good reception light?

[Susanto Widjaja]

Hi, I use battery pack video light (I think its 100w) for receptions but the battery doesn't last very long.. kinda annoying now.. I have sony hvl-lbp but that is not bright enough for most situation.

Can anyone recommend me other lighting solution please? I'm not based in USA so the shipment of "reception light" kinda turned me down. But I might be getting out of choice now since I heard many satisfied customers using their products.

Thanks in advance

Santo

[Jawad Mir]

I use LED LitePanels light

http://www.leathermanmultitools.co.u...3SuperSize.jpg

It takes 4AA. Although I never need to put another one for the wedding, I always have back up and battery charger.

I only use it for dance party part and for rest I use Amnova 500 or 1000 w softbox light depending on what's needed. I find people or dj will only complain if you use that light for dance party but otherwise you be cool.

Hope this helps

Originally Posted by Susanto Widjaja

Hi, I use battery pack video light (I think its 100w) for receptions but the battery doesn't last very long.. kinda annoying now.. I have sony hvl-lbp but that is not bright enough for most situation.

Can anyone recommend me other lighting solution please? I'm not based in USA so the shipment of "reception light" kinda turned me down. But I might be getting out of choice now since I heard many satisfied customers using their products.

Thanks in advance

Santo

[Michael Liebergot]

If the Sony HVL light isn't bright enough for you then stay very after away form the Litepanels light suggested. As it's nowhere close tot he intensity of the Sony HVL.

Actually right now the Sony HVL is one of the stronger LED lights on the market, the Zylight Z90 would be another and the Litepanels Mini would be another.

Overall though. if the Sony HVL isn't strong enough for you, then you might want to try some supplemental off camera lighting to go along with the camera light.

I built my won Receptionlight setup and simply had them build me a remote. But you very easily could use a dimmer to accomplish the same goal.
Here's my list...
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=128626&is=REG

I use 2 off camera lights on a light stand on both sides of the dance floor. I wrap 2 large Bescor battery belts around the base for powering the lights, which also adds nice weight to the base for support.

Then I use these lights with my onboard lights for a nice image. Sometimes I don;t need to even use my onboard lights, as the dance floor is well lit enough to not be disruptive to any stage or DJ lights and I get an even light fill across the floor, so you get nice depth to the picture and not a flat on cream light look.

The onboard light is used just for fill lighting when needed.

[Stephen J. Williams]

Santo,

What type of battery are you using for your light now? Amp hours in particular... Not sure what your setup looks like but I know that 2 batteries in parallel should work well for you. I'm assuming it's a 12V 100W bulb that you use. two 12V 7.5 amp hour batts in parallel should last well over an hour. I did this test last night with my setup and after 1 hour of constant use my batteries still had 11V. Basically it comes down to electrical theory. Watts/volts gives you amps. Which amp hours is written on the side of most 12 volt batteries.

On another note. Like Michael I've built my own setup that i'm happy with. Basically I have 2 50W halogen's mounted on separate light stands. The battery housing (project case from radio shack) mounts to the bottom portion of the stand. Both lights are hooked up to a remote system that I bought off of ebay for 10$.
Works great, looks great, and each light cost around 80$ to put together. All the parts were bought at a local hardware store.

Steve

[Taky Cheung]

I did a lot of weddings too. I tried different types of light.

Canon VL-10 - 10-watt output. last about 2 to 3 hrs per charge using Canon BP-970G battery

Litepanel - the weakest amount all. It's basically can be used for short range interview or so. Very weak. 4 AA batteries last about 45 minutes. When the batteries near dead, the light starts to flicker. Basically useless and impractical to be used at wedding reception.

SWIT S2010 - the best light so far. I use the same Canon BP-970G battery and it last 4 to 5 hrs per charge. equivalent to 40W light output.

Comer - I ordered this light Comer LED light at the NAB. will find out more later on. It looks promising.

http://www.comer.cn/ProductShow.asp?ArticleID=203

[Nicholas de Kock]

I'm saving for these:
CL-LED600 600 LED Panel - Cool Lights USA

[Taky Cheung]

This won't make a good reception light though. I'm sure the client won't be happy to see such light setup near the dance floor.

[Susanto Widjaja]

Hi guys,

thanks for the replies.

I forgot to tell you that I'm using merlin steadicam so I can't put any onboard light cause it will make it too heavy.

I actually also have the litepanel light but barely use it now.. just as backup light on the bag. it makes good testimonial light though!

I tried to put the Sony HVL-LBP on a stand but it doesn't do much at all especially for a large dance floor

I think now I want to invest on a good 100 w light and a battery pack that would last around 2 hours.

i heard lots of good things about bescor. would that be the best one? how about batteries?

Stephen: I wish I was a little bit better with electricity... hahaha.. I'm useless with these kind of stuff. And yea, I think I'm on the 12v 7.5w

Michael, thank you for putting your wishlist up! that surely helps a lot. how long would that battery pack last?

one more question. Is it worth it to get the lithium or nimh battery pack??

thanks guys

Santo

[Taky Cheung]

So you do an entire wedding with 1 camera on Steadicam? That's amazing.

[Susanto Widjaja]

yea, I thought most people with steadicam would do that? no?

Santo

[Michael Liebergot]

Originally Posted by Taky Cheung

I did a lot of weddings too. I tried different types of light.

