Hi Richard,

I live in the UK and am looking at getting some LED CoolLights (when you have some in stock). How does it work with us overseas types? Do I need to get a power adaptor to plug it in? How much would delivery be roughly? Just trying to work out the overall cost. Also will you be doing any bundle kits for the LED lights, say if I wanted to get a couple of 600s and a 256?

Thanks

Adam T. Davis

Hi Adam,

Thanks for your interest. They are in stock in China now and its about the same to ship from China as it is from the USA. No power adapters needed other than perhaps a UK plug adapter or replace our cord entirely (which you can) with a UK IEC type (like those used on desktop computers). Voltage already adapts though.

Why not contact us now at info@coollights.biz and we'll give you all the details.

I've been using these amazing lights for the past 2 months for all my wedding filmmaking needs. Really, really fantastic stuff. Coupled with sony batteries, it's really a versatile and portable lighting solution. I bought one pro-light prior to these lights and the pro-light never leaves the bag unless I need more than 2 lights. If there's an interest, I'll link a film or two in which the LED256 was used.

Thanks for all the great support Richard!

Randy I would love to see some LED256 wedding samples.
I have been playing with the idea of using two LED256 lights for dance reception footage. My only concern with them was how the throw woudl be on a dance floor compared to my two 75w tungsten lights.

I normally use two NRG Varalux lights on 12 foot light stands, and large Bescor battery belts at the base for power purposes as well as added weight support for the light stand itself. The only reason I might consider still suing battery belts with the LED256 lights is that I would get much longer battery run times with more power. As well as the ability to use a remote control to power the lights on and off remotely. The remote control sits between the power source and the light itself. The remote simply turns the current on/off via a remote.

The only way around this using Sony batteries at this time is using a Sony battery sled. This way I could attach the battery sled to the light stand, and place the remote in between the sled and LED256 (which would plug in via XLR).

Hey Michael,

I get about 45mins to 1hr of battery life off of the large sony batteries that Taky sells thru lacolorshop. I've found that it's been enough to suit my needs as I have four of them that I bring. The coollights are very light so I don't have a huge worry of them falling over during indoor weddings as I did with my arri 650s.

This first film, the cool light was used during the photosession at night. During the first dance, two cool lights lit the dance floor, they were a bit too hot as it was a small floor but we needed to stop down so I didn't adjust them.

Sharon ‘ Luis – Highlights // Tis the season! Colour Craft Media

This second film, the cool lights were used as side lights on each side of the bride and groom while a pro-light was the main during the ceremony :

1,000 Paper Cranes // Brandi ‘ Reid – Same Day Edit Colour Craft Media

I have a love story that I shot using these and really love the look it gave. Once that is finished, I'll be sure to share it.

Thanks,
Randy

Randy thanks for the samples.
One quick question...
Are you shooting with DSLRs only. I ask because this will make a difference in light sensitivity, especially compared to what I am shooting with Sony FX1's.

How does the light throw compare to a 75-100w tungsten bulb?

And my comment about adding weight to the base of the light stand was to add weight to prevent the light stand from moving or tipping over easily. I'm not too worried about a small on camera light tipping over, but don't need light stands being kicked or tipped over easily on to people.

What I might have to try is seeing if I can find a good battery sled for the lights, maybe dual would be cool. this way I could place the sled on the light stand itself, and thus avoid having to lower the light stand in order to swap out batteries.

Hi guys,

I'm looking at the Cool Lights as an option instead of tungsten lighting.
The kit I think that would suitable is: Led 2 x 600's and 1 x 256.
I would use theses on interview and also I do a lot of product info commercials.
What is the light throw on led's vs Tungsten. At times I need to light up products on a wide shot so I would need to keep the lights out of frame but also lighting my scene.

The Cool Lights look great but wondering for my needs are they an all rounder?

Any feed back would be appreciated.

Hi Simon,

Lots of people are using the LED 600 in a similar use. I would say the throw on LEDs is better than fluorescent but not quite as good as tungsten. You've got a mirror, bulb and lens all working well together on fresnels to give a good hard light. The LEDs do quite well at putting out a kind of "medium" hard light if that makes some sense. I think the decision is often based around ease of setup and whether battery use is important to you. And of course whether the "hot" lights are an issue for heating up the studio area as well as the power they use.

If those aren't a consideration then perhaps tungsten is a better choice in some cases.

I followed you on your comment about the weight from your post earlier, no need to explain yourself on that.

I shoot with all DSLRs now but have shot with FX1s for years. With that said, the power of the cool lights should be more than enough if you know how to light an area rather than just trying to brighten the whole room with the FX1, depending on how large of an area you're working with. A large 20x20 dance floor and I think you would have a little bit of an issue but still manageable. I had to use my arri 650s for a dance floor that size a while back when still shooting with my HMC150, but the 5dmk2 footage from that same situation was well lit so I could have done with the LED256s if need be.

