Westcott Ice Light? Any opinions

wgzn said:
the problem with all those "array" style LEDs is you have to diffuse the hell out of them to keep from getting "multishadows" and by then youve killed a good chunk of their power.

id be really curious to see just how effective a naked ice would be compared to a similarly priced (and diffused) array-stye fixture.
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I agree. I would never use the YN-300 in a studio or as my key if I could help it... I currently only use the YN-300 as fill in the outdoors where there's usually enough ambient light and scatter to reduce the visibility of this problem. I wouldn't mind a bit more powerful of an outdoor fill light and I've been looking at the Aputure AL-528S as a possibility. I guess I could just rig 2 YN-300s together =P
 
omnikron said:
I've been looking at the Aputure AL-528S as a possibility.
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I'm looking at this light myself also. The 25 deg spot pattern really interests me. It has much more punch than my other LED panels (312 bi color). Wish there were more hands on reviews of this light as it looks like a fantastic buy to me.

I'm considering either the F&V R-300 or AL-528S as they are about the same price.
 
OK, I got curious and ordered an Icelight. So far, I have just used it for still photography, and I am more impressed than I expected.

So as expected, the light quality is quite useful, although with some effort you could achieve similar results with a Home Depot work light and a bed sheet. Also the actual intensity is not overpowering.

The killer asset is the form factor and ease of use. Perfect for one man run and gun, where you can easily manage a quality fill light without the distraction of dealing with equipment.

In my first case, I was shooting portraits of a ballet dancer warming up at a bar. The studio naturally had horrible lights, which were turned off. So the main light was from a single window at one end of the studio. Was a great setup for short side lighting, but the dark side was way too dark. Now enter the Icelight on a small portable light stand, to provide the fill light. I ran it on max power, and just moved the stand around to adjust intensity and angle as I shot.

The Icelight fill saved the shoot and looked like there was far more lighting effort than there really was. The great revelation for me was the ease of use. I didn't have to worry about the stand falling over, and it was natural to move it around as I shot. No cords, no sandbags, no cares... just shooting.

My second use of the Icelight was as a work light as I was working on a computer hardware upgrade... outstanding work light.

So the light is expensive, and it is an individual call to tell if it is worth it. For me, I am glad I have one and it will be a valued tool. However, I don't plan on buying a bunch more as a complete studio lighting package.
 
I brought a couple of those YN-300s after reading this thread, pretty damn handy to have around actually, I was doing a recce in a dark dingy house and slapped the units handle on and it made a great wide torch :-)

Didnt know about the multi shadow thing though, have to keep an eye out for that.
 
Went ahead and bought 2 Icelights. Great quality light. A bit underpowered, but works well in the situations where I use them. Perfect travel size when combined with some low profile light stands.

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RatLabProductions said:
I'm looking at this light myself also. The 25 deg spot pattern really interests me. It has much more punch than my other LED panels (312 bi color). Wish there were more hands on reviews of this light as it looks like a fantastic buy to me.

I'm considering either the F&V R-300 or AL-528S as they are about the same price.
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I just got a pair of 528S to test.
I've got a lot of LED lighting. Moved completely away from tungsten a while ago, even flos mostly and have really only filmed with LEDs for the last few years.

First off, these are not rugged lights. They'd never take production kit abuse, unless it's your kit and you don't let anyone abuse them.
They're pretty light plastic everywhere (which is also makes one of the benefits.)
And they definitely have a magenta bias.

Plus side is the dual digital readout for power and battery level is really nice.
Powering with NP550 Sonys is really nice, low profile and silly lightweight.
Amazingly they arrived DSL air in 3 days...seriously, I ordered them from China on Sunday and they were at my studio on Wed.
They actually came together in a bubble package - no box and w/ EU plug (my mistake, but rectified with a couple of $2 adapters.)

I'm literally just getting them charged with the new batteries that got here today but I got a Chance to set them up with a few others running AC yesterday.
I set them up beside a Coollight 600, Coollight 256, a Litepanel LS 1x1 spot and a generic LED 500 panel.
The punchy little CL256 looked like a flashlight by comparison and the 528S was a bit brighter than the CL600 (about 2/3 stop but the CL spot is 40 deg vs 25 deg on the 528).
The CLs were simply green side by side with it, which also hilighted the 528 magenta bias.

The 528 was also a good deal punchier than the 1x1 spot but the 1x1 is whiter/truer .
And the 528 was way stronger than the generic (ebay) 500 LED, but those are pretty wide and soft (and actually nice wrapping LEDs) but also way green beside the 528.

Bottom line, after doing a couple of quick skin tone tests and general comparisons - they're cheap, plastic, really bright, ridiculously small and lightweight, run on tiny batteries and have more overall punch than any LED panel I've seen..and they have very functional displays that none of the other lights have..
They cost $179, and arrived free DSL from Hong Kong in 3 days.
Kind of amazing really.

The Coollights 600 is like a tank next to it, three times the size and weight and draws 50w vs 30w. Same with the 1x1 which is even bigger, draws 45w and can't match the output.
These things have no footprint, no weight (even with 2 550s on them), and carrying them on small Giotto stands (my favorite small footprint, rugged LED stands) is like carrying a broom...like nothing.

So, I have no idea how the plastic switch and dial and case will hold up, but you can get 5 of them, with batteries, for the cost of one litepanel LS - and they're considerably brighter though 85 CRI vs 90 CRI.
Again, they're don't belong in a light truck, but they can actually throw useable outdoor light.
I definitely need more time to judge the color accuracy and temp, but I'm about to order a couple of more tonight.
I just like the idea of carrying around a kit of Arri 650's in a backpack...with power.
 
Thank you for the feedback!

jimagine said:
Moved completely away from tungsten a while ago, even flos mostly and have really only filmed with LEDs for the last few years.
[...]
I just like the idea of carrying around a kit of Arri 650's in a backpack...with power.
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??

What do you do for hard light?

jimagine said:
I definitely need more time to judge the color accuracy and temp, but I'm about to order a couple of more tonight.
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Hey, when you do color accuracy and temp measurements, let us know the results! Also, as I linked before, over at cheesycam they're supposed to test a bunch of LEDs, should be interesting.
 
OldCorpse said:
Thank you for the feedback!



??

What do you do for hard light?
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Well, I have a couple of Solas, but LED spots are pretty hard. I shoot scenes with CL Spots all the time and people think they're shot with fresnels.
These 528Ss are as punchy as any Arri 650...probably brighter at the relative degree.
They just can't do cookies...which I never do, but these throw pretty tight shadows.
I doubt I'll use the Coollights much if I get another 4 of these.
I just tested a pair of them through silk and it was about what you'd expect from a 1.5 k through the same 4' silk...with 2oz batteries running them.
 
OldCorpse said:
Thanks, jimagine. That's amazing.
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I don't want to over hype them, because they're not pro construction by any standard, but lux for the money and ease of use are pretty crazy.
Quick example, I'm putting a kit of four of them, with batteries, into a camera case I got to carry a pair of GH3s and a few mft lenses...what would be considered a small camera bag.
 
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