On Camera LED Fill Lites
 

Looking for an on camera LED fill lite for use in both low and high ambient light situations where big lites, power, crew, etc are not part of the plan. Just need to slightly fill a persons face / cut shadow contrast a bit / see a little pop in their eyes. Similar to on camera flash on a still camera, dialed back a stop or two. I fully believe in high production values but that being said there are occasions when i can see just needing only a little fill. And yes, i am a photographer :)

Anyway, I see B&H has a few Litepanels, Calumet sells them too plus a Zylight brand which looks very cool. Neither are cheap and neither have output specs listed for comparison so i am in the dark here...

What are you guys using in this niche?

thanks in advance,

Greg Kiger
Greg Kiger Photography

The little Sima "ultra brite" battery powered rechargeable LED unit. Goes in the hot shoe and does exactly what you desribed for under $50. (Model SL-20X)

Second on the little Sima, which we have bought for run-n-gun photogs who also shoot compact video cameras or Canon s5is point-n-shoots on news situations. Cheap in price but nicely bright, nicely made, a steal for the $$. They do, however, have a rather narrow beam.

Our XHa1's are equipped with the IDX led video light, dimmable, with available accessory barndoors, diffuser and 3200degreeK filters, etc. Use with external battery pack, we bought the smallest Bescor xlr-plug pack B&H sells and have never run one down. pulls 11 watts, equivalent light is 30 watts, and while absurdly overpriced for led lighting they have been highly satisfactory. The LitePanel minilights are also way overpriced imho, but our sister publication has bought some and they love them, although they are criticized as being somewhat flimsy. //Battle Vaughan/miamiherald.com video team

I have the older Litepanel mini in the flood version. I use it as a fill light in run and gun doc situations all the time and it works great for this. I have been doing this for years, practically since it came out. I dropped a full size Panasonic camera one time and it flipped over and landed directly on the Litepanel from about three feet. All that happened was a bent post. I wouldn't call them flimsy.

I have never measured their output but I would say they are the equivalent to a 35 watt Frezzi in a softbox. The newer ones put out more light.

Thanks, Bradley, that's reassuring. Let's just say they LOOK flimsy. So far, our collegues have not broken one, and if that group can't break it, it's probably indestructable. The stories I could tell about company-owned gear...aargh! :) /Battle Vaughan/miamiherald.com video team

Right on, tracked down the little Sima at Video guys, a whopping $39, just a tad less than the close to a grand Litpanels or Zylites want for theres. Plenty of reason to at least test it so i will pick one up for sure and give it a go :)

thanks guys,

greg kiger

I think from what you described you will find it fits the bill nicely, for little $$. Let us know. Frankly I think these are about the best bang for the buck little lighting device to come along in quite a while.


Chris

ps. Their IR units are equally stellar.

The SWIT 2000 family of on camera lights are somewhere in the middle price wise, and are well made. Here is one of the reviews. DV - Reviews - VariZoom S-2010F On-Camera LED Light Kit

I have the lite panel micro and love it for run and gun situations

Greg -
Keep in mind the Sima last around 45-55 minutes on a charge, and take a while (3-4x the use time from my rough tests...) to recharge, just in case time is a factor. They are a bargain, and you can buy a few and stack them together as well, by design.

So far I find that using two put on a camera bracket rig, outboard on each side of the cam, provides a pretty good wide field of light, and seems to add a bit on a single light. Adding a 3rd didn't seem to increase things as much as the second, but you could build these little buggers into quite an array if you were so inclined.

I've been very happy with them for "fill", and am fiddling with a diffuser to add on and soften them up a bit if needed.

If you've got the $$$, in my book the Zylight wins hands down.

I've had wonderful results with the Litepanels Micro for run and gun interviews shot close. Doesn't have a lot of throw but with the diffusion filter and dialed down a bit, adds excellent fill.

Currently on the UPS truck enroute to me is the Prompter People Mike Lite which fits around mike (or I suppose you could adapt a toilet paper roll) and seems to be quite bright. At $149 it could be quite the bargain. Not dimmable and no gels available. Some users have just cut gel sheets to fit.

Meanwhile, if a deadbeat client pays up I can buy a Zylight ;)

Ned Soltz

I did have $$, now it's gone, Zylight on the way. Geez I hope I'm not disappointed, I need it to be bright, that's a ton of coin.