As far as throw compared to a 75-100w, couldn't tell you in direct comparison as I use the 250w pro-lights. I've had to use bescor/nrg lights in the past as on camera lights when I was shooting for another studio and it "lit" the scene ok, but I'm not so much into lighting a scene for it to be bright rather than shaping.

I've read about everything i can about these lights here and on the web site. I shoot with a 5Dmk2 and a 550D and was wondering if DSLRs may do better with only the LED256 would make more sense for fill while keeping the other light ratios the same if that make any sense. I noticed that they are out of stock now....or is a LED600 just a better deal and dial it down (turn banks off as needed) I really refer well lit without the talent looking lit. And I know with the DSLR like the 5Dmk2 i may have a higher ISO range than with other cameras such that less light may be desirable.

Moslty used for interviews and some music video too.

I think the both LED256 and LED600 cannot be mounted on camera..

I have T2i (550D), for video in dark, anything over ISO 1600 is not usable. It looks good on the 3" LCD screen but when viewing on big screen, all grainy.

no i wasn't talking about on camera - i'd use light stands which i have plenty of

I think either the 256 or the 600 works well as fill. You may want the extra power sometimes in a room with an uncontrolled window so the 600 may be more welcome sometimes.

Harry, I have both and they are equally nice for different purposes. You probably want the 600 first as you really do need lots of light with the 5D2 to get the iris into a decent range. Shooting a live event where little light is possible necessitates f1.4 and a small light, but that narrow focal range is not acceptable in a fictional narrative. You will need 8x the light to go from f1.4 to f4 so the 5D really does need just as much light as other cameras. The 256 is a really nice small light, but it won't do anything to work against a room with a sunlit window. Outdoors, the 600 just barely takes the ugly out of the shadows on a single person. The sun is just amazingly hard to work against. Reflectors are the best bet outdoors, but they don't have the control of artificial light so a combination is nice.

Thanks Richard and Marcus,

Yes reflectors are often too much on a sunny day - I try to get talent under shade and then add light that can be controllable so the 600 sounds like the way to go. Turning off banks is alway an option too.

For indoor interviews say two people I reckon I need two 600s and a couple of 256s for hair light. Hey Richard - ever consider "bundle" deals? ;-)

Thanks
Harry

Just a note on the LED600's and indoor use.
We use 2 LED600's and an LED256 as hair light. We tend to use the LED600 with the softbox (which BTW is a brilliant fast design). If you want to diffuse the light by usage of softbox of diffusion paper, get the spot configured version of the LED600. As the flood version of the light isn't quite strong enough for softbox use.

<<If you want to diffuse the light by usage of softbox of diffusion paper, get the spot configured version of the LED600. As the flood version of the light isn't quite strong enough for softbox use. >>

hmm - seems like if you are gonna diffuse a Spot version - you'd just buy the flood version....guess i'm not too clear on the difference between the two types in the light design itself.

are the LEDs closer together or something on the spot version?

Harry, The light output from the LED flood version, wasn't soft enough for my taste. I preferred a slightly more diffused light source. LED lighting is soft but it's not as soft as fluorescent lighting is, which I like. However I prefer the portability and versatility of LED lighting over florescent.

When I attached the Coolight softbox to the flood version, the light output was cut too much for my taste. However, the spot version is a stronger light source, since it tighter in pattern and more directional.
The softbox worked well in this setup, giving me soft light output, without losing as much intensity.

The difference between flood and spot is the beam angle of the LEDs used, that's all. 60 degrees for flood and 40 degrees for spot. They each have their own uses but the flood alone is not like a fluorescent or other kind of soft light. Spot is definitely better for use with the softbox. Flood is a good daylight fill for example.

How does that 600 LED compare to the CDM 150, in terms of throw, beam spread, etc.?

So i'm on the Cool Lights site trying to order the 600 spot and softbox with the battery powered capability being the main draw and i get to the battery adapter part and i realize i don't have any idea which battery to use. I've read lead acid but yikes the batteries are more than the light. Any suggestions on a low cost battery to go with the 600 spot?
Looks like a regular Sony cam battery for the 256 but what are some recommendations for the 600

The LED 600 and CDM 150 compare pretty much in overall output but of course the beam is variable with the CDM 150 so you have that on your side. You also have the single source within the CDM 150 which allows you to do things with it which require good shadow rendering. LEDs don't do that well at this time but they work for about 90% of the other uses you would use something like the CDM 150 for.

On batteries, this is one I recommend often to customers. I think Dan Brockett found it originally:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/228193-REG/Bescor_BES018XLRATM_BES_018XLRA_Shoulder_Pack_Lead_Acid.html

Hooks into the LED 600 through the 4 pin standard XLR power input we have.

Thanks Richard,

took time this am to order a 600 spot 5600 and the softbox. I'll order the battery belt this aft. Looks like it will suffice as a sandbg weight for the lightstand too.

Thanks for the tip.

And thank you too!

Hi Richard,
Is the best setup for 3 point interview
1. 600 Flood
2. 600 spot + diffusion
3. 256 hair light

Hi Sean,

That is certainly a very commonly ordered configuration for interviews. Many are using just that very kit.