500 LED light
Laurence
wrote on 2/28/2008, 9:02 PM
Comments
Serena
wrote on 2/28/2008, 10:11 PM
That does look interesting and the price affordable. I've been reading comments that the super-bright LEDs don't maintain their output or colour temperature, since this relies on the life of the coating rather than of the LED. I'll see if I can find the reference.
EDIT: the reference was in a discussion about LED lighting replacing current alternatives and mentioned that earlier LEDs quickly deteriorated. Other than that the responses were fairly positive, with the reservation that the guys were used to lighting large areas. Perhaps a useful comment was:
"I worked about a year with LED lights and there are some limitations.
The lights work as advertised for the most part. They are cool,
durable and the dimming is built-in, which is nice. I found that the
quality of light is a bit "cold", especially on skin tones. It's not
a matter of color temperature, it's just the quality of the light. To
me tungsten just looks nicer. LED also seem to be unable to compete
with sunlight unless you are very close to the subject. Unlike the
Kinos you cannot swap elements for daylight or indoor so you
basically need two sets or use gels which cut the emission of light
even more. If you use tungsten with CTB you end up with very limited
throw that can cause frustration when shooting outside. They are also
rather small and that keeps them relatively harsh.
After extensive use of them, if I had to decide for a lighting
package I would rather use Kinos. I like a softer light and the
ability to replace the tubes is definitely a plus."
EDIT: the reference was in a discussion about LED lighting replacing current alternatives and mentioned that earlier LEDs quickly deteriorated. Other than that the responses were fairly positive, with the reservation that the guys were used to lighting large areas. Perhaps a useful comment was:
"I worked about a year with LED lights and there are some limitations.
The lights work as advertised for the most part. They are cool,
durable and the dimming is built-in, which is nice. I found that the
quality of light is a bit "cold", especially on skin tones. It's not
a matter of color temperature, it's just the quality of the light. To
me tungsten just looks nicer. LED also seem to be unable to compete
with sunlight unless you are very close to the subject. Unlike the
Kinos you cannot swap elements for daylight or indoor so you
basically need two sets or use gels which cut the emission of light
even more. If you use tungsten with CTB you end up with very limited
throw that can cause frustration when shooting outside. They are also
rather small and that keeps them relatively harsh.
After extensive use of them, if I had to decide for a lighting
package I would rather use Kinos. I like a softer light and the
ability to replace the tubes is definitely a plus."
farss
wrote on 2/29/2008, 12:23 AM
If you want a really good LED light you cannot beat the Zylight. They are calibrated to give precise CTs, you can adjust the CT from around 2,000 to 6,000, dial in colour by gel numbers or just makeup any colour you want. They are expensive but given that the LEDs are custom made that's understandable. I should mention that the company I work for is the Australian agent so I'm a little biased.
Aside from that the Flolight looks pretty good, I can't quite workout though why it's not just simply dimmable rather than bank switchable. I haven't seen one first hand so I can't comment on the quality of the light but you do need to be careful as not all white LEDs are the same. That said though the fluro light using the Osram 55W Single D Studioline tubes are very common in the industry, you really can't go far wrong with them. You can get cheap ones made in China that are bank switchable all the way up to dimmable units with DMX control for studio use. One tip, get egg crates for them, all of them spill a lot of light.
Bob.
Aside from that the Flolight looks pretty good, I can't quite workout though why it's not just simply dimmable rather than bank switchable. I haven't seen one first hand so I can't comment on the quality of the light but you do need to be careful as not all white LEDs are the same. That said though the fluro light using the Osram 55W Single D Studioline tubes are very common in the industry, you really can't go far wrong with them. You can get cheap ones made in China that are bank switchable all the way up to dimmable units with DMX control for studio use. One tip, get egg crates for them, all of them spill a lot of light.
Bob.
baysidebas
wrote on 2/29/2008, 6:11 AM
I got one of these [Flolight] a few months ago. It was surprisingly smaller than I expected, but the dimensions are accurate. Made in China, it came with a rattle inside, a rusty loose screw that apparently didn't belong anywhere in the unit. A colleague who also purchased one, had a similar experience. The only caveat is that, while they advertise it as AC/DC powered, there's no connector for a DC input. But it can't be beat for my on-the-fly interview shooting where portability, illumination, and quick set strike (without having to wait for lamp cooling) are paramount.
CClub
wrote on 2/29/2008, 8:46 AM
I looked into the Zylight... it is a bit pricey, but if it replaces one of my other primary lights, I would consider it. It just seems a bit small, even being shown on their website on the camera itself. I'm not much of a lighting expert; how would the Zylight Z90 compare to say my Arri 650W fresnel?
