even use it on full the whole time. It starts to look a bit scary if you have the battery that attaches to the top of the light -- I'm trying to make some sort of attachment for the camera handle instead.
Nobody seemed to mind it, or maybe they expected it. I'm sure it could work from a stand, but you'd probably have better results with a regular 200w light or something. That's what I do when I need a lot of light.
Hope that helps.
 
Vern said:
I have the same problem. Did they just ship out a new one?
Click to expand...

Re: shoe mounts:
We use a reputable USA manufacturer for the shoe mount (B&H sells the same one). Although product origin is unknown, and could be China, who knows.
It appears that a couple of the recent ones have a too thick bottom, maybe? We'll measure this from now on and correct it before shipping.

We do go two steps further though:

1) We remachine them to allow more thread to be inserted into the VIDLED light, and we tumble debur them to break the sharp corners.

2) Additionally, we have our own design, and those are made by a Swiss company. It appears the Swiss version is MUCH more precise/accurate, and based upon these recent couple of issues, and the added work we have with remachining the other brand; we'll make a permanent switch to our own design & Swiss manufacturing.

Any trouble with any product (incl. the shoe mount) let us know, and we'll take care of it as best as we can.

It's great that this is brought to our attention - that way the product can always improve.
 
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