Litepanel LED: Flood or Spot?

[Trevar Mazza]

I'm getting ready to shoot an indoor event in a large hall. I'll be roaming around capturing secondary footage, and maybe a spontaneous interview or two. I think I should go for the flood, but am not quite sure. I'd also like to be able to use the light in the future for shooting author events in bookstores, and public forums.

What are the benefits of each? I realize the flood will be more diffused and the spot focused, but I've never actually had my hands on one of these lights.

I'll be using it with a Sony VX2100

Any suggestions?

Thank you much.

-
Trevar R. Mazza
trevar@fora.tv
www.fora.tv

[Guy Cochran]

I would definitely go for the mini flood. The spot, even with diffusion, produces a harsher light and gives more of the "deer in headlights" look. If you can get the package which has the noga arm you can push the light up higher off the camera or off to the side. Although I find that trying to use the unit with batteries on the extension arm takes the camera off balance. If you can run it off DTAP or XLR that would be awesome. With batteries, I've even just held the lights off to the side, set them on nearby tables, or clamped them to anything available.


Here's a clip that may help. http://dvcreators.net/products/litepanel_movieframe.htm

[Craig Chartier]

go for flood.

[Trevar Mazza]

Thanks for the info. These lights are a bit pricey, but seem to be worth the investment.

[Trevar Mazza]

Will the litpanel mini have to be powered by a battery if I'm using the Sony VX2100, or does it run off of the hot shoe?

[Guy Cochran]

Bang for buck, I'd go for the DV Camera Kit which uses your own Sony batteries. There is a $150 rebate which drops the price down to $599!

[Trevar Mazza]

Thanks Guy, do you a link to the rebate?

Best.

[Trevar Mazza]

I found it. Sorry for overlooking the obvious.

[Trevar Mazza]

One last question:

Does the LED run off of the battery pack via a plug, or the hot shoe? For example, if I had a dual shoe adapter on the VX2100 (so that I could mount a higher quality mic plus the LED), would I still be able to power the LED with the camera's battery?

Lots of questions I know, but it's hard to get a feel for how these things work by looking at a jpeg on a computer monitor.

Thanks again.

[Guy Cochran]

> Lots of questions I know, but it's hard to get a feel for how these things work by looking at a jpeg on a computer monitor.

Did you watch the video ?

The Litepanels are powered 6 different ways:

DV plate: Snaps to the back and then you pop in two of your Sony, Canon or Panasonic batteries.

Litepanels battery: Snaps onto the back. Lasts 1 1/2 to 2 hours, a little heavy

D-TAP: Plugs into camera/battery pack

XLR: Plugs into camera/battery pack

Cigarette lighter

AC

Hope this helps,

[Eric Pontbriand]

These are awesome.

So, I can plug into an available XLR port and power straight off the camera battery? How will that effect battery life at 5400mah in Panasonic AG do you think?

[Guy Cochran]

Which camera are you using?

And yeah, they are awesome. Hopefully they come out with another rebate. The $150 one just expired, the price with the rebate made it somewhat more reasonable.

The folks that know how to shoot and use these have found them to be incredibly helpful. I have chatted with a lot of customers that are very excited after using them in production. I keep looking for a less expensive solution, but none are as bright with the correct color temperature or have the mounting capabilities. Litepanels definitely found a niche at the right time and are living the "American Dream." I have a lot of respect for them bringing these to market.

To me though still I like my Lowel Rifa, Omni and a Pro light for most shoots. I reach for the Litepanels only when there is no AC or I just need to add a bit of dimension to a shot real quick.

Some folks are using the batteries from Bescor w/ XLR to power these check 'em out at http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?o...ts%20/%20Vests

Myself, I'm using the Litepanels batteries and pushing two hours everytime I use 'em http://www.dvcreators.net/litepanels/

[Eric Pontbriand]

Actually, I'm using the AG-dvx100a Panasonic. The only way this would make sense cost wise is if I can power it off existing AG batteries or right off the camera itself, which it appears to do ok. Only thing is, my xlr's on the camera are for mics and not necessarily just for powering things up. I can switch the mic channels around so it isn't looking to that specific channel for sound though and that should still leave the port powered I'm hoping.

Although again, my mic channel has switches for +48v phantom power, and I don't think the lights will like 48volt.

[Seth Bloombaum]

Eric, the mic xlrs are not what you need for lighting. Not only are they somewhere up to 48v, they are extremely low amps. Mics only, these are 3-pin XLR.

What Guy was referring to are the nominal 12v 4-pin xlr cables and connections that are extensively used in pro portable lighting systems, and to power many pro (as in betacam, digi beta, etc.) camera and field recorder systems. Some of these pro/broadcast cameras have 4-pin xlr ports on them to power a wireless receiver or on-camera light. But they use much bigger batteries than your Panny DVX100 or Trevar's VX2100.

Typically, a battery that outputs 12v on a 4-pin xlr will be configured as a battery belt, or a deep-cycle marine/rv battery (for hefty tasks, not very portable). Some "juice-box" style batteries have 4-pin xlr adaptors available.

[Sean Adair]

I relize these include filter packs that allow you to presumably change over to match color temperature, but obviously light levels will decrease.
So... Do you choose tungsten (indoors and at night will be primary needs for supplemental on-camera light) or daylight (filling in harsh shadows will need the most punch...)?