I subsequently did read your numbers . . but in a kinda working enviro .. what do you feel about it?

Good question Grazie - I'll do some further tests later when it gets dark, but it has a fair throw - can see its effect clearly more than 5 metres away, but I'll shoot some footage in a few hours and report back.

Too kind! - I too have read specs and seen some "throw" but some pics to actually observe another colleague's/simliar usage would be real neat! Thanks Peter

As to the option on the lead acid battery .. yeah built one myself for my 5" extmon for my XM2 .. . too posey to mention . . lot to be said for the old technologies . .WUSA(?) battery?

. . G

I've been buying some Li-Ion batteries for powering on camera lights from Powerizer in the USA, pretty cheap for 4000mAH and the price includes a free charger of sorst except it takes forever to charge the batteries as it's only 500mA however for a few dollars more you can get a 1,500mA charger which is much quicker.

So far these batteries are working very well.

I also love the SLA batteries, cheap, easy to charge and hard to break but they are heavy i.e. energy density is low compared to Li-Ion. SLAs are good though for cameras that run all day from the one location, I've sold around 20 systems for just this application, still running after 3 years.
Bob.

Hm,
I think that's the one we tried about a month ago, I think it was a prototype, no dimmer. Actually the lamp housing ran very hot, I'd be interested to see how Peter's goes. Ours had the barn doors and a CTO filter.
We gave it to a wedding guy to trial and he just didn't like it compared to our fluro on camera light, too intense.
Bob.

Don't think it's the same one Bob - the barn doors for the X3 are "not yet available", this one has been out for a few months complete with dimmer, and after a twenty minute shoot it is still cool as cucumber. It's made by the I.D.X Company from China .... Got it from www.videoguys.com.au

The battery I chose is a couple of kilos, but in a shoulder bag is not too bad - may seem different after an hour or two ...

Grazie, I just tried it in a few different scenarios. With absolutely no other light, which would be pretty rare, it gets a pretty good picture within 5-6 metre radius, with background still visible up to 8-10 metres. With subject within 1-2 metres, it needed turning down around 40%, which was easy - the knob is on the back of the light.

In an average working environment, with bits of light here and there but not where you want, it would certainly allow you to get a good picture where one would not otherwise be obtainable, and that's the main reason I've got it. It's a soft light, so its range in distance terms is limited, but it certainly made some nice colours possible instead of the dreaded low light video noise.

Peter,
I think you're right. The one we had was different, pretty sure it had 3x 7W Luxeon LEDs in it, drew around 20W and that'd explain why the case got so hot. It was seriously bright and had a flip down diffuser.
Apart from that pretty similar.
One thing that worried me about this design is the spread of light, didn't really get a chance to try it on a 16x9 camera to see how well it lit the whole frame.
Bob.

Bob, it has a 40 degree beam angle - I trialed it with a Z1 and didn't notice any dark areas at the sides.

We'll have a look at them, personally I'm a fan of the lightpanel LED thingies but they're a tad expensive and a bit overwhelming on some cameras, probably even a bit too big on the Z1s even.
We've pretty much stuck with the fluro lights from Photon Beard, not cheap either but the wedding guys seem to love 'em as they don't freak out the diners at the reception however IMHO they just don't have enough punch to use as the only light source so I'm looking for something to fill that gap in our lineup.
We used to have Possum lights, basically just a sealed beam 12V halogen and man did they run HOT, glad to be rid of them.
Bob.

Bob - I hate to give misleading info - when I trialled the X3 earlier I must have been slightly zoomed in and thus did not see any dark sides, but having now used it zoomed fully out, there are indeed dark crescents visible at the sides of the widescreen frame.

Something to be aware of, especially when the camera light is the only illumination.

Peter,
thanks for the info, I know how hard these things are to evaluate. I'm still thinking pretty seriously about buying one or more of these units as they're nice and small, will not look out of place on the A1s. I'll team them up with some Li-Ion batteries to keep the kit small.
Trying to light a 16:9 frame out wide with an on camera light is I think quite a big ask, that's before you put a WA lens on the camera too, maybe there's a need for a light that 'zooms'!
Still, the main users of our on camera lights are the wedding guys and it's just for some fill rather than as the only light source so some fall off at the edges isn't really an issue, might even be desirable.
Being able to fit a CTO filter for when they're shooting in typical dim reception rooms would be a good thing too, something we really cannot offer with our existing lights.
Bob.

Great thread guys! - Peter, thank you for your review - they do sound a bit good. I could link this to my 12 volt lead acid I sling around my shgoulders! Should last for like a fortnight!

Is this the "puppy"? Around +£200inc VAT? Presently I have the PAG C6 and two batteries. Anyways, is this it?

EDIT:

Sorry, if you go to this page and scan down the left edge for "Film & TV Lighting" and then select, "Camera Lighting" stuff .. .sessh! Always check out the links first! Sorry guys .. .

/EDIT

Peter, if you have time, could you post some befores and afters samples?

Grazie

Grazie,
http://www.videoguys.com.au/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=1764

Yes you could run it off any 12V battery, SLAs would be fine, might need to do a little soldering to change connectors although they can supply it with industry standard 4pin XLR.
Bob.