Suggestions for $500 LED kit for client?

M. Gilden

M. Gilden

Canon DSLR Moderator
I have a client that is looking to buy their own lighting kit to leave set up for a series of weekly training videos. Its for use in an active warehouse, so the heat and length of cable for my old tungsten kit that I keep in the car (an older 3k watt Lowell kit) is less than ideal. So I'm thinking LED, they've come a long way since I last purchased one, but their budget is more like $300-500. I'd like at least a two point light setup for this, Sony NP battery power would be a huge plus since I have access to plenty of those. But plug in power is attainable as is V-tap or other battery types if that would make a significant difference.

Been too long since I bought an LED light, so many things have changed. Any suggestions?
 
the name of this company put me off but the falcon eyes panels are incredible for the price. I started with the 12 and the 18 daylight versions then bought the bi colored 18 and 29 rx. Just used them on shoot inside a hospital and was able to clamp them to the drop ceiling with ease. I plan on buying many more. The brackets they come with are not great. I put them on flags or frames. I plan on buying more. I use them more than my kino quasar conversions.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/FalconEyes...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649
 
Mildly confused... on one hand you mention “leave set up,” but yet you’re also mentioning battery power. Are these being installed in a semi-permanent location, or just left assembled on stands but moved about as necessary?

I’m setting up two clients with semi-permanent light installations, and have settled on single-color Quasar T8 tubes in banked hardware store fixtures rigged to dimmers.

In terms of an inexpensive LED panel with battery power, folks seem to like the Yongnuo (YN-600, YN-900, iirc). If you don’t mind the crapshoot that is Chinese electronics, it’s ticks your boxes of performance and price.
 
mcbob said:
Mildly confused... on one hand you mention “leave set up,” but yet you’re also mentioning battery power. Are these being installed in a semi-permanent location, or just left assembled on stands but moved about as necessary?
Click to expand...

Yeah, sorta. It is a weekly training series that takes place in a warehouse. An active warehouse, mind you, so this isn't a set. I need lights that can be moved around to different parts of the warehouse as needed to demonstrate what they are training for in this episode (packing station, inventory shelves, etc) and also be able to move them out of the way when finished so they can go about their business. I don't want to shlep my lights in and take them down every week, which is why we are buying their own to keep there. Also, many parts of these old warehouses are easily hundreds of feet to the nearest outlet. So batteries may be more necessary than just convenient. :)

Thanks for the suggestions you guys! I'll look into those.
The Aputure HR672 was also recommended to me- although I can only get one within the budget, so I'd probably just get that as the key and supplement a smaller lamp or two as the fill/etc.
 
I look into Dracast every time they go on sale because folks generally have good things to say about them (and a trusted colleague says he’s starting to see them more and more on sets for budget projects like the kind we do...small corporate, marketing/promo etc. But every time I research anything from them with “500” in the model name I end up concluding they’re not very powerful unless they’re super close to whatever they’re lighting. Yay? Nay?
 
The bi-color ones are weaker than the 'fixed' versions, but in general the 500s could be viewed as weak compared to other options.

As an example, the 500 S-Series Plus 5600K is 5250 lux at 3'. [The bi-color version is 2560 lux at 3'.]

Other lights may offer more power at the same distance but they usually do so with a lower CRI rating (if it makes any difference to you).

As a comparison, a Genaray MonoBright Daylight LED 750 (5200K) compared to the Dracast above (for a similar price), outputs 8000 lux at 3' (with a 90 CRI vs. Dracast's 96):

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1091266-REG/genaray_mb_50dwv_monobright_daylight_led_750.html

Nice little kit: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1208073-REG/genaray_monobrite_750_daylight_led.html

Then again, if you bump up to the 1000 S-Series Plus 5600K for a bit more money, it's 11,380 lux at 3' (major jump).

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With modern color-correction and how no one would ever notice a difference anyway, I always opt for more power than CRI (like I wouldn't stress between 96 and 90). I've always liked that company above, Genaray. I bought my first budget LEDs from them in 2014, and they stayed around and continued to make decent products for the price.
 
Thanks. I have read that the Dracasts with “1000” (or higher) in the model name are the way to go with that brand (probably read it on here!).

However, a friend just bought one of the flexible Dracast bicolors something something 500 when it was on sale at B&H, thought it was pretty powerful. Guess you can always buy, test, return if unsatisfied.
 
The bi-colors are only using half the lights or so for a temperature on one end vs. the other, so compared to one of the other options side-by-side - which offer double the output (or even triple the amount; 2560 vs. 8000) - he would probably think it's pretty weak.

But per usual it really depends on the use. For macro photography, the 500 bi-color would be like lighting with the sun 3' away.
 
I have a bunch of yongnuo LED lights, both bi color and single color. Cheap with lots of light. Battery powered or with 12 volt adapter.
 
+1 on the Yongnuos though I don't like the bicolors because they have separate controls for tungsten and daylight instead of one for color and one for dimming.
 
Thanks guys! The fans on the Yongnous turned me off to them. I know they say it is relatively easy to silence them by using an alternative fan with a DIY hack, but this is for a client, not me, so I wanted a more turnkey solution that wouldn't need to be hacked in order to work with audio.

I heard some good things from Aperture brand panels, following that down the Amazon rabbit hole and reading reviews landed me at an alternative brand of a similar product:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0792SQ8SV/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B685GVF/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

One panel is a 672 LED, and the other two are 480, CRI of 97 and decent amount of lux it seems for the price. They also come with diffuser panels which can be screwed on at different distances so we can soften the light more without any awkward additional hardware (which helps since we'll be shooting in a warehouse). After adding batteries our total is still within the $500 budget, and I think (hope) this will work well.
 
jwalk said:
the name of this company put me off but the falcon eyes panels are incredible for the price. I started with the 12 and the 18 daylight versions then bought the bi colored 18 and 29 rx. Just used them on shoot inside a hospital and was able to clamp them to the drop ceiling with ease. I plan on buying many more. The brackets they come with are not great. I put them on flags or frames. I plan on buying more. I use them more than my kino quasar conversions.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/FalconEyes...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649
Click to expand...

I'm really interested in the FalconEyes RX18 lights. Is the Daylight only version of the RX-18 much brighter than the Bi Colour version?
 
Josh Bass said:
Wow. Those are pretty cheap. If you get em I’d be curious if they’re good.
Click to expand...

They are actually not too much cheaper than the Aperture branded ones, and ballpark with other brands like Yongnou. This style light appears to have been dropped in price lately.
 
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