high quality LED video gear that is lightweight

Hey guys!

I am an info marketer and shoot my own videos. I would need some lights that are quite light so I can take them on my travels and basically produce video content wherever I am.

I was introduced to the Rotolight by a photographer and I was really impressed. We had a shoot on the Seychelles so the photographer had to pack as light as possible. It is perfect for travelling but the price kills me.

I was looking around for a solution and I stumbled upon these the FalconEyes RX-18TD

https://www.amazon.com/FalconEyes-P...pID=4151QhAfizL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

It seems to be a good price for the amount of light one gets.

What do you think?

... but I've used a Rotolight Neo 2 and I think it is a wonderful thing.

If I did not have lots of lights already, I'd buy one.

Is the Rotolight flash capability useful to you?

And Rotolight is a real company with real executives and real engineers.

So maybe spending the extra is worth it.

BAK

Get the PRL Lighting Lustra L50: http://www.prllighting.com

Or save about $280 and get the Aputure Amaran daylight :/

https://www.adorama.com/aph198.html

Ellis Vener said:

Get the PRL Lighting Lustra L50: http://www.prllighting.com

Click to expand...

Both products (Lustra and Aputure) look great. However will they provide me with enough light? I probably won't be working with a green screen when I am not home but I still need flawless lighting.

Basically I would like to be able to record an entire info video course when I am travelling, a studio on the road so to say.

JohnFleabass said:

Both products (Lustra and Aputure) look great. However will they provide me with enough light? I probably won't be working with a green screen when I am not home but I still need flawless lighting.

Basically I would like to be able to record an entire info video course when I am travelling, a studio on the road so to say.

Click to expand...

"High Quality" covers a lot of ground. It can mean

• Rugged build quality that will not break when used day after day. This is important for a full time professional. Maybe not so important for somebody that isn't full time and is willing to baby their equipment in order to save money.
• Quality of light. There a few key metrics (CRI, TLCI, the "R" numbers, the shape of the spectrum. I covered this in my posts in another recent thread.
• Amount of light. This is measured in lux at a given distance. You can compare this by looking at the specs for the various lights. Make sure to pay attention to the "at a given distance" part, because quite often manufacturers give a single lux rating but at a different distance than the single lux measurement that other manufacturers use. 1,000 lux at one meter is a lot different than 1,000 lux at 10 meters.
• Color temperature. Can you live with 5000K (daylight) only? Or do you need adjustable color temperature (bi-level that can be adjusted from approx. tungsten to approx. daylight)? LEDs that are daylight only put out more lux than ones that can be adjusted to different color temperatures. This affects amount of light per dollar.
• Mounts, light modifiers and powering. How does it fit in with your existing equipment? Mounts? Light modifiers? Will it work with equipment you already have? Or are planning on buying? How is the light powered? AC power? Batteries? If batteries, then what kind?

I'm on a similar path to you except that I am looking for lights for a different purpose. I know how to measure lights (above link), but I have a lot to learn about the mounts, modifiers, and powering. For example, I just bought a pair of the Aputure Amaran AL-H198 LEDs and they measure great but I am flummoxed about mounts and light modifiers. I am not happy about how they are powered (AC adapters are over $200 for each panel? I have no use for battery power because I am always next to an AC outlet) And mounting the Aptures to anything seems flimsy and prone to the lights falling off the stands.

So the Aptures may not be the best fit for me (even though they test really good.) But they might be good for you, depending. You may need battery power and you may be more adept at mounting than I am. In which case the Apertures may be a great bargain for you.

Wayne

Aputure has released a $100 revision of the Amaran that addresses *some* of your concerns. This video provides an excellent overview:


To the OP: you can gang up the lights to make a larger single panel if output power is a concern. Mounting is standard but not anything like a strobe with speedrings/modifiers - you basically have a point source (nothing added), or a larger, diffused source (bounced, or shoot through diffusion).

Regarding AC power adapters, I can't vouch for this but given that I found this in a few minutes of searching, my bet is that there are other options out there:

https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-CN-AC2-Switching-Supply-Adapter/dp/B00K7146RU/

Wayne Larmon said:

JohnFleabass said:

Both products (Lustra and Aputure) look great. However will they provide me with enough light? I probably won't be working with a green screen when I am not home but I still need flawless lighting.

