On Camera Lighting

[sitttle]

I shoot documentary films and TV segments and I'm looking to buy an on camera light. Because a lot of the shooting that I do is on the fly, preventing my from bringing an entire light kit to the shoot, I would want an on camera light that would provide sufficient lighting for interviews, night shooting, and indoor shoots. I've used the Light Panels on camera led lights and I found their brightness to be inadequate for my purposes, only providing a little fill light. Additionally, I found that a lot of the led lighting options seem way overpriced, compared to their halogen counterparts. So I was thinking about getting the Smith Victor SV-950, but am concerned that, at 100 watts, it will be too bright and disruptive for my situation. Would 50 watts be sufficient for using as the main light on a sit down interview? Would following around somebody with an 100 watt halogen light make them extremely annoyed? My budget for a light and battery is about $250. Do any of you know of any good options, led or halogen, in that price range?

Thanks

 

[support@frezzi.com]

Hi, I work for Frezzi, and each day we provide solutions for what you have asked about-

It may be better to budget a little more if you wish to have something accepted by professionals that you can always use, for example it is very common for people to still be using the same Frezzi Mini-Fills they had started their careers with many years ago- Here are some suggestions:

A great all purpose camera top light would be the on-off version, which can use standard MR-16, 12 volt / 20 watt thru 100 watt halogen bulbs as well as new LED plug in versions...the on-off model goes for $275.00 list and a dimmer version lists for a little over $100 more.

You can select a bulb in the range you need, for example wattage on the lower range for close up interviewing, or at the higher range for filling a room. 35 or 50 watts sits in a general middle range. A soft box can also knock down the output while providing pleasing diffusion. A lamp with dimmer control naturally will allow you to dial in what is needed, and dichroic conversion filters can convert warm tungsten to cool daylight. There is the smaller, more entry-level Micro-Fill too, available in on-off and dimmer versions for about $50-$60 less, and use either 20 or 35 watt tungsten bulbs.

These lamps are available in a variety of power connectors for sharing power with the camera or independently powered by battery- the FNP-1MH battery will run a 50 watt bulb (max. recommended load) for just under 1 hour, a 35 watt should run about 1.4 hours. It also doesn't have the special travel restrictions that Lithium batteries can have. The FQC-NP1 charger should charge this battery in about 4 hours, and let you know when it is done unlike 'trickle' chargers. There are also other higher capacity batteries and chargers available.

The important thing about tungsten and HMI lights is that they are full spectrum light sources- this is worth investigating further and more information is available on our website- Frezzi also has efficient HMI (daylight) camera top and studio lights available- go to Frezzi.com to see these items, and feel free to contact us in Sales or Service if you have any questions- we’ll be happy to help.

 

[grinner]

call me cheezy but, in specializing in reality/documentary, I've found the best solution for me is a dimmable LED headlight unit. Yes, I wear it on my head, looking like a coal miner. It allows me to turn the focus of the light, should I be getting a squint by a person I'm interviewing and I can change the color temp on it on the fly without so much as stopping recording. It also gives my a better angle of light as camera lights make everything flat for obvious reasons. Total cost? 20 bucks. After 25 years of veeery expensive lighting evolutions, my preference is a 20 dollar headband found at ACE hardware.

 

[tinx]

LITEPANEL' Micro Led

LITEPANEL' Micro Led

Hey,

for a budget of 250, you can get a micro led from Litepanels

It's dimmable-- and it comes with tungsten/ daylight balancing gels and this one frosted piece for softening the light

i use it with my hvx (which isn't so great in low light situations) but i'm happy with it-- and it uses doubl A batteries....


good luck.