Artificial lights including LED lights can sometimes create a color cast. We recently got the larger 1200 LED video light panel in the studio and decided to put it to the test against our 600 and 900 LED lights. Keeping our exposure settings the same, we test out the intensity and color differences for all three lights and do a side by side split screen of performance so you can judge for yourself. These lights from ePhoto came with 3 color gels, including a minus green which will correct any green cast that we may experience when shooting. For the test we did not use any of the gels.
We use the Tekkeon batteries to power our 600 and 900 LED panels that can work between 14V-16V. One aspect to note is that with the 1200 LED, the voltage has been changed from 24V DC to 16V DC so it can also be powered through a strong battery, but because it draws too many amps, it still will not work with the Tekkeon. Additionally, the physical size difference (although not a huge one) is enough to prevent the 1200 LED from fitting into a standard carry on suitcase.
All three of these LED lights have the same housing with a U bracket design (yolk) and dimmer switch.
Grace, the 1200 LED is usually out of stock.. I agree, they need to stock up! Almost all artificial lighting has a color cast of some sort, the slight greenish cast that can happen with the 1200 LED can be corrected (as with any light) with color correcting gels or in-camera with the white balance shift. Just something to keep in mind!
We just put in an order for the 900 LED and a stand, with a v-mount + generic FP550 battery— hoping for the best. Would you say this will cast enough of a fill light in daylight or would a reflector be sufficient?
@Glenn This light should be bright enough to be used outdoors as a fill light. Reflectors are really great but they’re a pain when wind or clouds come into play. Let me know how it goes!
Anyone else seeing a very slight green tinge on the LED 1200 at 1:05 or so? I see almost only on Olivia’s forehead. I don’t have a professional monitor and from what I can tell on my calibration software I’ve done the best I can for my calibrations.
I do see the need for the LED 1200 since that’s about the only one which seems to light Olivia properly.
Steve, I agree.. the first thing I said was, “the 1200 LED has a greenish cast!” Something to keep in mind is that almost all artificial lighting can give off some sort of color cast. You can correct this with gels or the white balance shift in-camera.
I tried the 900 LED’s and returned them for the fotodiox 1000′s. Similar output, but the mount won’t hit the barndoor when you swivel it, the enclosure is MUCH more durable looking (but heavier), the power cable locks into place, it still has a v-mount, and it comes with a useful carrying case. Have you tried to carry these things around without one? Clumsy at best.
The CRI on these lights is apparently pretty low so serious green spike says this blogger. He says to use a 1/2 minus green gel if you want to mix lighting types or just custom white balance if you have matched key and fill lights. Some of his examples look pretty good.
Great link. I too am looking at buying some 1000 bulb LEDs too and I’ve not found a lot of positive reviews on the lower priced LEDs. Another option I’m considering is buying 56k LED screw in bulbs and building my own (round) cans like one pro I read about did. I am not sure how well this would work yet since his build lacked a lot of details, but his idea seems like it would have merit.
Olivia! Thanks again for these great posts. I’m actually trying to purchase the 900–but I have to wait and wait. About the color correction gels–do I have to purchase gels (can you recommend any) or can I use the magenta one that comes with to fix the green tint?
And please keep the posts comin about how to travel with all of this stuff, especially if you are a “one man band.”
Hi Grace, we’ve actually never had to use the magenta gel that came with the 900 LED light to correct any greenish tint. In the event that you are experiencing a color cast, the gel they provide should be sufficient. Also, you can purchase additional gels on Amazon for pretty cheap.
olivia, When you’ve used battery function on these for outdoor shoot, do they throw enough light to be useful?
I wired a 5 bulb CFlL kit this week for a shoot and it did little more than add a eye light, so I opted for ambient open shade. Shiny boards would have been the right tool. I only ask because there are cheap deals on the 600′s with no vmount.