Basically I would like to be able to record an entire info video course when I am travelling, a studio on the road so to say.

Click to expand...

"High Quality" covers a lot of ground. It can mean

• Rugged build quality that will not break when used day after day. This is important for a full time professional. Maybe not so important for somebody that isn't full time and is willing to baby their equipment in order to save money.
• Quality of light. There a few key metrics (CRI, TLCI, the "R" numbers, the shape of the spectrum. I covered this in my posts in another recent thread.
• Amount of light. This is measured in lux at a given distance. You can compare this by looking at the specs for the various lights. Make sure to pay attention to the "at a given distance" part, because quite often manufacturers give a single lux rating but at a different distance than the single lux measurement that other manufacturers use. 1,000 lux at one meter is a lot different than 1,000 lux at 10 meters.
• Color temperature. Can you live with 5000K (daylight) only? Or do you need adjustable color temperature (bi-level that can be adjusted from approx. tungsten to approx. daylight)? LEDs that are daylight only put out more lux than ones that can be adjusted to different color temperatures. This affects amount of light per dollar.
• Mounts, light modifiers and powering. How does it fit in with your existing equipment? Mounts? Light modifiers? Will it work with equipment you already have? Or are planning on buying? How is the light powered? AC power? Batteries? If batteries, then what kind?

I'm on a similar path to you except that I am looking for lights for a different purpose. I know how to measure lights (above link), but I have a lot to learn about the mounts, modifiers, and powering. For example, I just bought a pair of the Aputure Amaran AL-H198 LEDs and they measure great but I am flummoxed about mounts and light modifiers. I am not happy about how they are powered (AC adapters are over $200 for each panel? I have no use for battery power because I am always next to an AC outlet) And mounting the Aptures to anything seems flimsy and prone to the lights falling off the stands.

So the Aptures may not be the best fit for me (even though they test really good.) But they might be good for you, depending. You may need battery power and you may be more adept at mounting than I am. In which case the Apertures may be a great bargain for you.

Wayne

Click to expand...

Wayne Larmon said:

I'm on a similar path to you except that I am looking for lights for a different purpose. I know how to measure lights (above link), but I have a lot to learn about the mounts, modifiers, and powering. For example, I just bought a pair of the Aputure Amaran AL-H198 LEDs and they measure great but I am flummoxed about mounts and light modifiers. I am not happy about how they are powered (AC adapters are over $200 for each panel? I have no use for battery power because I am always next to an AC outlet) And mounting the Aptures to anything seems flimsy and prone to the lights falling off the stands.

Click to expand...

I have a couple of ALH198Cs. They are great lights but not designed to be mains powered. They are generally used on the hotshoe of a camera or on a video rig. In that case you want battery power or to use a NP-F970 Dummy Battery Adapter to get the power from the battery pinch on the rig. The $200 device you are linking to isn't an AC adapter for the light it's a bundle of charger, batteries, and dummy battery by the look of it.

Mine sit perfect well on light stands they aren't heavy and the supplied ball head works fine for me.

If you want AC power and light modifiers take a look at the AL-528 or HR 672 They have a mains adapter included. There are dedicated modifiers for these panels Easy Frost, EZ Box, and EZ Box+.

Hope that helps a bit

jlafferty said:

Aputure has released a $100 revision of the Amaran that addresses *some* of your concerns. This video provides an excellent overview:

Click to expand...

The Aputure Amaran AL-F7 (which isn't released yet). That does look like an improvement in most regards. Except that it is bicolor. On the video he quickly talked about testing. There was a brief shot of the RA measurements (R1-15, where R9-15 are the saturated colors) and they looked mediocre. I wonder if this is the price that was paid to get bicolor? I'd rather have a 5000Kish only light with good measurements all around than a bicolor light with so-so measurements. (I think. I really don't know how important uniform high RA measurements are.)

But Aperture has other panels that might be closer to what I want. The Aputure Amaran AL-528S really isn't that expensive and is more of a studio light than an on-camera light for videographers.

