include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/> Airboxlights.com and Conviction Films on Lighting for Film and Video: April 2012

Sunday, April 29, 2012




Interview with Charlie Collias of Zylight about their new LED fresnel. I think what's really noteworthy about this new unit is that it really seems to be an effective workhorse fresnel, but it's not a big bulky housing- it accordions down to a pretty low profile in full flood for packing and moving. The accordion design struck me as both innovative and intelligent.
This unit also has a nice hard-edged shadow on the beam; it gets away from the mushy multi-shadow thing that is such a hallmark of LEDs. Remote controllable, daylight balanced, battery-powerable, this light looks like it may rise above the new pack of LED fresnels.
An associate of mine at B&H was predicting this one to be a big seller once it's in wide release.
Downsides?  Regular tungsten fresnels are still pretty cheap to buy and rent.  Until Electricity and replacement bulb prices rise up a whole lot more, I don't think there will be a wholesale adoption of this unit by the general rental house market.  It's a little pricey still compared to tungsten, about 2400$ for a unit that compares outputwise to a 650w fresnel.  Being daylight balanced, though, it compares favorably to the small HMIs on the market, especially when you take the replacement bulb costs into account.
Overall, I think this light will be a winner for smaller productions where the production company or DP owns a lot of the gear themself.  It's portability and versatility appealed to me for that market.

review and interview by Tom Guiney Airboxlights.com

Thursday, April 26, 2012




This is the new GH2 cage from Dfocus in LA.  I tried it out for a couple of days and I give it solid marks.  Fits perfectly, grips the camera really well on top and bottom, it's got loads of 1/4-20 rigging/mounting points, good access to all important parts like the battery door, car door, controls, mic input. All in all a job well done. Made in USA too, if that's something that matters to you.  They estimate about 300$ once it's released. I'm a fan.

Downsides: it only fits the GH2, the 1/4-20 taps are only aluminum, so they might wear out on your if you beat on them, and it's a pretty snug fit so you might have to pull the lens off to get it in and out.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Remote phosphor LED units at NAB 2012

Airboxlights.com reporting from NAB 2012 on revolutionary "new" LED technology at the PRG booth. Not new, but new in the field of lighting.  Extremely bright, extremely good CRI, much better than other LEDs on the market, still extremely energy efficient.  Two units available, the Truecolor HS softlight fixture and the Photon spot fixture, in battery op and wall plug.  This is LED 2.0, you'll be seeing a lot more of these soon.


Thursday, April 19, 2012

NAB

A lot of great new stuff here at NAB 2012.  Video to follow as soon as I can edit it all.  Very cool all-in-one combo dslr rig kit from Varavon.  It's a hand held rig, its a slider, its a table dolly, its a wheelbarrow, all in one box! An excellent low-cost GH2 cage from Dfocus!  A really well-designed high-cri competitor for the 1x1 shape litepanel, called a Rotolight!
 Anyway.  Back to the show, lots of great stuff coming soon.