Jason, the LED lights are more directional and have more output than the CFL lights. It’s enough for fill light to soften the shadows. In the beginning of this video we used a 900 LED light on a Tekkeon battery http://oliviatech.com/blurfix-flat-housing-lens-for-gopro-hero. It was not full power.
I spent hundreds of dollars on a set of LED panels and stands from ePhoto. When I took the first one out of the box, the handle pulled off and a screw fell inside the case where it rattled around. The stand was no better. There was a loose spring banging around inside it. The light itself was dim and very blue. The instruction sheet was written in badly broken English. Very unprofessional. I returned the whole set immediately. It cost $80 to ship it all back to ePhoto, and they would not reimburse me.
Every LED panel I’ve looked at online appears to be the same cheap imported junk. Is there anything better?
@Keith I’m sorry to hear you had a bad experience with your ePhoto lights. I can honestly say that we have many lights, CFL and LED, from ePhoto and none of them have given me terrible trouble. The stands could probably use a little work, but considering the price point.. they really aren’t too bad in my opinion. if you want better quality, I suggest checking out Fotodiox or F&V. Both of which I’ve reviewed so I can personally say that I was and am still very pleased with these. The CRI is better with these.. but again, you pay more for this.
I purchased the ePhoto 900 LED light a while back and from my unprofessional tests it seems to be white balancing at 5150K . The info that came with the light says it is rated at 5400k. The light has been functioning fine except for a loose connection on the power brick which made the light turn off at times. Ephoto send me a new brick but I did have to pay $15 for it.
Anyway I need two more lights and I’m tempted to get their new 600 LED version because they are quite cheep. I am worried that if these lights are white balancing at 5150k and I have a room with 5600 K daylight coming in will I run into problems with getting correct color or white balance? My other thought is to save up for a set of 3 ikan LED lights that are rated at 5600k and use them and only use the ePhoto light to light up stuff in the room. Do you have a hard time matching the ePhoto lights to other lights or using them when there is some daylight in the scene?
@Brian I know that some LED lights don’t have a very strong CRI. F&V prides themselves on their LED light’s CRI. I can’t say for sure if the LED 600′s will match or cause any issues in your lighting applications. If you’re looking for LED 600′s, I know that the F&V’s also produce more light and they’re smaller and cheaper. SEE HERE FOR COMPARISON.
600 LED Video Light Panel with V-Mount
Terrific post! Thank you! I think I like the 900 best, the 1200 looks a little green–now if only they would have it in stock!
Grace, the 1200 LED is usually out of stock.. I agree, they need to stock up!
Almost all artificial lighting has a color cast of some sort, the slight greenish cast that can happen with the 1200 LED can be corrected (as with any light) with color correcting gels or in-camera with the white balance shift. Just something to keep in mind!
We just put in an order for the 900 LED and a stand, with a v-mount + generic FP550 battery— hoping for the best. Would you say this will cast enough of a fill light in daylight or would a reflector be sufficient?
@Glenn This light should be bright enough to be used outdoors as a fill light. Reflectors are really great but they’re a pain when wind or clouds come into play. Let me know how it goes!
Great video plus The fact that Olivia drinks coconut water makes me like her even more. That is my favorite drink
My kryptonite = Fiji water and anything coconut with no added sugar lol
Anyone else seeing a very slight green tinge on the LED 1200 at 1:05 or so? I see almost only on Olivia’s forehead. I don’t have a professional monitor and from what I can tell on my calibration software I’ve done the best I can for my calibrations.
I do see the need for the LED 1200 since that’s about the only one which seems to light Olivia properly.
Steve, I agree.. the first thing I said was, “the 1200 LED has a greenish cast!” Something to keep in mind is that almost all artificial lighting can give off some sort of color cast. You can correct this with gels or the white balance shift in-camera.
I tried the 900 LED’s and returned them for the fotodiox 1000′s. Similar output, but the mount won’t hit the barndoor when you swivel it, the enclosure is MUCH more durable looking (but heavier), the power cable locks into place, it still has a v-mount, and it comes with a useful carrying case. Have you tried to carry these things around without one? Clumsy at best.