Canon VL-10 - 10-watt output. last about 2 to 3 hrs per charge using Canon BP-970G battery

Litepanel - the weakest amount all. It's basically can be used for short range interview or so. Very weak. 4 AA batteries last about 45 minutes. When the batteries near dead, the light starts to flicker. Basically useless and impractical to be used at wedding reception.

SWIT S2010 - the best light so far. I use the same Canon BP-970G battery and it last 4 to 5 hrs per charge. equivalent to 40W light output.

Comer - I ordered this light Comer LED light at the NAB. will find out more later on. It looks promising.

Ö£ÖÝçæÂêµçÔ´ÓÐÏÞ¹«Ë¾

Taky, this is essentially the Sony HVL-LBP LED light, except it's a knockoff of it.
So the results should be the same as what was mentioned here already.

[Michael Liebergot]

Originally Posted by Susanto Widjaja

Hi guys,

thanks for the replies.

I forgot to tell you that I'm using merlin steadicam so I can't put any onboard light cause it will make it too heavy.

I actually also have the litepanel light but barely use it now.. just as backup light on the bag. it makes good testimonial light though!

I tried to put the Sony HVL-LBP on a stand but it doesn't do much at all especially for a large dance floor

I think now I want to invest on a good 100 w light and a battery pack that would last around 2 hours.

i heard lots of good things about bescor. would that be the best one? how about batteries?

Stephen: I wish I was a little bit better with electricity... hahaha.. I'm useless with these kind of stuff. And yea, I think I'm on the 12v 7.5w

Michael, thank you for putting your wishlist up! that surely helps a lot. how long would that battery pack last?

one more question. Is it worth it to get the lithium or nimh battery pack??

thanks guys

Santo

Santo, I use a 75w bulbs and usually get 5-6 hours of runtime at full output. A 100w bulb will get you a bit less, most likely around 4-5 hours.

BTW, I don't have the lights always running, as I turn them off during breaks such as dinner and such, and never use them during a ceremony, only reception use.

I also have a couple of Lowell RIFA lights that I could use if desired, but they are too high an output for a reception and I think would ruin the mood. Two 75w lights are more than enough to enhance the image without disturbing the mood of the room.

BTW, if you had a couple of Zylight Z90 lights, you could do some phenomenal things as they can remotely be hooked up with each other and dim all at the same time, as well as output any range of the color spectrum without gels. They are expensive, but the best LED lights out there. I believe, they also just announce some studio lighting options as well at NAB. Zylight - Intelligent LED Lighting

[Taky Cheung]

Originally Posted by Susanto Widjaja

yea, I thought most people with steadicam would do that? no?

Santo

What if it's a catholic wedding that usually last over an hour? You holding the steadicam still for that?

Steadicam is great for those fluid motion flying shots. I still need a tripod for most of the time.

[Susanto Widjaja]

Taky: Sorry, forgot to say, I usually shoot with an assistant or second cam.

In the church there will be a second cam on tripod and in the reception it depends whether the couple chooses 1 or 2 cams. If its two cams, I'd be on steadicam for the full day. But I can always rest knowing I have second cam running. My arm is not that strong :P

Michael:

Thanks for sharing that. I had a look at the zylight. z90. o my gosh... boy how I want those lights... they look great! but the price is not so great... too expensive...

I might get batteries like yours which will last me enough hours to get by and I need a new light as well since mine just went dead last week on a shoot. Its china made so... hehehe

bescor then??

Santo

[Philip Howells]

This is an interesting thread because it shows how differently we treat similar sections of similar events. I can only speak for myself but it is my impression that, like us, most UK wedding people disdain all additional lighting unless it's absolutely necessary. It is the biggest factor dividing "in your face" production crews and, what we always aspire to be, "flies on the wall".

This is the way we approach it. We record little of the actual dinner and only start just before the speeches. We explain to the clients that if the lighting is very low for the dinner it will be poor for the video of the speeches so we get their agreement before the day to raise the overall lighting level to the point where we can get acceptable images. The hotels like this because at the end what they want to do is to clear the room for the evening event.

For the general dancing etc we use available light - if it's very dark using all the tricks 30 years experience gives us - eg silhouettes either against the DJ lights or 10w handbashers with coloured gels etc.

For the first dance we either use the same tricks or, if the couple are doing the usual static shuffle we put 3 3W LED maglites on mic stands and form a pool of light where they shuffle. Those plus a rim-light handbasher or a snooted 10W on a camera if necessary are more than enough to capture the sequence and not ruin the ambience of the evening for the guests.

If the couple are one of those few who have choreographed their first dance they'll ant people to see it so we organise either the DJ or the hotel to up the overall lighting - on the basis that they'll want the guests and us to be able to see their work.

The other thing we do regarding the first dance is to ask the couple for a copy of their first dance music - that the DJ will play. This allows us to mix from the version played through the DJ's speakers to the orginal recording - and back again at the end if appropriate. I admit to being almost anal as far as sound is concerned. It is always (indeed has always been) the poor relation in TV and video and we'd like to think our attention to it sets us apart in a competitive market. If I'm honest most people proably don't notice but I feel that if a job's worth doing it's worth doing properly.

Incidentally we use three z1s all in HDV mode.