Quest for the lightest light kit

[Craig Seeman]

Trying to keep a light kit light enough to hand cary yet flexible enough to shoot interviews in a variety of circumstances.

I discovered these.
Aputure HR 672
http://www.aputure.com/Amaran-HR672
Weighs just 585 grams which is about 21 oz.
CRI>95
Comes in bi-color, wide, spot versions. Wide 2080 lux at 1m and Spot 6040 lux at 1m.
Tends to be in $278-$298 price range.
They are just big enough that an Airbox 1x1 softbox would work with them.
http://airboxlights.com/products/model-1x1-page


For smaller Aputure also has
H198
http://www.aputure.com/Amaran-h198-h198c
at 325 grams which is under 12 oz
CRI>95
920 lux at 1m
Tends to be about $58

Also on the light side is
Digital Juice MiniBurst 504
MiniBurst 504 LED Lights :: Digital Juice
Claims 20 oz without batteries or 30 oz with.
CRI>90
My guess is that they're about 3500 lux plus at 1m
A pricey $649

For a small LED fresnel there's
Litepanels Sola ENG
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/687491-REG/Litepanels_SOLAENG_SolaENG_3_LED_Fresnel.html
weighing 10 oz
368 to 1735 lux (from flood to spot) at 3 feed (just under one meter).
About $716

I'm still researching so wonder what other LED lights you know of under 2 lbs or about 900 grams with high CRI.

[John Nantz]

Craig, since you're still at it .....

Originally Posted by Craig Seeman

Trying to keep a light kit light enough to hand cary yet flexible enough to shoot interviews in a variety of circumstances.

For a small LED fresnel there's
Litepanels Sola ENG
Litepanels SolaENG 3" LED Fresnel 906-1002 B&H Photo Video

weighing 10 oz
368 to 1735 lux (from flood to spot) at 3 feed (just under one meter).
About $716

I'm still researching so wonder what other LED lights you know of under 2 lbs or about 900 grams with high CRI.

As a comparison with the above, check out the new Dedo LEDZILLA (called the LEDZILLA2) light. The "2" version is spec'ed out at 30% more output and improved CRI than it's predecessor. Primary use would be for a hair light but because the focus is adjustable it might be helpful as a flood, albeit not as powerful as the big lights. It's available with various battery mount options, including the Sony battery.

A store in Germany, Marcotec, has it for €265,00 + something like maybe €49 (depending on shipping weight) for shipping. Dedolight Ledzilla 2 DLOBML2 camera light Daylight - AF Marcotec Onlineshop Battery plate and accessories extra.

Picture below is of my original generation (pre "2"):

[Craig Seeman]

Dedo Ledzilla 2, Interesting light
D E D O L I G H T
Ranges from 435 to 5400 lux at 1 meter flood to spot.
Not sure what the CRI is other than it's improved over the previous version.

[Craig Seeman]

Along similar lines someone elsewhere mentioned
Fiilex P360
1.6 lbs
CRI>92
It's bi-color
at 5600K° 1550 lux to 3640 lux at 1 meter from flood to spot.
Fiilex LED Lights - P360
Price is $695

[Oren Arieli]

If you're looking to save on weight, you might want to consider using only 2 lights and pop-up reflectors/diffuser. Or skip the hair light completely and go for a single bright source and this technique by DP Art Adams The Simplest, Fastest Interview Lighting Setup—Ever. by Art Adams

[Craig Seeman]

I've actually done a couple of office shoots like that. Not white bounce card though. I actually bounced the light off the white walls.

I've thought about reflectors and that can work there way into my travel kit.

At the moment I'm using two MiniBurst 128s and a Sola ENG. I have an Airbox Mini Softbox with 40° egg crate which can fit any of the three. the 128s with 6.4 oz each and the Sola ENG 10 oz. Sola gives me one fresnel style light too.

At these tiny weights I'm thinking I can add another light so I can have Key, Fill, Hair, Background or Kicker.
I have mixed feelings about the Aputure 672 and the Miniburst 504 so I'm wondering if I'm overlooking other options.

[Christopher Young]

Anyone had any experience with these? They have me a little curious. Am tempted to buy a couple to see how useable they are in real world interviews. They look as though they fit the small and lightweight bill quite nicely so look like they could be good for a small fly-away kit.

