Looking for photography lighting recommendation

Hi, all... been lurking in these forums for ages, but haven't had to post anything until now. I'm overwhelmed by the number of options out there, so I'm going to take advantage of the recommendation questionnaire and ask for some help here!

Short Essay Question: What do you intend to use this light for?
I am looking for a hand-held, battery-operated continuous light source for photography and videography applications. Before I spend $500 to $1000 on purpose-built on-camera lighting, I figure I should do my due diligence first and see what else is available. Video lights are generally nothing more than a glorified flashlight with a cold-shoe or threaded mount, and perhaps some built-in light modifier attachments. Oh, and a 3x markup on the price.


0) What Region/Country/State will the light be purchased in?
I live in Toronto, Ontario and although I don't mind purchasing online, I would definitely prefer checking out different lights in person first. That way I can judge the beam characteristics myself, plus have my camera gear on-hand for some practical testing. Any recommendations for a good flashlight specialty retailer in Toronto? I know about outdoor equipment shops like MEC and Europe Bound already. Anyone else?

1) Price Range: An easy question, but you may change your mind after answering the rest!
I have a budget of $300.

2) Format: Hand-held flashlight

3) Length: Under 6 inches (with battery pack) would be nice.

4) Width: Doesn't matter.

5) What batteries do you want to use? I have a ton of NiMH AA's already, so that would be ideal. I definitely want something that is rechargeable, with swappable batteries.

6) How much light do you want? Something that will give me an exposure of 1/100s, f/2.8, ISO 400 from 2 meters away. I'm not sure how that translates into watts/lumens/lux. From what I've researched so far, I would like to have at least 1500 lux of illumination from 2 meters in a flood pattern (70-degree beam), with the ability to focus the beam down to a narrow spot (10 degrees or less) with the appropriate increase in illumination. I'm guessing that'll be around 15000 lux.

7) Throw vs Flood: Which do you prefer, lights that flood an area with a wide beam, or lights that "throw" with a tightly focused beam?
Yes, please. An adjustable beam spread (as mentioned above) would be highly desirable.

8) Runtime: Not over-inflated manufacturer runtime claims (like some LED lights). but usable brightness measured from first activation to 50% with new batteries.
I don't need long runtimes. I'd probably only need to use for 30 minutes between recharging, but without significant dimming. I guess I would say about 2 hours of runtime to 50% brightness then.

9) Durability: Generally the old phrase "you get what you pay for" is very accurate for flashlights.
It should be able to withstand accidental drops onto hard surfaces from a height of 10 feet (e.g., mounted atop a light stand).

8) Switch Type:
Click toggle switch (click to turn on, click again to turn off).

9) Switch Location:
Doesn't matter. A remote control that could control beam power and spread would be amazing, though.

10) Operational Modes:
Don't need a strobe or signalling mode. Stepless intensity control from 0% to 100% would be very nice to have, however. Failing that, three or four brightness settings will do.

11) Is it important whether the body is metal or plastic/composite?
I would prefer a rubberized exterior with a durable composite interior. It must be able to withstand the above-mentioned 10-foot drop test.

12) Special Needs: Is there anything else you want or need that hasn't been mentioned?
It does not need to be waterproof, but weather resistance will be nice, since I will be using it outside in light rain. The beam must be perfectly even, no hot spots or rings, with a smooth corona and nice feathered drop off. A light with a focusing lens that can adjust the hardness of the beam edge would be great!

A gel holder would be great for inserting tungsten and fluorescent filters to modify the colour temperature. Oh, speaking of colour temperature, it should ideally be in the 5000K range natively, with a full-spectrum white light. The closer it is to the characteristics of high-noon sunlight on a clear, cloudless day, the better. Some sort of tripod socket or 3/8" or 3/4" screw mount would be fantastic.

I would really like an LED light, primarily because of heat concerns and secondarily because of battery life.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this light will be used for photography and videography applications, so the requirements are different from what you probably normally see in this forum.

So-o-o-o-o... any hope here, or am I doomed to forking over $500+ for a pro video light?

Welcome to CPF, traycer.

