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Benefits Of Continuous Lighting

Constant light sources are great solutions for both still and video because what you see is what you get

This Article Features Photo Zoom

Litepanels Croma

The Interfit Super Cool-lite series fits several fluorescent bulbs into a single lamphead, starting with the Super Cool-lite 4, which offers four bulbs for up to 400-watts of tungsten-equivalent light output in near-daylight at 5200K color temperature. The flagship of the line, the Super Cool-lite 9, packs in nine separate fluorescent lampheads for the equivalent output of a 1000-watt tungsten light when used with the included high-contrast reflector. Each bulb can be turned on or off through individual power switches on the back, and the lights are available with complementary softbox kits, like the Super Cool-lite 9 with the 31-inch Octobox. Estimated Street Price: From $119 (Super Cool-lite 4).

Litepanels Micro

F.J. Westcott's Ice Light is a great example of the versatility offered by LED technology. The 1.3-pound fixture will run from AC/DC outlets for practically endless continuous light, even while charging the lithium-ion battery, which will last up to an hour for wire-free operation. Front diffusion produces a very soft, low-light output in daylight temperature (5200K-5400K), with a 150-watt tungsten-output equivalence. The unit can be mounted with a 1⁄4-20 thread to stands and tripods, handheld just off-frame or hidden within the scene. List Price: $599.

Flashpoint FPVL500C LED Panel

Flashpoint's economically-priced 500C LED panel will run from the included AC adapter, and it also includes compatibility with optional V-mount-style professional camcorder batteries for use in the field. The light features two arrays of 250 LED bulbs in 3200K (tungsten) and 5900K (daylight), with a two-way switch that allows you to turn on all the bulbs or only half. of them. It also includes four barn doors and weighs 7.5 pounds. Estimated Street Price: $199.

Litepanels Inca 12 & Sola 12

Litepanels' large selection of LED products for the photo and video markets includes everything from their 1x1 Series of studio lights to filmmaking Fresnel fixtures like the Inca and Sola, which offer up to 2K output. On-camera lights include the daylight-temperature Luma alongside the nearly identical Croma. The Croma adds the ability to dial in a range of color temperatures between tungsten and daylight. The Micro and MicroPro (with twice the output of the Micro) provide DSLR users a compact on-camera solution and an included 3-piece gel set for warming and diffusing the light. The more powerful Litepanels MiniPlus is available in Flood Daylight, Spot Daylight or Flood Tungsten configurations, giving users a broader source of light that makes it ideal for camcorder use. Estimated Street Price: From $190 (Litepanels Micro).

Manfrotto ML360HP Midi Plus; Manfrotto ML240 Mini; Manfrotto ML840H Maxima

Manfrotto's series of battery-powered LED lights are small enough to mount to your camera or to hide in a shot. The low-output, daylight-temperature but very affordable ML120 Pocket is a great solution for adding accent, fill or rim lights to a scene, and its small size makes it simple to cover up, even in the shot. The ML240 Mini is also quite compact, and it adds a variable dimmer for dialing in output. The ML360 Midi steps up the offerings with even more output and a DUO ballhead hot-shoe-mount design that allows the lights to be affixed together for turning two or more fixtures into one larger light source. The ML360H Midi Hybrid adds a sync-cable flash function for an extra burst of light at four times the strength of the continuous output while the much brighter ML840H Maxima also sports the flash function and provides the most powerful output in the line. Estimated Street Price: From $39 (ML 120 Pocket-12).

While drawing only 38-watts itself, Rotolight's Anova LED produces a hefty 1000-watts of tungsten-equivalent output, which can be dialed in from 0-100%, as needed. The bulbs provide a flicker-free color temperature range between 3150K-6300K, as well as several other adjustments that are accessible through a dial on the back or through iPhones or iPads when used with the separately available Magic Eye iOS application. Several Anovas also can be linked together and programmed remotely, and settings can be saved for repeat use. Estimated Street Price: $2,598.

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