NAB 2011, the Great LED Crusade

[Chris Ficek]

Finally got some posts up. WiFi is a killer here but hopefully overnight they will load up.

Check it out at The Colour of Light - Home

[Mikael Couderc]

Good!
Tell Zylight 'Mikael' said the price shouldn't be too high, so he can afford a few :-)

[John Nantz]

Thanks for the great report for those of us who didn't attend.

(1) One of my earlier questions got answered - about the possibility of changing in temperature with time (below):

"Prism Reveal LED Fresnel" Report:
One great idea about the active colour [sic][couldn't resist that, eh?] management is that the light will maintain proper colour even as the LEDs age or as fixture temperature changes we usually see colour changes as heat builds up in normal LEDs

This is what I suspected because as I had done some test shots with my gels and thought I had nailed it, then later found what seemed like a color shift. Suspicions confirmed.

(2) One of the things I want to video is instrument playing and for that reason noise, or the lack thereof, is important.

Again, from "Prism Reveal LED Fresnel" Report:
The unit is fan cooled and I was told it uses an oscillating type fan to cut down on operating noise, I could not hear any sound from the unit even when I placed my ear right up to the fan opening so I guess they have the noise issue nailed.

(3) More on why colour meters are useless for LEDs in an upcoming post.
Reply: I suspect because not only from the ambient lighting but because LEDs don't have a flat spectrum, so I can't wait to read the upcoming post.

Thanks again for the report.

[Charles Papert]

Originally Posted by Mikael Couderc

OMG!
Active Diffusion!!! Why didn't I ever hear of that???

For people like me, who have apparently been living under a rock for the past year, here's a link to what Charles referred to:
Zylight Active Diffusion at NAB 2010 Video

Charles, I understand you use their products and have been keeping an eye on them for a while now, so even though I understand Zylight hasn't announced availibility of these products yet, do you still have any idea of how much these are likely to sell for?
Also, I wonder about reliability in the field... I mean an 'electronically controlled', 'probably expensive' filter... That's gotta require 'some ' caretaking, huh?

Hopefully Chris has updates from this year's show--I couldn't make it but from conversations with the Zylight guys over the past year, it sounds like what they showed last year is still relevant: the Active Diffusion can be rolled up into a tube maybe 4" in diameter, so it's hardy stuff. And the cost for an IS3 sized panel was to be around $400 as I recall. The 4x4 panel was quite a bit more but still under $1000.

[Taky Cheung]

Hello Chris! It was nice meeting you at NAB. Your measuring result is great for me to know too..

There were so many LED light manufacturers in Central hall. I bet over half of them are Chinese manufacturers. Weird thing is, they all know each other and yet copying each other's product.

[Chris Ficek]

Good to meet you as well Taky. Got home to a bit of a family situation, my baby is sick so I haven't had time to post the reviews but this weekend I should get some of them up. I visited and measured every single Chinese LED in Central Hall and let me tell you what a painful chore that was. Some were great products, others....well see the forthcoming series of reviews on what I have dubbed the "China Crap Panel".

Anyways check back on the weekend.

thecolouroflight.com

[Dylan Couper]

Man, just spent a while reading your blog. GREAT JOB. I was there and was so blinded by the crap panels that I gave up looking at anything with an LED in it after about 20 minutes. You sir, are a machine. :)

Very interesting about Desisti as well.

[Sean Seah]

great job Chris! I really like to know what chinese brands specifically are potential.. we see 2 Litepanel brands here in Singapore. Total ripoff design. I have a cool light but i'm ok with it since they are pretty honest on their claims (I'm no light expert thou).

Your inputs would be a great guide for future purchases.

[Ben Ruffell]

Hi Charles, (or anybody who has used it)

Would you use the Zylight IS3 as a Diva 400 alternative?

I am looking for an LED Soft Key light, for my travel kit. For standard interview setup - sometimes competing with natural daylight in the office / hotel etc.

Is the IS3 soft enough? How does it compare in output to the Diva 400?

I have a Coollights LED 600 - which is handy, but the softbox it came with reduces the output too much for me, and it's too bulky for travel.

Thanks very much,

Ben

[Chris Ficek]

Hi all,
I’ve been very delinquent in posting the reports to the blog. Got home from Vegas and life has just gotten in the way so I haven’t had much time to get posting. I promise to get the pile of posts up soon, thanks to all for the very encouraging emails.
Of interest are the emails I’ve been getting directly from manufacturers, seems some are not too happy with me and other are wondering if they meet my “C-C-P” designation (read the blog to decipher that one). I also received a very professional and encouraging email from the president of DeSisti in response to my less than positive review of their NAB booth. I will post portions of his comments on the blog as they are one of the reasons I started it—open discussion about the benefits and pitfalls of LED production lighting.

I’m also going to make an Excel spreadsheet of all my findings so people can download the info in an easily comparable format. At the end of it all I’m gonna post my opinions as to the winners and losers and see if anybody agrees.

The Colour of Light - Home

[Charles Papert]

Hi Ben:

In looking at the photometrics, the output is somewhere between a Diva 200 and 400.
With the softbox added, I'd guess more like a bare Diva 200. So less than you are used to. In a room with high ambience as you are describing, I have foregone the softbox. The panel is still soft without it, it's just that you can see color fringing in the shadows unless they are well-filled (as would happen in an ambient situation).

I haven't used the Coollights gear but the IS3 isn't the most travel-friendly unit out there--it is on the heavy side, especially compared to Litepanels or Diva's. And unlike the Litepanels, it can't easily be battery powered.

These are the specific downsides of the unit. The upsides are so many that I find these inconsequential. RGB LED units are just starting to emerge elsewhere (I learned about the Arri fresnel from Chris' blog, thank you Chris) but these guys have been doing this for a number of years now. It's such a massive improvement in lighting workflow on the set that it's honestly hard to describe in words. I look forward to the day when all the units I work with have this feature set.

[Chris Ficek]

Finally got a few more reviews up. Camlight, T&Y and Hakutatz LED panels.

[John Nantz]

Like others, I've been a bit frustrated with light balancing when using my LEDs. Sometimes they're too green and other times too pink. I can balance them fairly close using 1/8 filters but it never seems to be quite "good enough".

Just wondering, would something like an ExpoDisc White Balance filter be useful with LED lighting?

Or with mixed lighting? Like LED plus, say, tungsten or real daylight?

ExpoImaging - ExpoDisc

P.S. I would also like to really compliment Chris on his technical reporting. I really like Chris's writing style and the way he says it without mincing words.

[Michael Panfeld]

The Expodisc works very well for setting color temperature in mixed lighting, but not for magenta/green bias. That said, try to not use mixed lighting. Gel the lights or windows and match sources (where you have the time). You will have fewer headaches and lower costs in post.