Lighting

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Each Sony NPF style camcorder battery runs at 7.4V. By running them in series, it works at 14.8V which is the minimum power required for the 600 and 900 LED light panels at full brightness. I took two basic Sony NPF battery chargers, gutted them, and then wired them in Series to provide 14.8V DC.

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Remove two screws under the rear sticker and then pry apart case

To wire up the cases for Series, basically you take the Negative wire from one and the Positive wire from the other and connect them to the barrel plug. The other two wires (negative and positive) from each charger would be connected together.

basic-series-wiring
Sorry for poor diagram

Next I added a bit of extended wire and used my Barrel Plug (shown here) to connect directly to the LED light. The Barrel Connector is super easy to work with (no soldering), and is clearly marked with + and - for positive / negative placement. It's a very simple and cheap DIY to provide portable power for these large LED panels. If you want use heavier batteries, just make the wiring longer and mount to your light stand.

[Disclaimer] Attempt this DIY at your own risk. Using your batteries in other ways than intended may cause premature failure of your batteries, or damage.

Here's a few parts links related to this DIY:

Sony NPF Charger
find-price-button Sony NPF Style Battery Charger

sony-550sony-970
find-price-buttonSony NPF Style L Series Camcorder Batteries

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YouTube member Wandomphoto performs a distance test with the Yongnuo RF603n (the n is for Nikon), and claims some pretty good results up to 1/4 mile away. These are very basic triggers and receivers that lack all the other high speed sync and communications that other high end triggers offer, but are fairly reliable. I am still using the RF602 triggers which included one remote trigger and one receiver. I haven't upgraded because they are not compatible with the RF603. The RF603 made a change in design that makes them 'Transceivers' which is both a transmitter and receiver. That's actually a much better design when you need to keep adding another remote or another receiver to the kit. A pair of these will run you about $30 bucks, and you can check them out via eBay (click here)

yongnuo-rf603-rf603n
find-price-button Yongnuo RF603 Wireless Trigger Receiver

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K480-K160-K320

F&V is the company that introduced the very popular Z96 LED Video light. This year they are offering a few more affordable additions starting as low as $32 dollars to about $60 dollars. The lights can be attached together to create a larger panel, and have the unique Expandable Link System and SmartSync Control Circuit. These lights are coming in at smaller setups called the K160, K320, and K480. There's also a larger Z180, that contains 180 LED bulbs and available in 5600K or Bi-Color options.

[Update] F&V writes in and mentions that some overseas LED lights are sold by unauthorized dealers. These cheaper versions could be using LED bulbs that fail to meet export standards (basically B-Stock or less) and don't go through the same Detailed Review Process testing as their export products. Purchasing LED lights directly from F&V will guarantee the product has a Higher CRI value, greater light output, a more dependable product, and of course warranty.

You can find all the different F&V LED light panels and other accessories available at their website following the link (click here).

FV-K160-LED-LightsFV-K320-LED-LightsFV-K480-LED-Lights
find-price-button F&V New Smart LED K160, K320, K480 LED Video Lighting

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Previously the only LED Ring light available on eBay and Amazon was the 352 LED Ring light (as seen here). The 352 is a very bright light with good diffusion, but only dims down to about 40-50 percent. Basically, it's always pretty bright so it could be offensive when used directly towards a subject in low lighting - i.e. Weddings.

352-LED-ring-light352 LED Ring Lighting
find-price-button PRO 352 LED Studio Video Ring Light

Now the Falcon Eyes 240 LED ring light is available on eBay. Of course a bit cheaper than the 352 with it's smaller size, but it does come with a few extra items the 352 doesn't have. First off the 240 looks like it has a better mounting bracket. I threw the 352 bracket away, it was pretty useless. It also looks like a much better form factor and casing than the 352. The 240 also comes with a tungsten colored filter, a battery pack which can be powered with (12) AA batteries OR (2) Sony NP-F750 camcorder batteries, and a travel bag.

240 LED battery pack240 led ring light240 ring light led bag

I know this light has been around for a while, but this is the first time i've seen it on eBay. I can't seem to locate any reviews to see how well it dims down. If you've got some information on this light leave some comments. You can find the new 240 LED ring light available here.

Falconeyes 240 LED Ring light240 LED Video light
find-price-button FalconEyes 240 LED Ring Continuous Video Light

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Realizing LED lights won't solve every solution (yet), I decided to see if there's any recent reviews on the 'As Arri' lights. Here's a recent video post from Vimeo member Black Raven Films showing the As Arri 650W vs the Arri 650W. There seems to be some slight improvments compared to when they were first released.

If you're not up to scoop with the As Arri lights, these are supposed to be so close in design to the Arri with a construction of corrosion resistant extruded and die cast aluminium, they can use the same bulbs, glass, barndoors, diffusers, ballast, scrims, etc. There are several people using these lights, and if you have a set, leave some comments on how they are working out for you. The As Arri lights are available in small 150W to larger 1000W models (found here).

