Vidleds for documentary work?

Jeff Anderson

Jeff Anderson

Custom Title!
Ok I'm not worried about the quality of light that these output as I've got one and think it will work fine but does anyone see any great workflow faults I've missed if I go with 2 or 3 vidleds on stands to light interviews with? I will use the daylight balanced ones and gel to tungsten when necessary. Will be powered by dvx batteries hopefully getting a days use out of one battery per light.

We'll be doing a lot of travelling and it will be just two of us and I would like to minimize our load and setup times. I also dont know the available power at each location so I'd rather not rely on having good solid circuits to work with. I'm looking for the "that wont work well because..."

Thanks guys, appreciate any input.
 
Unless you are shooting in dark rooms and totally controlling all of the lighting, these little lights will probably not give you enough output to do much. I believe that the most power VIDled only puts out about 6 watts, right?

Great little lights but much more useful as an on-camera light to augment available light than as your lights in a lighting kit where you need to create the entire look with your lights.

I did the math and I would be looking at around $1,200.00 for three of them once I add in all of the accesories, batteries, chargers, mounts, etc. You can actually buy a real light kit for that kind of money so why mess with low powered LEDs?

Dan
 
because i want to minimize our gear and we wont have reliable power everywhere we go. It will be peoples living rooms mainly and I dont want to be dragging in a full light kit and sandbags and have cords everywhere. It will be 1 hour or so of interview tops and then tear down and go somewhere else. I already have one light I use for on camera and it works fine on a stand. I wouldnt use just these for a narrative but for getting some accents and a little depth in a sit down documentary interview I think it will be plenty of light. They'll pretty much be doing the job of an on camera (adding to existing light) just at better angles. Cost isnt really that much of an issue for the lights. Good thoughts on buying chargers - will probably need another dolgin to take care of the lights...
 
Jdajda, I understand your situation. I have the same problem, I do docs and I travel and my crew is my wife. We need to carry evrything (plus our luggage and computer) I have a Vidled (the Deluxe Dayled) and I just love it and for my next trip to India I ill buy 2 more. here is better and cheaper but when its time for convenience, flexibility, reliabilty Vidled is the way I go.
 
Maybe I'm greedy about time... but the Mach1 chargers from Lenmar will juice up a DVXuser battery in a couple hours (or less)... I don't know exactly... but it's FAST. They will charge a battery faster then you can run down the other one.

It's no secret that I love the Vidleds... just like with ANY tool... as long as you understand the limitations and operate within those boundaries I think you'll really enjoy them. They are TOOLS... no light does everything... face the limitations and plan for them and you won't be disappointed.

Sirocco just defined exactly what I love about them. If you bolt 2 of them together (with the kit) and run the y-adapter to a single DVXuser battery... man you'll be STUNNED at what that little brick of lights can do! But it's still not like you have a kino sitting there... just face that and all's well.

If I have to rely on the Vidled package I shoot with the f-stop wide open in 24p... and certainly no higher then 1/60 shutter... and if it's a sitdown interview you can lower the shutter and actually have EXCESS light... which is how I would handle it in this situation.
 
what about the vidled cool stick?

I am trying to simulate the look of a DivaLite 200/400 with a Dedolight slash.

i was wondering if i could put three or four coolsticks next together and get a 'poor man's kino'.

I have no idea about total output in wattage. I am thinking this will work in totally controlled environments.

What do you think of this -

Four coolsticks on some sort of joint mount to simulate a kino.
one vidled for hair light
a double brick (two dayleds) for slash/background. - using foil to shape the light

Is this enough light (in a dark room) to give you a professional kino look?

what do you think?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
I've actually got a couple of those coolsticks also... I'd planned to get a video up for you tonight... but some things came up... check after dark tomorrow night or perhaps the next day. The coolsticks are better then Vidled makes 'em out to be... I think they say that you have to shoot at 1/60 or something... but I haven't experienced this problem... maybe they meant that you can't shoot as a speed FASTER then 1/60? If that's the case then why would you want to reduce the effectiveness of your already low wattage lights anyway?

Whatever... I'll post a vid... those coolsticks are a lot better then you think. They don't have the punch of a DIVA at full power... but they do put out some serious light... and it's surprisingly diffuse considering that it's LED technology... but I'm sure the diffuse beam spread is because they're nearly 3' long... and there are a lot of LEDs working on that thing. Video soon... I got totally set up to do one tonight and then couldn't get to it.
 
I have been shooting interview tests the last three nights with my cools sticks. The results are pretty good.

Here is my setup:

Two coolsticks in a Mafer Clamp as a Key Light

One full spectrum compact fluorescent in a china ball as a fill

One coolstick with a color gel on the floor behind the subject for color on the back wall.

So far, I am happy with the results. The biggest issue is flagging everything.

The whole setup is less than two hundred bucks, is low power and almost no heat, and it looks pretty darn good.

Matt, I would love to see you mix in the Vidleds for more directional lighting (using foil like you did in those great demo videos).

Overall, with just the three sticks and the CFL, I feel like the relative lighting is good. I am wondering if adding in the three Vidleds can boost the overall light levels so you have more choices with exposure.

My hope is, if this works, that when I travel I can throw my coolsticks in my tripod bag, drop the vidleds in my camera bag and be ready to shoot in a pinch.

For controlled lighting (starting with a pitch black room), I am thinking this may be a great little setup. Looking forward to your pics.
 
Cool, thanks for the input guys. Looks like I'll be ordering a few more vidleds when this project comes to fruition. Had forgotten you can stack them, thats got to be alot of light. I really just want to use 2 or 3 to give the shot a tad more directional lighting, but I dont expect it to look like a Dateline set either. Seems like most interviews in peoples houses in low budget documentaries are so flat, and I thought a key light and a little fill would be a nice thing to have.

I'll be interested to see what the sticks can do as well - happy lighting!
 
Hey,

If you have not seen the videos posted by Matt showing the Vidleds in an interview setup you should really check them out.

Looking forward to seeing the coolsticks worked in...
 
We're just about to come out with our DC version of a stick light.
IT'S NICE, very nice!

About 10W to 15W LED power (depending on voltage).

Couple of powering options;
1) with a DVX/HVX battery (or SONY or CANON, etc.) with constant voltage converter to output constant 12V to LEDs

2) with a regulated battery supply

Not dimming, but has two switches, so can go 1/3, 2/3 and FULL.

Here's what it look like:
stickLED-1.jpg


The name might need some tweaking! :)
 
Last edited:
That looks really cool!

Is the middle one a different color temperature?

What does the LCD indicate? (in the photo is says 073)

Lastly, how does this compare in brightness output to, say, a kino diva 200?

Any idea on price?

Looks great!
 
Last edited:
Yeah I'm thinking a couple of these stick lights might be coming onto my documentary budget... will be watching your other thread for pricing etc vidled - keep up the great work!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top