Blog Archives

One Man Band Essential Series: Soft Key Lighting (Part 2)

5/27/2020

Image courtesy of www.instagram.com/wanderingdp

Softness of Light
When I first started off in video production I neglected the power of diffusion. I opted for to go the DIY diffusion to save money, things like shower curtains and bed sheets. There’s nothing wrong with those options. But they both offer light diffusion. I was for some reason very apprehensive to knock down the level of my lights. I had paid a premium for every foot candle that the light was offering me. Even if I was going to go the route of purchasing actual diffusion fabric I still wanted to get something minimal like quarter grid.

A friend of mine recently talked me into a diffusion fabric called magic cloth. It’s a heavier diffusion. I was apprehensive but I decided to test it out. I went with the TRP Worldwide 6x6 Magic Cloth. Upon testing, I realized this was a whole new ball game.

The heavier diffusion actually works to become the new source of light. When you use a lighter diffusion you can still see the original light source as a big hot spot. You are only making the apparent size of the source marginally larger.

38 inch softbox diffused with shower curtain.

The Magic Cloth can take even the hardest of light sources, such as the bare COB LED and still manage to soften it into a larger light source. You get a light that is even and consistent over the surface area of the diffusion fabric, which means it illuminates an area evenly and consistently. The apparent size of the light in relation to the subject and background makes it appear source-less and natural.

COB LED through Magic Cloth

When I watch interviews where the subject feel artificially lit with no lighting motivation, it almost always communicates something contrived, artificial and cheap. This does not add value to a film project or to a client’s message. The lighting should feel natural and plausible. A large soft source is so valuable because it will always feel as though a window is lighting a scene. It is very conceivable that a large window can exist in an interior space, because windows do exist in almost all interior spaces, save for the buildings from the Soviet Bloc era. Now I can put a large, north facing window in my lighting toolkit and set it up in less than ideal situations.

Optimal Beam Angle
At the time of testing I had an Aputure 300D with a reflector as well as a 2x Fresnel. The 2x Fresnel gives you an extra stop of light (twice as much light) at 1 meter away in its flood setting. I tested both the reflector and the fresnel through the magic cloth. What I found was that the beam angle on the 2x Fresnel was so narrow (even in its flood setting) that I needed to back it further away from the magic cloth in order to light the magic cloth evenly from edge to edge. The extra stop of light was being negated by the extra distance. This wasn’t an optimal because I need to be able to use this lighting setup without taking up a large foot print.

When I had purchased the used Godox lights they did not come with a reflector. I had read that the Godox reflectors were inefficient because of an embedded hole in its design that they claim is for heat dissipation. These bowens mount accessories were originally designed with photographers in mind. So in my mind, the hole exists as a slot for an umbrella, and they were too lazy to change it for the video market.

Anyway, I went online to find the best performing reflector. I had seen on newer COB lights such as the Aputure 300D II that the reflectors have been completely re-engineered. Nanlite was the only brand selling this new style of reflector as a stand-alone accessory. So I went ahead and ordered one to test. What I found was remarkable. The Godox light which is rated to be half as bright as the 300D actually measured brighter than the 300D with this new style of reflector. I was ecstatic. I had completely transformed a cheap light with a $25 dollar reflector! Not only that, the newer reflectors look great. The older reflectors look like they’ve been lined with used tin foil.

But reality quickly set in that I was again approaching the conundrum of optimal beam angle as I had with the Aputure 2x fresnel. Although the beam angle is advertised as 55 degrees I found that I had to back the light about 6 feet to deliver a beam that would evenly light the 6x6’ surface of the magic cloth. When I tested the Godox with a standard reflector, the light wasn’t as powerful, the reflector looks like tin foil, but I only had to back the light up about 3 feet to get even coverage on the diffusion. The standard reflector also had a less noticeable hotspot in the middle. So in the end I returned the Nanlite reflectors and went with the standard reflector.

Before I leave you hanging for part 3 of this blog, I’ll send you off with a couple more tips.