Vu, do you like the mount on the fotodiox? Does it seem weak or able to break after repeated use (vs. a yoke mount)
The CRI on these lights is apparently pretty low so serious green spike says this blogger. He says to use a 1/2 minus green gel if you want to mix lighting types or just custom white balance if you have matched key and fill lights. Some of his examples look pretty good.
LINK HERE
Great link. I too am looking at buying some 1000 bulb LEDs too and I’ve not found a lot of positive reviews on the lower priced LEDs. Another option I’m considering is buying 56k LED screw in bulbs and building my own (round) cans like one pro I read about did. I am not sure how well this would work yet since his build lacked a lot of details, but his idea seems like it would have merit.
Olivia! Thanks again for these great posts. I’m actually trying to purchase the 900–but I have to wait and wait. About the color correction gels–do I have to purchase gels (can you recommend any) or can I use the magenta one that comes with to fix the green tint?
And please keep the posts comin about how to travel with all of this stuff, especially if you are a “one man band.”
Thanks!
Hi Grace, we’ve actually never had to use the magenta gel that came with the 900 LED light to correct any greenish tint. In the event that you are experiencing a color cast, the gel they provide should be sufficient. Also, you can purchase additional gels on Amazon for pretty cheap.
olivia, When you’ve used battery function on these for outdoor shoot, do they throw enough light to be useful?
I wired a 5 bulb CFlL kit this week for a shoot and it did little more than add a eye light, so I opted for ambient open shade. Shiny boards would have been the right tool. I only ask because there are cheap deals on the 600′s with no vmount.
Jason, the LED lights are more directional and have more output than the CFL lights. It’s enough for fill light to soften the shadows. In the beginning of this video we used a 900 LED light on a Tekkeon battery http://oliviatech.com/blurfix-flat-housing-lens-for-gopro-hero. It was not full power.
I spent hundreds of dollars on a set of LED panels and stands from ePhoto. When I took the first one out of the box, the handle pulled off and a screw fell inside the case where it rattled around. The stand was no better. There was a loose spring banging around inside it. The light itself was dim and very blue. The instruction sheet was written in badly broken English. Very unprofessional. I returned the whole set immediately. It cost $80 to ship it all back to ePhoto, and they would not reimburse me.
Every LED panel I’ve looked at online appears to be the same cheap imported junk. Is there anything better?
@Keith I’m sorry to hear you had a bad experience with your ePhoto lights. I can honestly say that we have many lights, CFL and LED, from ePhoto and none of them have given me terrible trouble. The stands could probably use a little work, but considering the price point.. they really aren’t too bad in my opinion. if you want better quality, I suggest checking out Fotodiox or F&V. Both of which I’ve reviewed so I can personally say that I was and am still very pleased with these. The CRI is better with these.. but again, you pay more for this.
Hi Olivia,
Thank you for this test!
I purchased the ePhoto 900 LED light a while back and from my unprofessional tests it seems to be white balancing at 5150K . The info that came with the light says it is rated at 5400k. The light has been functioning fine except for a loose connection on the power brick which made the light turn off at times. Ephoto send me a new brick but I did have to pay $15 for it.
Anyway I need two more lights and I’m tempted to get their new 600 LED version because they are quite cheep. I am worried that if these lights are white balancing at 5150k and I have a room with 5600 K daylight coming in will I run into problems with getting correct color or white balance? My other thought is to save up for a set of 3 ikan LED lights that are rated at 5600k and use them and only use the ePhoto light to light up stuff in the room. Do you have a hard time matching the ePhoto lights to other lights or using them when there is some daylight in the scene?
@Brian I know that some LED lights don’t have a very strong CRI. F&V prides themselves on their LED light’s CRI. I can’t say for sure if the LED 600′s will match or cause any issues in your lighting applications. If you’re looking for LED 600′s, I know that the F&V’s also produce more light and they’re smaller and cheaper. SEE HERE FOR COMPARISON.