Today I received a new 500W LED light from H Preston Media the HP LED 500 and it comes with a fantastic bonus feature built in. The light is 5600 Kelvin making it a very useful light for interviews especially in daylight.

If you close the barn doors as shown you get a strange phenomena…ribbing of the light which looks mega on a plain wall especially when you introduce a yellow gel.

Before Susan got home tonight I used my skin tone dolly and the background light is something else. This is a real bonus as you could really utilise this effect during an interview.

It has all the newer features like Sony “V” lock mount making your interviews wire free, dual dimmers for even greater control of your light and a 4 pin XLR for your 12v adapter.

The best news is that this new HP LED 500 light is only £349 including vat exclusively from H Preston Media.

With beam control of 10° to 70°, the revolutionary new Sola 6 provides the controllability and single-shadow properties inherent in a Fresnel light, but utilizes just a fraction the power of conventional fixtures.

Employing Litepanels’ ultra-efficient LEDs, Litepanels Sola6 draws 75W with output equivalent to a 650W Tungsten Fresnel. That’s about 1/10 the amount of power to provide the same illumination as a conventional tungsten Fresnel, with very little heat generation. The cool-to-the-touch feature of LED lights not only cuts down on air-conditioning requirements, but since they don’t require the heat dissipation and protection necessary for conventional Fresnels, the Sola6 weighs only 1/3 as much as HMI and Tungsten predecessors (and have no external ballasts). The Sola6 has a universal AC input and can be used on consumer power sources worldwide.

Like all Litepanels, Sola Fresnels feature instant dimming from 100% to 0 with no noticeable color shift. The Sola6 provides on-fixture manual control of focus and dimming via touch screen, and are also controllable via DMX. Output is fully flicker free, and remains consistent even as the battery voltage goes down.

ADVANTAGES

Heat-free LED technology

Produces bright, HD friendly light

Integral dimmer: 100% to 0 with no noticeable color shift

Flicker-free light output

Eco-Friendly—Uses up to 95% less energy

50,000+ hours of LED life

Highly-efficiency

Lightweight

New Minima LED light offers the ultimate on-camera solution with switchable colour temperatures, full dimming control and outstanding brightness.

Ianiro UK is introducing the new Minima pro LED light, manufactured by Visio Inc. The Minima is a very small unit that weighs a mere 190 grams. Despite its diminutive proportions, the Minima provides an excellent level of output at 100 lm / Watt, equivalent to a 50W tungsten. Uniquely, in a unit of this size, the light offers full colour temperature switching, with 6 settings from 2800K to 6500K.

The Minima is a major step forward for every production on the run. It does away with the need for colour gels to control image temperature, buying the camera team valuable time while reducing the size of their kit bag. But most importantly, the quality of the output is excellent, marrying outstanding brightness with amazing colour accuracy.

The Minima achieves this accuracy by combining red, white and yellow LED lights to form a continuous spectrum with full-range frequency. Low-cost and inaccurate analog circuitry has been replaced by a digital signal microprocessor and a 25k frequency PWM controller. This allows for the colour ratio of different LEDs to be adjusted precisely according to different colour temperatures. Minima’s CRI (Colour Rendering Index) can reach above 90% at any colour temperature from 2800°K to 6500°K. Minimum colour shift is guaranteed to be within the range of 3-step dimming.

With the unit featuring 144 individual LED light bulbs, the Minima delivers a pleasant, uniformly soft light that delivers natural skin tones with an excellent 3D effect. Despite the sophistication of its electronics and its powerful lighting output, Minima features a low power consumption design and with a run time of 1.5 hours.  Price £169

I am working on a Drama at the moment and using some fantastic new LED lights from H Preston Media called simply the CN-600HS, the best part is the ability to use Sony “V” lock batteries. These LED lights are amazing value for money at £399, they come with two filters, a remote dimmer control switch, a Sony V lock plate and a 12V 250V power converter.

The light above has a 3200K filter slid into place and being LED runs cold all day long, I had both lights running from 10am till 4pm and my 160W 12V battery had still 4 out of 5 LED power indicator lights showing. The CN-600HS lights are remarkable value for money and in case you are still not convinced they are well built…in fact better built than the LED lights I bought a year ago for twice the money and no “V” lock, remote or filters.

As standard the lights come with a clear diffuser the LED lights balanced for 5400K, a 3200K orange filter and a rose coloured filter for minus green filtering, this is useful for using your LED light with mixed lighting. I will give you an update tomorrow evening but so far I am more than delighted with my CN-600HS LED lights.

CN-600 LED lights from H Preston Media at this link…http://www.videokit.co.uk/344-led-lites?p=3

Arri were displaying their LED light called a LoCaster which to my trained eye was not as impressive as I was expecting. Arri have been a large player for certainly my last 25 years in the video industry but I cannot get round the fact that their so called experts on the stand could not tell me what the LoCaster light output was in watts !

It looked a far cry from the sturdy aluminium lights Arri are famous for and the size was rather off-putting, not what you would expect for the money they are asking for this LED light, just over £1000.

Gekko were showing their Kelvin Technology Series LED-based lighting system provides unlimited variable color temperature, creating a new level of flexibility in lighting. Kelvin®TILES have a unique mix of 6 LEDs resulting in a high-quality, broad spectrum white light specifically developed for film and video applications. Unlike traditional lighting products, color temperature remains consistent throughout the full range of intensity variation.

Out of all the lighting manufacturers stands Gekko were the only one’s who made the effort to actually show off their lighting with a small set where DPs could see the effect of their LED lighting…10 out of 10.

What about their Kelvin technology LED lights…very impressive indeed the Double Density 6500K to 3200K costs £1,699.