- Ordered the Z90 Eng kit that includes the accessory adapter for barn doors, coiled cord, and articulating arm.

- Also went for the Zylight Li-Ion battery with charger, 16 ounces, includes charger and said to run the light for 2 hours at full power, 56 watt/hr. Seemed like a fair deal for $172.

- Barndoors, and a hot shoe ball mount to round out the package.

************************************

It's not like me to purchase sight unseen, but the technology seems good. The Zylight LED is said to not be the usual array of LEDs, but a single monolithic block 1 inch square. I spent so much time pouring over literature for PAG Lights, Frezzi, Lowel, others. Some (like those 3) seemed really good and innovative, others (unmentioned) seemed more like grossly overpriced lampholders. All get expensive by the time you add in all the accessories. I can't believe how expensive softboxes are in this range. The dimmable halogens and HMI sun guns have a lot of merit.

With on-camera lighting, the best will never be good enough...(sigh)...

There are few short reviews about the Zylight, but not really much. Not really a lot of reviews on any of them really. I guess I'll know soon, is what it is.

Btw, the Swit that Alex is offering looks excellent, when you factor value and quality into the equation, and a competitive low price for what that includes. Paul Kellet (if you search) gave an excellent review for the Swit as well.

The Zylight Li-On battery is the Tekkeon 3400, which will power a whole range of accessories. You will get great value from this.

I found a barely-used Z90 which I should have in a couple of days.

You will not be disappointed. I've used them before and have been impressed.

Enjoy your purchase.

Just got the PrompterPeople on-mike light today. For $149 it is a great deal. Very bright.. in fact perhaps a bit too bright. Haven't actually shot anything yet using it but this is a nice bargain-basement device for run and gun.

Ned

Ned,

I found a review of the mic-light from about a year ago that mentioned they were going to offer filters for diffusion and to convert to 3200k in the future but I see nothing about that at their website and they have not responded to my email inquiry. Did it come with any filters / diffusion? If not for about the same price the Bescor LED 35 seems like a good choice as it has the filters (no dimming though)

Prompter People folks told me they were not going to offer diffusion for the light or develop it any further. They have some other products on the way but don't know if they really want me to release that at this point. Suggestion was to cut a gel filter sheet and attach with tape.

Ned

Did you get yours yet Ned? Still waiting on mine, should be here sometime this week hopefully.

Just as a point of interest in regards to the little SIMA LED light discussed earlier, in the contests forum, there is a film in the Charity contest called "The Dead of Winter" that has some "in vehicle" scenes that were fill lit using a SIMA. You might be surprised how good it looks. In that case I doubt there were many options and the SIMA pulled it off pretty well in my opinion.

Yes. I've been playing with it and it is amazingly bright. Just bought a sheet of 1/2 CTO and will be cutting a piece to fit.

Definitely worth $150.

My Zylight Eng Kit arrived at the distributor, I will pick it up when the Zylight Li-Ion battery pack arrives, which was shipped separately, hopefully tomorrow. Hopefully can trade some observations then. Thanks Ned!

It's here. The Z90 works as expected, but I don't recommend the 8 inch articulating arm, in fact I think it is a waste of money. Well made and clever, but just too darn long and heavy for a hotshoe attachment.

Zylight put their effort into the light, it's not engineered to be cheaply manufactured.

I won't rehash all the features, it's been amply discussed. My comment is just that it produces very even, flattering light, not harsh at all on the skin but it is producing a lot of light and is painful to look directly into.

A couple of impromptu shots had people covering their eyes, and I'm not sure the reaction would be much different even dimmed. It's just really intense for something that is so well distributed, even and flattering on the skin.

It's here. The Z90 works as expected, but I don't recommend the 8 inch articulating arm, in fact I think it is a waste of money. Well made and clever, but just too darn long and heavy for a hotshoe attachment.

Zylight put their effort into the light, it's not engineered to be cheaply manufactured.

I won't rehash all the features, it's been amply discussed. My comment is just that it produces very even, flattering light, not harsh at all on the skin but it is producing a lot of light and is painful to look directly into.

A couple of impromptu shots had people covering their eyes, and I'm not sure the reaction would be much different even dimmed. It's just really intense for something that is so well distributed, even and flattering on the skin.

