Anyone find any good ones? any great ones?

So far I have seen the Kino flo at around 800.00 and 20w daylight or tungsten bulbs, just seems a bit lowpowered. any thoughts on how much light you actually get from this at a given distance?

Also the LED ringlight from litepanel looks nice but very expensive 3000 for a mini setup and 9500 for a cinema setup, that may be worth it, but I would likely live without it for that much and instead purchase a large variety of other types of lighting and grip equipment to keep me busy so I forget I wanted a ring. I have had and used on and off ringflashes for years, and have issues I like and dislike about them, but in video I see a slightly high value to a constant ring around the camera source as main/fill and more often an accent light. I just looked into the miclight for an accent light which is cute but not exactly around the lens option, if it were it would be worth while to me, but really to get me to spend more it would be depending on the light output and size which would make pricepoint more or less justified.

Any other options? what about homemade options? I have seen plenty of 8inch/12inch and 16inch fluorescent tubes I am sure someone can make a decent looking nice fitting unit from one with a little ingenuity, anyone try? And while I know it does not matter what the unit looks like its really about how it performs, but the truth is, with clients and even talent FORM is sometimes more important to create a sense of quality of production and instill a feeling of confidence in the participants than actual FUNCTION, so it would have to look decent on the camera or at least look very impressive to the average viewer as to make them think its some great piece of equipment.

Stephen Eastwood
http://www.StephenEastwood.com

The Kino Flo Kamio is a 20-30w flo, so it gives off about as much as an 80w incandescent. I think it's about 1200 lumens of light. According to the Kino Flo site, it's about 30 FC at 3 feet.

Regarding building one yourself, why don't you email Richard at Cool Lights? He's got experience with DIY Flos, so perhaps he has some advice for building a ringlight.

Good luck.

~~Dave

i have seen dozen of ringlight, some made of ring tube, other made from a rig of bulbs or led, even a huge daisy made of 3 foot tubes (and a lot).
on DVinfo, there was a guy who use a regular ring bulb and post a little sample, it was nice.
depends if you want to shoot full height people or just close-up from faces.
it is mandatory in any R&B clip, where you see the ring reflected in eyes of singers.
if you want to impress, just go with the daisy made of about 16 small fluorescent tubes or even better LED tubes !
http://www.ledsupply.com/everledtr.php

search on ebay for "led strip"
http://cgi.ebay.com/LED-Light-Strip-50-Ultra-Bright-WarmWhite-LEDs-AC-31in_W0QQitemZ130158250348QQihZ003QQcategoryZ116019QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I just mentioned something about this on the other LED thread here. There are projects for ring lights all over the place. Seen many on DVXuser and I believe at least one or two here.

The ideal solution, if I had time to do it, would take a wide diameter plastic speedring adapter to fit around any lens you can imagine. Then attach to that either a fluorescent or LED ring. The LED would be a better solid state solution from a manufacturing standpoint if I were doing it.

However, the fluorescent round tube will be easier to find from a DIY aspect. When you get the fluorescent ring just make sure its an electronic ballast and rated for use with the tube you buy. Finding the ring in 5600K or 3200K may be the real trick though. You may have to settle for 3500K or 6500K.

Would something like this work?

Macro Ring Continuous Light Flash 5400K Day Lighting - eBay (item 140493319956 end time Jan-21-11 13:47:38 PST) (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140493319956#ht_5046wt_1074)

It is essentially a fluorescent bulb, with a cover on it.
I would love to get an LED version, but this is much more my price tag!

For $149.00, you cannot go wrong in experimenting with a ring light. Personally, I find the ring light look to be a bit of a cliche', but if you want that look, this is a cheapest and simplest way to get it.
Bring On The Glamour! (http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/bring_on_glamour_brockett.html)

Dan Brockett

I have a Kino Flo Kamio in my light kit, and it works well for the price with both daylight & tungsten kelvin tubes. I have looked at a few LED ringlights but they were a little on the pricy side.

All the Best!

Dave

I found the DIY way to be effective. 2 small c-stands complete the rig.
I tried some CFLs but didn't like the results. I'm still looking for the best bulbs.

home made, less than $50
http://www.giroud.com/image1.jpg