I need your opinon please

[Ralph Chaney]

I’m not familiar with the lighting power of the Frezzi versus the Lite Panel Pro, but… Anytime you can shed gear that constricts you the better. This is true for quick documentary shooting as well as other physical activities like sports. In surfing and skiing, come Springtime when you can shed the extra layers of neoprene or down, suddenly the whole feel of moving and the quality of activity elevates. Same with shooting. Unless the Frezz outdoes the LPP by good measure, and since you’ve got the budget, why not?

-> Ralph

[Mark Suszko]

I think most LED panels work better outdoors where their native color temp is closer to daylight. Indoors most of the cheaper ones I’ve seen need extra gels to match color temp better, and gels also reduce the output of the light, restricting useful range. Adjustable output is nice, no question, for incandescent OR LED. I have used various Frezzi lights on my cams for years and I like them.

What would get me to change is running cool and longer duration with less weight, if it still gave me the same range as the incandescent… then again I shoot exclusively using full-size shoulder-carried cams with a power tap to the light, off the main camera battery. For me, the LED lights are getting better all the time but are not quite “there” (for me) yet at a price that I could live with. They are more for use as an “Obie” than the ENG fill-in light I tend to need across a wide variety of conditions. Your views will probably differ, if your job does.

The technology I want to see is the combination LED/flo hybrid. What this is, is a conventional bulb that looks like an incandescent. Inside is a high output UV LED that bathes a phospor coating inside the bulb. This marries the low power, very long duration, and ruggedness and cool running of LEDs with the soft diffuse output and (with control of the phosphors) good color balance of a high CRI flouorescent light. I had read about it about 2 years ago but have yet to see a shipping product. Probably because it was aimed to use in homes and the very cheap Chinese spiral bulb flos are depressing proces and making ti hard to charge what the hybrid bulb is worth to make. But for our needs I think it could be another game-changer.

[Joel Servetz]

I’ve owned and used the Frezzi Dimmer Mini-Fill, Lightpanels Micro and Lowel Pro Light. As much as I’d like to retire my Pro-Lights, I can’t yet because LED lights are still not there yet as far as output. They’re great for light weight and long running time but light output just isn’t sufficient yet in the small, on-camera lights. The Micro-Pro is supposed to be about twice as bright as the Micro. I haven’t seen it yet but twice as bright as the Micro still won’t cut it. Keep your Frezzi and keep watching for the latest developments in LEDs.

Joel Servetz
RGB Media Services, LLC
Sarasota, Fl
videobyjoel@aol.com