NAB 2016: Convert Your Arri Fresnel to LED

At NAB 2016, we talked with Pete Smith at VisionSmith for an overview of their new ReLamp LED bulbs. With these, you can convert your old Arri or Mole-Richardson tungsten fresnel lights to LED at a fraction of the price of most of the current fresnel LED instruments on the market. Your fresnel still focuses just like with the halogen bulbs and the CRI for the daylight balanced bulb is 93, and for the tungsten balanced bulb is 98.

Looks like they're not available just yet, but I'm planning to buy one and review it once they become available.

NAB 2016: Aputure Light Storm COB 120t Hard Light

At NAB 2016, we talked with Ted at Aputure for an overview of their new hard LED light, the Light Storm COB 120t. I can finally tell you that I’ve had one of the first few off the assembly line and love this light. I’ve been in the market for an affordable fresnel LED with good color reproduction. While I don’t have the barn doors, softbox, beauty dish, or fresnel lens just yet, I’m looking forward to getting my hands on those for a full review. If you’ve watched any of my videos over the last couple of months, the back light (kicker) was the  COB 120t which I gelled with a CTB gel to match the daylight balanced Light Storm LED panels.

The tungsten color balanced version will be available by end of May along with the light shaping accessories. The daylight balanced and color tunable versions should be along in another 3 months.

Special thanks to Scott Vanderbilt who was kind enough to bring his brand new Sony FS5 camera to film this series. He used this opportunity to learn his camera, so please understand that he did us a huge favor and also learned when auto focus would work or not work. :)

Silhouette Lighting Look Quick Howto

In some of my previous microphone reviews, I’ve used silhouette shots to take the focus off of me, and naturally help viewers to focus on the sound. In this episode, we quickly run through how to achieve the silhouette look with lighting and a tiny bit of post processing in DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, or Final Cut Pro X.

Shooting an Interview

B&H Photo put together one of the most helpful pieces I've seen on shooting interview/talking head style pieces. The coverage of audio is a little light due to time constraints (I'd add that a cardioid condenser mic is probably the best choice for indoor/studio interviews) but great info overall.

Raya 7 Bulb Softbox 2 Light Kit

If you need an affordable kit for talking head style video, B&H has a great deal on this Raya 7 Bulb Softbox 2 Light Kit.

I find that I like to have 2 soft lights for most of my interview setups, one as a key, the second as a kicker. Then I'll often pull in a third hard light for the background.

Or if filming both the interviewer and interviewee, one soft light for each as a key which then double as the kicker.

You should be able to get all the light you'd need out of these.

Dracast 500 LED Panel Special Pricing

B&H Photo has special pricing on Dracast's 500 bi-color LED Panels toady. If you're in the market, these are worth considering with their 95 CRI spec (I haven't tested that but other reviewers are saying that the color is quite good). This model comes with a v-mount for Sony v-mount batteries and it can be powered via AC as well.

They look to have a pretty thoughtful design with the yoke that can be mounted vertically or horizontally to enable a good range of motion for aiming the head. Cooling is passive so no noisy fans.

It seems to me that LEDs are finally here with decent amounts of output and color that will blend decently with other sources. I have to imagine that in not too many years  we'll remember back to the days when a decent LED lighting instrument ran at least $1000 USD...

More Info on the Aputure LS1s LED Panels

I"ve been lighting my videos for the last several weeks with the Aputure LS1s LED panel and must say that I'm really liking it! I've ordered two more which are supposed to arrive tomorrow. Can't wait to put them all to use as a kit.

There are a few things I've learned about them that I wanted to clarify since I made the review video.

First, in the video, I said that the yoke can get in the way when aiming the panel down with its barn doors. It turns out I overlooked the fact that you can mount the panel from its yoke two different ways. I had mounted it the traditional way, but there are also two holes in the side of the yoke which allow you to mount it to a light stand like this, with full up and down range:

Secondly, while this panel has barn doors, they don't really cut the light like you may be accustomed when using a fresnel or other hard light source. LED by nature are softer than fresnel lights. Also, the fact that they covered the inner part of the barn doors with a silver coating sort of just reflects the light. You can use the barn doors to roughly prevent too much spill in any of the four directions, but you certainly won't get a hard line. For me, this is not a problem when I'm using this as a key or a flood where I want lots of soft light. However, you'll need to look elsewhere if you're trying to really sculpt the light for a backdrop or some other sort of dramatic lighting effect.

