Wedding Speeches - LED or CFL ??
 

Hi All

I'm currently using CFL lighting for my wedding speeches which consists of a stand mounted 32" square softbox and I have up to 9 x 55W lamps that can be switched in. (usually 4 or 5 are plenty) and it's around 15' back from the lectern where the bridal party come up to give their speech.

An LED Panel would be a lot easier to handle than a CFL setup here and far quicker to setup too!!!!

Any rough ideas on what size panel would give me a similar output to say 4 x 55W CFL's in a softbox. Is the light from a panel soft enough or does it need to be mounted inside a softbox .

It would be great to be able to grab a stand and clip on a panel!! BUT do I need a 256, 500 or 1000 LED panel to get the same amount of light that my softbox is giving me????

Chris

Re: Wedding Speeches - LED or CFL ??
 

Chris,
I love LEDs but haven't got a clue as to what you might need to fill your needs BUT I have a friend that has been using FloLight Microbeam LED panels for talking heads and he's quite vocal about how much he loves them.
Here's a link, might be right, might be wrong but at least it's something to compare.

MicroBeam 512 : High Powered LED Video Light - LED Lighting

Re: Wedding Speeches - LED or CFL ??
 

Hi Don

Thanks as always!! I have no idea how many lumens I need to light a subject say 3 metres away..I see their 512 light pushes out just over 200 lumens!!

Without going out and buying a lux meter it will be tough trying to determine what sort of output I gert from my softbox ( it actually has 9 x 55W 5500K lamps but I usually only need 4 or 5 to light someone nicely at a lectern about 3 metres away)

I wonder if one can calculate the rough lumen out of a CFL lamp ??? Some claim that they are equivalent to 6 x the same incandescent lamp wattage but I'm not convinced!! Probably 3 X is closer!!!

Chris

Re: Wedding Speeches - LED or CFL ??
 

Well I don't know about lumens but they say it's equal to a 500W hotlight and it's dimmable. I've used my frineds once and he had a piece of toughspun taped to the light to help even out the spread, don't know that it really made much difference as the lighting with 2 of them (set up for a fast talking heads) was even, soft yet bright enough to make me take notice. The lights were about 8 to 10 feet away and set up in a typical key and fill set.
Anyway, something to look at.
Good luck Pops! ;-)

Re: Wedding Speeches - LED or CFL ??
 

I would love to have soft box, even small one, as a fill instead of on camera LED , but very often because of ignorant MCs I can't even start recording the speech from the very beginning, not to say prepare for the action, and I can't just setup and leave the stand next to the podium for the whole evening,
but now i am thinking how to make this happen, cuz I love the idea

Re: Wedding Speeches - LED or CFL ??
 

Thanks Don

Yeah 500W is roughly the same as around 150-200W of CFL's which is my absolute bottom limit...My current softbox has 9 x 55W lights (which is nearly 500W of CFL power) In equivalent output that's at least 1500W of normal light (most manufacturers claim CFL's are 5 or 6 times brighter which would make each softbox output nearly 3000W equivalent!!!

That makes one's lighting a lot more compact and WAY more expensive!!!! They will come down however!!

Thanks for the input!

Hey Buba
I only use a softbox for speeches and I have everything ready to drag onto the dance floor to a suitable position....most of my MC's are very good and will tell me "speeches in 5 minutes" ...I did however had one that started the speeches as the photog and I sat down to eat!!

Chris

Re: Wedding Speeches - LED or CFL ??
 

Chris,

I have two CFL fixtures that hold four 85 watt bulbs with a softbox. In Wedding Videography I have only used them for soft illumination for the ceremony in situations with less than desirable lighting and where the venue is appropriate to discreetly place the lighting.

For the reception we use a on camera LED (Z96) for key lighting and for a second Z96 held up by hand by an assistant. Holding the 2nd LED light by hand allows the assistant to follow the videographer around and place themselves in the best position to hold up the handheld light for maximum effect. Great for toasts, speeches, dancing, etc.

Re: Wedding Speeches - LED or CFL ??
 

Hi DJ

My new softbox (I actually have two but only use one) is a whopper!! It's a 32"x32" box and the head holds 9 x 55W CFL's ...It has 5 bank switches to allow me to dial-in the light I need!! On the 2nd cam I actually use an on-camera light ... sometimes a 160LED unit and I also just bought one with 6 x power LED's which is more compact with almost the same output (and price too) (around $80)

For pure weight and size I'd love to use LED panels for the speeches as they are lighter and much more convenient but output against CFL's makes them very expensive!! The 9 x CFL softboxes cost around $250 and just half of the kit outputs a huge amount of light.... a similar LED panel would be much more expensive!!! Probably in the thousands..but they will drop in price and I think the light is soft enough to use just a panel or two so setup would be way quicker!!!

Chris