Suggested light for the XH AI for wedding??

[Suzanne Zorich]

Hi Lighting experts,
I'm pretty new to the videography world, have been an editor for years. I have the Canon XH A1 and am looking for an additional low light for the camera to film wedding reception or darker spots in. What seems to be a cheaper favorite??
And of course....where's the cheapest place to get them?

Thanks for your help!!

[Les Wilson]

Why does it have to be the cheapest? Were you the cheapest editor? Are you the cheapest wedding videographer? What did you tell prospective customers that wanted only the cheapest?

You didn't get the cheapest camera. You spent a good amount on the camera presumably for good reasons. Maybe you want to support companies that try to be green. Or companies that employ people in the USA and other free worlds. Or maybe you want to support companies who off shored everything and are just a bunch of MBAs fiddling with spreadsheets.

Whatever your joy, the sponsors of this site are great places to find a light. Most will let you sort them by price and compare them that way. You don't need a lighting expert to buy the cheapest light. Lighting experts will tell you the same thing: You get what you pay for.

Do some searching on this site and you''ll find plenty of discussion about on-camera lights.

[John Cusi]

Hi. I am in the same page as you are and have recently bought the AB Elightz kit from BHphotovideo. Much better than the ultralight and costs alot less. Hope this helps. Cheers!

[Heiko Saele]

From my experience with on-camera lights (I have tried some 4 or 5 different models) I have a wishlist of features for a good camera light:

1.) Dimmer. Especially for eng and events I think it's crucial to have one.

2.) Power. For the dimmer to be of any use the light should be 50W at least. You also need that much power if you want to diffuse the light (see 3.)
Best bulbs are the Xenon-Halogen type photo-optic bulbs (they are at least 15-20% brighter than a household halogen lamp)

3.) Reflector. Should be large enough, at least as large as a household reflector halogen lamp. A bad example would be the ianiro divino - the reflector is just too small, so the lightbeam is too narrow. The beam should be as wide and as even as possible

3.) Barndoors. Large enough to make a little "softbox" with WD gel. You don't need 4 barndoors, 2 good ones are enough. I always use diffusion gels as long as I don't need the full power of the lamp.

4.) Weight. Not really important for a shoulder-mount, but for a handheld camcorder the weight is very important. Try holding a HVX200 with a big Sachtler Reporter 75 for an hour and you know what I mean ;)

5.) A good ctb filter. Some glass filters tend to produce weird lilac color-tones, but I'm not sure if this comes with ageing of the filters. I always find the colors from Lee gel filters a lot better, but they can't beat the quick handling of a snap-on glass filter. However, I can deal with a camera light that has no ctb filter. If you can save money on that feature, don't get one and use gels if needed.

So, that was my wish-list for the perfect camera light, hope it can help you to find an affordable, yet practical light.

[Suzanne Zorich]

John and Heiko, I appreciate you advice!
Ernest, we could all do without your sarcasm. If you actually don't have information to respond with, please keep your comments to yourself.

[David W. Jones]

Originally Posted by Suzanne Zorich

John and Heiko, I appreciate you advice!
Ernest, we could all do without your sarcasm. If you actually don't have information to respond with, please keep your comments to yourself.

With all due respect Suzanne, Ernest did give you valuable Info.
It just wasn't what you wanted to hear!

You might give the search function a try.

Good luck!