Bonus Tips

1.) Remember how I said the Godox reflector had a hole to fit an umbrella. You can find reflectors that have an external mount to clamp the rod of an umbrella. Apparently, the umbrella is still a thing. However, that external mount actually comes in handy. If you were to use it to pair it with a cuculoris or cookie you could save yourself a light stand. I will experiment further with rigging something up and report back to you.

2.) That sleek looking newly engineered Nanlite reflector? They are not 7 inch reflectors, they are slightly larger so they won’t receive an accessory such as Aputure's barndoor accessory. My guess is that this was either a calculated business decision or because their beam angle was so narrow they tried to widen it with the extra diameter. That narrow beam does not work for soft key lighting set up but I have filed it away as a useful tool that certain jobs may call for.

For instance, cinematographers often use HMIs through windows to create slashes of light and shadow into the background of a scene. For the one man band you could potentially pull this off if you were filming on a ground floor. Pair two Godox SL-200s with theNanlite reflectors and you’ll be able to get a real punchy source that can MAYBE, JUST MAYBE approximate an 800W HMI. Now I am really starting to regret returning the Nanlite reflector.

Stay tuned for part 3…

1 Comment

One Man Band Essentials Series: Soft Key Lighting (Part 1)

5/26/2020

0 Comments

Motivation for a Soft Key Light
For one man band film-makers soft light is an absolute essential. 99% of our subjects are people and soft light is the most flattering way to light or “key” people’s faces. What makes light soft has nothing to do with it’s intensity or output. It has everything to do with it’s apparent size.

The sun is a hard light. One reason we know that is because it casts shadows with defined edges. It is not flattering on faces because it casts potentially unwanted forehead, eyes and nose shadows. What makes it hard is its apparent size in relation to us. Though it is enormously large, it is so far away that it appears small. We can reach out our hand and block out it’s rays.

The sky is essentially a huge bounce light. The hard light of the sun bounces off of the atmosphere and creates our daylight colored sky. The quality of the light is even and soft. What makes it soft is it’s apparent size. We cannot reach out our hand and block it’s light from our faces. That's because the sky’s light is so large in surface area that it is exposing our faces from many different angles. We will talk about the sun and the use of hard light to create visual interest in another post.

Photo courtesy of https://nofilmschool.com/2017/04/2017-led-light-shootout

The sky or natural light is an ideal soft key light, not only for it’s softness but also for its color accuracy. The picture from the test above is not the best example of soft natural light, since its a mix of both the sky and the direct sun. However, what's of interest here is the color accuracy of natural light. You can see the waveform of the sun measured on a spectrometer. Though natural light is balanced at 5600k or blue, its waveform is very balanced with rich saturation across the color spectrum.

As a one man band videographer, my goal is to create a simple lighting set-up where I can best replicate soft, natural light. Here is what I am looking for.

Color accuracy - high extended CRI rating, especially R9 readings which best reflects accuracy in rendering skin tone. High SSI value.
Softness - I want to use diffusion to create a large area of even light with no hot spots
Output – to approximate a window or skylight, I want the light to give me at 100FC (foot candles) 3 feet away, and over a broad area.
Simplicity in Set Up - I want to be able to set it up quickly and with a small foot print.

LED based source
To check off the boxes of color accuracy and output I really would be going with HMIs.

I’d recommend watching Robert Machado’s video on comparing video lights with SSI. SSI or Spectral Similarity Index is a nifty feature that let’s you compare two lights to see how well they match. Practically, what this means is that you can compare a daylight color balanced LED to actual daylight. There’s only a handful of people who review lights that own the Sekonic C-800, so there’s a limited amount of 3rd party tests out there.

Photo Courtesy of Youtube (Robert Machado) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrEw-cJzExE

As you can see LEDs fair poorly in SSI readings. This is because they introduce green and magenta color shifts. The K6500 Joker 800 stands in a league of its own with an incredible SSI score of 94! The Joker 800 is an HMI light that produces plenty of output, more than most LEDs on the market. It’s the perfect light to be used if output and color accuracy is all you care about. However, it comes with a price. A hefty $7,300 price tag if you’re looking to purchase a new K5600 Joker mark 2. Throw in accessories and extra bulbs and you’re looking at about 10 grand. Of course you can find K5600 Joker 400s on eBay for under 2 grand.

