Hi Travis - how did the Litepanels work for you? Thinking about getting one.

Can't really say just yet. The wedding reception ended up being mostly outdoors on a bright sunny evening, so the light was necessary. This weekend's wedding will probably be a better test.

I will say that it seems like a decent enough light. One of the battery holders isn't set quite right in my unit, but when I put the battery door on it forces the battery into place and it works just fine. I think for the price they should have provided better construction, but considering the newness of the technology and the size, weight, and dimmability, it's not a bad deal really.

I shot my 2nd wedding this weekend with the Micro. I love not having a battery pack and love that the light doesn't get hot.

However, I nearly lost my diffusion filer during the preps. It just fell out at some point. I know you can rig the filter holder with tape, but for a $300 light it should have a better design. One of my batteries also won't stay in its slot, but closing the battery door locks it in place. Again, for a $300 light the construction is not that impressive. I also found that adjust the angle on the light was a bit of a pain, and I felt like I had to be very careful so as to not break the light off. Once again ... $300 light.

As for the light's performance. It seemed to work pretty well. I found it to work best when the subject was within 5 feet. Beyond 5 feet the difference that the light made didn't seem to be all that much.

I did also notice that turning the dimming/on/off knob does nothing for the first 25% or so of the turn, then I get low to full light in the middle 50%, and the final 25% of the knob turn again does nothing. Is this normal???


Overall, I'm fairly happy with the light. I'm conflicted only by the fact that it costs $300 but feels like a light that should cost $150 or maybe less. I'm quite concerned that something is going to break before I get my $300 of use out of it.

LED bulds are not all the same. Quality bulbs that have the correct temp for daylight matching are expensive.

I obtained the Litepanel Micro months ago and there really is no substitute. No heat, long run time, lifespan, weight, ability to dim, filters etc.

Construction does feel cheap yes , but producing a light weight unit was one of the key sales points for this item, hence the plastic.

My only complaints are:

Light pattern is circular (you expect it to be square) So for widescreen filming it does not fill the frame zoomed out.

Battery life is hard to guess, It goes for hours but there's a specific point where the light output drops in intensity, and can catch you unaware if filming. Always use newly charged batteries, or better still non-rechargeable ones.

Filter holder is poor design. Lfit the flap and the filter always falls out. I never use it anyway mind.

Ultimately, it's main purpose is to lift shadows on faces, don't expect it to light a room. Keep within 3m of your subject.

for the filter problem, take a small strip of gaff tape andplace it on the top of the filter when it's in place-I then place the 1/4 warm over that -problem solved. Those 2 filters never leave the lite. If I don't need them I lift the filter gate up. The only time I need that is outside.

As for the batteries, I use 2200MaH rechargables and seem to get about 4 hours per set-alkalines give about 1 1/2 hours. Your choice but rechargables make more sense to me.

As for the circular pattern I have only noticed it at a distance of about 10 feet or more and frankly I don't worry about it, anymore than I worry that the light is only good for a distance of 10 to 12 feet past that and there ain't a light out there that's going to cover without totally blinding the people, and finally for the batteries that don't stay in. LP listed a simple fix that THEY were doing on the first production batch which I did and haven't had a battery fall out since. Move the contact use a drop of crazy glue, move the contact back to where it belongs and PRESTO! Problem fixed.

Remember you have to know the limitations of any piece of gear and use it within those limitations.

I love my LP-Micro.

Don

The strange thing is that my filter fell out at some point while I was shooting. It didn't fall out because I was opening the filter door. I didn't even see it fall out.

Don, thanks for the tips on fixing the filter door and battery compartment. I've seen you post those before and was really just expressing my dissatisfaction with the fact that I paid $300 for a light that immediately requires "do-it-yourself" fixing.

All things said, I still like the light and will be using it A LOT more than my Bescor.

Lighting
 

This is probably the toughest area for wedding shooters. Many/most of the weddings I shoot have a lighting designer lighting the venue so placing a big ole' light anywhere would kill the atmosphere. Trouble is the LD's lights don't help be a bit, they are usually under tables lights or accent lights. I've been using a micro frezzi on with a dimmer. It's worked well, but I'm shooting with a XL1S, so that means I need to lug a battery belt when using my Frezzi which is a pain in the ass.

I saw a behind the scenes show on the making of The Real World. One of the Grips rigged this little battery operated Chinese Lantern that the could take into restaurants and bars and place on the table to light the faces of the characters. It's small enough to shoot around and gave off a nice soft light. If you're a Grip and are reading this, mass produce this little gem, thousands of wedding videographers will be in your debt.