Laurence
wrote on 2/29/2008, 9:00 AM
I found a good review of the Flolight 500 LED light here:
http://www.dvfreelancer.com/articles/ledlights.html
http://www.dvfreelancer.com/articles/ledlights.html
MUTTLEY
wrote on 2/29/2008, 10:49 AM
Got this link from the DVinfo site, great vid about the Zylight, Steve Cahill did a great job:
Steve Cahill 's overview of the Zylight
- Ray
Some of my stuff on Vimeo
www.undergroundplanet.com
Steve Cahill 's overview of the Zylight
- Ray
Some of my stuff on Vimeo
www.undergroundplanet.com
Jay Gladwell
wrote on 2/29/2008, 12:01 PM
There would be no comparison--apples to oranges.
farss
wrote on 2/29/2008, 1:18 PM
"how would the Zylight Z90 compare to say my Arri 650W fresnel? "
It's called the Z90 becuase it's roughly equivent to the output of a 90W incandescent. Totally different light built for a totally different purpose.
Bob.
It's called the Z90 becuase it's roughly equivent to the output of a 90W incandescent. Totally different light built for a totally different purpose.
Bob.
CClub
wrote on 2/29/2008, 6:40 PM
Gotcha. Makes sense.
Laurence
wrote on 3/4/2008, 2:00 PM
There is another review of the Flolight LED500 here:
http://www.lafcpug.org/reviews/review_flolight.html
By the way, I ordered some yesterday. They are backordered and should arrive at the end of March.
http://www.lafcpug.org/reviews/review_flolight.html
By the way, I ordered some yesterday. They are backordered and should arrive at the end of March.
Serena
wrote on 3/4/2008, 6:47 PM
Please post your own review when you've had a good play.
Laurence
wrote on 3/4/2008, 7:33 PM
I will.
Serena
wrote on 3/4/2008, 7:50 PM
>>>>One tip, get egg crates for them, all of them spill a lot of light.<<<<
Bob, just picking up on your comment, do you have egg-crates that don't cost as much as the lights? Well, nearly as much. The cheap versions (office fluorescent grids) are heavy and rigid. I've contemplated sitting down with the sewing machine to stitch up my own, but that's as far as I got.
Bob, just picking up on your comment, do you have egg-crates that don't cost as much as the lights? Well, nearly as much. The cheap versions (office fluorescent grids) are heavy and rigid. I've contemplated sitting down with the sewing machine to stitch up my own, but that's as far as I got.
Cheno
wrote on 3/4/2008, 8:45 PM
The first thing I emailed Flolight about was an eggcrate option. Their claim is that due to the directional output of the LEDs vs. Fluoro tubes, you don't need an eggcrate for the 500 LED light. I'm a sucker for eggcrates on fluoros, ziplights and softboxes so very used to using (and paying) for them, so to not need one for this type of light would be nice.
In looking at the LAFPUG article, it looks as though this light behaves more in the realm of a hardlight anyway, so with barndoors, reflectors - you should be able to control spill better than on an fluoro.
Interested in your opinion when you get them, Laurence. Also excited to see them at NAB.
cheno
In looking at the LAFPUG article, it looks as though this light behaves more in the realm of a hardlight anyway, so with barndoors, reflectors - you should be able to control spill better than on an fluoro.
Interested in your opinion when you get them, Laurence. Also excited to see them at NAB.
cheno
farss
wrote on 3/4/2008, 9:25 PM
We got a LitePanel on camera light today and if the LEDs in it perform anything light the ones in the Flolight then egg crates definately not required. What you will need are diffusers. Because the LEDs have lenses each one is a tiny spotlight. That's OK at distance but up close you could end up with lots (500) little spots of light.
To answer Serena the crates we have for our Lupo fluros are expensive I think. They're a metal honeycomb, less than 10mm thick, very light and effective, not certain of the cost but as we have way less of them than lights I'd say expensive. Probably not as expensive as they might be as we imported a palette of lights and the crate fitted on the same palette. I love them because I've shot against black at times and wanted to keep the black, well, black.
The fabric ones are not as good but harder to damage, the metal that makes the honeycomb is a bit like the fins on a car radiator, if anything hard brushes against them they distort.
Bob.
To answer Serena the crates we have for our Lupo fluros are expensive I think. They're a metal honeycomb, less than 10mm thick, very light and effective, not certain of the cost but as we have way less of them than lights I'd say expensive. Probably not as expensive as they might be as we imported a palette of lights and the crate fitted on the same palette. I love them because I've shot against black at times and wanted to keep the black, well, black.
The fabric ones are not as good but harder to damage, the metal that makes the honeycomb is a bit like the fins on a car radiator, if anything hard brushes against them they distort.
Bob.
Serena
wrote on 3/4/2008, 9:29 PM
Yes, I think that would be correct: LEDs don't need egg-crates. I was really latching onto Bob's comment re fluoros. You can tell that I'm mean when it comes to paying for things that don't go "ping" and have used various alternative forms of egg-crate, none of which is as convenient as the material ones. However if I was stitching up material into an egg-crate, I'd want money for the time. So while I know why they're expensive, still they don't go ping!