Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

I think one has to understand that this is from Doug's personal experience. It's great information on LED lighting but maybe more limited value on LED light shopping. Somehow I think that may be a difference between his previous DVD on lighting.

It may be that Doug is in a different place now. Cost is less of a concern relative to known good quality. For him, the time to research may cost more than the difference in prices. Consider that two days of research may cost more than buying a more expensive set. He alludes to having looked at other brands and not being quite as happy with them but we, the viewer, are left with doubt since we don't know which lights he looked at and why he wasn't happy with them. Of course it may not be a good thing to disparage brands on a training DVD. At very least it would be good to explain what he looked for and why, more specifically, he found Litepanels best.

There are now a few companies coming to market with LED fresnels but I still haven't seen anything as small or inexpensive as Sola ENG.

There might be more competition with the Sola 4 though.
There's Dracast
LED Light Fresnel Light Fresnel LED 135 LED video lighting
Zyklight and Arri now have LED Fresnels as well.

One might want to look at Lowel Blender vs Litepanels Chroma though.
Lowel Blender

There are several 1x1 Panels on the market with the same diversity as Litepanels, similar specs on paper, much lower price. Litepanels themselves came out with non DMX versions at lower prices. They seem to be just under $1300.

But Flolight has similar models at $900 with similar specs on paper.
MicroBeam 1024 : High Powered LED Video Light - LED - FloLight LLC
as does Dracast
http://dracast.com/lights/led-lights...deo-light.html

There's no mention of the various "500" type LEDs. Maybe Doug found no need for them but I've seen so many of these on interview shoots that I can't help but think there's good reason many professionals find them adequate.

To the best of my knowledge, the above brands have good reputations and are used by working professionals as well.

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

The big issue with LED units is their color purity. Unlike tungsten, where an inexpensive shoplight (or a standard household lightbulb, for that matter) can produce full-spectrum light, LED's vary widely in this regard. In general, you get what you pay for.

Ultimately it will come down to the subjective eye of the user. Some may not see an issue with the skintones they are getting, others will find them unacceptable. I would say that if a given user is one who frets endlessly about nuances in codecs, lenses or camera specs, they probably shouldn't be pointing inexpensive LED's at their subject's faces either.

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

The problem is many of us have nothing more than manufacturer specs and anecdotal stories to determine lighting quality short of buying or, in rare cases, renting (it seems many brands aren't available to rent).

Recently I was at a trade show and watched a panel discussion focused on LED lights. Shortly after, I went over to the Litepanels booth and talked to someone who had been on the panel along with a "booth" person. We were talking about light meters specifically designed for LED lights and he presented one he had just purchased for about $2K (which is very inexpensive for an LED specific light meter from what I understand). He tested the Litepanels 1x1s (a few different but set to 5600k) and it seemed the CRI was in the mid 80s. The spectrometer had the rise at around 450nm ish if I remember. Obviously the test conditions weren't idea and the quality of the meter itself was unknown.

Basically without real testing we have no way of knowing whether there's any light quality difference (CRI, spectrometer results, color temp) between Dracast and Litepanels for example or companies like PRG (which does have a test online) claiming their LED lights are better.

LEDs are certainly not full spectrum but it's just very hard to know how significant the differences are relative to price.

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Will this DVD still be relevant to us hobby guys that can only afford cheap 160 leds?

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Hi Bill, thank you for purchasing the DVD and I'm glad that you liked it. It'd be great to meet in person at one of my Maine Media courses if you can ever make it. The 2013 schedule should be finalized soon.

Honestly, you are the only person I've ever heard of that uses HMI lighting indoors for regular sit-down interviews. if you've been able to make that work for you, I'm impressed. My hat's off to you. I'd rather have my fingernails pulled out than use an HMI kit indoors. How does the talent like it?? :-)

I realize you're not really expecting a direct reply to you comments, but I thought I'd chime in anyway to your comments and some of things other people have raised. I hope my comments don't sound defensive, because that is not how I mean them. I just want to clarify a few things.

