p.72 #3Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
GabrielPhoto wrote:
A portrait shot during my Samsung S21 Ultra vs RX100 VII test. This was with the A7R IV though
Nice man! We need to talk continuous lights, which you seem to be putting to excellent use! I’d like to get some Bowens mount monolight style LEDs to supplement my strobe setup for shooting in low light. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts about power levels, color accuracy, etc.
The lights I am looking at are the SZ150R (bicolor, RGB, no option for battery power), Weeylite Ninja 400 (bicolor, can run on V mount batteries), VL150 (seems very good, v mount battery option, daylight only), and SL-60 (seems to be not incredible but not bad in the accuracy department, daylight only, can run on proprietary batteries, super cheap so could add a couple if 60W can cut it at wide open).
I have some cheaper non-Bowens mount bicolor/RGB battery powered lights and I love the flexibility, but I want to use my modifiers.
Not that complicated, or well, you could say it is complicated for photography, but as a cinematographer I’m used to use multiple lights to light a space.
All of them have a collapsible 30” Beauty dish with a frontal diffuser as a key on the subject with a Godox AD200. And one to three lights through the windows, depending on what’s the background, and how dark was the space. Some of them are in a very dark irish pub, with lots of dark woods and floors. So, I needed to put light on them to get some detail. I used a 7’ silver umbrella with a diffuser in front, and two regular medium size rectangular softboxes. The umbrella had a Godox AD360II, and on the rectangular softboxes were two Calumet 750 Travelite, they had to be on close to minimum power. I didn’t use a dedicated backlight, but sometimes either the practicals provide backlight, or the lights through the windows.
I shot at 2.8 most of the photos and just varied the shutter to let more ambient light in or less. It was about 1/60 and 1/100, couldn’t go above sync speed, because the Travelite’s can’t handle it.
You can see the lights coming through the windows better in the next two photos, hitting the column on the right and the floor in the second one.
https://live.staticflickr.com/4818/39887134233_430247bbe5_k_d.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/4807/39935364243_6e6e7eecc8_k_d.jpgThanks for the explanation, this information is very helpful! I always worry shooting in these environments about color balancing between the flash and warmer ambient lighting, but I’d say what you did seemed to work quite well. No gels or anything like that?Thanks, no, no gels were used. I really don’t worry about mixed lighting, being a cinematographer, you always have mixed lighting, unless it’s a studio. And this was a shoot for a Bar chain, they were all bartenders, so the mix lighting fit the theme. If this was a life style or other kind of commercial shoot, I might have done it differently.
With mixed lighting, as long as you have the key set to your WB and the ambience as well, that’s why I put light through the windows, you’re ok, the practicals(existing lights) are only visible, and might provide a backlight if subject are close, but that’s it.
In this photo, he’s standing closer to the windows, where the column is, and you can see the amount of light that’s coming in.
p.72 #5Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
fuzzykeys wrote: GabrielPhoto wroteA portrait shot during my Samsung S21 Ultra vs RX100 VII test. This was with the A7R IV thoughNice man! We need to talk continuous lights, which you seem to be putting to excellent use! I’d like to get some Bowens mount monolight style LEDs to supplement my strobe setup for shooting in low light. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts about power levels, color accuracy, etc.
The lights I am looking at are the SZ150R (bicolor, RGB, no option for battery power), Weeylite Ninja 400 (bicolor, can run on V mount batteries), VL150 (seems very good, v mount battery option, daylight only), and SL-60 (seems to be not incredible but not bad in the accuracy department, daylight only, can run on proprietary batteries, super cheap so could add a couple if 60W can cut it at wide open).
I have some cheaper non-Bowens mount bicolor/RGB battery powered lights and I love the flexibility, but I want to use my modifiers....Show more →
Hello there!
So I actually sold a couple of SL200s and only kept the SL60 and a generic 100W that I used on that photo mainly because I was already set up for my phone vs rx100 test.
I was planning to get either a VL series or the FV200 for example but right now I kind of lean towards my AD600pro (with extension head) or AD400 pro because first, both give me the modeling light with enough power to prevent BPS (big pupil syndrome).
Also, I love the power that allows me to stop down more without increasing ISO when desired.
Another reason is, I love using my Mola Setti and from testing with the SL60, the light pattern from the Godox is NOT good for that beauty dish at all. I need to post some comparison shots.
Of course, the constant light has the benefits of what you see is what you get thus why I kept 2 and still may grab some newer models like the FV or VL you mentioned since both have more than good color accuracy for my needs.
I do not care much about battery power since I won't use them outdoors but if you plan to do so, then that is a plus for sure.
The SZ150R is an intriguing one because I love the features BUT in the end, I decided I was better of getting one with bicolor so I can fine-tune white balance and just have a different panel for RGB only like Neewer.
The reason, at least for me, is that it seems those that come with all in one, tend to offer less power since they have to have LEDs for the different requirements of RGB and bicolor, etc.
But again, if the power of the 150R is enough, then it surely is a VERY interesting tool.
I am working with Godox on a review of a new Wireless mic system they sent me but after that, I am going to see if I can get a 150R to do a full real-world review.
Hope they go for it.
p.72 #6Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
GabrielPhoto wrote: fuzzykeys wroteGabrielPhoto wroteA portrait shot during my Samsung S21 Ultra vs RX100 VII test. This was with the A7R IV thoughNice man! We need to talk continuous lights, which you seem to be putting to excellent use! I’d like to get some Bowens mount monolight style LEDs to supplement my strobe setup for shooting in low light. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts about power levels, color accuracy, etc.
