Flash Photography Projects

Articles, Videos, and DIY projects on Flash Photography

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Do these guys ever quit?!! Sheesh, when I think i'm on top of things, again they come out with something better. This is now the latest LED Video light panel that followed up from my last post 'Latest LED Video Lights'. These new panels have all the fine features of the previous 1000 LED Video Light Panel model, but now add the dimmable option to the large 1000 LED Video Light + The Ability to Color Change the temperature. This is a great feature to have that should allow you to better balance along with ambient light. 1000 LED's + Brightness control + Color temp control FULLY DIMMABLE: 0%-100%, COLOR TEMP: 3500K-6000K is a perfect combination for any video lighting you plan to use on set. Might save you time and money by not requiring color gels, who knows. This is an exciting new advancement in an already well priced tool compared to the other big brands. Now..just need to get a hold of this for an official Cheesycam run through...

Product Description:
These are the newest product 1000 LED Color changing from 3500K - 6000K temp. It uses 1000 ultra bright 3mm LED. The changing color temp 1000LED panel will be suitable for any photography and video production for years to com. These daylight balanced LEDs offer a full spectrum, beautifully soft light. LED lights off significantly further "throw" than a comparable fluorescent light. This is because each of the 1000 LED lights has a 60 degree beam angle lens that directs light forward. This beam angle creates a beam pattern that is useful from 1 - 15 feet. The LED Panel lights are ideal for location work because they are virtually shockproof and offer the brightest light in the smallest form factor. In addition, this new version operates on 110v-240v adapter with a 12v DC output. Brand New

* Input Voltage: 100-260V AC. OUTPUT: 12V * FULLY DIMMABLE: 0%-100%, COLOR TEMP: 3500K-6000K * No flickering & FR interference * Easy to install with removable mounting brackets * Dimmension: 14" x 14" x 4"

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Just when you think you've got the latest and greatest, and that everyone has thought of it all, there's that other guy that just has to add one more thing. Remember I posted this video on cheap wireless flash triggers a while back? Or how about this video on a Cheap Tethered Shutter Remote + Wireless Remote Shutter Remote?

Well the company Yongnuo just had to up everyone else in combining those two ideas into an entirely new Tethered Shutter Remote + Wireless Shutter Remote + Wireless Flash Trigger + support for Wireless Studio Strobe Trigger combination and i'm liking loving it! If you haven't heard of the name Yongnuo, they have grown over the years as a very reliable company in aftermarket Photography equipment. The original wireless flash triggers I showed are used by many photographers who don't need the ETTL support or High Speed Sync. In fact there's a large following in the Flickr photography community on several Yongnuo products including this popular Camera Flash for Nikon and Canon that supports ETTL communication.

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Yongnuo ETTL Support Camera Flash

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YongNuo Combo Wireless Remote Shutter + Wireless Flash Trigger

More images and detailed information about these new Yongnuo Wireless Shutter Remotes + Wireless Flash Trigger can be found via eBay here.

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I enjoy watching Behind the Scenes type videos, I feel like i'm learning something new each time from different people. SatoStudio has this BTS video of a recent Mexico Destination wedding, and you get an idea of the type of equipment they would require for these highly mobile shoots. In this video I see lots of Monopods, Glidecam 2000 Stabilizers, and Canon 580 EX II Speedlites for mobile portrait shoots. Radio Poppers are used for stable transmission of signal from camera to speedlites. I'm really impressed with how smooth that Cinevate Pegasus slider is. The reason you'd go with the Pegasus over the Cinevate Atlas is by design. Sand can easily cause problems with the Atlas slider bearings, but the Pegasus is a much more forgiving roller design for those conditions. I think what really ties this all together for a great shoot is the willingness of the bridal party. Great work SatoStudio, looks like a fun crew, I gotta run with you guys sometime...

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@TwitHerb emailed me about a set of DSLR LED video lights he's looking into buying, and also provided me some links to some forum discussions, and other websites. Let me start by just pointing out that i'm not trying to be mean here, but it's kinda funny. This information is already circling the Video forums, I seem to be the late bloomer on this product, and I was just pointed it out to it.

As with technology things change every few months and the oh so popular 126 LED light now has a new competitor (or replacement). Labeled as the Z96 LED light (it has 96 LEDs) there been several tests against the 126 LED and though it has fewer, seems to be the top performer. So, in summary the 126 is phasing out, the new Z96 is in. Roughly about the same price, about the same features, looks a bit smaller, but overall they are saying the Z96 is a better performer.

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Here's the part where i'm trying not to be mean. Above, is a very good video demo showcasing the product, and watermarking the video back to the website where these LED lights are sold for $296 dollars. Below, is what these LED lights are going for coming out of eBay found here. In order for the eBay sellers to market the product, these sellers are using the guys video above.

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I wonder if they sent him a gift basket? So basically this guy over at LCD4Video has just helped out by doing some clever video marketing for eBay sellers. Who knows how long this video will be posted in the auction, but check it out. Oh and If you haven't already invested into a set of DSLR LED video lights, these seem to be the ones that are the hot topic right now. You can find the new 96 LED DSLR Video lights here via eBay.

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When I saw these 1650 watt total photo video lights in a friends studio, I fell in love. Actually when I heard about the price + seeing the quality of light, is what made me fall in love. As you can see i've been investing in some new lighting for an upcoming project. For stationary lights, these are great for both photos and videos. Again, these are not recommended for traveling around, go with the smaller LED panels (fit into Carry-On luggage). These Flourescent Video lights are quite large, a bit heavy (about 6 lbs. each), and fragile due to the bulbs. Since I was all set on my travel lights, I decided for some larger stationary lighting, and this proved to be the best bang for the buck. There are (6) 55w bulbs in each unit totaling 1650 watts. With 2 units you have 3300 watts total of clean bright light. It's such a large source, the lighting comes off very soft and well diffused.

