Best LED options?

[Christoffer Glans]

So I'm looking for a set of at least two really good LED lights. I rarely use hard lights and if I do I use practicals for that, but I really need at least two lights for softer key light and background lighting that are bi-color and have enough output for most indoor situations. They also need to be pretty portable and not cost a fortune, so this is a budget hunt for the most cost to quality ratio possible.

So far I've looked at these

Nanlite Forza 300B
Amaran 200x
Apurture Light Dome II

Two C-stands and sandbags plus maybe this kit for VFX stuff and special lights: MC4 KIT

Also looked at something like these Godox Panels

Trying to get under $2500 for the entire package of lights, which isn't really possible, but the thing is that while the Apurture 600D gives the most output for the money, I mostly need something that gives me the most creative choices, not just "a strong light". So better with a little less output and money left for additional light, C-stands, sandbags and maybe even the MC4s for special things. So far the Nanlite feels like a good choice, but they're a bit expensive and the Amaran might be a little weak, especially if going through a softbox dome. Then there's the option of not using monolights but instead using panels with softboxes.

So I'm a bit lost in which route to take. What LED options are the best to consider when trying to get the most creative bang for the buck?

 

[Martin Konrad]

The Nanlight and Aputure Bowens mount lights are very flexible, you can get softboxes, standard reflectors indirect via card/polyboard/ceiling or fresnel attachments.
I have a couple of the 300w Aputure and a 500w Nanlight and really like them. For panels there is also the MC400 from Razyr7, full color control and they just released a free app to control all settings, gel presets and effects via iPad (needs one €150 receiver)

 

[Samuel S]

If you're comfortable with Amaran build quality, Nanlite has their own version with the FS-300. They cost only $350. My buddy just picked one up so I'll report back with how it compares side by side to an Aputure 300d mk II.

 

[Mark Spraker]

I've been toying with maybe getting the Genaray Twin Sun or a couple of their Square Suns but I haven't seen anyone really talk about them.

 

[M Harvey]

Because I own and love the Aputure 300D mk II, I'd probably personally go for the Amaran-- I rarely use the 300D at full power, and often I use it under 20%. (I might personally get the daylight version for the extra punch, since I usually can accept the power loss of a gel when I'm matching tungsten color.)

That said, it's still hard to beat a pair of bicolor Litepanels Astra 6x for power and versatility, and they're very easy to travel with and fast to set up. Much as the Aputure is my single favorite, the 2-Litepanel bag is often the one that winds up sitting next to my camera bag in the back of the taxi.

And today I did a job with just a pair of bicolor Westcott 1x1 Flex lights. The connections are fliddly (wall cord into power box into controller box into panel-- I hate breaking them down), but they're lightweight and versatile-- you can roll them or tape them or clamp to a pipe. And if you have v-mount batteries, you simple attach the batteries to the control box, and then they're a dream to use. Not sure if they're powerful enough for your purposes-- they're about half as bright as the current Astras--, but I didn't feel I was lacking for power, even when I had windows in-shot. The cheaper flex lights from Falconeyes also have a lot of fans here, but I've never used them myself.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

Never mind about the Amaran, just realized it cannot use battery power, which is a dealbreaker.

I'm also a bit unsure of going bi-color. For me, the versatility of being able to just change the Kelvin is really helpful in many situations and I really dig the ability to be creative with colors, but if the output is hurt extremely much by going bi-color and the majority of shots may be just regular light, would a daylight with some gel be enough? Since LEDs go green over time, the ability to change tint might be extremely important for longevity.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

...and then I found this? 2-bay power station

So would a kit of two bi-color Amarans with this, two C-stands, sandbags, gels, softbox etc. cut it?
I'm mostly worried that the Aputure Light Dome II will eat too much light from the Amaran that there's not much left?

 

[Maira Fravel]

I've been toying with maybe getting the Genaray Twin Sun or a couple of their Square Suns but I haven't seen anyone really talk about them.

I'm also wanting to see feedbacks about Genaray Twin Sun but haven't seen any.