Yes, the lighting kit I have chosen to put together is expensive, and I make no apologies for that. I am serious about my career and the cost of a light kit is peanuts in the big scheme of things. It's always been my philosophy to invest in quality tools that will allow me to work better, faster, more efficiently, and that will last for years and years with reliable service. Furthermore, I don't ever want to have to apologize for my equipment to clients, tell clients 'it's just as good as _____", or take a backseat to anyone. I apply this philosophy to cameras, tripods, audio, etc. and it has never let me down.

I did buy (and discard) a couple of other brands of LED lights before I realized they weren't cutting it, and moved over to 100% Litepanels. But I choose not to name the names of those unacceptable lights in the DVD because I'd prefer not to get sued. And why single them out? If I named the brands I didn't like, would viewers then assume all the other brands are okay? I chose to keep the DVD positive and only name the equipment I choose to use in my own business.

Keep in mind that Vortex Media is not a testing lab and I can't just go out and buy a bunch of lights to test. And that's not the purpose of the DVD anyway. The purpose of the DVD is to show people HOW to use their lights and their cameras to create nice looking shots. It is up to the viewer to decide which lights are acceptable. And even it I did have the resources to test a bunch of different lights, the DVD would be outdated the very first month it came out because new lights are coming out all the time. Some good, and I assume some bad. So, Litepanels may or may not be be the only acceptable brand of lights out there. I honestly don't know. I'm just telling people what lights I chose, and why I chose them. If people find there are other brands for less money that can get the job done, that is great! Then they can sse the techniques in the DVD to make them fly. LED does require different techniques than other types of lights.

Another reason for choosing Litepanels is that they are the only brand that offers all the different types of lights that I need for interviews. What am I going to do with a a bunch of identical 1x1 panels from some other company? Nothing. It'd be like telling a mechanic he could only have 5 identical screwdrivers -- and no wrenches or other tools. Litepanels offers me the variety I need.

In my first interview lighting DVD (only tungsten) my goal was to teach people how they could get great results on a budget -- by using the exact same lights I used to use every day. Until that DVD came out, a lot of people didn't think you could do network news-magazine caliber interviews with a light kit that cost about $1500. However, I showed that you could, because that $1500 kit was the basic kit I used on over 200 freelance shoots per year for clients like Dateline, 20/20, History Channel, Discovery, etc. It wasn't because I could not afford a more expensive light kit, the point was that I didn't need other lights. That kit allowed me to move quickly and efficiently with no sacrifice in quality. That was the purpose of that DVD.

But with the LED DVD, that was not my goal. I am NOT showing what can be done on a budget. In fact, just the opposite. If someone does not have the resources to purchase quality LED instrument -- and a variety of different types of lights -- then I strongly suggest that they stay with tungsten. In my opinion, LED is not something that should be attempted on a tight budget if you care about doing quality work. If you took away my Litepanels lights, then I'd go back to tungsten.

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Hey Doug:

Slip me some information when the schedule gets firmed up for Maine, if you have a chance.

Regarding HMI for keys: The ballast box and cables can be a pain, especially when one is moving from room to room in a b-roll situation. But they put out a lot of light when you need to compete with windows. In an interview setting, I use HMIs and Chimeras with the deepest diffusion panel (and sometimes the interior diffusion as well) and nearly always use the fabric grids to contain the spill of light. Having the key off axis a bit and back an extra 5 or 6 feet keeps it from being much of an issue for the talent. In most cases, I'm trying to light with the key just enough to be slightly less than wide open.

One advantage the HMI has over an LED panel, it seems, is the ability to also have some utility outside as a fill, using the frosted fresnel or a piece of diffusion on the barn doors. But that's another story. Ultimately, I'd mostly like to have an LED kit to go with the HMI and ARRI kit, and then I'd mostly have the bases covered.

Regarding the LED quality: because I also know several good shooters who use the less expensive LEDs and like them a lot...I had been hoping to see at least a montage of side by side LED color quality across a number of fixtures, even if you didn't identify them by name.

But, as you noted, rather outside the scope of your DVD, and didn't really detract from its utility as a teaching tool.

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Guess you can add me to that list too, Doug. Although I don't know if by "regular" you mean, as a standard one-size-fits-all procedure, or just when needed.

