really good LED on-camera light search

Norman99

Norman99

Well-known member
Is there a led light that is powerful enough with a really good spread angle that would cover my DVX 100 at it's widest stock zoom angle without vignetting ? Powerful I mean at least 1800 lumens to replace my bescor 75W 12V DC unit. I have visually checked out many units at pro video stores in NY and the bright ones that approach what I need are only in panel type lighting that are way too big to put on top of my camera. Also, why are they made in such a way (almost all of them) that use a multitude of teeny weeney leds that are always too blue and cold. They don't make them tiny leds in a warmer tint like say 4000K or 3200K, Must a Correcttion Gel or Filter be used to rob some output? Also. why is the spread always seem to be like 50 or 60 degrees natively and again must use a diffuser or scrim to widen the beam and therefore rob the output? So if I want a nice color with a wide spread, I really am dimming the output by as much as half, which defeats my purpose.So, of all them LED video lights out there, is there one that has a nice neutral color (like 4-4.5K Kelvin) and a really nice wide beam WITHOUT a center hot spot, and realy put out 1800 lumens or more measured at 3 feet WITHOUT the SPOT attachment that increases light but decreases angle.I am also considering the new Litepanel Sola ENG model, but the lumen specs are nowhere to be found...strange...
 
How about the (pricey) Dedolight LEDzilla? It's daylight but has a flip down filter and is probably better color controlled. I think they make a softbox for it.

There is also the new Lowel blender. Dial in the Color temp you want. I have been trying to get photometrics from Lowel but nothing so far. You can get a panny battery bracket to run the light off camera too.

I think the combination of LED dimming and color control is the wave of the future.
 
The Dedoloight Ledzilla and the Lowell Blender fall way short of 1800 lumens at the 3ft mark at their widest setting with diffusers, I would consider both if I needed an interview light and short distances. I'm sure they are really good units for what they do ,but can't they make them twice as bright, or at least in the 1500 lumen range ? The Comer 1800 seems the most likely candidate but only one question remains on that one : Is the 1800 lumen rating measured with or without the condenser panel in place? (The panel in question being the one that NARROWS the beam to look brighter). I really do not intend to purchase a unit only to find out that it is not powerful enough. I made that mistake with the light panels that were tooted to be bright but only were useable under 10 ft. distances. My line of work is mostly done on the wide angle side of things and a spotty beam though bright enough just doesn't cut it. Many units are measured at their narrow spotty setting for their highest lumen rating but widen that beam and see that the impressive brightness ain't bright enough after all.
 
So you've seen those two units. Sounds liek they don't have the raw power of older tungsten cam lights. Any sense of how the dedo and blender compared to each other?
 
The Blender's a really neat light for it;s size and capability that is you can vary the color temperature without using gels and can run off different batteries, the Dedolight is focusable meaning that the beam angle can be from a tight spot to normal angle. I have not seen these units in action but I can understand led jargon pretty well according to their specs.Led lights are normally measured in their lumen output or lux numbers and sometimes fc or foot candle values. A good rule of thumb is that a 100 watt incandescent bulb (filament) that we use as a household lamp is about 1700 lumens. To convert lumens to fc (foot candle value) simply multiply the lumen or lux value by .092 So if someone says his LED is 1000 lumens it comes out to 92 foot candles and is about the same brightness as a 60 watt household lamp. Almost all LED lights are measured at a distance of 3 feet or 1 meter from a white surface. Beware of those who claim an equivalent of a 250 watt bulb and only draw 25 watts or less. Those are really impossible figures as leds are really in the order of 4 to 6 times more efficient than bulbs and not 10 ( I wish).
 
Forgot to mention, the 90 fc (footcandle) spec at 3.3 ft. equates to approximately 980 lux /lumens. But it mentions that it is spotty, so now we have to put in that diffuser to widen up the beam a bit or else it will vignette at the edges if you zoom out. Guess what happens? the lumens begin to drop. It is a great light to vary the color temp, but if it had around 1500 to 1800 lumens, I would certainly buy one.
 
Is this guy from the comments section correct or too picky?

matt on March 5th, 2010 7:42 am I’ve worked with zylite, rosco lite pads, colortran theatrical and lite-panels lights. I also have built my own custom kit of LEDs that allow me to do quick tape up and super-flat light weight lighting. First and foremost is the issue of color correct. LEDs are by nature a non-color correct source because they must convert green spectrum LED light to white light by illuminating a phosphor coating on the diode. The chemistry required for correct bulbs is either “chance” (pick the ones that look OK throw away the rest) or expensive process control ($6 per bulb bulk Rebel Luxeon from Philips).
There are a lot of tweaks being done to correct the “purple haze” or “green funk” from LED’s but the lights do not have correct colorspace conformity to meet the increasing sensitivity of HD and large sensor formats. The color dimensions are untrue along lines that our color correct system (magenta/green) do no reflect. It is subtle stuff until the light is cold or just not good (Lite Panels are the worst). I’ve talked to Philips and Osram and they are engineering lights for architectural uses that will meet film criteria eventually.
If you are not seeing lighting variations, or haven’t noticed how pink Diva lights are, or haven’t mixed 3 sources in a shot and found each one off in a different direction then none of this matters because you are not shooting something that anyone cares how it looks or you are color blind. PS your meter will not accurately reflect an LED’s color value because it is not a spike green or pink like a fluoro.
 
I have tried many on camra led lights , borrowed or seen them in the store, and I have yet to come across one that is made for a wedding videographer.I cannot see how some sat that a light panel led micro is good for that or even the bigger brother model. Are all the shots done at a distance of 8 feet or less? In my weddings I average between 5 to 30 feet and most shots in the 15 to 20 ft range. Does everyone use the gain up to 12db with grain? Even a 100W halogen is barely enough at 20 ft distance without having to go up 3db. Am I missing something here. or maybe customers don't mind the grain on their large panel displays?Most receptions are dark, and many are lit only by candles on the tables and with the exit signs. I still cannot beleive no one makes a true 100W equivalent led light that has a neutral white with a nice wide beam spread. Again, without the need of amber gels or diffusers.
 
LED Lightpanels are used in the 24 TV-series and despite LED lack of perfect colours they are versatile and convenient. But there are many other LED panels in many different sizes even with adjustable colours. I'll bet they will get better further on.
 
Norman99 said:
I have tried many on camra led lights , borrowed or seen them in the store, and I have yet to come across one that is made for a wedding videographer.I cannot see how some sat that a light panel led micro is good for that or even the bigger brother model. Are all the shots done at a distance of 8 feet or less? In my weddings I average between 5 to 30 feet and most shots in the 15 to 20 ft range. Does everyone use the gain up to 12db with grain? Even a 100W halogen is barely enough at 20 ft distance without having to go up 3db. Am I missing something here. or maybe customers don't mind the grain on their large panel displays?Most receptions are dark, and many are lit only by candles on the tables and with the exit signs. I still cannot beleive no one makes a true 100W equivalent led light that has a neutral white with a nice wide beam spread. Again, without the need of amber gels or diffusers.
Click to expand...

What do you think about this: http://www.bebob.de/produkte/?product=8689&lang=en
I'm thinking about buying a couple for weddings too. I've never used that kind of lights but are used by ENG teams in Italy and seems to work well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top