Battery operated lights

[Kathy Smith]

Can you guys recommend lights that are battery operated?
I need on or two for outdoors to fill in the shadows.
Thanks
Kathy

[Jody Arnott]

There are numerous options depending on your budget. I'm far from a lighting expert but I use 3 Yongnuo YN-600 LED lights. They are around $130 US or so on Ebay each.

They take the Sony NP-F style batteries, I get around 1.5 hours runtime from the NP-F970.

They are cheap lights but they do the job for me.

[Darren Levine]

what do you mean by You Guys?

oh yea that's right it's a meatfest in forums.

i see you're in NYC. B&H is always a good idea to check out. for small stuff i've used z96, cn160, and, the newer h160. i just worked with a fellow who had a bunch of the really cheap 500led lights, and even they get the job done. the main things to keep in mind are color temp and color shift. the z96s are definitely higher in kelvin than my other leds, and most LED have some green shift which you can correct with a bit of magenta gelling.

[Les Wilson]

It is difficult for a light to compete with the sun. I have had the most success with a reflector outdoors. I like this one:
Amazon.com : Lastolite LL LR3636 30-Inch TriGrip Reflector (Sunfire/Silver) : Photographic Lighting Reflectors : Camera & Photo

Regardless, you'll need as much light as you can afford. HMI type are typical for outdoor applications. There are some focusable LEDs that *may* let you concentrate their light enough to give you some fill as long as your framing allows them to be within 6' from the subject.

As mentioned, color temperature and green shift issues abound in LEDs. Some lights let you dial in color temp. Take a look at the Zylight F8 for a high powered example. I used a Zylight Z90 for fill (off camera left) in the attached interview setup in a very bright Africa (south east region) in the afternoon. Barely noticable effect. Not constraining your choice for travel will help you get more light per pound. YMMV.

[Oren Arieli]

Unless you've got a rather large budget or can rent an HMI, take Les' advice. Start with a bounce card or disc (silver will give you more punch and can be placed further from the talent...but it's harsher on the eyes.

The Zylight F8 fully spotted has some good punch, is battery powerable and focusable, but at a price $2500.

[James Manford]

Originally Posted by Darren Levine

what do you mean by You Guys?

oh yea that's right it's a meatfest in forums.

.

Literally laughed out loud. It's a shame more females don't come forward and contribute.

In regards to lighting ... i've used Amaran 512's which are very poor in comparison to the Yongnuo YN-600's. These Yongnuo's in my opinion are very good portable lights. I use two of them myself.

[Daniel Epstein]

Hey Kathy,
As has been pointed out before the sun is a very bright source so it can take a lot of power to fill in. Sungun name is kind of a misnomer as the sun is much stronger than any on camera or battery powered light. If you are in direct sunlight there are some smaller HMI's which can be battery powered for shot times but bigger is better. Also they are pretty expensive. LED lights can battery powered and the bigger ones can make a a small difference against the sun. Reflectors help and can be inexpensive and relatively small silks are also very useful but rigging is very important as they can become sails in the wind. Flexfills, showcard and bead board are my run and gun reflector staples. Usually need someone to operate it separately. Something like this is useful for a lot of different situations inside and out. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/331722-REG/Interfit_INT270_Collapsible_5_in_1_Reflector_Kit.html

[Don Bloom]

I have a Chinese made 6 Power LED light that I got on Ebay for about $40.00 that I could never use indoors as the light was way too harsh but outdoors as a fill up to about 8 or 9 feet...it worked better than even my old Anton Bauer Ultralite with an 85W bulb. Plus it runs off the Sony batteries. Great light? No...Worked as a decent fill when needed and close enough? Yes and for $40.00 I couldn't go wrong.

Keep in mind that outdoors subject placement to the sun is very key and if placed in the wrong position it doesn't matter what you use it won't be right. Like I said no more than about 8 feet away. Over that and you need some big lights.

[Andy Young]

I'm a big fan of the Fotodiox 508A. A lot of people are using the smaller bi-color 312 LED. This is the same as that, only bigger and with only daylight LEDs.

