Digital Video - November 2008 - (Page 20)

IN REVIEW PROMPTER PEOPLE FLOLIGHT LED500 The textured reflector adds a unique quality to the LED500’s soft output. ENTRY-LEVEL LED THIS LIGHTWEIGHT FIXTURE COULD BE A USEFUL PICK. JAY HOLBEN I was just a young electrician with a few gaffing credits under my belt when electronic ballast HMI fixtures started to tip the balance over the old-school magnetic ballasts. These fixtures were the high-end new technology that would make lighting easier and more flexible. Now, a decade and a half later, it’s hard to find magnetic HMI ballast, and electronic ballasts are as ubiquitous as clothespins. The new technological flavor of the day is the LED fixture. Once LED technology advanced to the point of increased brightness and controlled color output, it became viable for more than just information displays and could be used in clusters as creative lighting fixtures. SCORE PROMPTER PEOPLE FLOLIGHT LED500 PROS: Excellent price, small, lightweight. CONS: Low CRI, moderate light output, loose barn doors. BOTTOM LINE: A useful fixture for the price. MSRP: $499 CONTACT: www.prompterpeople.com The benefits of the LED are well touted: low energy usage, long bulb life, dimmable without color loss, minimal heat output and relatively low manufacturing cost. The downsides are weak color fidelity and, due to the spot nature of the small diodes, a fairly unattractive bare source that requires diffusion. I’ve had a chance to work with a number of LED fixtures since they started to hit the market, and most of them fall into the same category for me: a specialty fixture that is appropriate in specialty situations. The latest LED fixture to cross my light meter is the Flolight LED500 from Prompter People. It’s a 14" x 7.5" fixture with 20 lines of ultra-bright LEDs embedded in a flat, retangular, highly polished mirror reflector. The official Prompter People spec sheet on their site has two wattage ratings for the fixture. The first, in the overview box, states that the fixture draws just 40 watts. Then, immediately below that in the technical specifications, it states that the power draw (an incorrect term, actually) is 50 watts. In my testing, at 121.6 volts the LED 500 drew .37 amps, which falls right between the two posted specs at 45 watts. The specs also state that the fixture puts out light equal to a 500-watt incandescent source, but, with no further elaboration, it’s difficult to determine where they came up with that number. Comparing my measured photometrics to the ASC Manual’s published photometrics for many standard industry sources, the LED 500 is more equivalent to a 250-watt Fresnel at full flood than a 500-watt source. Still, at only 45 watts, you’re looking at roughly 25% power consumption for an equal punch — not to mention the heat savings. LED fixtures are often compared to fluorescent fixtures, but the light quality isn’t quite the same. As LED fixtures are composed of a large cluster of many small diodes, you tend to get a “punchy” semi-soft source. You may get a further “throw” from the light than you would with a fluorescent fixture, but the quality is less pleasing on talent and will generally require diffusion. The published specs put the color temperature of the LED500 at 5400º +/-5% with a CRI of 90. For photographic tools, the CRI of 90 is relatively low and will require compensation either with filtration on the lamp or through careful white balance or post color correction. The undiffused light straight from the LED500 is not unpleasing to the eye, but because the reflector is a polished mirror and not a reflective white surface, the light is more direct and there are multiple shadows up until about 7' away from the fixture, when the light starts to blend more aesthetically. The fixture is lightweight, about 5.5 lb., and has two mounting points with 5⁄8" (baby) receptacles for hanging or placing on a stand with a Baby spud in a horizontal or vertical position. There is no dimmer incorporated in the fixture; instead, the LED500 has one master www.dv.com 20 dv november 2008 http://www.prompterpeople.com http://www.dv.com

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Digital Video - November 2008 Contents AG-HMC150 Camcorder I-Cuff Eyepiece Protector Instant Expert Avid Media Composer 3.0 DT-B9L 1DU Monitor Flolight LCD500 Dark Red Close-Up: Chop Shop Socky Prime Mover Tools & Technology: DV Expo Toolkit Click to Play DV101 Production Diary

Digital Video - November 2008

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