I agree that the Noga arm could be cumbersome. The other side, however, is that it allows tremendous versatlity. To diffuse its strong output, I would consider either the Chimera whch Zylight sells or the softbox for the Anton Bauer on-camera light. It will fit.

More observations as I shoot more with it.

Ever since reviewing it in 2007, I've been wanting one and my sincere thanks to the client who paid up so I could afford the Zylight ;)

Ned

If you happen to have a link to the Anton Bauer softbox and/or the Chimera would you kindly post? Many thanks...

I find the hot shoe ball mount is more practical for on camera mounting than the articulating 8 inch arm.

The Chimera is sold on the Zylight website.

You can also use the Anton Bauer Ultralight Softbox, available from any dealer who sells AB.

Ned

I'm in the middle of starting to make some training videos on cleaning D-SLR sensors and needed a ring light so that I could light up the inside of the mirror cage when doing some close ups of the cleaning. I wasn't able to find any commercially available ring lights but I did find this thread http://www.dansdata.com/ringlight.htm and ordered the same from eBay FREE SHIPPING 48 LED Lantern UFO Umbrella AA Tent Light - eBay (item 320302562118 end time Jan-19-09 11:08:18 PST) for less than $10 delivered.

I actually got the light before my new camera and microphone arrived. In the mean time I found this thread and see the the $150 mike light looks just like the camping light (soon to be ring light) I had ordered off of eBay. Once my microphone a BP4029 arrived I tried my camping light on it and wow, it fits just like in the MikeLite demo video. Not owning the $150 MikeLite, I have no idea what the difference is.

My camera a Canon XH A1s arrived from Samy's on Thursday (ordered at MacWorld for $2499) and yesterday I cut the $10 camping light up (30 minutes work) so that it mounts on the front of the lens using the lens hood bayonet. Since I had to cut out the battery compartment and power switch to make it fit around the lens, I ran a 2 lead power wire outside of the light and attached a $1.99 RadioShack AA battery holder that has a built in power switch Enclosed 4 “AA” Battery Holder - RadioShack.com .

I now have a Ring Light for my new camera that cost me less than $15 and less than 1 hours time to complete. I would post some photos here but as a newbie I don't have the privileges needed to do so.

Curt Fargo
Vacaville

Thans for the post Curt and welcome to DVInfo. There a bunch of us from the Sacramento area on here. After reading your post I ordered a camping light... I think I will follow your lead.

Again welcome aboard.

Thanks Chris!

Are there any get-togethers in Sac where you share ideas and knowledge with each other? I have a very extensive background in the still photographic world but this is my first prosumer video camera. I am using Lynda to learn Final Cut Pro and have turned my living room into a chroma key studio.

Unlike the tutorial I found on making a ring light, I opted to use the plastic housing the lights came in and used my lens hood as a pattern to draw my cut lines onto the back of the light. By doing this I am able to use the bayonet mount to hold it in place.

About a year ago I bought that ring light from ebay just for kicks to see how it would do. The difference in the $10 ebay light and the mic light is the quality of the LED's. The people selling the mic light use the same shell as the camp light does but they replace the cheap LED's with expensive ones that are either 5500 or 5600K for daylight.

The campling light is cook but it is a VERY blue light and definitely not anywhere near 5500 or 5600k.

I only used mine two or three times in a test and one section of the ring of lights stopped working. It was still worth ten bucks and in an emergency I would use it.

I just purchased the lie panels micro that is 5600k and I can definitely tell you the campling light is a lot bluer.

If we all took all of the cheap LED lights we bought "just for kicks" and gaffer taped them together and turned them on, we'd probably have a blue glow that could be seen from space. hehe.

I have a drawer full if them.... my favorite is the baseball cap with lights built into the visor rim.... I actually have put it to use when heading out to the barn at night to feed the horses. Don't think I'd want to be seen in public with it though.

On Camera LED Fill Lites
 

Hi
I had tested this led light and i thing it is very good (The one with 60° degree head) Camlight
*keep shooting*
Chris

Gekko
 

Has Anyone tried the Gekko ring lites in comparison to the Lite Panel ring lites?

Gekko Technology: innovative LED lighting solutions