Wanted: LED on-camera light shootout

morten

morten

Well-known member
After extensive research I am thoroughly frustrated about this: There are NO extensive reviews of most of the new LED on-camera lights out there. The few reviews that are available are short and unspecific and most of them talk solely about one light: the Litepanels. In the past the DVXuser equipment reviews and shootout articles have been fabulous and I put all my trust in this community because the people are both dependable and knowledgeable.

Here’s my request: Can we (someone) do a proper side-by-side comparison of the LED lights that are commercially available to be posted on this site? It would be of enormous help to all consumers on the net (like I said there are no such tests at the moment and this would be the first and only one) and also to the companies reviewed I’m sure.

Lights that should be tested (with links) (apologies if I’ve missed some but I think I got them all):

Spinet SKC-630P LED Camera Light
Bescor LED-10
IDX X3-Lite
Varizoom LS2000
Litepanels
Vidled
Zylight Z50

The test criteria should include:
- Output at different distances
- Battery life
- Dimmer feature
- Wide angle / barn door / diffuser
- Colour temperature / filter application
- Ease of use
- Off camera use
- other hardware related topics (battery compatibility etc)

In addition there should be a benchmark based on a standard tungsten light like a Frezzi.

I wouldn’t mind doing the tests myself but a) I don’t have the money to get all the lights to test, b) I doubt the companies would just send me lights for free to test, c) according to most U.S. companies I live close to the North Pole (Vancouver, BC) thus making it impossible to transport any item to my house without great expense and complication.

When I started researching this about 6 months ago I was shocked at how little information there is out there about the topic and how little industry people, both on the seller side and on the user side, knew about the products. In conversations with shooters for a large variety of broadcast outlets as well as production houses I quickly learned that few people know about the products and those that do tend to deal with them as if they were silly toys for children. The same thing goes for the stores that carry video lighting.

I think we might be going towards a shift in paradigms here – from the old energy wasteful, burning hot, battery lugging tungsten and halogen bulb lights towards the new and very different LED lights that use far less power and have a completely different range of applications. And as with all paradigm shifts the established oldies cling to their old gear because they don’t (want to) understand the new type of equipment that is popping up everywhere (if you want more on the topic of shifting paradigms I strongly recommend you read The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by philosopher Thomas Kuhn (link)).

Wishful thinking I’m sure, but such a test would do wonders for the products and people who want to use them.

Mor10
 
VariZoom

VariZoom

Morten,

Tom from VariZoom. I think they are all probably pretty good. The VarIzoom lite has a dimmer and is very well constructed.

If you want to buy one I'll sell it to you for $50. off and you can test the heck out of it and return it for a refund within 60 days.

This LED lite line is all mostly new stuff so much of it has not really flooded the market yet.

Best regards,

Tom

http://www.varizoom.com



morten said:
After extensive research I am thoroughly frustrated about this: There are NO extensive reviews of most of the new LED on-camera lights out there. The few reviews that are available are short and unspecific and most of them talk solely about one light: the Litepanels. In the past the DVXuser equipment reviews and shootout articles have been fabulous and I put all my trust in this community because the people are both dependable and knowledgeable.

Here’s my request: Can we (someone) do a proper side-by-side comparison of the LED lights that are commercially available to be posted on this site? It would be of enormous help to all consumers on the net (like I said there are no such tests at the moment and this would be the first and only one) and also to the companies reviewed I’m sure.

Lights that should be tested (with links) (apologies if I’ve missed some but I think I got them all):

Spinet SKC-630P LED Camera Light
Bescor LED-10
IDX X3-Lite
Varizoom LS2000
Litepanels
Vidled
Zylight Z50

The test criteria should include:
- Output at different distances
- Battery life
- Dimmer feature
- Wide angle / barn door / diffuser
- Colour temperature / filter application
- Ease of use
- Off camera use
- other hardware related topics (battery compatibility etc)

In addition there should be a benchmark based on a standard tungsten light like a Frezzi.

I wouldn’t mind doing the tests myself but a) I don’t have the money to get all the lights to test, b) I doubt the companies would just send me lights for free to test, c) according to most U.S. companies I live close to the North Pole (Vancouver, BC) thus making it impossible to transport any item to my house without great expense and complication.

When I started researching this about 6 months ago I was shocked at how little information there is out there about the topic and how little industry people, both on the seller side and on the user side, knew about the products. In conversations with shooters for a large variety of broadcast outlets as well as production houses I quickly learned that few people know about the products and those that do tend to deal with them as if they were silly toys for children. The same thing goes for the stores that carry video lighting.

I think we might be going towards a shift in paradigms here – from the old energy wasteful, burning hot, battery lugging tungsten and halogen bulb lights towards the new and very different LED lights that use far less power and have a completely different range of applications. And as with all paradigm shifts the established oldies cling to their old gear because they don’t (want to) understand the new type of equipment that is popping up everywhere (if you want more on the topic of shifting paradigms I strongly recommend you read The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by philosopher Thomas Kuhn (link)).

Wishful thinking I’m sure, but such a test would do wonders for the products and people who want to use them.

Mor10
Click to expand...
 
i feel your pain, because i just went through researching a suitable on-camera light. i hope dvxuser's takes up the challenge as they did with the 35mm review; and do a comparison.
 
Tom: I tried. You guys don't ship to Canada.

Varizoon sales rep: "Eeeeeeh... weeeeell.... you see .... uhh ... UPS charges really a lot for shipping international.... it's a big hassle.... I mean we are in Texas so....... I don't ..... have you gone to our website? eeeehhh. contact a canadian reseller."