It is nice that inexpensive LEDs that measure well are now appearing. Maybe the bad old days of '"cheap light" or "high quality light"; you can only pick one' are past.

Thanks for your advice.

Wayne

I like the specs/look of the F7 as well, but I haven't used it yet.

What are you shooting and where? You'd need a dozen up close to compete with the sun.

If you're shooting reflective things or pick up the light in eyeglasses, you'll need to diffuse it or the individual diode reflections will look terrible. So expect to lose lumens.

I use Aputure's 120D, but it isn't at all lightweight compared to the F7.

jlafferty said:

Regarding AC power adapters, I can't vouch for this but given that I found this in a few minutes of searching, my bet is that there are other options out there:

https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-CN-AC2-Switching-Supply-Adapter/dp/B00K7146RU/

Click to expand...

I bought a pair of these AC power adapters and they work with the Aputure Amaran AL-H198 LEDs. I haven't used them for a long time yet (to check overheating), but they fit the AL-H198 battery socket and the LEDs powered up.

I also got an assortment of mounting hardware so I can mount them on either a tripod or a light stand.

Better Hot Shoe Adapter

Assorted tripod mount adapters to solve male/female issues (need this for real life, too.)

Tripod mount to real light stand adapter

Different tripod mount to real light stand adapter

Aputure Amaran AL-H198 from B&H

Finding mounting hardware is daunting. There is so much of it.

Thanks.

Wayne

jlafferty said:

Wayne Larmon said:

JohnFleabass said:

Both products (Lustra and Aputure) look great. However will they provide me with enough light? I probably won't be working with a green screen when I am not home but I still need flawless lighting.

Basically I would like to be able to record an entire info video course when I am travelling, a studio on the road so to say.

Click to expand...

"High Quality" covers a lot of ground. It can mean

• Rugged build quality that will not break when used day after day. This is important for a full time professional. Maybe not so important for somebody that isn't full time and is willing to baby their equipment in order to save money.
• Quality of light. There a few key metrics (CRI, TLCI, the "R" numbers, the shape of the spectrum. I covered this in my posts in another recent thread.
• Amount of light. This is measured in lux at a given distance. You can compare this by looking at the specs for the various lights. Make sure to pay attention to the "at a given distance" part, because quite often manufacturers give a single lux rating but at a different distance than the single lux measurement that other manufacturers use. 1,000 lux at one meter is a lot different than 1,000 lux at 10 meters.
• Color temperature. Can you live with 5000K (daylight) only? Or do you need adjustable color temperature (bi-level that can be adjusted from approx. tungsten to approx. daylight)? LEDs that are daylight only put out more lux than ones that can be adjusted to different color temperatures. This affects amount of light per dollar.
• Mounts, light modifiers and powering. How does it fit in with your existing equipment? Mounts? Light modifiers? Will it work with equipment you already have? Or are planning on buying? How is the light powered? AC power? Batteries? If batteries, then what kind?

I'm on a similar path to you except that I am looking for lights for a different purpose. I know how to measure lights (above link), but I have a lot to learn about the mounts, modifiers, and powering. For example, I just bought a pair of the Aputure Amaran AL-H198 LEDs and they measure great but I am flummoxed about mounts and light modifiers. I am not happy about how they are powered (AC adapters are over $200 for each panel? I have no use for battery power because I am always next to an AC outlet) And mounting the Aptures to anything seems flimsy and prone to the lights falling off the stands.

So the Aptures may not be the best fit for me (even though they test really good.) But they might be good for you, depending. You may need battery power and you may be more adept at mounting than I am. In which case the Apertures may be a great bargain for you.

Wayne

Click to expand...

--
http://jimlafferty.com
General scoundrel. All things evocative before academic.

Click to expand...

That's great news regarding the AC adapter. Thanks for coming back to report.

I picked up one H198 too, daylight only. I think I'm just going to mount it using a standard pin and Superclamp. My hope is that a pair of them will make for decent enough video light that I can set them up as focus assist lights and then toggle to video production when not using my strobes

Wayne Larmon said:

jlafferty said:

Regarding AC power adapters, I can't vouch for this but given that I found this in a few minutes of searching, my bet is that there are other options out there:

https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-CN-AC2-Switching-Supply-Adapter/dp/B00K7146RU/

Click to expand...

