ectobuilder
Veteran
Re: Light Comparison Test (Non-Scientific) // PL60, T1000, Flex, BabyLED, 100WA-56
I did a quick non-scientific comparison between the different light fixtures I own.
I was most impressed with the Westcott Flex 10" x 10" (I can't wait to see what the 2' x 2' can do!). The amount of light volume it outputs is incredible for such a small footprint. And the kelvin accuracy and color accuracy is very good as well.
The most disappointing was the Dracast LED T1000. That fixture is a complete waste of time and money. It simply isn't bright enough for anyone to modify and the open faced light quality is extremely unusable (think multi shadow). This was billed as the Kino Flo fluorescent replacements which is completely false because the LED diodes on the "tubes" are actually facing FORWARDS. So this is nothing more than a cut-down LED array fixture. You are better off with a Westcott Flex (full array) over the T1000. To add insult to injury the T1000 comes in a very bulky and unnecessary housing (adds ZERO value and purpose to it's overall use and design). The only advantage to going with tubes is being able to replace them when the LED's die but at 50,000 hours I wouldn't worry about that as 8yrs from now those tubes will be outdated anyways.
In terms of light output ratings by the manufacturer both Dracast and Fotodiox were way too generous in rating the light output. As you can see in the comparison below the other more truthful lights reveal what the ratings should have been for light output.
In terms of open face light quality I found the Fotodiox 100WA-56 to have the best shadow quality but too bad that fixture has a heavy ballast and is equipped with an ultra noisy fan both inside the ballast and light fixture. It is also the most heaviest light fixture.
Note that the Mole Richardson BabyLED has a fan built inside the fixture despite the specs saying "passive-forced" cooling. Kind of an oxymoron description. Anytime you add a fan to the cooling the word "passive" just shouldn't even exist in the description. However the fan is "silent" enough that you could most likely deal with one of those on set but more than one it may get too noisy.
I kept the camera's (A7S) exposure the same to give you an idea of the brightness relativity between each fixture. All fixtures were set to 100% brightness with no light modifiers.
A7S Exposure Settings:
ISO 3200
1/200
F5.6
5500K
M1
PP3 custom profile (tweaked to give the Cinestyle look)
Bare Window (6820K):
Ikan Piatto PL60:
Dracast LED T1000:
Westcott Flex 10" x 10":
Fotodiox 100WA-56:
Mole Richardson BabyLED:
I did a quick non-scientific comparison between the different light fixtures I own.
I was most impressed with the Westcott Flex 10" x 10" (I can't wait to see what the 2' x 2' can do!). The amount of light volume it outputs is incredible for such a small footprint. And the kelvin accuracy and color accuracy is very good as well.
The most disappointing was the Dracast LED T1000. That fixture is a complete waste of time and money. It simply isn't bright enough for anyone to modify and the open faced light quality is extremely unusable (think multi shadow). This was billed as the Kino Flo fluorescent replacements which is completely false because the LED diodes on the "tubes" are actually facing FORWARDS. So this is nothing more than a cut-down LED array fixture. You are better off with a Westcott Flex (full array) over the T1000. To add insult to injury the T1000 comes in a very bulky and unnecessary housing (adds ZERO value and purpose to it's overall use and design). The only advantage to going with tubes is being able to replace them when the LED's die but at 50,000 hours I wouldn't worry about that as 8yrs from now those tubes will be outdated anyways.
In terms of light output ratings by the manufacturer both Dracast and Fotodiox were way too generous in rating the light output. As you can see in the comparison below the other more truthful lights reveal what the ratings should have been for light output.
In terms of open face light quality I found the Fotodiox 100WA-56 to have the best shadow quality but too bad that fixture has a heavy ballast and is equipped with an ultra noisy fan both inside the ballast and light fixture. It is also the most heaviest light fixture.
Note that the Mole Richardson BabyLED has a fan built inside the fixture despite the specs saying "passive-forced" cooling. Kind of an oxymoron description. Anytime you add a fan to the cooling the word "passive" just shouldn't even exist in the description. However the fan is "silent" enough that you could most likely deal with one of those on set but more than one it may get too noisy.
I kept the camera's (A7S) exposure the same to give you an idea of the brightness relativity between each fixture. All fixtures were set to 100% brightness with no light modifiers.
A7S Exposure Settings:
ISO 3200
1/200
F5.6
5500K
M1
PP3 custom profile (tweaked to give the Cinestyle look)
Bare Window (6820K):
Ikan Piatto PL60:
Dracast LED T1000:
Westcott Flex 10" x 10":
Fotodiox 100WA-56:
Mole Richardson BabyLED:
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