 

[Mark Spraker]

The light loss from using COB lights to try and make large soft sources is what's really turning me towards soft LED panels for that look. Unless I'm missing something, I think a good 1x2 and/or a few 1x1s with grids would be much easier to get a decent result out of without the hassle of setting up large soft boxes which honestly I hate doing. If I need more softness I think a half soft frost or quarter grid just off frame would suffice.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

Ugh... options keep popping up. I know that these lights (Falcon Eyes RX-18TDX II) are pretty much as budget as things go, but the versatility of them goes through the roof. Water proof, magnet capable, bi-color with remote. Possible to hang it on a C-stand with a really long arm or just tape it to the ceiling as well as VFX mode.
Not sure about the CRI quality and stuff, but man, for that price you get a whole of a lot of creative choices. You can basically do a lightning storm inside a room with these using VFX mode and some smoke.

Was thinking about the UL150 since it's totally silent, but with a softbox and stuff you get so limited. Especially when I'm mostly doing lighting that's based on practical sources, meaning, increasing light from a candle light or increasing the intensity of a soft window and stuff. Like we used to do with kinos over windows. The Falconeyes feels like an extremely cheap knockoff type of flexible LED, but I've heard some good words on it by gaffers so I'm even more confused now as to what to get. Having two of these and two C-stands really gives a lot of choices.

Anyone tried them?

 

[M Harvey]

I'm also a bit unsure of going bi-color...would a daylight with some gel be enough?

If you're using the Aputure Light Dome II with these lights, it makes gelling easy because it has a built-in frame near the mount. But I admit that it makes life much easier to have a bicolor light-- it's just that you're trading convenience for power. (Or more flexibility. Yesterday I wanted a little more color contrast, so I dialed in 6000 for cooler fill light. I never would have bothered if I'd had to use gels.)

As for power, I can only speak for myself, but for common interior soft light tasks like shooting interviews, lighting 9-foot backdrop, enhancing/extending sunlight, filling or raising ambient a little in a small-to-medium-sized room, I think a pair of 200 watt COB lights-- or a pair of 100 watt panel lights--will be quite effective. And they all work with great softboxes and grids that will take care of a lot of your light shaping and softness needs. If you need to do all of those tasks at once, or if you want to get much softer than, say, a 4x4 with half grid, then I think you'll start to notice limits. If you're trying to raise ambient in a ballroom, you'll struggle. But I'm sure you knew that.

 

[Tom S]

The Aputure's are really versatile because of the Bowens Mount. I have 2 x 300D and 2x 120D. I bought a bunch of modifiers (softbox, china ball, fresnel, barn doors, space lights, snoot, etc) and a few $22 kits of CTO. They are easy to gel.

However, I find myself using my IntellyTech Litecloth LC-160 a lot. I like double diffusion and the small form factor allows a large source in front of another large diffuser in tight spaces (indoor narrative). An Aputure could also work the same as a book light. The Litecloth also is great for a toppy source on a c-stand arm in smaller rooms. It is surprisingly bright and bi-color. They are also silent with no fans.

I also have Quasar tubes that spray soft light everywhere. I bought some grids for them to help control spill. The Rainbows are versatile but expensive. I would avoid the bi-colors until the new twist connection comes out. The original connection sparks and frequently stops working.

LED technology has come really far. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the options being discussed.

 

[Mark Spraker]

LED technology has come really far. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the options being discussed.

This is pretty much how I feel about the current state of the market too. I've done super short run and gun gigs using the small Godox LEDP260C as a key light. Obviously a cheap, low output fixture but for some projects and clients, it makes sense to use smaller stuff when you need to work fast. I'm always of the opinion it doesn't really matter what light you have, it's how you use it that matters the most.

I've used fixtures like the T8 Quasar tubes, Godox lights of all kinds, a Mole Senior 900w LED Fresnel, and a handful of other styles, sizes, and brands of lights over the years as the tech matured; To me, LED is in that perfect cost to performance ratio on all ends of the budget spectrum. Whatever you value most in your fixtures, there's pretty much a solution out there that will fit in your workflow. I would say just think of what style of LED fixture you want and would get the most use out of, and then look at the options available and pick what you think you would like to work with the most.

I'm certainly one to nitpick small details like how do header cables connect? Can I get an extension? Is the ballast noisy? How much does the head weigh? Can it be battery powered? Bi color? How much output is there compared to the beam angle? Is the beam an even field or spotty? How are the controls? Can it be packed away quickly? Is the included case designed for every little piece to be broken down way too much to fit? What accessories or modifiers can I get? Does it even need modifiers? All that and more is what runs through my head when I'm looking into new lighting toys. It helps when I can watch reviews on YouTube to find these things out ahead of time.