I bought a pair of these AC power adapters and they work with the Aputure Amaran AL-H198 LEDs. I haven't used them for a long time yet (to check overheating), but they fit the AL-H198 battery socket and the LEDs powered up.

I also got an assortment of mounting hardware so I can mount them on either a tripod or a light stand.

Better Hot Shoe Adapter

Assorted tripod mount adapters to solve male/female issues (need this for real life, too.)

Tripod mount to real light stand adapter

Different tripod mount to real light stand adapter

Aputure Amaran AL-H198 from B&H

Finding mounting hardware is daunting. There is so much of it.

Thanks.

Wayne

Wayne Larmon said:

Wayne Larmon said:

JohnFleabass said:

Both products (Lustra and Aputure) look great. However will they provide me with enough light? I probably won't be working with a green screen when I am not home but I still need flawless lighting.

Basically I would like to be able to record an entire info video course when I am travelling, a studio on the road so to say.

Click to expand...

"High Quality" covers a lot of ground. It can mean

• Rugged build quality that will not break when used day after day. This is important for a full time professional. Maybe not so important for somebody that isn't full time and is willing to baby their equipment in order to save money.
• Quality of light. There a few key metrics (CRI, TLCI, the "R" numbers, the shape of the spectrum. I covered this in my posts in another recent thread.
• Amount of light. This is measured in lux at a given distance. You can compare this by looking at the specs for the various lights. Make sure to pay attention to the "at a given distance" part, because quite often manufacturers give a single lux rating but at a different distance than the single lux measurement that other manufacturers use. 1,000 lux at one meter is a lot different than 1,000 lux at 10 meters.
• Color temperature. Can you live with 5000K (daylight) only? Or do you need adjustable color temperature (bi-level that can be adjusted from approx. tungsten to approx. daylight)? LEDs that are daylight only put out more lux than ones that can be adjusted to different color temperatures. This affects amount of light per dollar.
• Mounts, light modifiers and powering. How does it fit in with your existing equipment? Mounts? Light modifiers? Will it work with equipment you already have? Or are planning on buying? How is the light powered? AC power? Batteries? If batteries, then what kind?

I'm on a similar path to you except that I am looking for lights for a different purpose. I know how to measure lights (above link), but I have a lot to learn about the mounts, modifiers, and powering. For example, I just bought a pair of the Aputure Amaran AL-H198 LEDs and they measure great but I am flummoxed about mounts and light modifiers. I am not happy about how they are powered (AC adapters are over $200 for each panel? I have no use for battery power because I am always next to an AC outlet) And mounting the Aptures to anything seems flimsy and prone to the lights falling off the stands.

So the Aptures may not be the best fit for me (even though they test really good.) But they might be good for you, depending. You may need battery power and you may be more adept at mounting than I am. In which case the Apertures may be a great bargain for you.

Wayne

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

jlafferty said:

That's great news regarding the AC adapter. Thanks for coming back to report.

I picked up one H198 too, daylight only. I think I'm just going to mount it using a standard pin and Superclamp. My hope is that a pair of them will make for decent enough video light that I can set them up as focus assist lights and then toggle to video production when not using my strobes

Click to expand...

It is bedtime here but tomorrow I'll set up an H198 next to one of the cheap Cree daylight household bulbs that I described elsewhere (and also a standard 100 watt tungsten bulb) in reflector fixtures and test the light outputs with my ColorMeter system. At, say, one meter.

We can all relate to how much light a 100 watt bulb in a reflector fixture puts out. If I get a light output comparison metric, anybody can set up however many cheap bulbs in cheap reflector fixtures to see how much light they need. And then see how many H198s would be needed to provide the same output. (Of course with the Cree bulbs I described, that may be all you need.)

Wayne

jlafferty said:

Wayne Larmon said:

jlafferty said:

Regarding AC power adapters, I can't vouch for this but given that I found this in a few minutes of searching, my bet is that there are other options out there:

https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-CN-AC2-Switching-Supply-Adapter/dp/B00K7146RU/

Click to expand...

