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Need opinon on New type of LED lights by Phillips
We are in the process of buying new lighting. Most of ours lights which include the old omni lights have 20 years on them and are held together using duck tape and gum. They may not be fancy but I have done alot of great lighting with these old lights thru the years. About 10 years ago we got a large RIFA light which I love. It too is about to fall apart.
We are very interested in the New LED type lights however were not overly impressed with Lite Panels. We tried Lite Panels in house for a week and liked the idea that they are very light and do not require replacement bulbs at least not that I know of and the fact that you can even run on battery. The problem with them is you cannot switch them from 3200K to 5600K without buying additional fixtures and I am very concerned about how delicate they are and since I am a clutz..I assure you I will trip over the lights. They are also quite expensive.
While at NAB, we came across a small booth by Philips. They were showing some samples of some new type of LED lights from Color Kinetics. Now Color Kinetics has been around and do state of the art Theater and Architectual lighting. We were blown away by the quality of light these new lights generated. They had them on a light stand and the luminance of these larger LEDs were twice of the Lite Panels.
These also could be switched easily from 3200K to 5600K simply by changing a dimmer switch. In addition, they were made extremely tough since the houseing was made for architectual lighting. They also run on batteries if needed and can be linked using an external dimmer. We pulled both of these LEDs , Light Panels and Phillips and compared them with the look of our RiFa lights. The Lite panels had a strange white I guess hard pointy look, and could not be used with a scrim to even soften them up. The Phillips compared very close to the Rifa lights and were powerful enough to add a scrim as a softlight.
Has anyone used the Philips and what are your thoughts. I believe for shooting beautifully lit interviews the Phillips would be great. We are even looking at the smaller versions as kickers on the back of peoples heads. Get this… you can buy both the larger lights and the kickers with colored LEDs so you do not need to carry gels around.
Imagine doing an interview and slowly changing the colors according to what the person is saying.
Any way … Before we spend the money … I would love some feedback on this new lighting.
If you have not seen these lights here is the Philips Web site. https://www.colorkinetics.com/ls/intelliwhite/
By the way the Canadian broadcasting network is using these in there studios. Fixtures are being made to be able to put them on a normal broadcast light stands.
David
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10 Replies
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I saw these lights at NAB too. What I didn’t like about them was the huge dimmer (ball & chain) as I was looking for a compact solution for traveling. I wasn’t to crazy about the mixing of colored LED’s as I would like knowing I could get more light from the unit. I think there will be many many more companies coming out with LED fixtures as this is truly the future of lighting.
I ended up purchasing 3-LED 500’s from Prompter People that are extremely affordable They have been great, I even had a nice anvil type case made for them.I held off from purchasing the LED 1000 units as I heard these units may not have used the same LEDs that were used in the 500’s.
https://www.prompterpeople.com/led500.phpIMO the Lite Panel units are the best so far with color and the smallest on board dimmer, however they are very pricey.
I wouldn’t rush into purchasing to many LED units as I’m sure they will dramatically improve in the next few years.
Good Luck
Michael Palmer -
I have been shooting with the Flolight 500s from Prompter People. They are not bad but have a nasty green spike and I am not crazy about the quality of the light they put out. Its not controllable like a tungsten fresnel and its not soft like my Kinos, its kind of in between. To me, the in between is a no-mans land that isn’t really that useful for my style of lighting. The Flolights are excellent for lighting green screens, I have been using them for that application and they are perfect.
The ones I am excited about are these new LEDs that our buddies at CineMills have introduced http://www.led-z.com They are really great but about the same price as HMIs. You get what you pay for. In the future, when we can buy these types of light for $600.00, I will be in heaven.
Kino has a new line of color temp switchable LEDs coming but they too will be pretty expensive for non-pros, I heard that they will start at around $1,500.00 and go up from there.
I hate the large LitePanels, they shift color temp too much when dimmed but the little on-camera LitePanels are excellent but too small to light a set with.
Dan
Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs
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Have you tried removing the green spike from the FloLight LEDs with some minus green gel (majenta)? Probably 1/4 will do the trick. It’s far better to have a properly balanced light, but the gel will at least help and make it possible to use it.
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Hi Rick:
Yes, I have used minus green but for lighting green screens, the spike actually helps saturate the green fabric I am using. In this case, it’s actually a plus.
Our buddy Richard over at Coolights is going to be shipping a 600 LED version that is the tungsten equivalent of 600 watts in December for $379.00. It will be a superior value and it looks to be a better light than than the Flolight (Yushua product). He will be shipping with a free carry bag and will also offer AB brick and V mount battery plates for less than $100.00. I think he is going to own the low end LED market for a while 😉 The CRI looks to be in the 85-87 range though and it would not surprise me if these also have the green spike. He will have a very limited number of 3200k versions available for those who prefer them.
Dan
Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs
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“Yes, I have used minus green but for lighting green screens, the spike actually helps saturate the green fabric I am using. In this case, it’s actually a plus. ”
I’m not sure I understand what you are saying here. Using MINUS green reduces the green values within lighting units spectrum. IMO Using minus green on lights dedicated for the green screen is counter productive. Using minus green on back lights dedicated for your subject helps fight the ambient bounce back of the green from the screen. Perhaps you just didn’t clarify yourself or I’m reading this wrong.
Those of us who have worked extensively with green and blue screens know there are green and blue florescent tubes to help enhance the effect.
Good Luck
Michael Palmer -
Michael, I think you overlooked the “but” in the quoted sentence. The writer and you agree: using lights with green spikes works just fine to light a green screen. Using those same lights elsewhere, you probably want to add minus green.
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
You got it Rick. I only use the minus green when lighting people. What I was saying was that the additional green spike is helpful for making green screen more green, thereby making keying easier.
Dan
Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs
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Just to add a note on the green “spikeyness” of fluors – I’ve been testing Richard’s Cool Lights Studio Fluorescent fixtures in my studio and I have to say that I’ve seen NONE of the green spike problems that were associated with old style fluors.
I even took them out on a field shoot for a large retailer, and while the studio rigs are a bit fragile for traveling (probably why he also makes them in a coated fiberboard configuration like Kino-flos for field work!) the light itself is great.
I’m working with the 3200k lamps since my client has re-lamped their 1000+ stores for maximum energy efficiency using industrial overhead fluorescent fixtures that put out 3100 kelvin according to my camera.
The extra benefit is that I still get to use my tungsten Arri kits for spot fill and problem solving.
FWIW.
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Has anyone used fixtures that allow multiple cfl lamps? Some cfls approach 90 cri and are relatively cheap, your could use minus green if necessary, and because the are standard household sockets, the fixture options are multiple and cheap.
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Check out AAdyntech.com they have a studio 3200 that has over 90CRI
I think I sent a post a few weeks ago regarding same.
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