Flicker Free Lights for under £400?

[James Manford]

Looking for a set of two powerful lights for FS700 slow motion use that won't cause any, or next to zero flicker.

Any recommendations? budget is £400.

[Mat Thompson]

I think you'd need to raise the budget a little but battery powered LED panels will do it!

[Dave Sperling]

Or go the other way and try a couple of PAR cans. They're certainly cheap, put out a lot of (tungsten) light, and should have filaments large enough that they won't produce flicker at 200 or 240fps. Of course shoot a test first!

[Lee Flippin]

Here's a link to a nice discussion of lighting for high speed video:

Lighting for High-Speed Video | www.creativeplanetnetwork.com

[James Manford]

Thanks for the suggestion.

I've gone down the cheap route and grabbed one of those Amaran 500 led light panels and a Yongnuo 600 one to see how they do. I'll just put them back on ebay if they're no good.

[Juan A. Diaz]

The cheap-ish Genaray LED lights from B&H have been doing the trick for me...

For example, 3 light kit for $725 USD:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/919883-REG/genaray_genaray_3_light_interview.html
Or separately:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/850292-REG/Genaray_SP_AD35_Spectroled_35w_AC_DC.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/850293-REG/Genaray_SP_AD75_Spectroled_75w_AC_DC.html

Tested to 1/1000 shutter speed and 960fps. Completely flicker free AS LONG AS they are running over 90% power. Dimming below 90%will cause flicker.

They are *very bright* compared to outrageously more expensive solutions from Lowel and others. Color is decent, no noticeable green or purple components.

I was initially pleased with my Amaran 198's off Ebay, and they are flicker free, however after multiple uses, they have started to MELT. Not good.

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

Lately I've been a fan of Yongnuo YN-600 LED lights, especially for only $160 per light.

I'd be curious about how the Aputure LEDs compare.

I've had two of the YN-600s for a while but I just decided to buy two more to replace my 2-bank fluorescents since the YN-600s are almost twice as bright at half the power, 1/8th the size/weight, and can be bi-color or daylight, come with a remote control, and can run on batteries. I tested them up to 1/10,000th shutter (maximum on my FS700) and saw no flicker at any dimming level.

They seem to have similar photometrics to a 4bank Kino Diva or an Arri 300 Plus Fresnel with a quality of light somewhere in between them but without color temperature/spike problems with dimming either of them. Not to mention the convenience of bi-color, remote control, and smaller cost and size. And no bulb changes. I've found the daylight units to be about 1/4-stop brighter than bi-color which makes sense as 3200k LEDs are usually less efficient (and less color accurate) than ~5500k LEDs.

One of my main concerns with the light was green/magenta spike, but I recently tested them and they already have less green than most other similar LED panels, but I found that 1/8th minus green gel correction to be just right for the 3200k LEDs and just a little strong for the 5500K LEDs, but generally for bi-color or daylight, I just attach the 1/8th minus green gel to the diffuser insert (only loses about 3 tenths of a stop with the minusgreen) and leave that in there permanently so no matter what color temp you are at, it's color correct within about 1/16th of a full magenta/green correction.

You can get the YN-600 on ebay for around $130 without AC adapter or $150 with, plus I buy a $10 stand/umbrella/tilt adapter to leave on the light since it only has a 1/4-20 on the bottom.

One other concern is the small fan in the back which does turn on when running the unit at full power, but I just stick a piece of tape in there to prevent he little fan from ever turning on and have never found it to affect the functioning of the light at all.

[Leonard Levy]

Noah ,
That Yongnuo YN-600 LED sounds pretty attractive at that price especially. I'm particularly interested for the remote as I like to use them as backlights for interviews and the remote is very convenient with a small crew.
Is the Daylight version only 1/4 stop brighter than the bicolor even when the Bicolor is set only for daylight output? That would make it pretty pointless. I often get daylight only LED's so I can have maximum output when I need it most, but 1/4 stop is hardly worth it.
How large in the front - close to a 1x1?

Also where do you buy them. I like a domestic seller so I can return it easily if there is a problem.

Thanks

Lenny

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

Sorry I wasn't clear. I was comparing them at full power, so ~5200k vs ~4000k. Of course at daylight or tungsten only, the bicolor is almost exactly half the output. Basically I think the 3200k (I measured closer to 3000k) LEDs are slightly less bright than the 5500k (I measured around 5200k) LEDs per LED. And of course running the unit at 3000k means turning off 300 of the LEDs, so it's at best half as bright as the daylight panel with 600 LEDs at full.

