Although cameras are the primary capture devices, light plays probably the most important role when shooting. Without proper lighting, the image might come out flat, underexposed and mainly the intended mood of the piece might not be achieved. At this point, Area 48 LED lights come into play. Powerful, light, mobile and adjustable, Area 48 LED lights are the next generation in LED technology.
The Area 48 LED light features light output comparable to a 1,200 Watt (1K) traditional soft light, is 2 to 4 times more powerful, depending on attachment, than traditional LEDs. The quality of the LED is so good that the light can be used bare without any modifiers and still act as a large diffused light source. At the same time, Area 48 provides various modifiers such as soft boxes, snap grids and detachable barn doors to help sculpt the light around the subject being lit.
The Area 48 LED light also has an impressive CRI – 97 out of 100, where CRI stands for colour rendering index, a measure of colour accuracy compared to natural sources. The light high colour accuracy remains at the same level even when the various colour panels are put to use thus there is no need for additional filtering.
Since the LED bulbs are not phosphor coated, thus improving colour accuracy and the phosphor panels are placed in front of the LED, the same amount of light is generated regardless of the colour balance of the phosphor panel in use daylight (5600K), tungsten (3200K), or any of the other panels (2700K, 4300K, 6500K, and Chroma Green).
Another impressive feature of the Area 48 LED light, however, is the power supply. Powered by compact batteries that come with either Gold Mount or V-Lock, the batteries can just be snapped to the light. What can be better than no cables to worry about or trip over!
As the light weights only 3.6 kg, does not heat up as a red head, for instance, and requires no cables as the battery simple snaps to the light body, one can pick it up and move it around subjects. Area 48 LED is perfect for small crews and fast set-ups allowing for working faster and moving faster.
Todd Heater, a renowned cinematographer who won an award for his cinematography on “Sipping Jetstreams,” a travel/ surf documentary, tested the Area 48 LED lights. In his own words: “Not only is the color rendering of the Area 48 LED spot-on, but it’s powerful, lightweight, compact, and can run off a battery.”
Todd even used the lights on a video shoots for car commercials and was quite impressed with the performance mainly due to the available battery power and no need to use heavy and cumbersome generators – “When we go out on the road with cars, we usually tow a car behind a generator truck and light it up that way. But with these lights, we’re able to mount battery packs right on the fixture and film it without having to put a generator power source on it.”
Overall, Todd thinks that “The colour match to daylight was as close to daylight as I’ve seen on the market, and probably better than all the other LEDs that I’ve seen out there. I have a more artistic approach to lighting than a technical one, but to my eye and to the camera,
“the colour is right on the money.”
When an award-winning cinematographer has nothing but praise for a lighting tool, one can rest assured that buying an Area 48 LED would be a worth-while investment, which would pay off in the long term or more accurately in the short term, as the units are priced only at $2,499.
To learn more about Area 48 LED, check out the Vincent Laforet and Jonas Elmqvist video below.
BBS Lighting AREA 48 LED from Visual Buddha on Vimeo.
You can also see a hands-on review by Matthew Allard ACS – Technical Editor at Newsshooter.com, of how the lights can be used here.
BB&S Area 48 Review from Matthew Allard ACS on Vimeo.
via [BBS Lighting]
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