A few years ago I did a corporate job with Vincent Laforet that involved a series of highly stylized interviews. Vincent was doing promo work with Litepanels and he had a case full of 1x1 units with us, and wanted to use them as the primary light source for the interviews. In many cases we were able to make this work. However we had one location that was adjacent to a sunlit atrium. We used that as a background but I needed to light to a higher level than a controlled environment would allow. We had the frame to build four Litepanels into a grid which I used as the primary source. The picture below shows the rather ugly setup. You can see that I actually needed to add a fifth Litepanel into the diffusion frame to get enough "poop". It was, frankly, something of a cluster-you-know-what. We had a 1200w HMI with us but Vincent really wanted to use the Litepanels.

We got through it, but later in that job we did an interview in a small living room using a background window behind the talent. This time I pulled out the 1200 and bounced it into the wall adjacent to the subject. While it was obviously a high light level compared to the Litepanels, it wasn't hard to look at. We were able to retain value outside the window and it was a simple setup.

That's just one story but I would say that over the years of doing an interview here and there, I have used HMI a small but significant portion of the time (admittedly the ones I do are not generally "TV style", more doc or corporate, which may have a different aesthetic and expectation and commensurately larger crew and equipment package). But bottom line for me is: not all interviews take place in controlled environments where one can define the light level. Sometimes you have to accomodate existing backgrounds and work up to a specific stop.

The shoot I described above took place three years ago, but since then a few high-power LED units have come on the market (Nila for one) that could have subbed for the 1200 HMI.

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Doug,
Thanks for following this thread. As you can see there's many more concerns about LED than Tungsten lighting. Your DVD does an excellent job showing how to use a diversity of LED lights from Fresnel to Panels, it's the "unsaid" stuff that leaves viewers a bit uneasy.

While product comparisons might be outside the purview of the LED DVD, you brought up a preference. You did do a comparison between LED panels and Tungsten complete with chip chart showing color rendering.

Compare Litepanels to "Brand X"
Perhaps you might include one of the "poor quality" LED in that comparison without mentioning the brand. Another good real world test is simply to show a test with a real subject with Litepanel compared to "Brand X." It would inform the viewer what to look for. It's of major importance and probably why there's so much concern. It would be good to educated the viewer in how to judge LED light quality

Perhaps toss the above online. If you do an email blast or some other outreach to people who bought the LED DVD you may get a lot of views. Of course you could take marketing advantage of that in some form. It's obviously a hot topic.
_________
Pricing issues
I've used a separator for this since Doug already responded to pricing issues.
I'd agree that you really can't go into this on the DVD without making product comparisons and, yes, that would be risky territory for a tutorial DVD in which pricing and products change frequently as you point out in this thread.

This very comment, is a big concern with LEDs. It's still appears to be a technology in development, unlike Tungsten lighting. An excellent and expensive purchase today may be eclipsed in short order either in quality or pricing or both. For many, it makes the ROI (Return On Investment) much harder to calculate.

That Litepanels is using the legal system to protect patents may well mean they see the challenge that other companies are using the same technology (and possibly at lower prices). There are even other companies coming out with LED Fresnels (ironically none seem to be less expensive than Litepanels in that category).

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Some price breakouts

Litepanels themselves are responding to price issues and that's a good thing.
For example:
I believe Doug may have used the following in your DVD w/ B&H Prices.

1x1 Mono LED Daylight Spot Light $1795.50
Since the DVD came out, Litetpanels came out with a version sans DMX control
1x1 LS Daylight Spot LED Panel $1255.50
So there's a big savings right there even staying within the same manufacturer.
I believe you also use
1X1 Bi-Color Variable Color Temperature LED Flood Light $2695.50
Unfortunately there's no LP LS non DMX series equivalent.
Of course if one can live with a daylight flood there's
1x1 LS Daylight Flood LED Panel $1255.50

So Doug's two panels are $4491
but you can drop that to $2511
for a savings of $1980 while staying with Litepanels

If you really wanted to go "budget" there's
Flolight MicroBeam 1024 High Powered Video Light (5600K) Spot $799
Flolight MicroBeam 1024 High Powered Video Light (5600K) Flood $899
That's $1698. That's a drop of $813 below the two Litepanels LS series.

