ZyLlight Z50 or something else?
 

I'm about to upgrade my lighting kit I use for the weddings. Currently I'm running Bescor 50W lamp and it annoys me that I need sooo many batteries across whole day to run it.

I have an offer to buy used Z50 for less then $500 and I would like to ask anyone here, who had experience with that light and other brands - is it good light for weddings? or is there something equal or better (for less money)?

My biggest concerns are:
- wide throw of light to fill 16:9 HDV frame
- bright enough to reach dancing ppl on a dance floor from 6-10 feet distance
- better battery life then 50W bescor (would love to run 3+ hrs on single 7Ah Lead-Acid battery).

Any help please?

P.S. I did research and all I found was reviews of Z90 model - nothing about Z50.

Threads months ago mentioned Zylight was coming out with something new this month, any news from anyone on this?

The new Zylight product is not a small onboard light but rather a large fixture (about 12x18) that is meant to take on the 1x1 Lightpanel, but with the specific features of the Z series (programmable color temp, mired shift, remote control etc). It's really punchy, has a wide spread, is a great looking unit and I am very interested in it. But for now, the Z90 remains their top-of-the-line onboard light.

How does the z90 do when comparing with Sony LBP? In terms of the throw and spread? I have not seen a comparison so far.

Lukas,
we have both the Z50 and the Z90. The Z50 provides even light into a 180deg hemisphere. The Z90 covers the same area but with a Lambdian distribution and it has more total light output. The Z90 is heavier, uses more power and has more "punch".

But how does it perform against other lights ie. Micro Litepanels? Is the power enough to use it at wedding reception? Or I should get bigger/more powerful light?

Lukas,

I bought a Microlight and returned it immediately. It was anemic in it's usuable light output as far as I was concerned. Had barely any throw (more than 3' and the light was all but indistinguishable), and the build quality was very fragile and in my opinion poor. Litepanels make good product but I thought the MicroLite was a very poor investment.

I then went a complete 180 and purchased a Zylight Z90 with barn doors and Tekkeon battery pack. Simply incredible light output for it's size, dimmable to about 50% and complete colour balancing and coloured settings. It casts a very pleasing even light wide enough for a XHA1 with WD-H72 at it's widest zoom with very light edge falloff. Runs about 2 1/2 hours off a full charge on the Tekkeon at full blast. Z50 would run longer.

I would not hesitate on a Zylight. While I cannot comment specifically on the Z50 lights output I'm sure it would be more than enough for wedding and event videography giving much greater range and versatility than any other LED light in it's size currently on the market.

You may actually find you are turning it down or mini soft boxing it to make it a little less bright so that your subjects are more comfortable with it aimed at them!

All the best,
James Hooey

Thx James,

my main concern would be the output - if is enough for my needs. My 50W bescor light is enough for me, so if Z50 is comparable with it then I'll give it a go.

The Z50 outputs around the same amount of light as a 50W tungsten lamp, hence the "50" in the model number. I'm assuming your Bescor light uses a dichroic halogen lamp which has a fairly narrow beam therefore the Z50 will not appear anywhere near as bright. The light is spread out much wider in the Z50, so wide it'd cover a fisheye shot!
For weddings the Z50 would be quite adequate for fill but my feeling is that if you're shooting on a dark dance floor you might find it lacking in punch. If that's part of your need I'd suggest saving up for the Z90.
Compared to every other light source I looked at at NAB nothing comes close to the Z90, period. We do have the Lightpanel's Micro, we bought a couple of other multiLED on camera lights and we will be buying the new 15W Frezzi HMI. The later produces an awesome amount of blinding light, use that at a wedding and you'll likely get thrown out on your ear :)

Disclaimer: The business I work for is a Zylight agent.