 

[Nick Gardner]

I've had nothing but good experiences with Falcon eyes stuff. It kicks ass. Color has always matched HMIs and daylight perfectly.

Nick

 

[Christoffer Glans]

I've had nothing but good experiences with Falcon eyes stuff. It kicks ass. Color has always matched HMIs and daylight perfectly.

Nick

This includes the RX-24TDX (II)? I skipped looking at panels like that before because they had awful tint over time and couldn't be used properly after some time, but has this changed now? Can this panel be used without such problems over time? (I know LEDs go a bit green-tinted after a while, but not too much?)

How about their RGB options? If this is mainly used as a keylight, would the RX-824-K1 work as well or better? Would be nice to have the option to do color lights as well.

 

[Nick Gardner]

I have six of the 18x24 daylight rx whatever they are. No bicolor, no RGB. I haven't had any tint shift that is noticeable in several years of using them heavily. I use them for what they are good at, which is being a big soft source with a thin profile. You can take a c stand, and an arm with 6 grip heads, and put six of them on one stand horizontaly. 3 over, 3 under. That gives you a pretty huge source that takes up very little room. Of course also great for arming out, taping to a ceiling, velcroing anywhere, roll them up, put them on a boom pole, use them like a china ball, they are pretty great. I have only recently started using RGB lights for certain aplications. Usually when I need tungsten, I just use tungsten, and when I need daylight, I need max output, so I have all most all my LEDs as daylight only.

Nick

 

[Christoffer Glans]

I have six of the 18x24 daylight rx whatever they are. No bicolor, no RGB. I haven't had any tint shift that is noticeable in several years of using them heavily. I use them for what they are good at, which is being a big soft source with a thin profile. You can take a c stand, and an arm with 6 grip heads, and put six of them on one stand horizontaly. 3 over, 3 under. That gives you a pretty huge source that takes up very little room. Of course also great for arming out, taping to a ceiling, velcroing anywhere, roll them up, put them on a boom pole, use them like a china ball, they are pretty great. I have only recently started using RGB lights for certain aplications. Usually when I need tungsten, I just use tungsten, and when I need daylight, I need max output, so I have all most all my LEDs as daylight only.

Nick

You'd recommend getting the new RX-24TDX (II) instead of Falcon Eyes's RGB version? I'm pretty much decided on getting the Falcon Eyes one due to the compact size and I'll wait out for some daylight LED and see if there's something new coming out cheaper that can be my sunlight powerhouse. I usually just need to have a soft key and that's why the RX-24TDX (II) seems like a good choice. However, I'm not sure if it's better than their bit more expensive RGB version, which would give me a lot more options in terms of colored lights. But I might just go with the RX-24TDX (II) and some Apurture MC's for VFX stuff.

So, get the regular RX-24TDX (II) or the RGB version, in your opinion?

 

[M Harvey]

You'd recommend getting the new RX-24TDX (II) instead of Falcon Eyes's RGB version?

I'll let Nick reply with his own thoughts. But I think it comes down to how much power you need, given that you want to use this as a key light. RGB lights are almost invariably less powerful (at a given size or power) than white spectrum lights. For me, that makes anything other than smaller accent lights (I own Luxli Cello, Aputure B7C bulbs) something to rent instead of own. Your needs may be different.

 

[Christoffer Glans]

I'll let Nick reply with his own thoughts. But I think it comes down to how much power you need, given that you want to use this as a key light. RGB lights are almost invariably less powerful (at a given size or power) than white spectrum lights. For me, that makes anything other than smaller accent lights (I own Luxli Cello, Aputure B7C bulbs) something to rent instead of own. Your needs may be different.

Yeah, I was thinking in line with this as well. And with the Aputure MCs I think I'll have all the color light needs covered. I mean, I got the speed booster on my Komodo, it eats light for breakfast so for low-key lighting the MCs can even act as keylights if needed. Thanks!

If nothing else comes out, I think that for "sun replacement" in the future, the UL150 would be enough. Or I just rent an Aputure 600D.

 

[Nick Gardner]

Just my personal experience, Yeah, I'd just get the daylight versions (if they still make them, may have to get bi-color). I also have six apature MCs and they fill my RGB needs. BI don't have any experience with the RGB versions of the matt lights, so I can't be of much help there.

Nick