So the tiers from Doug's to "untested" are:
$4491 - Doug's Litepanels panels
$2511 - Litepanels LS series
$1698 - Flolight panels

The other lights
Sola ENG $715
I see no competing LED Fresnel in that class.
Sola 4 LED Fresnel Light $1345
The few other LED Fresnels in that class seem to be more expensive.
Croma $584 but has a $100 discount through Dec 15 so it's currently $484
Lowel Blender is $494
So no major price difference there.

So Doug's kit (not including stands and accesories)
$1795.50 1x1 Spot
$2695.50 1x1 BiColor Flood
$1345 Sola 4
$715 Sola ENG
$584 Croma

Total $7135

By going with LS series you can drop that to
$5155
By going with Flolight you can drop that a litter further to
$4342
savings of $2793 if you dare.

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Here's an HMI-enabled interview setup for Doug. Two 400 par HMIs, two ARRI 150s and a reflector. Look...the subject is smiling, not grimacing!

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Yeah, she seems happy enough with the HMIs. But my setup time and strike time will be a fraction of the time with LEDs. :-)

The shot looks good . . . but I'd get rid of the plant (it's as sharp as she is) and I'd want to see more seperation between the subject and the background via lighting changes and shallower DoF. Sorry couldn't resist making suggestions. :-)

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

If I was building my Litepanels kit today, and wanted to save a few bucks, I would go with the LS series, I would not get a bi-color 1x1, and I would get a Luma instead of a Croma.

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Hi Doug,

Does this mean when you run into mixed lighting you'd just use gels sans bi-color and Croma?

Given the Luma is brighter, even with the light lose using a gel, I guess it's a reasonable trade off for having more lumens the rest of the time.

Would you replace the Bi-Color with LS Flood (or Bi-Focus which has no LS equivalent...yet) or do you find the second panel not needed in most setups?

BTW I've wondered why not get a 2nd Sola ENG rather than Croma/Luma series as it would seem having another small fresnel like source would be more control. That because the Luma is 50° spread which just seems wide for hair/kicker/side situations.

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Doug, I bought your LED lighting video, it was very good. Thanks for all you do. I couldn't see spending the money on LED just yet, and bought the Lowell RIFA softbox outfits, a small and midsized, both with the interchangeable heads. So I have fluorescent, and I can add the whole thing to my existing ancient Lowell Tota's and light a larger room, if needed.

For field interviews, I do see a need for LED, and have actually used my small Flo Light to punch in on overcast days. Makes all the difference in the world.

It's good to hear that you would now go with a slightly less expensive and less flexible LED from them. That makes me feel that maybe I'll add one with a battery mount for those field interviews where there is no electricity, and I need to pop the subject.

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Craig,
I guess you'd have to define what you mean by "mixed lighting" because I very rarely ever find myself shooting in a location where I have uncontrollable tungsten around me. Usually, if I have uncontrollable light, it is daylight, and that's why it is so much better to have daylight balanced lights today. I don't think I've lit an interview since 2011 that wasn't daylight balanced. One of the best things about LED is leaving 3200 color temperatures in the trash can.

If I was buying 1x1 panels today, I'd get one LS flood and one LS spot. Or maybe two spots, but definately not two floods.

Somebody could certainly substitute a Croma for a 2nd Sola ENG, but the Croma is a very versatile light and I to have it in my kit. There are things I can do with the Croma I cannot do with the Sola. Plus the Croma is so much easier to power than the Sola.

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Al, thanks for the feedback. It's great to hear that you liked the DVD!

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Maybe...I can rig a chimera pretty fast, and I put them away pretty hot. What killed us was getting the background light just right. There was a frosted glass window to the conference room back wall. I ran a 400 par HMI outside, with barn doors on the JokerBug reflector, and a doubled up full blue gel on the barn doors. Moving the light an inch or two this way or that made the difference between a really cool pattern, or almost no color at all. Still, I would have liked to see you duplicate the intensity of that look with an LED fresnel! ;}

Har. We are in agreement. I will say that this still grab is significantly wider than what we were actually using during the interview, so the DoF is much deeper. When I zoomed in a bit during the actual shoot, it rolled the plant and background much softer...as did dialing down the light level so I was within a stop of wide open.