But out of curiosity, I also wanted to see if I could produce soft natural light on a tiny budget

So I started looking for output and color accuracy amongst the LED market. LEDs introduce the advantage of low power consumption, low heat output, low weight, and low cost.

To replicate the pure output of an HMI I started looking at point source LEDs made popular by lights such as the Aputure 300D. These COB (chip on board) LEDs pack a serious punch. They are extremely hard, but can be diffused to create the soft light i'm looking for.

While the Aputure 300D checks many boxes, it doesn’t offer me simplicity in set up. There is a separate ballast and control unit and a mess of confusing cables. I’ve timed myself setting it up at a normal pace and it took me a whopping 2 and a half minutes! I know a PA (personal assistant) would take even longer to set it up, and that’s if they would be able to decipher the confusing array of cables.

That's a lot going on

The Mighty Godox SL-200W
Luckily, there have been many companies trying to copy or outdo the 300D. I stumbled upon a review of the Godox SL-200W. What is so appealing about the Godox unit is that there is no external controller or ballast. Ultimate simplicity in set up! Everything is built into the light unit itself. Based on Curtis Judd’s Youtube review, its color accuracy faired comparably to the 300DII.

Godox SL-200W vs Aputure 120Dii & 300Dii

Photo courtesy of Youtube (Curtis Judd) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYhHMir5DVs

Color Accuracy
The Godox's CRI R9 measured in at 94.4. It’s SSI score measured against daylight came in at 73. Nothing compared to the Joker, but on par with high end LEDs, and at a fraction of the price. The Godox lights can be purchased for about $360 new compared to about $1,100 for the Aputure 300D II.

Output
The Godox output in terms of illuminance came in at 1800 FC, compared to 44,300FC for the Aputure 300D II. However, that number could be misleading. More on that later.

Drawbacks
The main drawback of the Godox lights based on many independent reviews seems to be the fan noise.

Fan noise was not a deal breaker for me, I would be using these lights several feet in front of a large sheet of diffusion, which would also be several feet in front of talent.

I went scouring on the used market and was able to secure a deal for three Godox units along with some other modifiers. After selling off the modifiers the individual lights came out to about $150 each, which is a steal. Three units are great because LED lights from different brands do not play well together.

The best part about this deal is that all of the Godox lights had been modified so that the fans were virtually silent! At the time I made this deal I still had an Aputure 300D handy. The 300Ds fan noise coming from the ballast was actually way louder, noticeably louder than the Godox's fan noise.

So where do we go from here? These lights have a smaller output than the 300D and how are we going to manage to soften these lights up?

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post!

0 Comments

Aputure 60X vs. Practilite 602

5/26/2020

2 Comments

The Practilite 602
In the wedding biz, the Practilite has practically become the king of wedding lights. The industry trend towards the Practilite has gained so much traction that even wedding photographers are ditching the flash and going with the Practilite. A very welcomed trend indeed!

This light is expensive, retailing at $967USD! But at the end of the day this light adds value. It is rock-solid, compact and versatile. You'll have one less headache because what was traditionally a stressful task has now become something you look forward to. No more concerns about your hot lamp melting the faux finish off of the venues walls or a waiter tripping over a power cord. How many of us have seen an old school wedding light go down? It's not pretty. The Practilite offers the tight beam, long throw and rich colors of a traditional tungsten fixture, without any of the liabilities and stress.

The other stress of lighting a wedding is the DJs, the Maitre D’s, occasionally guests (most likely sent by the DJ) hunting you down to complain about your light. Somewhere there is a parallel blog with a DJ ranting about videographers and their lights. It may be because some videographers in the past (myself included) have used large LED panels to light up the dance floor. Now we can throw a nice tight beam of light that looks more like a spotlight. Subjects are exposed and light isn't bouncing and spraying all over the place. Your image can be filled with beautiful contrast and the DJ has nobody else to blame if people are not hitting the dance floor.

