Best video light for GH2?

[Jarred Jones]

I'm looking for a video light I can mount on top of my GH2 for around $100-300. I'm going to be shooting wedding videos with it.

What's the best one out there for that budget?

[Chris Harding]

Hi Jarred

I used to use the multi-led ones but they wobble on the shoe mount and also some LED's fail so for the past two years now I have been using the much nicer ones that have 6 x powerLEDs and have a decent shoe mount.

Do an eBay search for "video light 5010A" Well worth the money and less than $100 ...they run all night on Sony batteries which are included too!

Chris

[Clive McLaughlin]

I really am not a fan of camera mounted lighting. I find it to be quite an amateurish look. The light also falls off very quickly giving you a very bright person with everything behind falling into blackness. I would advise you to get a big lights stand and try to light up a wider area independent of the camera. Just my 2 cents.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Clive

Very dangerous at wedding receptions with tripping and falling so I never use them except for speeches where my area is clear and the guests are seated.

The idea is to lock camera iso or gain at around 12db so blacks remain black and there is no video noise and then use the light just to light your subjects ...that's why they have dimmers so I just turn on the light until I get zebras and then back it off a tad and it works very well!!

For speech lighting I use 4 x55W CFL's high up bounced into an umbrella but it's not advisable when people are dancing and walking everywhere!

Chris

[Peter Rush]

These are brilliant and only £50 - run forever on Sony NP Batteries (comes with one battery)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/NP-F570-Batt...ed+video+light

One on either side of the dance floor for the first dance and another on your camera for closer shots (you can never trust the B&G to stay within your 'lighted' area) and you're sorted

I use these Manfrotto master stands - pricey at £100 but cheap ones do not last!!!!

Manfrotto Master Stand: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

and weight them down with small sandbags to prevent them being knocked over :)

[Chris Harding]

Hi Pete

I use the same ones..in fact I have the 5080 (which has 8 LED's) and also the 5010A which has 6 LED's which I use for closer work as I don't need a lot of light normally.

I think the biggest mistake people make is turning the light on full blast so you get the "deer in the headlights" look ...use the light to simply work as a fill and it works very well indeed.

So far mine have both been really reliable and no issues at all. In AUS$ they are around the $80 mark which is still under $100

I don't go anywhere without one of the camera at a reception ..obviously if you don't need it, you don't use it but used sparingly and not blinding the subject they work extremely well. A second advantage for us Sony users is that you also have some spare camera batteries if you really get caught out.

I have never had to change a Sony 570 battery on the light even with a 6pm to midnight wedding!

Chris

[Jarred Jones]

What about the 312AS? Is it any good?

Amazon.com: Fotodiox LED312AS Pro Video LED Light Kit with Dimmable and Color Temp Adjustable: Electronics

[Paul Mailath]

I use led lights on light stands at most weddings - with a bit of thought and sandbags I've never had a problem. I absolutely hate the deer in the headlights look. with led I can even take them close to the roof and bounce them for more overall light.

I actually took a 2k to a reception once, the venue was always turning the lights down so I set it up at the start of the reception and turned in on - after a quite brief discussion I agreed to remove the light and they left the dimmer alone.

[Peter Rush]

Originally Posted by Jarred Jones

What about the 312AS? Is it any good?

Amazon.com: Fotodiox LED312AS Pro Video LED Light Kit with Dimmable and Color Temp Adjustable: Electronics

I have one as my on-camera light - I think it's the 311 as it has only one NP battery - nice and light and the adjustable colour temperature control is really useful!

[Arthur Gannis]

For indoor wedding shoots, a 3200K color balanced led unit is what I use and recommend. Them variable color units usually have 2 sets of leds ( 3200 & 5500K ) thus requiring more space to house them and making the unit twice as large, especially when they use them tiny multi leds in them. Make sure there is a dimmer and that the led unit can handle high frame rates if you do slo mo in the 120+ FPS territory as some led units have that banding or strobing effect caused by the PWM driver in them. Better units usually don't have that problem. Also the 3200K has a higher CRI index in general than the 5500K daylight balanced versions. A colored amber conversion filter does not up the CRI index when added to 5500K. You are doing weddings, requiring faithful colors. Off color casts produced by cheap led units will have you doing a lot of CC in post so a few dollars saved does not amount to the extra hours overtime.

[Peter Rush]

I find the difference between indoor and outdoor is messed up anyway - i filmed a first dance last week where one end of the reception room was lit by daylight through large windows - the far end of the room was lit by a mix of tungsten and daylight bulbs (why of why can't hotels be consistent with their bulbs!) and the middle of the room was awash with light from the DJ's horrible multicolour LED lights!

[Chris Harding]

Hi Pete

I tossed out my so-called tungsten filter straight away and just use a diffuser on the front of the light..if you are only targeting the subject and using the light as a fill (which is all it should be used for anyway) the camera's AWB will handle the white balance perfectly!! I found a long time ago that with an orange filter on the light and CFL lamps which most receptions use now will give the image a horrible green cast that comes from a normal strip light of CFL lights. Keep the video light normal without any filters and snap the camera onto auto WB and there is never an issue...as you said the light is so mixed anyway that all you really want is nice flesh tones which any decent camera can easily achieve in auto!

Just for interest did you know that LCD's have a hard time displaying purple under artificial light ?...with a bunch of bridesmaids with lilac or purple dresses they always look blue on the LCD BUT on the end footage that are perfectly colour balanced!

Chris

[Peter Rush]

Chris - you've just had me checking over my EA50 for an auto WB setting - have i missed something?

[Chris Harding]

Hi Pete

In Auto it automatically adjusts WB the whole time. In manual all you do is push the WB button and hold a white card in front of the camera or point it at a white table cloth. Otherwise simply push it and it will adjust and correct whatever you are pointing at the same as the auto setting ...(it's next to the gain/iso switch) If you just blip the button it will act as if it's in auto mode but just adjust for that scene. If it looks out I just point the cam at anything white ...quite often the bride herself.

Check out the manual if you want to use presets or dial your own colour temp but so far I find that auto is good enough and quite fast too and I have never had a WB issue!! If happen to be in auto and the colour looks wrong you can also just point it at anything white and it will again correct itself.

Chris

[Peter Rush]

Chris I've shot a dozen or so weddings now with the EA50 and not noticed AutoWB!!!! now you've pointed it out it might prove useful - I normally have it set to preset daylight and ride the compensation dial - whether inside or out - thanks for the tip