For all you kids keeping score at home: the conference room was about 20 feet long, maybe shorter. We placed the subject about 6-8 feet in front of the glass background, and crammed the camera as far back as I could go. The plant was as close to the back wall as we could get it without a lot of blue light leaking onto the leaves. The camera was an XDCam HD, but with only 1/2 chips...so a competitive DoF disadvantage to Doug's F3 sensor, which is roughly the size of NJ. WB was done with just the unfiltered HMI key light, and then adjusted with a Vortex Media set of warm cards at 1/4 Warm, which raised the color temp about 400 degrees. If you don't have a set of the Warm Cards, order one today. Seriously.

I'm not always a big fan of plant background elements, because in many cases the plants can get out of control and spread all over the image. In this case, I liked the color contrast of the flowers against the super-blue background splash.

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Got an Ikan IFD576-S 2-Point Light Kit before reading this thread and watching the DVD on line. Wondering what I can do with what I've got. It has been suggested using one panel for a key, the second for a backlight and using a foam core board for a fill. I also have a couple of Comer 10LED lights

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

I'm interested in this too.

I've been looking at various LED lights on Ebay. 600 LED panels can be purchased for around $150 USD each. They're powered by the cheap Sony NP-F batteries, which make them a great choice for outdoor interviews.

The build quality may be nowhere near as good as the Litepanels LEDs, but they're also many many times less expensive.

So for hobby work and those with small/no budget, is it really worth paying thousands for Litepanels LEDs? Are the cheap Ebay LEDs better than nothing?

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Hi Jody,

I can't say whether a certain brand of lights will get the job done or not because I have never tried them. I can only vouch for the equipment that I own and enjoy using every day. Too bad there's not a Consumer Reports article on professional LED video lights. :-)

Here's something I posted in another thread, but I'm going to post it here too because I think it is relevant :

The lights I choose to use in my own business, and were featured in my LED Interview Lighting DVD, did cost me about $6K. But to me the cost was worth it and was a much better value than cheaper lights that might not perform as well or hold up to the rigors of daily production. But that doesn't mean there aren't less expensive options that will work good enough for other people's needs. For example, if I use a BMW to teach you how to drive, that doesn't mean you can't take what you learn and drive a Chevy instead if that fits your budget better. In my DVD and workshops I try to focus on the overall principles of lighting, camera setup, depth-of-field, and other factors that have nothing to with the brand or cost of LED lights being used. I simply used the lights in the DVD that I like best and already own.

However, with that said, even the least expensive LED light kit that would be sufficient for lighting interviews, will cost more than an equivalent tungsten kit. And if you can't afford to put together a decent LED kit, you are better off staying with tungsten for the time being.

By the way, I know it is short short notice, but in case anyone is really interested in some hardcore hands-on training with tungsten and LED lighting, there are still openings for the "The Art of Interview Lighting Class" I'm teaching the week of September 15-20 at Maine Media Workshops.

The Art of Lighting and Shooting Interviews | Maine Media

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Hi:
I understand that you are setting a standard for the perfect lighting set up using LEDs and your DVD provides excellent instruction in a clear and concise manner. I have watched it several times.

However, it has raised a few questions. The Lite panels bifocus LED panels...the LED spot panels,, are new. No one else has them. Could one not use a Solar ENG in their place. It provides a nice fill as well as a focused beam?

What about the use of a window as a background? It has been suggested to me that a 10 ND gel on the window pane can provide an effective background and would thus negate the necessity of using a Solar 4.

Altogether, I wonder if you could supplement the DVD with some advise for cutting a few corners, equipment wise, by using the natural environment such as windows and hallways.

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Hi Tim,

I'm not sure what you mean when you say: "The Lite panels bifocus LED panels...the LED spot panels,, are new. No one else has them." The bi-focus Litepanels 1x1 lights are not new and you should be find them at various retailers. But it doens't really matter anyway because I have never suggested anyone buy those lights -- so I'm not going to defend them against other types of lights. I really see no need for a bi-focus 1x1 panel in a typical light kit. But to answer your bigger question, no, a Sola ENG could not take the place of any 1x1 panel. They are two totally different types of lights, with different intensities, and totally different "looks".

