Microbeam LED on Camera Light

[Peter Arnold]

I don't know if you have seen it already, but Prompter People introduced a new LED on Camera light, the Microbeam.

I saw them in London 3 Weeks ago at the broadcastlive exhibition.

Here ya go: LED 500 FloLight - With A 500 Watt Ultra Bright Output - Prompter People

[Vasco Dones]

Holy cow! (coming from a Swiss...)
Judging by the specs, it looks almost too good to be true.
Peter, do you have any extra info, or more pix, on this?
It would really be THE on-camera light

Best

Vasco

[Peter Arnold]

Hi Vasco

Yeah the Swiss. Cows, watches, chocolate, cheese and and a currency the withdraws every storm!

I don't have any more pics and infos on the microbeam than those on they're website. But I saw it side by side with the Litepanels Micro and the MicroBeam surpasses the Litepanels in ever aspect! It has a rugged aluminum casing that can take a beat or two. No plastic here but broadcast quality aluminum housings for pros. They're made to stay. Period.

I could directly compare the MicroBeam with the Litepanels Micro.
A friend of mine was standig about 2 meters away from me and I was pointing the Litepanels Micro at him with absolutely no impact. Then I used the Flolight MicroBeam and suddenly the guy was lit. He pressed his eyes together and was going "Woahh.. that's bright".

My first guess was: "About two and a half times brighter than Litepanels". Seeing the numbers now on the prompterpeople website my guess was very close!
I'd say they are comparable to the Litepanels Mini Plus but for half the price.

And to my eyes no green tinge. But I could be wrong here, because I could not test the lights in real world conditions. Anyway they looked very good to me. If there is a green tinge you can easily correct that with some minus green filtering.

Those little fellas are as far as I'm concerned the best deal right now for an on camera light and believe me, I am hard to impress. I'm Swiss after all ;-)

You can power them with your regular camcorder batteries. They come as you wish with JVC, Panasonic, Canon or Sony mounts. You'll get 5 different filter to mount on the camera like color correction and soft filters.

Buy them. You won't regret it.

Peter

[Dean Sensui]

The Microbeam is about $55 more than the VidLED but it sounds like it's a lot brighter.

. . . and a lot more available.

Would be good to see a comparison between the two.

[Vasco Dones]

Originally Posted by Peter Arnold

Those little fellas are as far as I'm concerned the best deal right now for an on camera light and believe me, I am hard to impress. I'm Swiss after all ;-)

So am I, Peter (Tessiner mit Mueter us em Glarnerland)
and that's why I'm double-checking... :-

Tschüss - and thanks for your info

Vasco

[Peter Arnold]

s'Mami us Obwaldä und de Papi vo Uri. Gaht's no schlimmer?

:-)

Peter

[Vasco Dones]

Any "beta tester" out there willing to report on this thing?
Again: specs & price point (plus Arnold's comments, of course!)
would make it a winner (IMHO).
Anyone using it?
Guy (of DVeStore, who seems to have
a crush on good stuff @ fair prices), have you put
your eyes and/or your hands on the Flolight MicroBeam?

Best

Vasco

[Guy Cochran]

I'll get one and give it a whirl. I'm testing out Prompter People's LED 500 and 1000 right now. They're definitely no Litepanels 1x1 in terms of accurate color reproduction. I'll probably catch hell for saying that, but I'm just being honest. I'm sure it will get better, for now, the price point is amazing. When an LED light is pushed to it's max, you're not going to get 5600k with a 90+ CRI. A lot of LED lights that are being marketed right now are good for backlight and background lights. I wouldn't use them as a key light for flesh tones. A minus green gel is not the cure all. Maybe someone with more scientific knowledge can chime in, but think about it- a gel is global -high, mid, low. And that green spike is not across the board. Litepanels achieves their consistent color by "burying the green" down below 50% of dimmed output. You'll get more accurate color where the dimmer setting for the output is used most 50%-100.

If you run out with the mindset that you'll just color correct in post, you're going to see what I mean about wanting high CRI lights. Color Correcting can lead to a flatter, posterized flesh tone - it does not look natural and can give your lively talent a rather dead look. I've been testing a lot of fluorescent bulb systems over the years to sell in the DVeStore and could never find one that was both accurate, affordable, and easy to travel with. Things are changing fast though. LED's are the future of lighting for video production.

[Vasco Dones]

Thanks Guy!
Looking forward to reading your review of the Microbeam.

Best

Vasco

[Steve Sobodos]

Hey Guy, I'm also looking forward to one of your reviews on this light.

[Josh Bass]

Hey guys. I think some of you have seen this already, but I got and reviewed (sort of) this light elsewhere on here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/photon-ma...pressions.html

[Steve Sobodos]

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

Hey guys. I think some of you have seen this already, but I got and reviewed (sort of) this light elsewhere on here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/photon-ma...pressions.html

I've see your postings, they were great but I am hoping for things like:

1. Spread. I do weddings in HD (wide screen) and some of the lights fall off on the sides real bad. Shoot a blank wall 5-10 feet away. Some make a circle of light when my video needs wider.

2. Reach. Your room shot helped but at -3db it is hard to tell re-world. We usually run about 3-6db in a reception hall.

3. Compare. Many of us are trting to improve on existing lights like the Sony HVL-20DW2 with a Sto-fen difusser or the LightPanels MIcro.

[Josh Bass]

I can maybe do the first two, but don't own other lights for comparison.

Instead of a blank white wall, what about an outside wall of my "house"? The inside is crammed and cramped. No blank walls anywhere.

As far as reach goes, I can certainly shoot one with the iris open, 1/60 shutter, and +3 and +6 gain. Maybe a 1/30 shutter too.

[Steve Sobodos]

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

I can maybe do the first two, but don't own other lights for comparison.

Instead of a blank white wall, what about an outside wall of my "house"? The inside is crammed and cramped. No blank walls anywhere.

As far as reach goes, I can certainly shoot one with the iris open, 1/60 shutter, and +3 and +6 gain. Maybe a 1/30 shutter too.

Any wall will do, it is just to see the pattern.

The two gains would help although I'm not sure how your camcorder compares with the XHA1 for sensitivity.

[Josh Bass]

Do you know your cam's ASA/ISO? The XL2 is reported at 320, so you could do the math from there.