We'll leave your post here in General Flashlight Discussion for a while, but if you decide later it might do better in our specialist photographic section (The Dark Room) let a member of staff know and we'll move it for you.

welcome to CPF, traycer,

wow. a nice and detailed post, made me want to give you a nice and detailed answer.. so, I broke out the DSLR and tried out your specified values.
it seems that our newer LED flashlights can light up from 2 meters away pretty easily.
1) 300$ budget? That's pretty high. I suggest you look into Li-ion Rechargeable solutions.. longer runtime.
6) Time to break out the luxmeter on this one.. be right back.
.back.
There aren't that many focuseable lights out there, and even less so that can go from flood to spot. I guess you would be able to use an aspheric lens, but strange colors often result from those.. so, maybe not.
"1500 lux" to "15000 lux" @ 2 meters? 2 meters is a pretty hard deal. I check my Tiablo A9 using an aspheric head -- a light solely built for throw, and I barley got 15000 lux @ 2 meters. then again,my measurements were hastily done. ymmv.
speaking of gels, you can use a diffuser gel to diffuse the light .. no holders I know of, though. I've been cutting out pieces for using in flashlights.
9) durability.. this is going to be a hard one. not many lights have rubber grips on them, and the lights that do have them (fenix lights??). not sure they offer neutral white tints.
9 again) nope

well.. not sure I covered everything, but IMO, 300$, hmm.. how about some 4sevens neutral white quarks? you can get multiple ones.. and they have a 10 year warranty.
http://www.4sevens.com/index.php?cPath=297_310

at 59$ for the AA^2.. you can get 5 have some set up as flood, have some as spot.. why not? they seem to be built well, and if they break, 47s will take care of you.

wow, you do have a long list of criteria.... oo:

1st up is a lower budget light, relatively dim (from your requirement) light:
http://www.zebralight.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=186
would getting 2 units work? :thinking:
it could be attached to a lense hood via webbing.

SureFire T1A (uses CR123)
http://www.surefire.com/The-T1A-Titan
review
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/235685
stepless variable output you say? :devil:

or get the up-&-coming (not sure when) SureFire Saint Minimus headlamp.
http://www.surefire.com/SaintMinimusHS2-A-BK
or 2?

first thing that came into my mind was the TK40

MC-E LED with flood beam pattern, runs on 8x AA batts, beaten and tested to be extremely tough, could withstand way more than just a 10ft drop to the ground.

multiple modes, but focus is non-adjustable, same goes to most of the LED lights out there.

Thanks for the welcome, folks! I'm actually just heading out right now to Cinequip's Toronto location, because they have the new Dedolight LED sun gun on demo there:

http://cinequipwhite.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/dedo-dlobml-led-sungun/

There is a video demonstrating the unit on Youtube, if you want to get an idea of the sort of thing I'm looking for. It's in German, but if you skip to 0:35, you'll see the spot to flood focusing action, and also how even and soft the light is. It comes with barn doors to shape the edges even more, and a flip-down tungsten filter for warmer light. It is dimmable all the way down to 4% power with no colour shift.

B&H (http://bhphotovideo.com/) has it for $560 USD, which means it'll probably be close to $700 CAD up here. Some of the fancier kits are in the $1000+ range, which is why I would be more than happy to pay $300 for a flashlight kit that gives me similar if not identical functionality.

I'll check out the suggested links when I get back! :bow:

Trying with my D300 I do not agree with csshih, you need much more light. I tried with a OLight M30 and it was on the low side and has a nasty hotspot.

That means you have to look at big halogen lights or HID lights and preferable with a diffuser on it.
Halogen has the best color rendition, because they have a full spectrum. This is the same technology that is used in most video lamps. HID does not have a full color spectrum, but gives much more light for the same power and we have seen some very good pictures taken with HID as light source.

HKJ said:

Trying with my D300 I do not agree with csshih, you need much more light. I tried with a OLight M30 and it was on the low side and has a nasty hotspot.

Click to expand...

more light? hmm.. I used a 50mm EF lens. @ F/2.8, 400 ISO, 1/100.. wasn't too bad...
and especially with a large MC-E light. :shrug:

csshih said:

more light? hmm.. I used a 50mm EF lens. @ F/2.8, 400 ISO, 1/100.. wasn't too bad...
and especially with a large MC-E light. :shrug:

Click to expand...

