VidLed Experience
 

Just purchased and received a VidLed Deluxe. This is the unit with the built in lithium battery. I chose to have the unit painted black. I am very pleased with it thus far and it has performed very well in the field.

There are a number of reasons why I chose the VidLed:

1. It's lighter, less bulky than similar options. It's also less expensive.
2. I plan on using this as a specialized light and won't need more than 90 minutes a charge; most of all, I don’t want the extra weight or any wires.
3. The spread of light is very wide and even; the temperature does not appear to change while dimming.
4. 500 plus charges of the built in battery will last me a good long time. Even if I am using it every 3 or 4 days, that's five years of light. I'm going to guess that, by 2011, there will be an even more compelling light choice to place on whatever camera I am using at that time.
5. I have been exceedingly impressed with every aspect of VidLed sales and support.

Best to all,

Whit Wales

Hi, any more up-to-date news about LED lights?
Besides Whit, do others have experience with Vidled?

You can view a short short I made at

http://www.apollologic.com/movies/007/

The coolest thing was that it was completely dark and I got pretty good light. Like you I also have seen very little info about them except for this thread and some at dvxuser. But I am happy with mine and hope to do alot more projects where I need them.

What do you need yours for and what concerns do you have?

Hello Fredrik,

Do you mind sharing how far away from the tent was the light? Any information will be appreciated.

I don't recall but I think 2 or 3 meter from the tent. I had an wideangle lense on as well. The light about the same distance and I only changed it for the cut where the axe is "flying" through the air to get a more detailed look of the axe.

GreatLITE
 

Item #33006 comes with a desk stand cradle, AC and Cig Lighter charger. It has 36 LEDS with a built in rechargeable battery lasting about 3 hours. Have used it for small spot lights but gaffed on yellow gel to match 5600K main LED lights. It has a hand paddle and a hook recessed in the plastic back. Water resistant. $39.95 at G.I. Joe's outdoor store.

Just got back from Malaysia two weeks ago on a week long video shoot. Charged them before I left. Used two of these lights there for about 1.5 hours and when I got back for about another hour. This picture shows how much charge they still have.

This is cheap insurance. Kind of awkward in holding or mounting to anything but hey, isn't that what that black tape is for?

I also have a small Sigma light but although it mounts easily in a shoe, it has very little light and shooting HD, no one wants those little ants crawling around.

QUESTION - Fredrik-Larsson, did you use any camera gain on that test shoot?

Hey Richard,

Your light reminds me of one I recently picked up at Harbor Freight for testing. It was $59 though. They're alright if you can get 'em really close to the subject. After color correcting with gels, I found that they loose quite a bit of their intensity. They're cool though if this is your only light and you can white balance to 'em.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93663

My Litepanels mini though has about 4x the output and is color balanced, dimmable and camera mountable. Still though, these are good if you want to skate by on a budget.

I thought I saw somewhere that the Vidled light had an option to take a Panasonic battery. Anyone know if this is correct?

Hey Brian,
yes, that's sort of correct. What we have is an HVX/DVX adapter plate that can be connected to the VIDLEDs via its cable. It currently looks like this:

http://vidled.com/DVX_adapter.jpg

But this will soon change to the housing being BLACK, and the cable being non-coiled.

Thanks Marius; I'll be ordering one of your lights sometime in September.

Brian Wiley

i just received my zylight last week. it took about a month to get - they're on the front edge of getting these shipped. so far, i'm impressed. i have mine mounted on camera (i built an arm that extends out from the threaded handle position) and its very easy to get off of the camera when needed.

i've only had the need to use it once so far - in an airport off-the-shoulder interview - and it worked well. the thing that makes it very useful is the infinately variable color temp. the dimmer as well. litepanels are one color - and not dimmable. a little more 'punch' would be great, but isn't that always the case?

my plan is to keep it mounted as an on-camera light, but with the accessories (ac supply and other mounting options) in one of my light kits to use it as a back/background light in sit-down interview situations.

so far, only one real concern - the zylight has a small 'status' led that is constantly lit if power is available to the light. i understand the idea here, but since my betacam sits for extended periods with the battery on it, i'm not keen about something always drawing power. now - yes...its a small led, but my point stands.

my work-around is in the fact that my pvv-3 deck does not have a switchable dc-out spigot. i modified my anton bauer gold mount plate by replacing the 'automatique' switch with an on/off switch that controls the power tap.

power to the zylight as well as my wireless rx's can then be shut off with one switch - which kills any potential power drain. i wouldn't need this modification on a D600, etc as they have a 12v switched output. now the zylight status light is actually a 'plus' for me as its a visual reminder that my power tap output is still 'hot'.....but, all things being equal, i'd rather the zylight do away with the status light....

(btw...the 'automatique' switch is simply pulled from the mounting hole, and pushed aside inside of the anton plate. i broke the + connection to the power tap and put a similar sized switch in line. it can all be put back to stock very easily...)