Alzo Daylight Flouries

[David Parks]

http://www.alzovideo.com/alzo_600ex_location_kit.htm

Has anyone used these Alzos. They seem to be closer to daylight at 5500k
vs their HMI HID's at 5300k..

I'm thinking about buying them to mix with Lowel Fourescent Datylight 4 banks.

Cheers

[Bill Pryor]

Those don't look bad. Four 85 watt bulbs would probably put out about the same as your Caselight 4 which has four 55 watt bulbs because the mirrored reflectors on the caselights probably put out more light per watt.

Coollights http://www.coolvideolights.com/ has fluorescents similar to Caselights but at a fraction of the cost. Also Flolights http://www.flolight.com/ has some that are more than Coollights but a lot less than Caselights.

I used Caselights for years but just recently went in search of some for my own and there are a lot of options there now that are cheaper and equally good. I was going to buy some Coollights fluorescents but they weren't in stock yet so I went to Flolights, and I discovered their 500LED lights, so I got three of those instead of fluorescents. So far I'm happy with that. They're a lot smaller and lighter than fluorescents, a full 5600K, pull even less power, and they're a bit more focused and have a little longer throw than the equivelent fluorescent. They're somewhere between a softlight and a fresnel.

[Christopher Witz]

Interfit make some 3, 5, and 9 cfl bulb big bowl lights that work great and are cheap.... I have a few of the 3 bulb lights ( http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ood_Light.html )and for $89 each they are a bargain.... down side is they have to be broken down to save space for transport unless you have plenty of room. But... the quality of light they produce ( when the shower cap is on ) is very good. CRI of 91

Bill, my 500led's showed up the other day, and I'm pretty happy with them as well..... smaller than I expected, but that's a good thing. I'm a one-man operation and want to keep it that way.... so a very portable kit is my aim. in fact... I'd love not even have to use AC power and these lights will help me reach that desire. Now if only I could get them to float in the air and not have to use stands...hehe

I shoot with an EX1 and it's exectional low light capabilities allow me to use lights that are not all that powerful.

I also have some 6 bank fotodiox flos and they are built exactly like the 500led's... as if their from the same factory. But... sometimes the bulbs come loose while in transit. I'd not feel comfortable flying with them unless I took the bulbs out.

I'd be more than happy to have about 20 of these 500LED lights....

another thing great about the led's.... the don't flicker and are perfect for slowmo.... flo light will not work well with overcranking.

[David Parks]

Christopher/Bill,

Stop the presses. These LED light banks are less than $500 each ! The litepanel (Litepanel.com) are around $1,800.00/each. Is there a catch? Are replacement bulbs expensive?? I might change my mind now that I've seen these.

Thanks, I owe you guys a frosty beer!!

Cheers, David

[Christopher Witz]

I can't guess on the lifespan of the guts of these lights, but my assumption is that led bulbs will last tens of thousands of hours... plus they show full brightness instantly while flo lights will need five mins to get up to full.

keep in mind that these lights won't outshine a six bank kino (55w bulbs) but if you put $1800 worth of them in a grid you'd be putting out a lot of light.

the sales rep told me that tv studios are buying them up like hotcakes (weird expression... who can eat more than 4?)

oh.... and make that a guiness please... hops based beers make my joints ache

[Bill Pryor]

The 500LEDs don't have replaceable bulbs, but they last around 40,000 hours, which means they'll probably outlive me. I shot for about 7 or 8 years using Caselights whose bulbs last 10,000 hours and never had to replace a bulb, except for one I broke one time. Those same Caselights are still in use, with the original bulbs.

As far as the price, they're similar to Flolight or Coollight's prices of fluorescents compared to Lowel or Kino--about 1/3 the cost. Litepanels got there first and got the buzz, sort of like Kino. Things that cost more nearly always have some advantages, but there doesn't seem to be much of a gap with these or the fluorescents. If you look at the Coollights 2-bulb "studio" fluorescent, it's under 200 bucks! With a stand, you're still less than 1/3 the price of the Caselight 2. What's the difference? Caselights fold up into a nice case; the Coollight is heavier. For the money, I can live with the differences.

[Eric Stemen]

The portable version of the cool lights are around 8lbs I think.

[Bill Pryor]

True, they are much lighter. I was using the studio lights as a comparison because of the really low price; also they have reflective barn doors. Even with the higher cost of the portable ones, they too are still a lot cheaper than the equivalent Lowel or Kino. I guess Chinese competition can be a good thing for us.

[Christopher Witz]

...... just don't let your kids chew on them!

I pulled off the reflective barn door sheets off mine..... I'd rather have a more controlable soarce than a brighter one.

Richard has a great thing going with his products! I have yet to buy from him, and actually feeling guilty for not ( was in a "need it now" mode and his were not available yet ) so if your lurking Richard.... props to you bro!

[Bill Pryor]

Yeah, same here. I wanted to get some flos but they weren't there when I needed them. I hope to get some of his HMIs in the future. David, here's my first-use review: http://www.dvfreelancer.com/articles/ledlights.html

[Richard Andrewski]

Yes, the "slow boat" we use to economize by shipping in great quantity definitely has some advantages but it is very slow! I feel like I've been through the great War of 2007 to get to this point. Anyway, quite frustrating at times to me and I'm sure to others that have eagerly anticipated the new products.

The metal studio CL-255 is a good example of the quality you can offer if you're really careful here in China and watch over things like a hawk. Of course its not as flashy as the new CL-255P but it all depends upon what you want to do and where you plan on doing it.

The CL-MF0150 is really proving to be very popular. We'll be out of those already pretty quickly. One customer, Ryan Walters of Oregon, already wrote a review on it in his blog:

http://ryanewalters.235studios.com/R...ights.biz.html

The portable flo models are the next most popular too.

Other things to look for this year from us:

250w CDM fresnel (like a 1000w tungsten)
400w CDM fresnel (like a 1600w tungsten)
25w LED panel (5" x 10" or so)

And... whatever else we can dream up and get done in a reasonable time frame.

Christopher,

On your comments about Fotodiox flo's and the LED panels being made in the same factory that was very observant as they are made in the same factory which is named "Yuyao Lishuai" in China. I started to carry that panel but I thought it was overpriced and I could do better. I also felt it would need a battery adapted to it as well since people using LED units are commonly wanting to be untethered out on the street or in many other places where power wouldn't be practical or easy to run. Another thing which would have been easy to implement but they didn't is a dimmer. I don't know why either, the circuit is so simple. It's just a motor speed controller really--the same thing you would use for efficient dimming of tungsten lights.

One thing about LEDs. I know people are quite excited about them, but its going to be a while before you'll be able to afford enough of them to light larger areas like for green screen work. Flos will still be the most useful and efficient for this kind of work.