Litepanels Solas are available in two models. The Sola6 draws 75 watts yet produces output equivalent to a 650W tungsten unit, and weighs 2.7kg (6 lbs). Designed for both on-camera and off-camera mounting, the SolaENG is only 102mm x 102mm x 127mm (4” x 4” x 5”) and weighs just .28kg (10 ounces). Employing a 7.62cm (3”) lens, it draws 30 watts yet produces output equivalent to a 250W tungsten. The SolaENG runs on 10-20VDCsources such as camera batteries, or via an AC power adapter. The 650W costs £1950.

The best bit about the stand was Barry Rubin a fantastic salesman who was effervescent and very friendly. His father, now in his eighty’s, had a bit part in Ghostbusters. Barry is the kind of salesman who every manufacturer can only dream of.

So who wins the LED light of IBC 2010 well it was a close contest between Gekko and LitePanels but my vote goes to LitePanels Sola 6 for the most useful LED light for todays DPs.

Tomorrow I will have a round up of the show and some new pictures of the Sony FilmLike camcorder and a video still from the footage.

DV Stuff!
3 South House, The Bond Estate
Bond Avenue, Bletchley
Milton Keynes MK1 1SW  UK

Tel:  0845 299 6057 extn: 1
Mobile: 07980 744714

High output compact LED light, 200W hotlight equivalent output. 5400K with 5 filters included. Models available for Canon, JVC, Panasonic and Sony batteries.

• 256 Ultra Bright 5400K LED’s
• External DC input 7-16v DC
• Full dimming via dimmer knob on back of unit
• Runs for hours on standard Lion camera batteries
• Rugged aluminum case
• Slide in filter holder
• Color correction/diffuser gels included
• Hotshoe swivel mount included
• Full filter pack including conversion to 3200K
• 12VDC, includes camera battery mounting plates for (your choice of one) JVC, Sony, Canon and Panasonic. Also accepts 12V DC directly
• Heavy duty anodized aluminum construction available in black or red
• Brighter than units costing much more
• On camera LED light operates for hours on standard LiOn camcorder batteries.
• Use your existing batteries with mounts for Sony, Panasonic, Canon or JVC.

A few months ago we pulled it from general availability as we wanted to make it even better and improve our component supply chain. As many of you know, even the powerful MicroBeam 128 has been out of stock a lot recently due to exceptional ongoing demand. We’ve ramped up production, and don’t expect to many more hiccups in availability (possibly one more next week with the expected rush). As always with these two hot products, the MicroBeam 128 and the MicroBeam 256, we recommend getting them right away if you see them in stock on our site. Right now we have them both. We’ve disabled overnight shipping for a few days due to the expected rush.

USA $499

The IS3 is by far the brightest, most versatile LED panel light in the world today. Fully adjustable color temperature, color correction and intensity, full color mode with adjustable hue, saturation and base color temp, wireless control and full backwards compatibility with all other Zylight products.

Included with the IS3 is a worldwide AC power adapter and Kino-Flo style mounting plate and arm with baby pin receiver to mount on most light stands. Look for more accessories and power options soon!

Quick specs (subject to change for improvement):
220W peak power
13lbs.
18″ x 11″ x 2″
Photometrics @ 5ft: 3200K = 70 fc (740 Lux)
5600K = 90 fc (970 Lux)
90-degree beam angle

Availability: Accepting Pre-Orders now for July Shipping  £2119

Don’t quite know where they get their “brightest LED in the world” comment from at 220W it’s 5x duller than my 1000W LED light and 3x dearer !   PS. It does look a lot slicker than my light !

Do not stare at high brightness LEDs, because doing so may cause permanent damage to your eyes.

The optics of our eyes focus visible light onto the retina, which is the light sensitive part of our eyes, similar to the way a magnifying glass can focus an image of the sun onto a piece of paper. Just as the piece of paper might smolder and catch fire, a light that is brightly focused on your retina can cook and thus permanently damage your eye. Exposure to bright white and blue LEDs can also cause permanent damage to your eyes through photochemical action.      

Here is a link to an article about the particular hazards of blue  LEDs:  http://www.mdsupport.org/library/hazard.html#blue

The key factors that determine whether or not a particular exposure to light from an LED causes permanent damage are the wavelength and intensity of the light, the length of the exposure occurs, and the distance from the light source to the eye. 

This danger is most pronounced with the use of the newer high output blue and white LEDs. These are intended to illuminate large areas, and for those designed for direct view applications, to be viewed at a significant distance. These LEDs can be identified by packaging or mountings that are designed to carry heat away from the junction. LEDs without these special thermal management features can also pose a danger when operated beyond their specified maximum current.

Infrared and ultraviolet LEDs can also be hazardous, and when using those, please consult the manufacturer’s data sheets or IEC 60825-1:2001 for guidance with respect to safety. You may find IEC 60825-1:2001 summarized on the web. The standard can be purchased from IEC’s web store http://webstore.iec.ch/.

The IEC specification was written to apply to primarily to lasers , though it also applies to LEDs. A new standard, IEC TR 60825,  is in development that promises that includes a section that is intended to address LEDs directly. You might want to check the web for drafts or summaries of this standard in the future.

The standards mentioned above rely on measurements that can only be made with very expensive specialized equipment, though some manufacturers state the safety classification of their LEDs, under specified operating conditions, in their data sheets.  Take note of these comments on the data sheets for LEDs you may use. In the mean time, play it safe by not staring at any bright LEDs.

My thanks to Geoff Davies of Lucid Optical Services Ltd. (http://www.lucidos.co.uk), for raising the issue of permanent eye damage, and providing the information contained in this section.