Florescent lights they say have twice the output of LED, twice the distance, better diffusion (LED's are more direct), and these things run almost half the price. Sounds good, but remember they are probably about 10 times more fragile though. It's what you have to deal with I guess for large soft evenly diffused lighting. Sorry about the terrible review, it's getting late (was about midnight when I was unboxing), and I just wanted to throw something online for now. I might be using these on a shoot this Sunday, i'll post up some BTS of it in use if I can.


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find-price-button 1650 Watt 6 Bank Fluorescent Photo Video Light Panels

Product Information:
Perfect lights for both studio and on location applications. Because of their compact and light weight design (aluminum chassis), these lights are extremely easy to set up. Simply attach to your stand, adjust the barndoors, and turn them on. No soft boxes to hassle which will minimize the space required to operate the system and create an obstacle to work around. Additionally, feature an innovative system that quick tran sform the light in a very soft source.

Key Features:
compact and light weight gives it the quality of a versatile unit.
die cast aluminum chassis.
high illumination output comparative with regular fluorescent and tungsten fixtures. Power consumption of only 330 watts and has the same output as a 1500 watts regular tungsten bulb.
power saving.
professional fluorescent tubes with high CRI level ( >90RA ), with no green or blu e light sparkle specific to consumer fluorescent light.
build in professional ballast: long life, flicker free, high output, stable Kelvin color temperature, and no noise.
the optional shoemount spigot adapter offers the flexibility of mounting the FB watts either horizontally or vertically giving you a choice of beam spreads.
select the color temperature by using 3000K (warm) tubes or 5400K (daylight) tubes.
remarkable for their low level of heat output.
protection against electrical shocks using integrated fuse into the AC jack (spare fuse included)

Available on Amazon:

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find-price-button 1650 Watt 6 Bank Fluorescent Photo Video Light Panels

Oh and I was shooting the video with the the Sony NEX-3 that came in today too, so the Auto Exposure built into the camera didn't do justice when showing off the amount of light. (Just testing out the Sony while I have it).

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Here's a recent comment regarding the 126 LED Dimmable Multi Battery LED Video Light many people have purchased:

I was wondering you Em or anyone had any experience with color correcting these 126 LED lights to (near) Tungsten?

It's true, the Tungsten gel that comes with the LED light panel isn't very close to Tungsten. Now I don't have many gels available to me right now, and i'm also not a lighting genius, but I guess I can shop around and find something that works best. Instead of myself trying to come up with a solution, I thought there might be enough of a community of Cheesycam.com readers who might have more experience with this.

If anyone out there has a good solution of Gel color, type, size, etc. the rest of us would love to find out. These lights aren't going away any time soon, so let's see if we can nail this down to a standard Gel type and color. In fact if you have your own solution for Diffusion, I would love to hear that too. Even any type of Mods or Hacks on how you might use these lights differently or creatively would serve as good tips too. Anyone Anyone?

Update::: Joel Hartz - Hartz Photographic LED Review teaches us how to get better color match on the 126 LED Video light. Looks like this problem is solved. Thanks Joel for the awesome review, and thanks for the shot out to the blog!

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find-price-button 126 LED Dimmable Multi Battery DSLR video Light

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Instructables.com is featuring a DIY Variable ND filter that functions similar to the popular Fader ND filers by LCW, Fader Filters, or or Genus Fader ND's. I've seen a few of these DIY's before using 1 linear polarizer and 1 circular, but this DIY calls for 2 Circulars.

The cost of a real Variable ND will run you about $110-$120 dollars for a 77mm, but by following the Instructables tutorial, you might be able to get a bit of functionality for under $10 dollars. The basic principle is attaching 2 circular polarizers together, but flipping one lens backwards. There's a bit of screwing and unscrewing involved, but pretty straight forward for those who want to test this out.

Cons of course are that they will block a bit more light (which is ok for full daylight) than a real Fader, dependent upon quality of Polarizers you buy might change color tone a bit, and with stacking of filters, there's always chance of Vignetting. I guess this is why the Real Faders cost money. If you want to try it out though, here's a list of Polarizers you can grab starting at around 99 cents and up.

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Woohoo! Happy these guys came in, I was waiting a few weeks for these. These are handlebar clamps for a camera with a standard 1/4 x 20 thread. These are going to work great for a ton of my DIY projects. Funny, I don't see anyone using them for the idea I have. I'm planning on using them on my Tripod Legs. They run less than $4.00 dollars each. I'm going to use these Handlebar clamps along with a simple L bracket to make a mount for my portable HDMI LCD.

Using these clamps, I can easily attach it directly to one of my Tripod Legs and keep the monitor close by and handy. In fact, I can use these clamps to mount other things to my Tripod like my Zoom H4n. I like this method better so If I need to dismount the camera, the LCD monitor or other accessories that I don't want to run with can stay put. The idea for the monitor stand is to use 2 clamps along one Tripod leg. The L bracket will be attached in between both clamps giving me a solid mount that doesn't shift. I'll show more as soon as I can spend some time in the garage, if you're interested in these clamps, you can buy them here.

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Timelapse videos are cool, but panning and moving Timelapse videos are the coolest. Check out Dynamic Perceptions Stage Zero Motorized rig for motion Timelapse videos. Sean Stiegemeier used the prototype v2.1 to produce his stunning footage of the legendary Iceland volcano video at: https://vimeo.com/11673745. Very cool stuff, something I want to try, but I doubt i'll get the chance to shoot something as interesting as an Iceland Volcano. The best Timelapse video I might be able to provide you is my non-landscaped dirt filled backyard growing weeds this summer. No word on pricing yet, but i'll let you know as soon as I hear something.