Video Light

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gpc1

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Greg
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Hi all,

I have been looking at video lights for a wedding shoot and the go to light seems to be the Lowel ID light. The UK stockists seem to only sell them with battery packs at a huge costs.

I don’t quite understand the connectivity. Can you simply buy the basic light and car charger, or do you need a separate battery pack?

I keep reading different reviews re power times ie 30mins with a battery (I’m assuming the internal battery) or 4 hours with a battery pack. I want to avoid the extra battery pack if poss as I would only be using it for a small amount of time.

Any ideas?
 
There is no internal battery. These lamps are basically a 12V 50W or 100W car headlamp bulb & the battery pack is a 12V 7ah lead acid motorcycle battery. The battery pack is not the expensive part. You can buy much light but more expensive lithium ion battery packs. There are cheaper alternatives to the Lowel ID light but this is the one that has become popularised by award-winning celebrity wedding photographers.

If you just want to experiment with a continuous light as an alternative to flash then take a look at one of the many battery powered LED lamps that can be found on eBay & Amazon for under £50.

The battery life of the LED lamps is measured in hours whereas a 12V 50W pr 100W car headlamp draws a lot of current so 30-60 minutes is typical.
 
Last edited:
love this forum.....superb and thanks for the feedback.

I the light quality the same. I have been looking at a lot of images with variouse continuose lights and the one that seems to have the 'look' i like happens to be the blooming ID light.

Will have a look at the sub £50 ones. Is there any particular one you recomend or have had hands on experience with?
 
The advantage of the Lowel video light is that it's a tungsten balanced light source which is warmer than flash or daylight balanced LEDs. You can do nice things like shoot with tungsten white balance so that the blue of the sky is intensified. It's also more directional. It's a well made lamp but still seems ludicrously expensive for what is effective a car headlamp bulb.

These 160 LED lamps work well with a soft diffused light & run of AA batteries. They cost just £26.99 & come with filters http://www.amazon.co.uk/CN-Dimmable...1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361965031&sr=8-1-fkmr0

These 6 large LED lamps are brighter with a harder light with a longer throw at £54.99 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Video-Lig...pt=UK_Camera_Video_Lights&hash=item460278d1b7 They are well made except the little plastic barn doors fall off as soon as you look at them.
 
gpc1 said:
love this forum.....superb and thanks for the feedback.

I the light quality the same. I have been looking at a lot of images with variouse continuose lights and the one that seems to have the 'look' i like happens to be the blooming ID light.

Will have a look at the sub £50 ones. Is there any particular one you recomend or have had hands on experience with?
Click to expand...

aah. But that's like the newbies that say all the photo's they like the 'look of' were taken with 5d's:suspect:. It's close to thinking it's down to 'settings':lol:

Of course all the photo's you like the look of were taken by high end photographers who use the best kit. It's (almost) incidental that they happen to use the same model of light. The simple fact is that the 'look' of the light is down to placement and modifiers (AKA the skill of the photographer) :thumbs:.

If you want to replicate the look exactly, you need to use all the same gear and the same placement (even the inbuilt reflector will have a subtle effect), but if you want to create the look 'broadly', it's just down to placement and using similar modification.
 
As above.
Basically, "Quality of light" is *******s.
Obviously junk lighting is inconsistent and there are often problems with colour consistency, Color Rendition Index etc - but once you've discounted the bottom end stuff, "quality of light" is basically down to two things.
1. The modifiers used
2. The photographer.

That's it.
Obviously, better equipment makes things easier and, to a limited extent, can compensate for lack of skill.

Top photographers generally use top brand equipment for one of 3 reasons
1. They can afford it
2. Some clients are impressed by brand names
3. They may get it for nothing, or may even be paid to use it.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Top photographers generally use top brand equipment for one of 3 reasons
1. They can afford it
2. Some clients are impressed by brand names
3. They may get it for nothing, or may even be paid to use it.
Click to expand...

You also missed out:

4. Because it generally lasts a long time and is therefore a great investment
5. They tend to be the gear stocked in rental houses the world over so compatability is never an issue
6. Because most of the time it just works without an workarounds
 
Garry Edwards said:
As above.
Basically, "Quality of light" is *******s.
Obviously junk lighting is inconsistent and there are often problems with colour consistency, Color Rendition Index etc - but once you've discounted the bottom end stuff, "quality of light" is basically down to two things.
1. The modifiers used
2. The photographer.

That's it.
Obviously, better equipment makes things easier and, to a limited extent, can compensate for lack of skill.

Top photographers generally use top brand equipment for one of 3 reasons
1. They can afford it
2. Some clients are impressed by brand names
3. They may get it for nothing, or may even be paid to use it.
Click to expand...

Yes, it was nice to see a video about the Nikon lens (glasses) campaign shoot, for 'I See' with the photographer using Bowens heads from their budget Gemini range ;) the link for this was of course sent embedded within their monthly 'Litebook' on-line publication. Wonder whose video lights were being used?

Paul
 
erm. OK. perhaps i didnt explain it in detail.

I have seen videos of the set up, placing, various locations etc etc plus online comparisons of this and other video lights and this one seemed to have the effect i was after (spot light with fall off that looked good to me, dimmable, light temp, durability etc) Im only basing this on example shots and reviews. Ideally i would like to hire one first but cant seem to find them anywhere near me.

I dont want to replicate the look exactly, i want use the look as the inspiration for what i want to create and this particular light seemed to get closest to what i am after. I may be able to get the look im after with strobes, but why not try something else as well.....experiment right...

I was asking if anyone else has hands on expereince with this vs the cheaper alternatives and whether they found the light (without mods) of any discernable quality diff ie warmer , cooler, flickering etc.

I think the best bet is to get hands on and judge for myself...£££££ eeek!

Cheers for the input and advice, once again the guys on here have helped me spend more money lol!!! :)

If i get one i will post a few shots for review and feedback....and thoughts..

Thanks all

Gpc
 
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