I bought a pair of these AC power adapters and they work with the Aputure Amaran AL-H198 LEDs. I haven't used them for a long time yet (to check overheating), but they fit the AL-H198 battery socket and the LEDs powered up.

I also got an assortment of mounting hardware so I can mount them on either a tripod or a light stand.

Better Hot Shoe Adapter

Assorted tripod mount adapters to solve male/female issues (need this for real life, too.)

Tripod mount to real light stand adapter

Different tripod mount to real light stand adapter

Aputure Amaran AL-H198 from B&H

Finding mounting hardware is daunting. There is so much of it.

Thanks.

Wayne

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Wayne Larmon said:

jlafferty said:

That's great news regarding the AC adapter. Thanks for coming back to report.

I picked up one H198 too, daylight only. I think I'm just going to mount it using a standard pin and Superclamp. My hope is that a pair of them will make for decent enough video light that I can set them up as focus assist lights and then toggle to video production when not using my strobes

Click to expand...

It is bedtime here but tomorrow I'll set up an H198 next to one of the cheap Cree daylight household bulbs that I described elsewhere (and also a standard 100 watt tungsten bulb) in reflector fixtures and test the light outputs with my ColorMeter system. At, say, one meter.

We can all relate to how much light a 100 watt bulb in a reflector fixture puts out. If I get a light output comparison metric, anybody can set up however many cheap bulbs in cheap reflector fixtures to see how much light they need. And then see how many H198s would be needed to provide the same output. (Of course with the Cree bulbs I described, that may be all you need.)

Click to expand...

Lighting tests are exacting! I did some tests and found out that my ad hoc testing wasn't as repeatable as I thought it was. So here is what I ended up doing. I tested three bulbs. One was a 72w soft white halogen bulb that is rated as being a 100w replacement (these are now legal in the US. Traditional tungsten bulbs were taken off the market because of not being energy efficient). Number two was one of the Cree 100w (equivalent) LED bulbs I had posted about earlier. Number three was an H198 driven by the AC adapter you found on Amazon.

I set up a single Home Depot 5" clamp reflector fixture and swapped the two household bulbs out in the single fixture. I set my ColorMunki up on its side so it didn't move. I measured with a tape measure so the sensor on the ColorMunki was as close to one meter away from the bulbs as I could get it. I did the testing in my computer room so there are whatever random reflections from wood floor and all the stuff in my computer room. (i.e., far from lab conditions. But I did use a tape measure.)

With this said, this is what ColorMeter came up with.


Cree 100w (equivalent) daylight LED


72w (100w equivalent) soft white halogen


Aputure Amaran AL-H198

In the XYZ color space"Y" corresponds to Lux. So we have

Cree: 405 Lux

Halogen: 384 Lux

H198: 608 Lux.

I did three measurements of each lamp and they roughly agreed. One interesting thing is that the H198 got worse after I left it on. ColorMeter now is giving a "Caution", whereas when I did other tests (right after turning the H198 on) I didn't see the Caution. As of right now, I don't know what the caution means. I used to understand it as meaning that the Duv (tint away from white) was greater than (abs) 0.0054. But Duv is only -0.0022. I dunno.

We can see that the Cree has more output (Lux) than the Halogen. And the H198 has considerably more.

Here are what the fixtures are:


L AL198, R Halogen bulb in Home Depot clamp fixture

Because of random room reflections we can't consider the measurements as being absolutely accurate but they should be reasonably accurate relatively. I did several rounds of testing, with the ColorMunki being in slightly different positions and they all agreed, relatively. Mostly.

I am a bit concerned about the H198 showing "Caution" after it had been on for several minutes (while I repeated measurements.) The H198's spectrum is less lumpy (after the blue spike) than the Cree bulb. But the Cree bulbs at $9.60 ea. at Home Depot are cheaper than the H198s, especially after adding in AC adapters, Superclamps and what not. But you might not want to show up on a job with a lot of Home Depot clamp fixtures clamped to a mike stand. There is that.

I report, you decide.

Wayne