As Arri Light Kit
find-price-button As Arri 150W 300W 500W 650W 1000W Fresnel Lighting

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2000 LED V-Mount BatteryCamtree 2000 LED video Light kit

Mike writes in and asks if anyone has any feedback on a couple of Camtree 2000 LED video light panels. The lights can be powered optionally through a set of V-Mount batteries, are dimmable, and come with a few of colored gels. I don't know anyone who uses any of the Camtree stuff, so I can't really speak to the accuracy of color, build quality, or light output. Maybe you guys can chime in.

Camtree 2000-LED-Video-Light-Dimmable2000 LED video Light
find-price-button Camtree 2000 LED Video Lighting Dimmable V-Mount Battery Compatible

These look like (2) 1000 LED panels sandwiched into one housing. Personally I don't know if that's a good thing if you're trying to travel and pack down small. It's almost the same as buying two separate 1000 LED lights and mount them to one stand. If it were up to me, i'd stick with getting two 900 LED light panels which can also be powered via V-Mount batteries and can pack up easier. I've pretty much abused a few sets of the lights and only experienced one broken power cord. I guess the wiring inside the cable must have broke, but for the 600 and 900 panels, it's just a basic 14V DC (laptop type) power cord. Very common to find on eBay.

600-LED-Video-Light
find-price-button 600 Led Light Weight Studio Photo Light Dimmable Video Photography Lighting Sony V mount Battery adapter 14.8V DC 110V-230V

900-led-video-light-panel
find-price-button 900 LED Dimmable Photography Video Camera DSLR 5400K/3200K Lighting Light Panel Sony V Mount battery Adapter INCLUDED 14V OUTPUT 110V-230V

They do have a 1200 LED light panel version, but unlike the 600 and 900 it requires 24V. This doesn't make it compatible with V-Mount or any average battery power. I like the option, so I stuck to several 600 and 900 LED panels. The 600 and 900 LED panels are also a bit smaller making them easier to pack in common sized luggage when traveling. All of the lights still work great, so I can safely recommend these over other lights in it's price range.


1200-LED-Video-Panel
find-price-button 1200 LED Dimmable Video Light Panel Still Photography Studio Portrait Lighting 24V DC, 110V-230V

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YouTube video from Fstoppers shows some features of the latest Pocket Wizard Plus III Transceivers (same unit can transmit and receive). They are really stepping up their game, and it's an entirely different unit compared to earlier version Pocket Wizard Plus system. The new Pocket Wizard Plus III was just recently announced, but is already available for pre-order (click here).

Pocket-Wizard-III-NikonPocket-Wizard-IIIPocket-Wizard-III-Trigger
find-price-button Pocket Wizard Plus III Transciever

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500 LED light XLR adapter 12V batteryXLR battery 500 LED Light

I still get questions about affordable LED light panels, and these 500 LEDs are still a good option. The only problem is that the cheaper versions were never offered with a battery power solution, so they can be used off-the-grid on location. That's a huge part most people consider when shopping for LED lighting. Some of these 500 LED light panels (above) use an XLR DC power adapter that connects to AC (wall outlet). So it is very possible to run them from a battery, but the trick is finding the correct XLR DC power adapter cable.

If you didn't catch it in one of the comments, Derek shared that the Jag35 XLR cable is indeed a good fit. He was able to power through the XLR using a simple Canon LP-E6 battery (for about 30 minutes). Of course once you have the proper cable, there's no reason you couldn't use a coupler + Tekkeon Battery pack to give you much longer portable run time. Much like the Tekkeon + Coupler setup I used to power a camera. Just make sure that your LED light has the XLR input as seen in the back (above).


Jag35-XLR-Cable
find-price-button Jag35 XLR Power Adapter cable

These lights were once very popular, but haven't been since the release of the newer 600/900/1200 LED panels, so you'll often find these older 500s on auction with low starting and no reserve pricing (click here).

500 LED light XLR adapter 12V battery
find-price-button 500 LED Dimmable Video Light Panels

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1200_led21200_led6

Duane assembles a 1200 LED Light panel made from the super cheap flexible LED strips found in an earlier article (here). This is the first build out of two he'll be using to throw some light onto the backdrop, and he mentions he's pretty happy with his build and results. 4 different switches in the assembly allow for different light output settings by turning a portion of the light on or off. He's added a 12V converter, but the LED lights themselves only require 12V, so it's possible to modify a setup like this and go mobile.

1200_led11200_led4

If you're looking to assembling your own LED light using these LED strips, you can find a bit more information (here). A few more details about the items used in Duane's DIY LED light build used below. [Thanks Duane]

- x4 5m Led strips (1200 leds)
- x4 switches that allows me to switch 25% of the lights on at a time.
- x1 100 watt 12v power supply
- x1 florescent light housing from Lowe's (gutted)
- x1 light stand (already had)
- x2 conduit brackets to brace into the stand
All for under $100 bucks (just under)