Eric Ferguson writes in and shares his DIY LED Umbrella Light which uses the Cheap Flexible LED light strips (seen here on eBay). These strips can be purchased in short length to rolls of 600 LEDs in a single strip. [Thanks Eric]. Another DIY LED light panel project using flexible LED lights can be also be found (here).
Unlike the DIY LED light panel which would require you to cut LED light strips down to different sizes along with some soldering, Eric used an entire 600 LED roll wrapped around a simple can. The wrapped can mimics a bare bulb by throwing light off the sides. From there he's using a simple umbrella to refocus the light. Below are some images of the light OFF and then ON.
The flexible LED light strips work on simple 12V batteries, and can be found super cheap via eBay (click here).
Flexible LED light Strip
Jesse Nash
Does anyone know how long a 12v battery pack would last for these? They do seem to draw a lot o f juice.
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Emm
Post author@Webmaster Joe - Mine took a few weeks, but i've mounted them lighting up under my electric skateboard and have abused them for several months now attached to a portable 12V CCTV battery. They hold up well.
Webmaster Joe
I've noticed that almost all of these on Ebay seem to come directly from China, or thereabouts. I'd be curious to know how long they took to arrive? Amazing to see how cheaply some of these reels have sold for.
Eric Ferguson
That's not my experience. These lights are so bright in a 600 roll that they light up every corner a room if you just lay them out on a bed. This is a hard thing to quantify, but, I'd say it's a similar light output to at least a 200W tungesten bulb.
They draw about 38 watts for a roll of 600. That's a LOT of power for LEDs... no question, they're bright.
Amy Barrett
Maybe there are different types, but I bought a roll 600 I think 5050 white, and found them to very bright. Laid over my bed and hooked up to power, they were dimmer like a string of Christmas lights. Definitely not bright enough for lighting a scene. Could be used a background accent lights, like behind wine bottle etc.
Eric Ferguson
@Steven + @Emm actually I've tried that dimmer and it doesn't work for dimming a video light; it uses PWM at a fairly low frequency and produces flickering that makes the light totally unusable for cinema work at basically any shutter angle other than 360 degrees. There are some combinations of dimming and shutter speed that aren't so bad, but you can still see a flicker. At high shutter speeds there are crawling bands accross the entire image. Totally unusuable. Example here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zWgMv5KZf0
The LEDs used in this project are absolutely not of comparable quality to what you'd get in a high-end lightpanels or similar unit. They're "daylight" but have an odd spectrum representation that registers on some cameras as a bit of a green cast, and they produce a harsh light that is somehow very specular even though it is "diffuse" because of the large surface area. They have a VERY long throw, which means they don't work well as a soft light source because they don't falloff in the feathered way you'd expect. Like lighting your subject with 600 spotlights.
However, bouncing or shining them through any sort of reflector, even a simple white bounce card, changes these properties dramatically. These lights are totally useable for serious, precise cinema work as long as you'd don't expect to shine bare bulbs at talent.
jank
I wrapped a string of leds around the inner metal support of a paper china ball once, a nice portable light.
Pierre
These LEDs have a strong greencast. CRI is not good and IMHO skeen tones are not nice.
Colin
I've got a strip of these that I mounted to the back of my TV for ambient light. They're fantastic, and even come with a remote control to change colour and brightness. You can make them almost any colour you like and even create your own fading/flashing patterns for cool FX.
JK
Okay, I've got a few questions about how he mounts the can to the umbrella. Any chance we can get more details plus some actual shots of a subject lit with it? Sounds like a pretty great idea!
Austin
maybe find a way to put this in a china ball and you wouldnt have to worry about it bursting in to flames? My only concern is how good of a throw do these LEDs have
Emm
Post author@Steven - Yes that would work.
Steven
Would this be an option to help control the brightness?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Strip-Dimmer-Brightness-Adjustable-Control-12V-8A-/230676341607?pt=US_Lighting_Parts_and_Accessories&hash=item35b561a367#ht_4068wt_1398