03.06
Lighting for video production can be overwhelming, particularly as far far as budget is concerned. Many of us love LED panels for the quality of their light and the fact that they stay cool but cost has been a major hurdle. I have always loved continuous light sources for still photography as well as video and used Lowells for years but boy do they get hot. Then along came big LEDs.
I was recently in a pro-video rental supply house in Portland and they showed me LED lights they were renting out for an unbelievably low price. They bought them on eBay for under $200 each. Apparently they are usually re-branded after import and sold for 3 to 4 times the price. Sure enough I found them on eBay under video LED panels. I paid $199.
Apart from the price, the pros are that as far as light quality is concerned they work as well as the $1000 models. The cons are that they do not have a continuous dimming function. Output is controlled by switching on and off four banks of LEDs and the maximum output is 500W which makes them pretty useless outdoors in the sun. They need a mains power supply but as they are mainly indoor use this shouldn’t present a problem. The color output can only be controlled by using gels. I use a 1/4 CTO and a sheet of half spun to soften the light quality.
I use mine extensively for head shots, both still and video. I can’t resist a bargain.