Sima SL 20LX $30 LED video light.

[Superfly]

I just made the STUPID mistake of looking at the damn thing in dim night time house light.  I am still seeing trails 20 minutes later.

The light is at an odd 4600 color balance and does seem to have a very slight greenish hue although nothing that could not be corrected in post or white balance compensated.  Diffuser works well.

At 8 feet it appeared to work as a good fill light in daytime indoors and a respectable ENG interview light.  At night I was able to light up the interior of my house at 35 feet.  In auto mode I could tell that the camera would go dark when the light was switched off, then you could see the gain come up quite a few steps which gave me a sense that even at 35 feet the light at least knocked the gain down significantly.

My goal for a light like this would be to have just enough light to remove the video noise.  I think too much more than this would make the dancers who love dark hunt you down and kill you in the street in a drunken wedding party stupor.

Even on the 4lux light-challenged HD1000u (actually not bad unless you're used to an old Sony DV cam) this thing popped it up to at least seemingly eliminate most of the noise at 15-20 feet.  I need to check it on a monitor and not just the flip.  Soon I will hopefully be moving my video hosting from the horrible Youtube to vimeo at which point I may post some equipment tests.

Hank, if you're out there I would be willing to mail this to you to do a test between your handy, dandy Bescor lights.  I'm sure the Bescor lights will beat it but it would be interesting to see by how much.

I think LED is the future and I wish I could see the LitePanel Micro compared to this at 10x the price.  I'm sure the Micro has better balance and the dimmer is huge.  An Amazon review described them as similar in brightness but?

Regardless, the one thing I can say for sure is that this little thing is worth more than you pay for it.  The fact that you can add 3 more via the shoe mounts and still have only $120 bucks in the rig is intriguing.  You could switch them on and off as your "dimmer" control.

Ultimately I think I would rather go with a more Pro product but what if they are only 10% apart?  Not likely...    This will probably supplement the built in light on our B,C,D roll Vixia 30 cameras which at 3lux do quite well in lower light.

Very clever little device and the 3 shoe mounts and included additional shoe bracket pave the way to a future of lower mid level pro products.

There's really no reason the Micro should be much more than $150 if more people were buying it.

Best,

Todd

[Superfly]

PS, this thing absolutely OBLITERATES the very blue UFO camping lights which are available on Ebay for $11 or so.

My original thought was to yank the LEDs from the Sima and put them into the ring light but then you lose the diffuser which I think is actually what makes this thing work.

***I am also inclined to believe that the REAL Flolite may have better LEDs in it.  They MAY have commissioned some Chinese company to load the horrifically cheap camping light with real LEDs?

Maybe I'll e-mail them and give them the FREE IDEA that they should toss a comparison on their web site for all to see.  If they don't we'll know it's a $10 camping light (very cool for camping and sheds, etc. by the way). 

I was getting ready to run power to on of my sheds until I bought one of these UFO lights at Ebay.  Now I have plenty of light that will last years on a single set of batteries.

Best,

Todd

[Renton]

What is the battery like and where does it go? Could it run off AA's?

[Superfly]

Hey Renton,

If this thing ran of AA's I think it might increase the company's sales 1000%.  That seems to be the #1 complaint and I agree.

That said, if it really is as bright or even 2/3 as bright as the Lightpanel  Micro, you can buy 10 of them for the same price and run them in groups of 3 while the others recharge with one left over to use as a flashlight to find your batteries.

Seriously though, like most things in this biz I would suggest the decent/cheap stuff as a backup rather than a mainstay.....  but Hell....I don't have anything to compare it to.  All I can say is that at 15 feet it's not studio lighting, but it's certainly CNN.

The battery is an internal Li-Ion that lasts about 45-60 minutes.....so let's say 45.

I'm probably going to end up buying a Litepanel Micro and possibly feeling stupid for doing it but everybody says it's REALLY the bomb!

I think I may reserve the Sima for C-roll footage with the Vixia 30 which has notoriously decent low light capabilities plus it's own little LED to supplement. 

Hell, I spent more than $30 on beer last weekend.....I can certainly afford to try items like this.

Best,

TR

[Renton]

Thanks Todd.

There have to be more of these sorts of lights coming on stream before long. These are only the first ones. Surely there will be Litepanel look alikes or similar waiting in the wings. I can wait a bit.

[PursuitVideo]

I too bought one of this little LED lights, I find that it works great between 5-7 feet. I have a XH-A1 and I can run it at 3dB of gain within this range and it looks good.  It can take AAA batteries it is just not convenient to change the batteries.  I am considering purchasing a second one to have the two team up together.  I think it is a great product for $30.  I am considering running mine without the "diffusion" piece on the front.  Have you tried this on a wedding day?

***correction***
The light I am using is the SL-10L  It think it is the little version of the SL 20LX.

[Superfly]

From what I have read, the 20L is more like 3-4 times brighter and far longer lasting than the 10L....

I have not tried this at a wedding but with Jennifer as my model I find that it does great at about 8 ft, good around 15 and OK around 25.  I think 2-3 of the 20L's might scare people out of the room but Hank gets away with coming at em' with a 50w Bescore so maybe it just takes a little personality?

I do agree there will be more to come.  The future of ALL LIGHTING will be LEDs but they have a LONG way to go with color temp.  Actually, I believe that LEDs (expensive color balanced ones) already kill the crap out of compact flourescents which are likely near the end of their short reign of mercury ridden crappy ballast terror.

I think for now the Litepanel Micro is the one to get and I will get 1 and use these for B,C,D roll. 

My original goal was to tear the LEDs out of this and put them into a camping light (miclight) but it's just impressive enough that I don't want to trash it.

Once people find out about it....about 70% of the crappy, expensive LED camera lights at Bhphoto will be sucker fodder only.

This one's not perfect but some of those are just crapola.  3w?  ET, phone home.

Best,

TR

[k_shipsides]

We use Switronix TorchLED as our onboard lights.  I really like the amount of throw, weight and it has a built in battery that last 3 hours.  It also comes with 3 pop on filters (clear, frosted, orange).  It works well mounted on our EX1 and 5D Mark II.  I have tried the Litepanels flood kit and they work well on compact HD cameras but not as well on DSLR.   

Here is an article with more information:
http://www.videomaker.com/article/14457/ 

[HankCastello]

Don't know how I missed this thread, but my nose was itching and that had to mean that someone had taken my name in vain, so here I am!   

Actually, I do NOT come at people with my 50w Bescor.  I reserve it for wide, outdoor nitetime shots, like wedding exits, etc.  We use Sony 20/40w lights during receptions and have been quite pleased with them.

They do tend to have a hotspot when under ten feet at 40w or under six at 20w, and no diffusion nor doors, so a better gadget needs to come, but meanwhile, these have been great tools.  The leds will likely not have the hot spots, but neither are they likely to have the range.  It's all a matter of compromise.

[osbornes5]

Bill, don't think you missed this. Most of these are 2008 posts. They are from the month of May but they appear to be from 2008. Just another example that old threads never die...

[Superfly]

Funny!  I have now gone through the Litepanel Pro and am currently using a Microbeam 185 (Flolight?) that utilizes my Canon camera batteries ($30 each for the 6hr version on ebay) and burns VERY brightly for 3-6 hours.  Absolutely awesome!  Came in around $370 when they first came out and comes with a series of gels.  Will eventually post video review but highly recommended.  Comparable to the Litepanel mini used on the Carson Daily show, etc. although much less pricey.

A couple of these Simas can get your B-roll through part of the evening if you're a beginner but I would recommend throwing down the $$ for a good light if you're charging to do weddings.

Best,

Todd