Amazon.com : Fotodiox Pro LED 508A, Photo, Video Studio LED Light Kit, with Dimmable Switch and Removable Diffusion Panel, 2x Sony Compatible 750 batteries : Photographic Lighting Soft Boxes : Camera & Photo

[Chris Harding]

I have a couple of the same lights as Don and they have run well for years. They are as cheap as chips and often include a generic Sony battery. I haven't needed to use them outdoors as yet (no time to start setting up lights at weddings as everything happens so fast!) Indoors I find they work well but I only tend to use a light for a bit of fill at weddings during the dancing when they turn out virtually all the lights!)

The lights do have dimmers too but overall I find that all LED lights are very harsh and cold!! During speeches at weddings I tried an LED setup and it looked terrible!! I went back to using 4 x CFL's bounced into a brolly and only use the LED's if I really have to ...My fast lenses usually handle indoor lighting on their own.

Just a point about fill in daylight? Do you really need a fill light? I would rather re-direct daylight onto the subject using a reflector. All you need is a simple lighting stand and a reflector rigged up on a little ball head so you can angle it exactly where you want the light.... it's hands free if you are working solo and provides great fill without needing someone to hold a reflector.

Chris

[Reg Carter]

Can you name these $40 lights? Thanks.

[Don Bloom]

Search Ebay for Power LED 5080 I don't know the name of the light and it took about 3 weeks to get to me AND the shoe broke pretty quick but I think I definitely overtightened it BUT the light did throw a lot of power. Again I tried it once at an indoor even and that only last until th efirst break I could remove it and use a different light BYT to light a small space as a bounce OR close outdoors work as a fill (8 feet or closer) it works fine. At least IMO it does.

[Chris Harding]

They make a whole batch of them Reg.

Probably the pick of the bunch is the 5010A which is a 6 x PowerLED light not 8 and works very well indeed. I have a 6 and an 8 and the 6 is a wee bit neater. Note that these guys also make a 5010 which is round and the 5010A is rectangular and better.

Here is one on our eBay LED 5010A DV Camcorder Video Light Lamp FOR Video With Battery 4400 MAH Charger | eBay

I find it's better to search on eBay for "Video Light 5010A"

Chris

[Arthur Gannis]

What cameramen/camerawomen sometimes fail to understand is that when using any kind of fill light for outdoor use is that when you want to fill in some light, or rather introduce extra light, you are also adding that extra light onto the existing brighter areas and the highlights will get that much worse in brightness. Adding light to the shadows will also add that light to the highlights so that the contrast ratio is the same. What is needed is a selective spot light that adds just to the shadow area to fill in. I have made many portable led lights for myself just for that exact problem. I used 10 degree narrow beam tie optics with 12 lighting class leds in a battery powered enclosure delivering the equivalent of a 2000watt filament. It is so bright at times that at 25 feet distance I had to dim it down a bit. That was in direct overhead sunlight without clouds. This unit measures only about 6 X 4 X 3 inches deep and accepts AB type 14.4 volt DC batteries. It consumes only 100 watts from the battery making it last over 1 hour at full pop with a 120w/h batt.
The sun is extremely bright and using reflectors can be the ideal way but you must fill in only the shadow area or else the highlights will be blown out. A small reflector which reflects a narrower beam would do fine in many cases.
Even panel type leds with them 512 teenie weenie leds do diddly squat in the sunlight at distances over 8 feet from the subject.

[Reg Carter]

Thanks for the tip Don and Chris. I just bought the 5010A from an ebay seller based in California. I'm anxious to see how bright it is outdoors. I recently purchased an RS-5610 100w (also known as Alzo 3000) light that crowds 100 leds onto a single chip. It throws the equivalent of a 1K tungsten which can be shaped with barn doors, snoots, etc. It had a noisy fan but I found a replacement that is inaudible. I love its portability but I would have to drag a big jump start battery and inverter to use it in remote areas without ac power. I am very interested in seeing Arthur's light.