And if you think gelling windows is a good alternative to having the proper lighting equipment, then you must not be very busy. Do know how much time it takes to gel windows and how much that stuff costs? I don't have time for that on a typical shoot. And what about all the other times when you need to blast some light through a cookie, or light up a background, etc. when windows are not even a factor. How are you going to do that with a roll of gel? Think about it.

The good news is that today there are are some newer, less expensive alternatives to the lights I show in my DVD. If I was building my kit today, I would go with a pair of Litepanels 1x1 LS daylight spots instead of the 1x1's I own, and I would use a Luma instead of Croma. But no, I'm not going to supplement my DVD with ways to cut corners because that would go against my core beliefs. Being successful in this business in not about cutting corners and saving a buck here or there on gear. It is about having the right gear and knowing how to use it quickly and efficiently in nearly any situation you are faced with.

I'm not saying everyone needs to have the same lights I use because there are many ways to skin a cat. And depending on what someone shoots (and what client's expect) they might be able to get away with a much smaller kit -- but let's not fool ourselves into thinking they will be able to handle the same situations that someone with a fully equipped light kit will be able to tackle.

And time is money. I want to be fully setup and ready to roll on an interview in 20-30 minutes from the time I have my gear unloaded, and I want to be able to deal with almost any location I'm likely to be faced with without a lot of drama. But if I've got a roll of gel and a couple of under-powered lights, what am I going to do? And even if I find a way to make it work in a given situation, I'm probably not going to be ready to roll in 30 minutes. And how often am I going to find myself under-gunned and under-powered for what I really need? ALL THE TIME.

Before you start cutting corners, look at it his way: Unless someone is a hobbyist, this is their profession and they need to have professional tools that will get the job done right, get it done quickly and efficiently, use equipment that looks professional to clients and colleagues, and hold up to the rigors of production for 5-10 years.

When you amortize the cost of a nice light kit that fits the needs I have just outlined, it's really not that expensive. Let's say my kit costs $6000, even thought it's not really that much. But let's just say that it is. If that kit serves me for just 5 years (it's already going on 3) that works out to $100/month. That is nothing!!! And in reality that kit will probably serve me for closer to 10 years, so do the math. In fact I have a lot of gear that I still use that is over 15 years old.

Show me the professional who can't justify that kind of investment, and I'll show you someone who should start looking for another occupation. Going LED has cut the amount of gear I need to haul around by at least 30%. It allows me to work faster than ever before. It allows be to incorporate daylight and windows into my shots that I never could do with tungsten. I don't have to worrry about blown bulbs. Talent and crew stay nice and cool. I can run everything off of batteries. And I my setup time is faster than ever. All without sacrificing any quality in the shots

So if you want to talk about cutting corners, you've asked the wrong guy. :-)

How to Set up and Shoot Awesome Interviews with LED Lights

Doug

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Doug,

Thank you for that reply. Most of what you just said applies to EVERYTHING we do, not just lighting. I completely understand that people have to deal with budgets, but I believe what you said: that as professionals we should have and use professional tools to be able to get the job done correctly, quickly and effectively. What you sort of implied but did not say outright, is that we also need to charge a professional rate to support having those tools. I know I'm just an old fart, but I have been around long enough to see this self-destructing race to the bottom that the video (and audio) business has been in for so long. Yes, the cost of pro gear has certainly come down over the years. But I believe we all do ourselves a big disservice when we take jobs for less that what it costs to keep the lights on (in this case literally!). In my position now, I hire outside freelancers to do work and I have had to fight hard with the pennypinchers in the organization to be able to pay a fair professional rate. So not to pile on Tim, who I know is just looking for ways to maximize his profit and get better at his job, but I agree wholeheartedly that cutting corners is not the way to go!

Re: New LED interview lighting DVD from Vortex Media - anyone seen it?
 

Hi:
Have another question about LED lighting. I am wondering if the endorsement of Litepanel products comes because Litepanels has overcome the problems that I have just read about here:

Any truly color accurate LED panels out there? - Lighting - Cinematography.com

Is this article accurate?

I am sure you are familiar with all this. It seems quite alarming and the facts seem to have been out there quite a while. So I would be interested to know why you still went ahead with your purchases seeing as what you bought may become outdated very quickly by new technology