Would anyone be interested in a HID On Camera Lighting system for their cameras?

[Tony Jucin]

Well one of my businesses I own is a HID lighting company www.luxuryhid.com
Well we mainly sell HID kits for Cars and if your not fimilar with what they are, they are 3 times brighter then regular halogen bulbs. You find these lights on the high end cars such as Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, etc.. You cant miss them when you are driving down the road.

Anyhow I own a couple of these
http://www.imagewest.tv/index.asp?Pa...WPROD&ProdID=4

Well for what we shoot it is in the middle of the night and DARK and these 150 watts just don't cut it. Well I did a little machine work and actually converted it to a HID bulb and its MORE then 3 times brighter. I was debating about doing these conversions and possibly selling them. Im going to get some video up here shortly so you can see the difference but its self expanitory to people who own cars with these lights on them.

Now the only problem I see with these lights is that its soooooo bright I dont think you will be able to beam these in peoples eyes but we are going to give it a wing :)

The best part is the only thing extra involved is a "ballast" which sits aside your battery pack. It weighs ounces and is about the size of 8 credit cards stacked.

Let me know guys!

Please dont delete, Im just getting peoples opinions and Im not advertising since I havent even made any other ones yet. Thanks

[Gary Chavez]

I'm thinking that your biggest market would be ENG.
Even though such a light would be way to powerful for any interview situation, it would be great at standoffs or situations where the media is kept at a long distance, well till it made you a target anyways.

Really, natural disasters would be the only application I can think of. I mean being on the side of a raging, swollen river bank with somebody hanging from a car in the middle of it being rescued, the light would be awesome.
And for the price listed, might be justifiable.

Also, lots of times the EMTs would ask for our lights to help them in dark situations. Maybe something there for you.

[Giroud Francois]

it is a long time i chew this thing in my mind, but never found the time to go on prototyping.
My main Cons would be that :
It is still bulb, with all the drawback (it gets very hot, it breaks easily, the life is limited in time anyway, the bright point is very hard to the eye) and it gets additional drawbacks dur to this technology ,high voltage from the ballast can be dangerous under rain, can be noisy, there is a setup time to switch on and off, bulb is expensive. high current required, so big batteries.
The only Pros i can find are lot of light for cheap and can be 4000-6000k.
the purpose i was thinking of is more portable light (a car battery, a stand and a reflector mounted on a caddy so you can set you lights in minutes in difficult places like churches, open air, public venues were cable and powerplug are hard to find or mobility is a must.
for camera mounted lights, i think the led is better (cool, light, low consumption, can be diffused easily, easy to the eye).

[Tony Jucin]

Ballast and Bulb are both waterproof, definetly way brighter then the LED and works for what Im doing. Thanks for the info though, Ill have pics up shortly.

[John DeLuca]

So basically it would be a cheaper alternative to a sun gun or HMI. I would love the idea if you did a few things-

-It needs an industry standard chimera speed ring mount so you can use flame retardant diffusion banks and light shaping accessories.

-You should try mounting three or four of them on an adjustable bracket for applications that need more power.

-For on camera applications you should make it compatible with sun gun diffusers (mini soft box made of flame retardant materials).

-You need to offer a few popular battery/power options. AB, NP-1, IDX-V mount, 4-pin XLR from standard battery belts, ect.


-John

[John DeLuca]

Also, for on camera applications I would love to see a light bracket similar to this one-

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


It would allow you to mount the light higher and slightly off-axis (gets rid of the deer in headlights look). It would be a great combo with the sun gun diffuser.

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


-John