What Light are you using?

K

krisjohn

Active member
I have an upcoming shoot and it will take place inside a nightclub.

What are you using to get the best lighting inside dark nightclubs??

any suggestions on what the camera settings should be also??
 
I second the Comer 1800. I just shot with it last night in a dim venue and it was flawless. I barely had to use it much past its dimmest setting. I viewed the footage and the lighting was so even, you can't even tell a light was used. I previously had Swit/Varizoom lights and the light fell off toward the sides on any 16:9 footage. My only complaint is that it takes a long time to charge the batteries. The good news is they are very cheap so buy a couple of extra.
 
You can get away with the comer 900... but if you want to light a large area of the club much better to go with the 1800.
 
Another vote for the Comer 1800! We're shooting the Go Green Expo Los Angeles this afternoon, so I'll get some footage to share with you guys. Excellent as a fill light and powerful enough to use on a stand if needed.

Taky (LA Color Shop) has some great footage up showing how he used two 1800's on stands to light up an entire stage... now thats power!
 
I use an LED ring light i made myself:

16348_322896915474_520100474_9988731_6490458_n.jpg


I like the look you get from Pag lights too if you want something a bit different from LED lights:

PaglightM277.jpg
 
I wanted to add one more thing about the Comer 1800 light. I shot an event tonight that went for about 6 hours. Probably had the light on 5 of it. Never had to change batteries. I could hardly believe it. these batteries are so inexpensive compared to others that I have bought, that I thought for sure they would run out pretty quickly (that is why I bought a couple of extra). Looks like maybe I did not need to. I love this light. Got a couple of Swit/Varizoom that will be going up for sale very soon.
 
Yeah i was looking into the Comer lights. just didnt really wanna spend $300-$400.

I have to break down and just go for it.. thanks for your input
 
I just bought a Comer 900 from Takey at LA Color Shop and I must say I was very impressed with his customer service. He quickly answered all my questions and got my light out to me quickly so I can use it on a shoot this Wednesday. I have been playing around with it and it really blows the Litepanel Micro and Microbeam 128 out of the water as far as bang for buck. The price is as good as you are going to get ($329 for everything). If you need a lot more power then the 1800 is the obvious choice.
 
For what it's worth, I'm planning on getting a Comer 1800 pretty soon. I've been using (and have LOVED) my NRG Varalux Pro for years, and I've not seen another light come close to it's versatility and capability.

However, this LED light is apparently almost as bright and much more compact (no battery belt...that's the main thing). And as I've been wanting a quality light that I can use with Steadicam at events, this thing seems to be it.

The money is not an issue...I've seen lights costing much more than this that deliver less functionality and worse color. For $400 I'm getting a light that delivers.
 
I used a NRG for many years, and the Comer 1800 is the only LED light that i would compare to it (as far as performance goes) On the built quality i still think the NRG is a winner!, but the Comer is not bad at all!

I currently own 2 1800's that i use on light stands, and a varizoom/swit that i use on-camera... but hopefully soon I'll be buying 1 or 2 more 1800's.
I still wish the 900 had a dimmer built-in!
 
Comer 1800 here,
I love it, bought like 3 Sony batteries for around $20 each giving about two hours on full charge each for a total of 6 hours of light at max brightness.
 
Feelihng compelled to add a little more to the discussion...

I did test out a friend's Microbeam 128 last summer. I had thought about purchasing one of those at the time with all the test footage I'd seen on that. Of course, once I got it in my hands, it was apparent that the test footage was either doctored or otherwise slightly exaggerated. The thing didn't have much of a throw, and although a fairly wide beam it was not terribly bright beyond a few feet.

To make matters worse, you needed to use a 1/2 CTO filter (included) in order to get a decent green correction on the thing, and that seriously cut down on the light output.

BUT - the build quality was excellent, and that's something to be said when most LED lights are in cheap plastic cases that crack when you look at them the wrong way.

Also used a Varizoom S2010 once or twice. Didn't care for it too much, just not a lot of light coming out of it.

I was actually at a photoshoot once (for the LFL, of all things) where two guys had the Microbeam and the Varizoom lights, and when I turned on my NRG they turned their lights off, and the photographers killed their flashes. THAT is the kind of light I want in an LED. The Comer 1800 appears to deliver in that regard.
 
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