Joel, are you talking about the big lights that you setup for the dance floor? What kind of lights are those? And do you use an on-camera light for shooting when you are away from the dance floor?

Oh, and I second the Switronix Torchled... the 35w version holds up much better with a warming filter over it, but it's more expensive. A good friend uses one and I want to get one soon.

I have a Litepanel Micro, and it works well for me with no gels and a PD170, but throw a 3200 gel over it and my pd170 struggle sometimes, let alone any 1/3 HD camera. I hate the color difference without the gel though. I use it mostly for broll shots where I'm close enough, and my Sony 10/20 diffused for everything else.

Dan

Just found this which looks to be new.

Digital Video LED Supplement Jacklight/light for camera on eBay, also, Continuous Lighting, Lighting Studio Equipment, Cameras Photo (end time 13-Mar-09 05:04:55 GMT)

That looks neat, with the articulating arm. . .

Will it work in the US? Any technical specs on it (battery life, lux, etc.?)

$300 for an India made import (probably farmed out to China...) sounds a bit steep - there was a much nicer looking light that someone mentioned in the lighting section - looked like it was in the UK as well...

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/photon-ma...era-light.html

Frankly that light in the eBay listing looked pretty harsh blue and very hotspot prone... neither things I'd want to spend $300 to get, I think there are better options for not much more. I know there's a big "Bollywood" farm industry of various copied camera gear that ends up on eBay, but the quality seems to run from barely usable to "OK" from those I've seen reviewing the various gear... I'd be a bit cautious.

Dave,

Thanks for posting that link... that light looks awesome.. and from a real company no less.. I would love to use it as off camera light as well.. seems like it should be bright enough for run and gun lighting situations..

Cheers,
Scott

Okay, so I was looking at the microbeam compared to the Torch LED 50. . according to the specs on those companies own sites, the microbeam is more than twice as bright at equivalent distance

Microbeam = 686 lux @ 3ft
Torch LED 50 = 280 lux @ 1m

According to a (hopefully accurate) lux to f stops conversion chart I found, the microbeam will yield a camera with with a 320 ASA rating (.e.g. XL2) a 1.4 at 9 ft (prompterpeople site says 85 lux @ 9 ft). This is of course with the color temp uncorrected.

I would agree from their own promo shots it does look to have a pretty strong hot spot. LAck of dimmer is a stumbling block as well. If they drop all the extras and put a dimmer on that would be a better bet in my book.

MicroBeam LED light

Another Option lifted from this thread

On Camera Lighting - The Digital Video Information Network

I should have a Microbeam heading my way in a week or two.

Thanks to Dave especially for steering me through this all. Hopefully this thread will be of use to everyone else in helping them decide what suits their needs/budget/purpose.

Whoa, buddy. I'm the microbeam guy around here. Trying to steal my thunder? What, next you're gonna be short, pale, bald, look like Paul Simon too? :-)

Hmmmm

Short-Nope
Pale-Check
Bald-Check
Paul Simon - Weirdly when whats left of my hair gets long my wife starts singing Art Garfunkel songs to me, so maybe we should start a combo?

Sounds good. I must warn you though, I sing everything like Axl Rose.