[Slavenko Elez]

Sue, be very careful if you are shopping online for a very cheap deal in camera
equipment. I once purchased new digital camera from site that offered unbelievably good deal. Since up to that time all my online shopping has been very good experience, I ordered without much thinking. I came home, found message on the phone. Needed to confiirm order. OK. I called and talked toa guy who was very rude and was tryig to sell me special batteries, charger and other.
I told him that manufacturer was recommending alkaline batteries, that I already owned lower end of the same camera and that he made no sense whatsoever. He became very irritated so, I canceled my order. Then, I became worried about them having my credit card number so, I called their customer service. The guy who answered was ok but on my request to talk to the manager, he transfered me to a guy who in heavy slang called me crazy to complain since he had my name, address and credist card #. He was gonna come to my home and beat me up (I'm using nice language here) and bla, bla, bla, bla, bla.
I was stunned. I was worried about my credit card.
I checked the address of the business on aerial photos on google maps and
found that it was in some residential area in New Jersey. I called closest police in New Jersey but the guy on the phone sounded dumber then the guy I've just talked to. I called couple of FBI offices and gave them the info of the business. I also called back the "manager" to let him know of my FBI calls and
he toned down his BS.
I did more searches on the business and found on "Better Business Bureau"
(www.bbb.org) that it operated under several names, they were using different tricks and were under investigation from some agencies. From other reviews, I also found that they were selling some high end products from "gray" markets and that they were abusing credit cards.
I didn't suffer any consequences but now I go for the best price among reputable businesses. Well, they are not perfect but at least you can negotiate with them when there is a problem.
There seems to be a lot of crooks in camera business online.
I hope that this is helpful for something :-)

[Eric Stemen]

Listen to Slavenko Elez's advice. There are shady places out there.
I think you or surely your customers will be much happier with diffusion or some sort of small soft box than seeing a bright bulb in their face. So make sure like Heiko Saele said, dimmable, and barn doors.

Sorry for just repeating what others have said.

[Peter Ralph]

Regular tungsten lights are relatively cheap but generate a lot of heat and consume a lot of power. If you can live with the price/weight of the battery belts they are the way to go.

LEDs are lighter and can run on camera batteries - but more $$$ per watt. LEDs produce a a very harsh blue light. They work great for general fill, but for use at wedding receptions you need a gel and diffusion - so output can drop to marginal levels.

I use a 12V lowel rifa on a stand quite a bit. Photographers love it, because it makes their flash less conspicuous, and all the guests think it belongs to the DJ.

[Benjamin Hill]

Originally Posted by Suzanne Zorich

Hi Lighting experts,
I'm pretty new to the videography world, have been an editor for years. I have the Canon XH A1 and am looking for an additional low light for the camera to film wedding reception or darker spots in. What seems to be a cheaper favorite??
And of course....where's the cheapest place to get them?

Thanks for your help!!

Innocent question I think, but the word "cheap" can be misinterpreted. Don't take comments personally.

Try this Canon light:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...Camcorder.html

At $79 it's about as cheap as anywhere else, and considering B&H's reputation (I think they are a DVinfo sponsor) it's a good deal.

The light is simple, no dimmer, but powered with the same battery the camera uses. Plenty of light and not too heavy.

[Jack Walker]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Hill

Innocent question I think, but the word "cheap" can be misinterpreted. Don't take comments personally.

Try this Canon light:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...Camcorder.html

At $79 it's about as cheap as anywhere else, and considering B&H's reputation (I think they are a DVinfo sponsor) it's a good deal.

The light is simple, no dimmer, but powered with the same battery the camera uses. Plenty of light and not too heavy.

I hadn't seen this light and it's perfect for what I need. Thanks for the link.

[Ger Griffin]

I have this light and im very happy with it.
It seems to never run out on the bp945 batteries.

One problem is that the light itself is very concentrated and narrow.
It can be quite blinding.
I covered mine with ovenproof paper and it works excellent.
It a bit yellowy though.

Can anyone rcommend anything else to use to diffuse such a light?

Also is it possible to put a daylight gel on it and if so what grade?
Its a 10w halogen bulb.

[Taky Cheung]

The Canon Vl-10 light is not bad. However, consider having no battery and charger then it's a bit pricey. I like it because it uses the same battery so I can use the same charge comes with A1.

I have 3 of them. Two mounted on HV20 and 1 on XHA1.

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showpost.php?...43&postcount=7

[Taky Cheung]

I also have this 3-watt light for interviews.

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=103237