And thirdly, for reasons beyond my knowledge, either Aputure or their resellers have increased the price from $599 USD to $695 USD. Is that a show-stopper? Only you can decide that for yourself. I went ahead with the purchase of two because I really find them useful and convenient with fantastic color rendering.

I stand by my earlier assessment that this is the first LED panel that I genuinely like!

Aputure LS1s LED Light Panel Review

Aputure, a designer of quality and affordable video and photography gear announced their new line of Light Storm LED panels at the NAB show back in April. I was so overwhelmed and occupied at other booths while at NAB I never made it over to the Aputure booth, but they were kind enough to send me an evaluation unit of the new Light Store LS1 daylight LED panel.

I have been looking for a good set of LED lights for a long time. Here are the criteria I wanted in an LED lighting instrument:

• Enough power to shoot through diffusion like a scrim or soft box to make a large, soft light source to use as a key light. 650 watt tungsten equivalent at least, 1k preferable

• Good color rendering, especially for skin tones. Ability to mix with sunlight. This was a major issue with most of the sub-$1000 units available until recently

• Preferably a fresnel style light but would consider a panel if the panel at least has barn doors.

• Battery power option using Anton Bauer gold mount or Sony V Mount (though it did NOT need to come with batteries)

• $1000 USD or less per unit

• Quiet! Preferably no fan but if there was a fan, it needs to be very, very quiet

• Dimmable, of course

• Quality build

It looks like the Aputure Light Storm LS1s meets all of these criteria!

Reflectors: Indispensable Lighting Tool

I've said it before, so excuse me if I'm sounding redundant, but I find these 5in1 reflectors to be super useful.

Sort of the classic 3 point lighting scheme is something I like to change up using these reflectors with consistent, reasonably dimensional results. Let me explain.

The classic three point lighting scheme for talking head shots is a key light 45 degrees to one side (or variations on the angle), fill light on the other side of the talent to fill the shadows, and then a hair light or kicker from above and behind the talent to separate them from the background. Solid strategy, I recommend it.

But I actually like to do away with the fill light and use a reflector instead, just the white surface. Makes for a more dramatic look with more contrast in most cases. I'm not criticizing fill lights, I just find it easier to work with reflectors for that role in most cases.

Here are a previous couple of episodes where we cover lighting and reflectors:

If you don't have any reflectors, today may be a good time to pick up one or two. B&H Photo has the Impact 42" 5in1 reflectors on special for $25.

One of the other great things about these is that the middle section is a scrim that you can use to soften light very effectively. For example, for a key light, I'll sometimes shoot a fresnel light through the scrim and get the same effect as a softbox. Handy.

Fluorescent Softbox Kit: Better Quality for Beginners

A few years ago I reviewed my ePhoto fluorescent softbox kit which is a workhorse kit for talking head and interview style shoots. The upside of that kit was that it only cost $200. Today it sells for even less. But quality and durability were not amazing on this kit. In fact, I never break the softboxes down for fear that I'll break them. When I first received it, one of the porcelain sockets was literally dangling from the head by its wires. One of the bags for the light stands was shredded. The stands are pretty flimsy. But the light worked well if you treated them with kid gloves and left them assembled and out of harm's way...

https://youtu.be/2IOHobHUMcQ

I'm really hesitant to recommend that old kit, mainly because of the lack of quality.

So for those that are willing to spend a little more, I highly recommend looking at a kit like the Impact Octacool series of flood/softbox lights. The quality is much, much higher and the light it produces is beautiful, soft, wrapping light that will flatter your talent for talking head or interview setups. The light heads are solidly built and should hold up to use on the road much better than the ePhoto kit. You still need to be careful since fluorescent bulbs are fragile, but with care, this kit should last for several years. The stands are sturdier. This is clearly a case where "you get what you pay for" applies.

The Octacool lights come in 6 or 9 bulb versions and in kits with light stands and multiple light heads. The 2 light, 6-bulb kit works great for talking head setups. I'd use one as a key light, the second as a kicker (from behind and off to one side), and use a bounce board or reflector to fill in the other side of the talent's face. Solid look without a lot of fuss.