It might be just me but I found that really annoying. I mean, I live in Vancouver, not on Greenland.

Regardless, I contacted my local reseller and he had ZERO information for me about LED lights including the other ones they carry. He said there was very little info out there because they are new, few people use them and the "industry professionals" don't use them. Thus the idea of a shoot out.

I'm sure your light is great and I'll probably buy it. the point now however is to get the info out there so that we can phase out those stupid old lights that burn your fingers off and waste energy.

Mor10
 
Hi Morten,

Zylight would be happy to participate in your LED light shoot-out.

The more information that is available to the public regarding the advantages of LED lighting, the quicker all of our products will be seen as high-tech tools that truly surpass conventional sources as far as flexibility, efficiency, and overall ease of use.

Please contact us at info@zylight.com to arrange a demo Z50 to use for your tests.

Sincerely,

Jim Collias
Engineering Director
Zylight
 
The decision was easy for me -- I spent $535.00 on a LitePanels Mini (5600k flood) with the DV battery adapter from FilmTools.com (this price was after the $150 rebate, of course). This is the one light I use more often than any other light I have. I took it to Mexico last month and filmed interviews for PBS with it. It was the only light I could have used in remote locations in the mountains with an 8 hour battery life!!!

LitePanels puts out 45 footcandles @ 2ft. For comparison, this is the same amount of light I get out of my Kino Flo Diva 200 @ 6ft. In other words, the LitePanels works GREAT as an interview key light, at 2ft. It's especially useful for that; that's the main way I use it. LitePanels is a soft light, not a hard light like many of the other on-camera LED's. This is one of the key selling points of LitePanels.

It's also good for Steadicam shots. In fact, it's possible to make an adapter to power LitePanels with 9V batteries and use the LitePanel and the DVX together on the Steadicam Merlin!

Good luck with your shootout. I look forward to seeing how my favorite light stacks up to the others.
 
Last edited:
Morten,

I too was going through the same issue you were talking about. I didn't see much info in regards to led lighting as far as a review since it was something I was thinking about going with in regards to a on-camera light solution.

Right now in my posession I have a litepanel mini 5600k a vidled 8000k and 3000k light kit. I did some testing a couple of weeks ago and was going to post something up here to show some of the difference between the two lights. I just haven't gotten around to doing it since I've been so busy these last couple of weeks and I finally just upgrade my computer.


I could tell you that both lighting systems has its pro's and con's and of course how the light output is in regards to how it functions as a "on camera" light. At first glance, I could say that the output of lighting from the 8000k vidled puts out a good amount of lighting but thats not everything about a on camera light because you have to thinking about how heavy the light is, what type of power source it uses, the loooks... "yes looks... this has been talked about here in the forums" and easy of use, how well it works with people and other things as well.

I only did some quick light output video shoots with each light on the camera and shooting a static subject in the dark in different distances of 25 ft to as close as 5 ft. in pitch darkness. So that I could see which light has the most output over all. I mean, I know I won't really use these lights at that far of the distance but it was just a test to see how each of the light would perform in regards to output and that is all.

I would be shooting two weddings in two weeks and I will try to use both light kits to see how the reaction of the people at the weddings would be as I would be doing some interviews with them. One wedding will be an outdoor wedding that would go into the night. So this is were I could really use these led light kits to see how well they'll work since there won't be any good lighting at all.

Hopefully I could post something after I finish the weddings.... but I would love to try other some other light kits as well to see the differences.... :)


Candid
 
One step closer

One step closer

We are getting closer to launching the shootout. Right now we are in the final planing stages and we'll be sending out invitations to the manufacturers listed above in the coming weeks. Hopefully we'll be able to get all the lights in at the same time so we can do true side-by-side tests.

More to follow

mor10
 
Update

Update

We've been massively delayed due to a couple of rush projects and some equipment problems. Barring any further obstacles the plan is to send out an invitation to the different companies in a few weeks and to do the test some time in September.

more to follow...
 
Just in time for the time of year when there is no more natural outdoor light to be had...
 
ditto,

would love to have this one nutted out. There are so many options now, common things that arise are leds have a short throw, leds are a very harsh light to look at for talent, leds colour balance is too cool for some scenarios, depending on the make and model, they're hard to gel.
But they last forever compared to bulbs, aren't as fragile, have a good soft light source thats infinitely dimmable and has no colour shift when doing so. Some have build in power, some have to D-tap it into the main on camera battery, some are spot and some are flood. Some cost the earth and some are very reasonably priced.

So I feeellll your pain, and infact this is one of the hardest choices to make, because even though relatively they're one of the cheaper components to purchase, you still looking of a base rate of around $600 Australian to buy. Which isn't (for me anyway) a amount one thinks ok to throw away if the light doesn't come up with the goods so to speak!

So guys please if there was a shootout conducted, can you let us know.

cheers
 
I think ill mention this to the guys at work (TomsHardware.com) they might be interested in doing this as a project, and i know we have the equiptment to test light output.
 
Thanks Webdog,

that would be awesomely appreciated, and tomshardware.com would be on of my top ten visited sites!

cheers

Doumm
 
Candid said:
I only did some quick light output video shoots with each light on the camera and shooting a static subject in the dark in different distances of 25 ft to as close as 5 ft. in pitch darkness. So that I could see which light has the most output over all. I mean, I know I won't really use these lights at that far of the distance but it was just a test to see how each of the light would perform in regards to output and that is all.
Click to expand...


I know it was a while ago... but any chance you could at least post what your impressions of each light were after this testing? Pleeeaase?
 
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