On camera LED light advice

[Paolo Castellano]

Hi Laura,
I used both the Manfrotto and the CN-160 and a lot of other ones.
In my opinion, if you cannot afford the Litepanels “Sola ENG”, the best option is the Swit S-2040. It really makes what its video shows. https://www.swit-battery.com/EN/product.aspx?id=279

Best Regards,

Paolo.Castellano@ivs.it
http://www.ivsEdits.com
———————–
“Post Fata Resurgo”

[Joel Servetz]

Here’s a really nice light that I’ve been using for a while. I now have four of them and they can inter-connect to form different combinations depending on need. Lots of light, dimmable, well built and very efficient.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/784071-REG/Vidpro_Z_96K_Professional_Photo_Video.html

Joel Servetz
RGB Media Services, LLC
Sarasota, Fl
videobyjoel@aol.com
http://www.rgbmediaservices.com

[Roger Van duyn]

I can second what Joel says about the Z-96 lights.

Roger

[Laura Weinstein]

Hey thank you for the response. Are any of the lights I mentioned worth getting or do they have flaws?

[Craig Alan]

go to https://www.bhphotovideo.com/ and do a search for on-camera LED light. you’ll see a lot of choices and almost all are reviewed. including some you mentioned.

Question:

You are shooting video? Or stills?

how does an on-camera light help light an area as big as a dance floor?

Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought that most on-camera lights are basically good to add some catch light in a subject’s eyes.

Since most weddings are videotaped affairs, it amazes me that the needs of the photog and videographer aren’t built into the planning. The whole thing is basically one big production.

For many times your $200 budget I’d think about:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/845160-REG/Kino_Flo_SKITD4_120_STD_Diva_Lite_401_Kit_120.html

would be my first choice for a run and gun. its dimmable. it can take different temp bulbs. you can option for two or four bulbs being lit. it makes your subjects look good with its very even lighting. its easy to set up and runs off normal current. the kit comes with a diffusor so subjects won’t be hit with glare. You can use the egg crate to control spill. the stand is basic but the baby mount gives you a lot of choices. you could even buy a clamp and safety cable to mount it to any overhead grid. You’ll also have a great light for interviews which has to be a part of wedding stuff.

MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[John Fishback]

Checkout Alzo’s offerings. We a a number of them and they are excellent.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz, 16 GB RAM, OS 10.7.4, QT10.1, Kona 3, Dual Cinema 23, ATI Radeon HD 5870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.3, Motion 4.0.3, Comp 3.5.3, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.3)
FCP-X 10.0.7, Motion 5.0.6, Compressor 4.0.6

Pro Tools HD 10 w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec DSP Monitors, Prima CDQ120 ISDN

[Todd Terry]

We just bought the Switronix TorchLED for a specific job (backlight for talent in a location where we need need a battery-powered daylight instrument). I’ve never used one before, but took a leap of faith after hearing tons of people rave about it.

It’s a little pricier though, at about $300…

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/824710-REG/Switronix_TL_BT200_TorchLED_Bolt_On_Camera_LED.html

It’s not being delivered here until tomorrow, but I’ll let you know what I think…

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Tom Guiney]

I’m a fan of the switronix torchLED tl-200, like the previous poster mentioned.. IT’s really not a bad price for what you get. IT’s as powerful as you need it to be for a variety of situations, and it’s bi-color which is really convenient for working on your own in changing situations, like at a wedding. I pretty much wouldn’t use ANY on-camera light without a softbox on it, except for in day exterior where you need all the output you can get. The softboxes I use are, not surprisingly, the ones I make. Airboxlights.com Inflatable softboxes for LED lights. This is me disclosing my connection to the company.
For LEDs, to some extent you get what you pay for- the cheapest units tend to have bad color. As well as Switronix TorchLEDs, I like the F&V lights.

best of luck

DP, gaffer, lighting product designer
convictionfilms.net
airboxlights.com

[Todd Terry]

I had mentioned the Switronix TorchLED above, but that was when we had ordered one, but it had not yet been delivered.

In the months since then though we’ve used the heck out of it. I have to admit I’ve never used it as an on-camera light, but we use it as a back/hair light or stick it places as a little special all the time. It’s worth every penny, and more.

I’ll only fault it in one way… it only has a shoe adapter and the little ball joint isn’t that great. Since (so far) we’ve only used it on a C-stand or grip arm we’ve had to fashion a baby-pin receiver for it that works, eh, well enough… but not quite as well as if Switronix had made a proper one for it.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com