On board light advise

T

Tdes

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Tony
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Hi All,

Looking for a small onboard light, must have adjustable temp and on board battery.

Doing run and gun video interviews for a week at an event. Need something compact and portable with a soft and diffused light.

The ones that keep cropping up are lume cube, panel go and lume cube panel mini.

Any good, are there better ones out there?

Cheers for any advise, Tony
 
The ones I see most at weddings are the Yongnuo ones, they look about 5x7 inch roughly, I think they use a Sony battery but I might be wrong. They seem plenty bright enough for an interview.
 
The Lume cube panel mini has a 1200mAh battery and they claim 14hrs use! The similar sized Smallrig RGB video light has a 4000mAh battery and they claim 16hrs at 1% power, but 3hrs use at 100%.
Look at battery size and if it can be recharged while using it, a small power bank might just save the day if you can charge while using it.
The Smallrig P200 led panel light is another option, similar price to both above, its 10inch in size and uses NP-F battteries (or will run off a power bank) so there is an option to get some big NP-F batteries and not have to worry about running out of power.

I have a couple of these they are ok if you are doing a close up interview type shot, i dont use them much for video as they were bought for macro work but when ive needed to use for video they have been ok.
 
"small" and "soft light" is a conflict. as above the best compromise are the smallish panels that can mount on the camera. Aputure have a few options too.
 
NO light with the 99 x 67 x 18.3 mm dimensions is ever going to give 'soft and diffused' light as wanted by the OP!

At a relatively close distance of [5 * (largest dimension of the light source)] it produces distinct shadows With the small dimensions of the light source mentioned, 5x is only 20" away...far closer than what you would ordinarily shoot a video interview!

softbox_proximity_test.jpg


Even using a 10" LED source still only puts the shooter 50" away at 5x distance, and 20" away where shadows are truly 'soft'
 
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this is my "run and gun" setup for light and sound. On tripod just to show

xxx.jpg
so now can use the handle light only or the CN-160 LED or both together. Panasonic stereo mic in picture also.
 
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ScottT said:
The Lume cube panel mini has a 1200mAh battery and they claim 14hrs use! The similar sized Smallrig RGB video light has a 4000mAh battery and they claim 16hrs at 1% power, but 3hrs use at 100%.
Look at battery size and if it can be recharged while using it, a small power bank might just save the day if you can charge while using it.
The Smallrig P200 led panel light is another option, similar price to both above, its 10inch in size and uses NP-F battteries (or will run off a power bank) so there is an option to get some big NP-F batteries and not have to worry about running out of power.

I have a couple of these they are ok if you are doing a close up interview type shot, i dont use them much for video as they were bought for macro work but when ive needed to use for video they have been ok.
Click to expand...
I've narrowed it down to this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B63CRMKC/ref=ewc_pr_img_3?smid=A1R83JE18GEU2L&psc=1 before I remembered about this post! Looks like it the bigger brother!

Thank you. T
 
TimHughes said:
"small" and "soft light" is a conflict. as above the best compromise are the smallish panels that can mount on the camera. Aputure have a few options too.
Click to expand...

wiltw said:
NO light with the 99 x 67 x 18.3 mm dimensions is ever going to give 'soft and diffused' light as wanted by the OP!

At a relatively close distance of [5 * (largest dimension of the light source)] it produces distinct shadows With the small dimensions of the light source mentioned, 5x is only 20" away...far closer than what you would ordinarily shoot a video interview!

softbox_proximity_test.jpg


Even using a 10" LED source still only puts the shooter 50" away at 5x distance, and 20" away where shadows are truly 'soft'
Click to expand...
I am using a Canon R6 mk2 which does well in lower light situations, just need this to lift the face slightly. I don't want to knock the background down too much so imagine using it on low power.

I have some larger LED panels with barn doors for anything more organised. I just have a job coming up where I am grabbing interviews as UK competitors are coming off stage after hopefully winning some awards! Huge venue, loads of media/video/tv/photogs around, running about with light weight kit, can't leave anything laying about!

Thanks for the info. T
 
Tdes said:
So, bought this one... https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B63CRMKC/ref=ewc_pr_img_3?smid=A1R83JE18GEU2L&psc=1

Very bright, reasonable soft with the silicone diffuser on, loads of run time and has the RGB effects if I ever need it. Really happy, might get a second one and use two of these instead of my bigger lights for smaller jobs!
Click to expand...
The ad says "1580 Lux" at 0.3m
A 100W incandescent bulb is in the range of 600-800 Lux.;
a 250W photoflood is 8500 Lumen, which computes to about 7300 Lux. https://www.rapidtables.com/calc/light/lux-to-lumen-calculator.html

And sized at just under 5" x 3", it cannot possibly be 'soft' to any degree...if used at a 5x distance from subject (where X is the largest dimension of the source, or about 25" om this case) it casts distinct shadows, with not-soft penumbra. (see post 5 for example of 4x distance) You are likely to be much more than 10x distance (especially if you do not want to induce perspective distortion of the subject due to too short shooting distance) AREA of the source is what matters, unless you are primarily bouncling light from walls/ceiling which makes THEM the 'source'!
 
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wiltw said:
The ad says "1580 Lux" at 0.3m
A 100W incandescent bulb is in the range of 600-800 Lux.;
a 250W photoflood is 8500 Lumen, which computes to about 7300 Lux. https://www.rapidtables.com/calc/light/lux-to-lumen-calculator.html

And sized at just under 5" x 3", it cannot possibly be 'soft' to any degree...if used at a 5x distance from subject (where X is the largest dimension of the source, or about 25" om this case) it casts distinct shadows, with not-soft penumbra. (see post 5 for example of 4x distance) You are likely to be much more than 10x distance (especially if you do not want to induce perspective distortion of the subject due to too short shooting distance) AREA of the source is what matters, unless you are primarily bouncling light from walls/ceiling which makes THEM the 'source'!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info.

Very bright... at about 4' away it is making me squint on 100% power, for an interview light I could say too bright at 100%.

Reasonably soft... the silicone diffuser does seem to take the harshness away, but because of the low level used it isnt going to create extremely harsh shadows. I had some cheap ones years ago with the slide in diffuser sheet, and it is definitely softer than them (hence the word 'reasonably').

In an ideal world I would take my larger lights, on stands with modifiers, and arrange them to really highlight the subject, possibly even throw a light on the background to balance it all out. But I can't in this situation and to be honest, its not really needed or warranted for the output the client wants. I believe this light is about the best I am going to get for the use, size, weight and money.
 
Tdes said:
reasonable soft with the silicone diffuser on,
Click to expand...
Please don’t fall for the marketing BS
a light that size isn’t possible to be ‘soft’ and adding the silicone diffuser will just eat some light.

Physics is physics, and manufacturers of LED light sources are playing games with semantics to try to pretend otherwise.
 
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