The 602 offers a very high quality of light. When you see the image on the camera, the image just looks good, almost like natural light good.

The light is packed with versatility. It is bi-color so you can dial in warmth to match the practicals in a reception, and daylight if you are in a backlit indoor ceremony situation. The light is small and compact, it can run off v-mount batteries. The lighter the light fixture the less likely it is to tip over on a light stand. That one less headache really makes a difference

The Ultimate Convenience Factor
The main difference that sets this light apart and makes it the king is its well integrated app. Yes that’s right. You can pull out your phone and instantaneously control the light’s color temperature and output. No one has time to wait for a faulty wifi or Bluetooth signal. We need an app that just works. Tungsten lights can get you beautiful color, a tight beam and a long throw, but they get hot, the bulbs can die on you, and they cannot be controlled wirelessly.

In Comes a New Challenger
For a long time I’ve been waiting for a legitimate competitor to the 602. The Practilite as I’ve talked about is a great investment, but for LED lighting in 2020, the price feels wrong.
The reason they can charge so much is because their only real competitor, the Dedolight, is far less feature rich and also runs in the $1,000 range.

I have not heard that much chatter about the Lightstorm 60x, but I guarantee you that many wedding videographers (and photographers) will be lining up to purchase this unit, if the price is as competitive and under cutting as the rest of the Aputure line-up.
Aputure has built a reputation as an industry disrupter with their product features and price point. This light introduces a very real competitor to the Practilite 602.

The body is very similar to the Practilite- light and compact. Aputure at this point has nailed the balance between build quality, price and weight. The beam angle can be changed internally between 15-45 degrees. The light’s color temperature can be controlled from 2700 to 6500.

The light can be battery powered by a v-mount or two NP-F batteries! Of course we know Aputure has a best in class app. All in all, the 60x compares favorably to the 602.

Huge Output
Here’s what I’m most excited about.

The 60x bi-color is advertised to output 30,000 lux at 1 meter at the 15 degree spot. I have to assume that would decrease when dialed into the 3200 degree tungsten color, it remains to be seen what independent photometric tests will show once the light is released. But wow is that a ton of output. Here's how it compares to other battery powered LEDs.

Aputure 60X – 30,000 lux at 1 meter at 15 degree angle (this is the max advertised brightness, there would be less output at 3200K, TBD)
Practilite 602 – 10,000 Lux at 1 meter at 15 degree angle (this is the max advertised brightness, there would be less output at 3200K, TBD)
Dedo DLED 7 Tungsten – 4875 lux at Medium angle (this light offers an impressive focus range of 4 degrees to 60 degrees, 4 degrees would be too tight for weddings)
Came-TV Boltzen 55w Tungsten – 3110 Lux (beam angle of this measurement unknown)

To compare that to an actual tungsten fixture…

Arri 300 Plus Tungsten – 16,000 Lux at 1 meter at 15 degree angle

In a direct apples to apples comparison with the Practilite the 60x is advertised to gives us three times the output of the Practilite. Of course these are advertised metrics, and time will tell how the lights actually compare. Let me tell you the goal of lighting a wedding reception is not to blast the venue with light so it looks like daytime. Where the level really matters is its ability to throw light far distances. I'm talking about the inverse square law and the ability to get both an even spread of light across a large distance AND an adequate level of light across that spread. There will be another post where I can better describe what i'm talking about. For now let it suffice that more output and tight beam angles are a good thing.

The X-Factor
The price has not been released. It remains to be seen how aggressive Aputure will be in its strategy here. Anything below $500 will be a huge win in my book.

What is your go-to wedding light? Let me know in the comments!

2 Comments

One Man Band Essential Series: Soft Key Lighting (Part 2)

One Man Band Essentials Series: Soft Key Lighting (Part 1)

Aputure 60X vs. Practilite 602

Author

Archives

Categories