They are smaller and lighter compared to a 1x1. What's amazing is I can throw two YN-600s and a YN-300 in my camera backpack (in the laptop compartment) and pack in 3 lightweight stands and an umbrella softbox in my tripod case (with the tripod and even slider if I want) and show up to set with a 3 point light kit without even bringing any extra bags, just camera/lights on my back and tripod/stands in my hand and still a hand free...

As for domestic sellers, there are a lot on ebay and amazon, possibly elsewhere. The only problem I've noticed is that I prefer ebay but there are no US sellers (besides one, but I bought his last one a couple days ago) that sell the unit with the AC adapter included. And then only amazon has domestically available AC adapters, there are none on ebay. On the other hand, I see plenty of US sellers that sell the light for $125, and then you just have to buy the AC adapter from amazon for $24.

Here is what I bought recently:

YN-600 ($124)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/201094511830 (Did best offer and they only came down $1, but still the best price, and oddly they only have it with a random non-compatible battery, haven't received yet)
Previously bought two daylight YN600s from "yallstore" and bicolor from "jingjiniao20070922" (in china), link above is for "accmonster" which seems to be another name for yallstore as they have the same paypal name. No problems except "yallstore" ads tends to be ambiguous about whether they are selling bicolor or daylight panels but they seem to end up being daylight. I just realized the thing about "accmonster" so now I'm worried I ordered bicolor and they may end up sending me another daylight panel. I wanted to have two bicolor and two daylight panels and I might end up with three daylight panels.

Stand mount ($9)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=281356890582

AC Adapter ($24)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IM8DTPA

Lightweight Batteries ($21 for a pair, also helps get amazon order over free shipping minimum)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E95PHJ6

[James Manford]

I purchased two of these YN600 light modules (they're brighter, cheaper than the amarans and have barn doors). They offer a cheap flicker free lighting solution. I wish they were much more powerful though. I want lights developed that are physically the same size as the YN600 but offer a ridiculous amount of lumens/brightness and cost under £350 (max) each. I can't see these lights being any good around a group of people. They're ideal for interviews but that's it.

Am I asking for too much?

I should also mention, I received a YN600 with dual colours (white/tungsten) and one that only produces a white light. I haven't bothered asking to change it for the dual colour as I have use for both as it is.

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

These are the best ones that are guaranteed to be bicolor, as a lot of the ebay ones send the wrong model:
Amazon.com : Yongnuo YN-600 Pro LED Video Light 3200K - 5500K Dual Color Temperature Version : On Camera Video Lights : Camera & Photo

Good luck finding brighter lights anywhere near the same size and price. LEDs have to be cooled. They make denser LED emitters, but they still need to be cooled and powered, and in the end a brighter LED source will just need a bigger heavier heat sink and a bigger heavier AC-to-DC adapter and like many things will get exponentially more expensive for brighter models since the market gets smaller and smaller as you look at beefier and more expensive lights.

You could mount a whole bunch of these together, though. You could practically build a wall of LEDs out of these the price of one equivalent litepanels 1x1.

[Leonard Levy]

I just received my YN600 - 5600 only light and was really surprised by the output. I've been quite happy with my CN900 fro m photo but this seemed to be a little brighter while covering the same area. Also my initial impression was that the color was better. which for 5600 would make it even brighter because I have to add 1/8 - 1/4 Magenta to my CN900. It was certainly less green though I haven't tested color carefully.

I could see mounting 2 of these together and using it for a portable daylight fill. Even one would be helpful.
4 lights would be killer but maybe a pain to mount.

[Leonard Levy]

How do the controls work for the Bicolor units?
Can you set a color temperature ( or more precisely can you set a relationship of Daylight to Tungstun bulbs) and then dim the whole unit while maintaining color temp, or do you just have independant 3200 and 5600 dimmers so that every time you dim you will be changing color temps and need to adjust again?
Hope that question is clear.

[Noah Yuan-Vogel]

Originally Posted by Leonard Levy

How do the controls work for the Bicolor units?
Can you set a color temperature ( or more precisely can you set a relationship of Daylight to Tungstun bulbs) and then dim the whole unit while maintaining color temp, or do you just have independant 3200 and 5600 dimmers so that every time you dim you will be changing color temps and need to adjust again?
Hope that question is clear.

Yeah you do have to dim each bank separately, so you can't maintain color temp while dimming.

[Leonard Levy]

That's a drag and may make me stick w 5600