A ring light.. Finally

[Jay A. Kelley]

A lot of you know I have been hunting high and low for a CINEMA ring light (One like the big puppy at LitePanels, but not costing $11,000).

Well my friends, I FOUND one. It's got over 1,000 daylight balanced LEDs, and it's well made. Cost you say? LESS than $2,000.00. I am looking into a group buy for anyone that is interested.

I'm getting one in a week, and once I test it out, I'll know more.. But it's got one hell of a kick, and a lot of control.

I'm not a fan of the little ones (Although they make a nice one)..

If you do commercial work like I do, a ring like can give you a look that really sets you apart.

Let me know if you are interested, and I'll report back when I know more.



Jay

 

[Brian Broz]

Hi Jay,

I realize it's flourescent, not LED but the price is right:
http://www.stellarlightingsystems.com/products/12-inch-ring-light.html

Brian Broz

 

[Jay A. Kelley]

Yeah for me that's pretty worthless.. I saw a similar model at NAB and the amout of light it put off was weak to say the least. The ring light I'l pointing out can front light an entire body at 12ft out. (Perhaps further, but our test subject hit a wall!)

I love a good prive Brian, but the light needs to do what I need it to do, or it does not matter how cheap it is.

Jay

 

[Martin Weiss]

Sounds exciting, Jay. Looking forward to seeing some testshoot pictures.

Do you know the inner diameter of the ring light?

How is it powered?

And how do you attach it to the lens; I can't see any support on the picture you posted.

 

[paulherrin]

so... who makes the said lamp?

 

[Miltos Pilalitos]

I can't say that it looks particularly sexy in that photo but i am looking forward to see jay's opinion/review/test results. I always wanted a ring-light too.

 

[Erich Roland]

id be interested. is this the one from Fotodiox?

thx, E

 

[Jay A. Kelley]

All good questions: The light has some issues, but the cool part is that I spent a couple hours witih the engineer, and they are already committed to redesigning it. the interior hole is 109mm, and they are going to open that up to 114mm which will then allow it to handle a master prime..

Also, they need to make a diffusion filter that will snap onto the front of it. They will get that done also.

Finally, some sort of camera support will be needed as well. I am thinking it will be either a 15mm or 19mm rod type support, along with a bottom support for mounting on a light stand.

It will take 12v battery power already. that will most likely be a 3rd party deal.

Not sure of pricing yet, but it's going to be a very cool light when it's completed.

Jay

 

[Shane Kelly]

I saw that one at nab - pretty cool and lots of light. They also had a led lamp about the size of a 2x4 kino that looked great.

 

[roryhinds]

Please add me to the list.

 

[Mike McEntire]

Jay good find. I would be interested if you can get it all worked out.
Best,
Mike

 

[Maz Mawlawi]

I'd be interested as well

 

[Brad Webb]

very interested.

 

[Dexter Gregoire]

Add me to the list, keep me posted. I'm interested.

 

[Brandon J.F.]

Very interested.

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Yeah Jay and I crossed paths several times on MOnday while cruising the various Booths,
I did not find anything interesting really as ring light, so I ended up buying the LitePanels Mini,
as the Cinema is way too larger for my intended purpose, of been lens or camera mounted on Epic for Beauty Shots.

But I am certainly interested to see were this develops, and enter a group buy for it if it happens, so keep me posted Jay...

HOWEVER... since they are re-designing it, the internal RING must measure around 125mm, so to allow larger lenses then the
114mm Master Prime range, as the 150mm my most used lens to be, as well as others measure much more then the standard 114mm.

 

[Mark Mannschreck]

Hi Jay,

I realize it's flourescent, not LED but the price is right:
http://www.stellarlightingsystems.com/products/12-inch-ring-light.html

Brian Broz

This is a good find too Brian... good for a large circular eye catch (they have 18" also) and subtle fill when subject is closer to the lens. Kino Kamio was too small

 

[Liam Hall]

If you do commercial work like I do, a ring like can give you a look that really sets you apart.

I've used them a lot on stills but find them a little limited for moving pics as you've got to be quite close to get the wrap around effect. If you don't mind me asking, how do you use them on full length shots? Shadow fill or something else?

Cheers,

Liam.

 

[Ketch Rossi]

I've used them a lot on stills but find them a little limited for moving pics as you've got to be quite close to get the wrap around effect. If you don't mind me asking, how do you use them on full length shots? Shadow fill or something else?

Cheers,

Liam.

I have and love Profoto Ring Light Pro2 and use it very often, however a Continuos Ring light is an other thing all together and
to be considered much in a different world form Powerful 2400ws Flash Ring Lights.

The continuos ring light I look for is so that I can create that extreme close up ring of light on the iris of the models,
and or in extreme close ups were that direct light will give a desired illumination that other lights around the subject can not provide.

Sure wish I had the Continuos ring light in our shoot in Houston during our Epic American Tour, it would have come in very handy.

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

I've used them a lot on stills but find them a little limited for moving pics as you've got to be quite close to get the wrap around effect. If you don't mind me asking, how do you use them on full length shots? Shadow fill or something else?

Cheers,

Liam.

A full shot isn't where these lights are at home.

On a full shot I use them to subtly lessen shadows.

On some scenes, if you are shooting with a wide lens (like say a 16mm) you can get close enough on a full shot for these to be useful.

These days if I am shooting at a fast EI, you'll be surprised what you can get out of them. An R1MX at EI1600 can use a pretty dim light.

Key at EI1600 is just 6 candles at t/2.8. Even a Kamio throws 5 candles at 6'. By the look of it this fixture will easily throw more than 6 candles at 6'.

Of course last time I had need of one of these things ... I couldn't get one of course. So I strapped a PhotoFlo 4x4 on a Fisher 11 over the camera and a DivaLite 400 below. I should taken a picture of that mess.

I am becoming notorious for stupid rigs on and around the camera. (There is one floating around of a mafer, Manfrotto Magic arm and a 1x solid used as a mattebox on a 7D.)

In any case ...

I'm thinking of ordering the cheap flourescent ring light linked to here earlier. Might be a nice trick on some low end music video's and such. It can probably pay for itself on 1-3 jobs ... and with so little outlay, it seems like a safe bet even if it is crap.

By the same token, the ring light that started this thread seems interesting as well- especially after a redesign as discussed. So count me as interested - pending further details.