Portable Lighting Solution - Recommendations

[Alexander Boyd]

Hello everyone,

 

for a photography project I'm trying to put together a portable lighting kit and I was hoping the experienced users of this forum could chime in and share their thoughts with me. What I'm specifically looking for is ...

 

- portability, meaning that it should be battery-powered

- switchable between flood and spot (though this is just a minor criteria. I could always get one flood and one spot fixture).

- usable with both tungsten and daylight (though I've often stumbled across the argument of simply adding some CTO to your daylight fixture because with LED bi-color lights you apparently lose some intensity)

 

So far, I've mainly been looking at LED solutions such as the IKAN IFB-1024 and the Visual Buddy 1x1.

 

Thanks in advance for your help. As usual, it's highly appreciated!

 

[AJ Young]

I recently shot with Dracast lights. They ran on Anton Bauer Dionics; would last at best two hours? (I really didn't keep track)

 

The lights themselves gave out a great output. I can't vouch for their CRI, but it looked proper in camera. (I set my camera and lights to 5600K).

 

These lights, however, are a soft source. They don't have much in the ways of barndoors, so you're only option (if you have it) is a softbox on the head. Even then, you still don't have much control on the direction of the light.

 

Furthermore, the lights have a terribly designed yoke. It felt like plastic, the yoke attachment was teethed like a pan handle connection (terrible design for a light), and the baby spud mount only covers have a spud.

 

For simple, broad, and soft light they did the trick. I personally wouldn't use them again, however.