Chauvet DJ LED Lights for Video + Wireless Control

[Steev Dinkins]

To start, I have been wanting the Zylight Z90 for awhile now, but its still more expensive than I'd like. So I decided to get 2 Dedolight Ledzilla lights instead of the Z90 light. However, I was still wanting a color changeable LED light, and there's NOTHING else out there for pro video as far as I can see. So I went hunting around the DJ light market and found some great lights ranging from $125 to $350.. there are other for more of course, but to me these prices are a steal compared to pro video lighting costs.

First off, no, these aren't ideal as white source light. They can also tend to flicker if you aren't careful with your shutter speed. And there is a limited range and selection of shutter speeds that will work with them. But I don't really care. I can work within and around that.

Secondly, they aren't a battery-powered solution, and to control the color with significant accuracy requires use of a DMX based lighting controller. However, you can set up some static colors and do some light output control straight on the lights.

What I ended up doing is setting up wireless DMX using an Airport Express, an Ethernet-based DMX interface, and Luminair app on iPad or iPhone. More to follow on that - I haven't sufficiently demo'd that yet. But there's a quick instance of using that here on a crazy XY-pan/tilt-controllable light I had to return because it was too loud:

YouTube - Blizzard Flurry Wash DMX LED Light Review - it's LOUD

So back to the Chauvet lights, I have a number of initial demo videos I made testing these things out.

YouTube - Chauvet ColorDash Accent Par 38 Tri LED DMX Light Test 01
YouTube - Chauvet ColorDash Accent Par 38 Tri LED DMX Light Test 02
YouTube - Chauvet ColorDash Accent Par 38 Tri LED DMX Light Test 03
YouTube - Chauvet ColorDash Accent Par 38 Tri LED DMX Light Test 04
YouTube - Chauvet ColorDash Accent Par 38 Tri LED DMX Light Test 05

All of this led to me setting up 4 lights in my house controlled wirelessly - RAWK!!!!

More to follow.. i think.

-steev