It’s not often I get exited about a camera light these days but the Minima is the exception. I came across this light by chance last week and phoned Ianiro to ask if I could review the light for them.
So whats exiting about a camera light…one that gives you SIX accurate colour temperatures for less than £200. LED technology is not only getting better but we are seeing camera LED lights that were the best part of £500 two years ago…I should know I own one.
A couple of days latter the Minima arrives, the first thing you should know is that it is small…35mm x 90mm x 130mm and weighs 365 grams with 6 AA batteries. You also get a D-Tap connector that will power the light from most professional ENG camcorders. Sadly when Panasonic were designing the AF101 they forgot about external power connectors like Hirose and D-Tap. They also supply a hot shoe adapter as seen below.
There are very few companies supplying colour temperature (CT) changing LED lights and none of them produce such a small, light, compact LED light such as the Minima. Temperature changing technology has only been afforded by those who wish to spend £1500 upwards, OK we are talking 600 Watt mains lights but if you can produce a 50W camera light for less that £200 scaling it up would not be difficult nor as expensive.
As you can see from the picture above you can toggle from 2800K up to 6500K, now as we all know if you are out on a job, especially news, you inevitably come up against mixed lighting, this wee light will take the guesswork out of it and give you a far better result. If you are in a situation where you have daylight behind you and tungsten indoors you may like to try 4000K, just tried it works a dream.
Another nice feature with this light is that when you switch it off it stays at the last setting so if you choose 4000K it will stay there till you press the blue switch.
CONCLUSION : Got to have one or should that be two one for each camera kit, this switchable CT LED light is a must for ENG work and everyones camera bag, I can assure you…you won’t be disappointed. A future design feature would be nice to have the ability to slide in diffusion panels of various density of diffusion and you might like to think about a mini soft box. This CT LED light it’s going to be my de-facto camera light from now on.
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So is there a link for this light? I tried a Google search for it but couldn’t find the company or the light. Where could one buy it?
http://www.videokit.co.uk
If also bought this light and liked it as long as it lasted, but it broke for no good reason.
All the sudden the knob up top just started not turning the light on anymore, I sent it in for repair. Company Minima claims that the entire electronic is broken and that is not under waranty. All they offered me is a 40 € discount to by a new one for a light that costs over 400€ to start with. I’m very disappointed by their customer service and would not buy it again since it simply seems to be a bad construction.