Fotodiox FlapJack Edgelights – Lightweight, Ultra Thin LED Panels - YouTube

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

[Jase Tanner]

Originally Posted by Craig Seeman

Along similar lines someone elsewhere mentioned
Fiilex P360
1.6 lbs
CRI>92
It's bi-color
at 5600K° 1550 lux to 3640 lux at 1 meter from flood to spot.
Fiilex LED Lights - P360
Price is $695

I used a friend's Filex kit once. For the most part it seemed good enough but it did have an issue with barn doors that wouldn't stay on. When I mentioned that to my friend, she said she had been warned about it by the vendor. Whether this was b stock or just the way the fixture is made, I don't know. If that is one of the lights "features" it's probably something a little ingenuity could take care of, but of course not something you'd want to do unless the light was perfect in every other way.

I can't really speak to the Dedo LEDzilla except to say I did check out the 1st version of this light in a store one time. Seemed to be limited in how much it could tilt. And sorry to say I thought it LOOKED cheap and unprofessional. Which is not the same thing as actually being cheap and unprofessional but I was surprised to see Dedolight put out something like that. My experience with some of their other products has only been good.

[Craig Seeman]

This later video for one of the Flapjacks gives good context. It's designed to be extremely soft rather than bright. It looks like a good light for a tight space/small office interview. It could be mounted on a table top stand right near the talent yet be very soft.

Fotodiox FlapJack LED Edgelight VS Rosco LitePad - YouTube

[Oren Arieli]

The only issue with using softlights (exclusively), is that you can't make them into a 'hard' source (short of throwing a big magnifying lens in front). That can be an issue when you want to create some more drama, or cast patterns on a blank wall. At least with a hard source, you'll have an option to soften with accessories. Those flapjacks are not nearly bright enough, so you'll have to block all other ambient light to get anything useful from them. Seems that you can have bright, cheap or small lights, but not at the same time.

[Craig Seeman]

Oren, I certainly agree.
The Sola ENG gives me a Fresnel that can focus from wide to spot (hard). Although only two sides to the barn door, I have some ability to control spill as well.

My Airbox Mini softbox allows me to soften one of my MiniBurst 128s (although it can fit the Sola as well)... at significant light lose though.

I was originally debating between either the Aputure 672w, 672c (which would give me a spot which could be softened with an AirBox 1x1 softbox) or MiniBurst 504, also with softbox to soften.

In my case I'm usually shooting in smaller offices... as a single person crew of course.
I do want to make sure I'm not overlooking instruments I'm not aware of. I just recently discovered the Aputure lights for example.

[William Hohauser]

I worked with the Fiilex 3 LED kit recently Fiilex LED Lights - K302 and it was a joy to use. Unfortunately for me it was only a rental and the $2500 price is a little steep for me to purchase at this time. The travel case is heavy duty and bulky which is a downside compared to my old Lowel soft travel kit that's the same size.

[Ed Roo]

I am using two LitePanels LUMAs and one ENG3. I continue to tinker with three cheap clamp lights with LED bulbs and dimmers. I don't have any way to measure the CRI.

[Christopher Young]

Originally Posted by Craig Seeman

It looks like a good light for a tight space/small office interview. It could be mounted on a table top stand right near the talent yet be very soft.

Exactly my thoughts. I see something like these as a complement to my existing Fresnel, Lowell Tota, Kino and Dedo kits. I have most of the hard and soft light scenarios pretty well covered. Plus with the Dedos I have the focusing snoot projectors and a host of Gobos with various patterns so that side of things is pretty well covered also.

As you say though Craig what some of us need is a quickly deployable close up soft light setup which is easily managed. Especially on a one man shoot when you have to haul all your junk to the 40th floor to someone’s small pokey little office or boardroom. If I could possibly use something like these as opposed to dragging soft boxes and Kinos or something similar for those sorts of shoots you've got me interested.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

[Craig Seeman]

Add the new Litepanels Caliber to the list.

Portable Fresnel style LED lights, focusable, dimming, 4 way barn doors. Runs on AC or 6 Double A Batteries (about 45 minutes at full power). They're kit comes with one light stand and 3 gorilla pod like stands. Lights are about 1.3 lbs each.

Litepanels | Litepanels Caliber 3-Light Kit

B&H Price is $896 for the kit.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1126520-REG/litepanels_909_1001_pole_operated_yoke_for.html