Good dimmable light for XH A1?
 

Hi lighting folks,
Can someone please give me their suggestions on a good light for the Cannon XH A1 that is dimmable? Thanks!!

Do you mean an on-camera light that will light whatever you point the camera at or a separate lighting setup that requires stands? In general, we need to know how large an area you'll be lighting, how portable your setup needs to be and how it will be powered (off batteries, wall power, generator, etc.).

Ah yes, I am looking for an on camera light that will light light up whatever I am looking at (off batteries) . I also would will need to purchase maybe a softbox? I'm not sure how those usually work. I shoot mostly weddings, well, I've edited for years and shot other footage...but weddings and receptions are quite tricky and lighting, is obviously on the unknown side for me, and I do appreciate all your help.

You might check out the Litepanels Micro. I saw this at WPPI this year and I plan to purchase one.

I believe anything beyond 10 feet, if even that, with the Light Panel Micro is going to be useless for special event work. I'd suggest the Frezzi Minifill (NOT the Microfill, the bulbs are too narrow for 16x9) with dimmer and a wider degree MR16 lamp. You can get a Sylvania MR16 50W/60 degree wide beam spread from Lamps Plus, at least they used to have it. The reason I suggest this, is most other MR16 lamps have a 45 or so degree spread or narrower... & they are spotty for 16x9 work even if they are labeled as having a "flood pattern".

http://www.lampsplus.com/Products/s_mr@16/page_1/08848/

Any suggested places or links for the Frezzi Minifill? Thanks guys!

Any thoughts on the softbox?

check the B&H site

http://tinyurl.com/6f494q

I guess it depends on the situation. I film mostly weddings, and if I'm having to light something more than 10 feet away then I'm simply out of position. Having a bright enough light to light things beyond 10 feet would not make my wedding guests very happy, lol.

You make a good point about the 16x9 effect. The LitePanels Mini is designed for that.

I've just haven't found any LED based lights that don't have a rapid fall off. They are great for close quarters, but they just don't have the range... yet :)

I guess I'm confused. Isn't light . . . well, light? I don't understand how light from an LED "drops off" faster than light from a tungsten bulb. Not saying you're wrong, but I don't get how that physically happens. It seems to me that if two different types of light bulbs both output 10w of light, then the light just does it's thing and both bulbs should drop off at the same distance. Is this not so?

check the B&H site
 

Hi Bill, There are a couple Frezzi Mini's... Which one did you prefer:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...On_Camera.html

or

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...Mini_Fill.html

or
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...Mini_Fill.html

or
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...C_80_Watt.html

Thanks so much for your input!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ht_System.html


I have used this and loved it, the fall off is perhaps greater than a frezzi but its not that much off, its also wideframe format, and also daylight balanced, built in diffusion and it truly works great.

Travis, the short answer is no. Depends on the reflector, the lens, etc. LEDs come in 3 types, a flood, a spot and a medium but they all act like something halfway between a softlight and a fresnel. They have a little more throw than a typical equivalent fluorescent but much less than the equivalent fresnel.

Nice, though it's a few hundred more than the Frezzi's listed...is there a suitable recommendation from the links I provided above?

Interesting. Thanks for the reply. I always just kind of figured watts were watts, but I guess I was wrong.