Jan 24 2008
Litepanels micro
Weighing less than 4 oz. (.11kg) and measuring 3.3x 3.3 x 1.5 (83.8mm x 83.8mm x 38.1mm), Litepanels Micro produces 1.5 hours of continuous output from four on-board AA batteries (either standard or rechargeable). Or power can be supplied through a convenient 4-14V input jack located on the back of the unit.
The Litepanels Micro housing has a unique, integrated hot shoe adapter with an adjustable tilt mechanism to allow for multiple mounting configurations. An integrated on/off/dimmer dial conveniently facilitates smooth and instant 100%-0 dimming. The unit also features a flip-down filterholder for use with the systems color/diffusion gel filters. Three filters are included: soft diffusion, 3200° tungsten conversion, and 1/4 warming (CTO).
MSRP (batteries included) is $349.
Any first-hand feedback on the color temp of these units? All the LED units I have seen seem very blue. The opposite to the problem I have with the tungsten on-cam lights which tend to run warm because I often have them dimmed.
I have a promax on camera LED unit - the light is very blue and harsh. I am not sure if litepanels tweak the leds in some way.
My promax works fine as a fill in daylight - but inside requires gel and diffusion and is still harsher than a diffused tungsten. But you can’t beat the weight/price/convenience. Battery belts get old fast.
One use on DVinfo.net said he measured 5300K instead of 5600K. Pretty darn close, but I’d have to say that Litepanels wouldn’t be advertising them as 5600K if they were not. http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=113390
Here is also a short video. http://www.vimeo.com/463187
I did not realise that litepanels were specifying 56K. Most opt for “daylight balanced”. I would guess 6K or over.
The quality of light (indoors) that I get from a heavily diffused NRG is very different to my promax led. Part of the problem is that once you add a gel you haven’t got enough light left to allow for much diffusion - but that’s not all of it to my eye the light is harsher.
Nice vid btw - the sennMKE400 looks nice for the price. Have you compared it to the canon dm-50?
Thanks. I haven’t had a chance to test the Canon DM-50. Some other folks on the HV20.com site were going to give it a whirl. I have to say that the Sennheiser MKE400 will definitely sound more detailed and clearer on the highs making human speech sound better, but music/stage performances or anything needing low lows will need a physically larger mic. The
“nano” design of the MKE400 just made it challenging to avoid handling/wind noise in the 60hz or below area.
Even though the Litepanels Micro comes with a full CTO and a Diffusion Gel, when you add them both to the gel holder, you cut the light at least one stop. We just got a bunch of these in at under $300 with coupon code if anyone is interested.