Tip McPartland
October 3rd, 2007, 09:30 PM
If you get Zylight Z-90 for your F-350 (probably 330 too), don't plug it into the front socket that enables auto switching (so light goes on with record button).
I did this to enable the auto on function, and also for the tidier cabling situation it allowed. However, upon trying to operate the Z-90, all it would do is strobe with hot pink light. Not currently operating, or trying to call attention to, a house of ill repute, I have little use for a hot pink strobe light. So instead of moving to Amsterdam, I called the Zylight people and tried to figure the problem out.
Turns out that on my 350, this front plug doesn't deliver sufficient wattage to drive the Z-90. But I have an Anton Bauer adapter and it has a pretty much direct connection to the battery, and once plugged in there, the light had the wattage it needed and worked fine.
This light is amazing. As advertised, it does change from tungsten to daylight with the push of a button. In another mode you can set it to any color temperature between 2500K and 9000K. In the third mode, it smoothly transitions between every hue on the color wheel, and then lets you dial in how much saturation you want. Altogether amazing.
What's not to like? It is a much narrower light source than the more rectanguler Light Panel so the horizontal shadowing will be harsher. They made the casing 3 inches wide for some reason, but the actual light source is just 7 very powerful LEDs in a hexagonal cluster maybe 1.25 x 1.25 inches.
As for Zylight's claim that this is the brightest LED light available: not even close. It's not as bright as my Sony HVL-LBP which cost half as much. It's not that the Z-90 isn't putting out the light, it's just that the light goes everywhere from the ceiling to the floor and way out to the sides -- for better or worse, a much wider spread than the Sony light. Too bad Zylight didn't put an adjustable focus on it so you could spot it in much more when you wanted to. Then they'd have something, right now I can't recommend it in spite of all its bells and whistles... get a Light Panel. (CHANGED MY MIND, SEE LATER POST BELOW)
Probably the soft box I ordered for it would enlarge and softer the lightsource, but the Zylight people forgot to send mine so I'll have to wait a few days to find out how well it softens the output, but that may be the last thing this light needs.
Tip
I did this to enable the auto on function, and also for the tidier cabling situation it allowed. However, upon trying to operate the Z-90, all it would do is strobe with hot pink light. Not currently operating, or trying to call attention to, a house of ill repute, I have little use for a hot pink strobe light. So instead of moving to Amsterdam, I called the Zylight people and tried to figure the problem out.
Turns out that on my 350, this front plug doesn't deliver sufficient wattage to drive the Z-90. But I have an Anton Bauer adapter and it has a pretty much direct connection to the battery, and once plugged in there, the light had the wattage it needed and worked fine.
This light is amazing. As advertised, it does change from tungsten to daylight with the push of a button. In another mode you can set it to any color temperature between 2500K and 9000K. In the third mode, it smoothly transitions between every hue on the color wheel, and then lets you dial in how much saturation you want. Altogether amazing.
What's not to like? It is a much narrower light source than the more rectanguler Light Panel so the horizontal shadowing will be harsher. They made the casing 3 inches wide for some reason, but the actual light source is just 7 very powerful LEDs in a hexagonal cluster maybe 1.25 x 1.25 inches.
As for Zylight's claim that this is the brightest LED light available: not even close. It's not as bright as my Sony HVL-LBP which cost half as much. It's not that the Z-90 isn't putting out the light, it's just that the light goes everywhere from the ceiling to the floor and way out to the sides -- for better or worse, a much wider spread than the Sony light. Too bad Zylight didn't put an adjustable focus on it so you could spot it in much more when you wanted to. Then they'd have something, right now I can't recommend it in spite of all its bells and whistles... get a Light Panel. (CHANGED MY MIND, SEE LATER POST BELOW)
Probably the soft box I ordered for it would enlarge and softer the lightsource, but the Zylight people forgot to send mine so I'll have to wait a few days to find out how well it softens the output, but that may be the last thing this light needs.
Tip