Digital Video - March 2008 - (Page 14) IN REVIEW LITEPANELS LP-MICRO LIGHT COOL & LIGHT THE LP-MICRO IS VERSATILE, COMPACT AND READY TO GO. BY JAY HOLBEN t first glance, the tiny LP-Micro (just 3.75"x 2.75"x1.5") looks more like a toy than a professional tool, but looks can be deceiving. Once you get past the rather chintzy feel of the plastic construction, this is a very flexible little tool. The construction is my biggest complaint. The body of the light itself is robust enough — although I don’t believe it’ll survive a good fall on a hard surface — but the hot-shoe connection and tilt articulation are a little too cheap to be effective. The flip-down filter holder is a clever idea but poorly designed. The thin plastic diffusion and 85 correction filters slip into the holder and are held in place by tabs at the bottoms and sides. But the plastic of the flip-down frame will not withstand the rigors of production for long. The filters themselves are easily dislodged and popped out. However, the function of the LP-Micro, as one would expect from Litepanels, is exceptional. The fixture has six rows of eight bright “white” (5600°K) LEDs. The face of the fixture is about 3.25"x2.5" and provides a pleasing, soft fill light. The diffusion filter looks to be somewhat similar to Lee 250 and cuts down the light by about one stop. The LED array itself is pretty soft, so the diffusion only serves to take a little off the crispness by better blending the transitions between the LEDs. The power switch is a knob on the top of the fixture that has a built-in dimmer. With fresh batteries, you have an incredible dimming range of nearly 100 percent. Even at such a low intensity as to be unreadable by my meter, there was no flicker. As with all LED fixtures, this dimming has very little effect on the color temperature, so you can easily dial in your output as needed. The LP-Micro runs off four standard AA 1.5-volt batteries. In my tests, the fixture ran for over 75 minutes at nearly 100 percent on four fresh AAs. After that, the light output began to drop. With four fresh batteries (all reading at 1.6 volts), at a distance of about 18", I measured an intensity of 73 footcandles. Within five minutes that dropped to 68 footcandles, but it held there for more than 30 minutes of constant burn. At a little over 45 minutes of constant burn, the intensity dropped off quickly. By 90 minutes of constant operation, the fixture was down to only 9.8 footcandles. The fixture was still quite cool to the touch with A no areas of it uncomfortable to bare hands. The Micro puts out a significant amount of light at close range. At an ISO of 320 (typical of many DV cameras) at 24 frames per second and a 1⁄48 shutter, it can give you an F2.8 at a distance of two feet. In addition to the hot-shoe connector, Litepanels offers an available base plate for use off the camera. This LP-Micro is designed for use with small camcorders, but it’s functional enough to work in the professional realm as well. It may not withstand the tortures of production for very long, but, while it lasts, it’s a great little fixture, especially for the price. DV > With fresh batteries, I measured the following photometrics (in footcandles) with a Sekonic L508 meter under real-world (not laboratory) conditions: CLEAN 5600°K (NO FILTERS) WITH 85 (FULL CTO) AND DIFFUSION SCORE LITEPANELS LP MICRO PROS: Versatile, bright, small, lightweight, great dimming, runs on standard AA batteries. CONS: Plastic construction. BOTTOM LINE: A great little fixture. MSRP: $349 CONTACT: www.litepanels.com 1' 2' 3' 4' 5' 6' 7' 8' 9' 10' 170 fc 48 fc 17 fc 9.8 fc 6.9 fc 4.6 fc 3.5 fc 2.6 fc 2.0 fc 1.9 fc 30 fc 8 fc 4 fc 2.5 fc 1.7 fc 1.1 fc 0.87 fc 0.66 fc 0.57 fc 0.46 fc 14 dv march 2008 www.dv.com http://www.litepanels.com http://www.dv.com
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