If I uses 50 mm and aim directly at the hotspot (From M30) on a bookshelf I have correct exposure, changing to 24mm I am one step below. My camera is APS size, i.e. you have to multiply the 50/24mm with 1.5 to get the full frame mm.

Adding a diffuser, I would like much more light to compensate for that.

I.e. if traycer can accept a tele lens and being just at the edge of his specification, the M30 might just about do it and this new 3xMC-E light with a diffuser might be perfect, but to get something now, I would suggest a 35 watt HID light with diffuser.

oh, ok.

yeah, now I would lean towards a HID w/ diffusor. I also heard that the bulbs are pretty durable.

Xtar 3xMC-E sounds good, but they changed their LED specs to cool white. :shrug:

I suggested they do a neutral white run. who knows?

Here are some examples of me using my Olight M30 with diffuser on (this is night time, with my really poor ceiling light on, just providing some nice incan reflections)

There is nothing available in a flashlight that would come remotely close to what you want.

I haven't seen the LED Dedo yet, but all the LED video lighting has been pretty underwhelming so far.

If it's just 2 meters you shouldn't have much trouble finding something that will work at f2.8 . Just checked with a malkoff M60wlf (100 lumens, 4300k, 30 degree flood beam) and I get around 1/20-1/30 on dark scenes, and 1/50 on a white wall at 2 meters using evaluative metering. A 400+ lumen MCE should be adequate at 2 meters I would think. Unfortunately I don't have one to test.

With a 70 degree flood I don't know how much the ballgame would change. I'd look at 1200+ lumens to be safe, and I definately wouldn't want to be pointing a handheld 1200 lumen retina burner at someone I was trying to shoot video of. I would suggest trying out a nice flood pattern handheld light in the 400 lumen range, they can be really handy for spot illumination and spur of the moment macro shots where you wouldn't normally have enough lighting. Go for a warm white 5A tint (around 4000-4400k), this is more for your eyes than the camera. This way what you see and what the camera white balances for should be similar in appearance.

I get the feeling that the features you really want (focusability, camera compatible dimming, adequate brightness) will require a purpose built (expensive) light.

Hi, all! Thanks so much for the recommendations and advice. I've been pretty busy the month of August, so I still have not made a purchase yet. Part of the problem is that I don't know where I can go in Toronto to check out a good selection of flashlights in person. There are certain things I don't like buying online. Camera bags are one such item... it simply is not possible to evaluate one properly "online". I'm adding flashlights to that category.

I visited S&R Knives north of Toronto and spoke to owner Sean Curran there. He carries the Fenix line, but he did not have the TK-40 in stock, so unfortunately I had no hands-on time with it. It definitely throws enough light and has four power settings (13, 93, 277 and 630 lumens according to the marketing lit), but there is no diffusion or variable beam angle. I might be able to rig up a diffusion dome for it, though.

I also looked at the LED Lenser P7. Not as bright as the TK-40, but it should be bright enough. I love the sliding focus mechanism. Unfortunately, the switch design (if I understand their diagram correctly) kills the deal for me. It will only operate at the 15% power setting if you push and release the switch. There is no way to use the 100% or 130% "turbo" modes without having to physically hold down the button. I need the light to stay on (e.g., mounted on top of a 6-foot monopod, held over everyone's heads).

So it seems the technology and feature set are available... just not all in one light. Can someone make me a flashlight that combines the TK-40's brightness, variable power output and switch design, with the P7's sliding focus and smooth beam pattern? I'll chip in the diffusion dome and tungsten filters. :twothumbs

Oh, I'm renting a Switronix TL-50 LED light for an upcoming wedding, to see how that works. Not the brightest thing (despite having a cluster of 50 LEDs), but it is fully dimmable in stepless fashion and comes in a fairly compact package. It comes with snap-on diffusion filters to simulate tungsten and fluorescent light temperatures.

http://www.switronix.com/product_details2.php?cmd=info&id=209

No beam focusing, non-removable lithium battery, but it does have a built-in tripod screw mount. $380.