The lights I am looking at are the SZ150R (bicolor, RGB, no option for battery power), Weeylite Ninja 400 (bicolor, can run on V mount batteries), VL150 (seems very good, v mount battery option, daylight only), and SL-60 (seems to be not incredible but not bad in the accuracy department, daylight only, can run on proprietary batteries, super cheap so could add a couple if 60W can cut it at wide open).
I have some cheaper non-Bowens mount bicolor/RGB battery powered lights and I love the flexibility, but I want to use my modifiers.Hello there!
So I actually sold a couple of SL200s and only kept the SL60 and a generic 100W that I used on that photo mainly because I was already set up for my phone vs rx100 test.
I was planning to get either a VL series or the FV200 for example but right now I kind of lean towards my AD600pro (with extension head) or AD400 pro because first, both give me the modeling light with enough power to prevent BPS (big pupil syndrome).
Also, I love the power that allows me to stop down more without increasing ISO when desired.
Another reason is, I love using my Mola Setti and from testing with the SL60, the light pattern from the Godox is NOT good for that beauty dish at all. I need to post some comparison shots.
Of course, the constant light has the benefits of what you see is what you get thus why I kept 2 and still may grab some newer models like the FV or VL you mentioned since both have more than good color accuracy for my needs.
I do not care much about battery power since I won't use them outdoors but if you plan to do so, then that is a plus for sure.
The SZ150R is an intriguing one because I love the features BUT in the end, I decided I was better of getting one with bicolor so I can fine-tune white balance and just have a different panel for RGB only like Neewer.
The reason, at least for me, is that it seems those that come with all in one, tend to offer less power since they have to have LEDs for the different requirements of RGB and bicolor, etc.
But again, if the power of the 150R is enough, then it surely is a VERY interesting tool.
I am working with Godox on a review of a new Wireless mic system they sent me but after that, I am going to see if I can get a 150R to do a full real-world review.
Hope they go for it. ...Show more →
Well part of my thinking here is that I want a continuous monolight or two for doing indoor or night time “available” and added light blending in cases where my strobes will totally wipe out practical lamps. Outside in daylight or inside with a background stopped down a bit, I’m using strobes. Inside at f1.4-2 at iso 640 or 800, I am finding strobes to not really be the ideal tool because they are too strong at minimum power and then I am either wanting to gel to match the fixtures or gel to create contrast from them. So variable color temp is obviously helpful there even without RGB, progressively more so if you can get really warm or really cold on the extremes of the Kelvin scale (really handy on the LC500R), and then minimum power is actually part of the appeal for me as well since I have strobes to cover higher power situations with lots of ambient light or for zeroing out the ambient and building from scratch.
I think the SZ150R is about as bright as an SL-60 at 5600k, but it does a lot of other stuff and all you need to do is twiddle a few dials to get the effect of any gel regardless of the modifier you are using. Super cool to be able to change colors without taking down your softbox and taping a new gel in there…I’d be curious just to hear what some of your real world SL-60 shutter and ISO’s are like with the SL-60 as a key light. Most people using these lights are film guys.
Regarding outdoor battery power, I can’t decide if it’s worth thinking about for continuous lights. On the one hand, I would use them indoors the vast majority of the time but on the flip side, it would be really fun to light a car scene at night in an interesting and controlled way and shoot some portraits. There are plenty of other low light situations outside at night where I think battery power could open up some creative possibilities.
Hopefully Godox will let you review an SZ150R! I’m curious which other monolight you are using and how the cheap RGB label is treating you as well!
p.72 #7Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
fuzzykeys wrote: GabrielPhoto wrotefuzzykeys wroteGabrielPhoto wroteA portrait shot during my Samsung S21 Ultra vs RX100 VII test. This was with the A7R IV thoughNice man! We need to talk continuous lights, which you seem to be putting to excellent use! I’d like to get some Bowens mount monolight style LEDs to supplement my strobe setup for shooting in low light. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts about power levels, color accuracy, etc.
The lights I am looking at are the SZ150R (bicolor, RGB, no option for battery power), Weeylite Ninja 400 (bicolor, can run on V mount batteries), VL150 (seems very good, v mount battery option, daylight only), and SL-60 (seems to be not incredible but not bad in the accuracy department, daylight only, can run on proprietary batteries, super cheap so could add a couple if 60W can cut it at wide open).
I have some cheaper non-Bowens mount bicolor/RGB battery powered lights and I love the flexibility, but I want to use my modifiers.Hello there!
So I actually sold a couple of SL200s and only kept the SL60 and a generic 100W that I used on that photo mainly because I was already set up for my phone vs rx100 test.
I was planning to get either a VL series or the FV200 for example but right now I kind of lean towards my AD600pro (with extension head) or AD400 pro because first, both give me the modeling light with enough power to prevent BPS (big pupil syndrome).
Also, I love the power that allows me to stop down more without increasing ISO when desired.
Another reason is, I love using my Mola Setti and from testing with the SL60, the light pattern from the Godox is NOT good for that beauty dish at all. I need to post some comparison shots.
Of course, the constant light has the benefits of what you see is what you get thus why I kept 2 and still may grab some newer models like the FV or VL you mentioned since both have more than good color accuracy for my needs.
I do not care much about battery power since I won't use them outdoors but if you plan to do so, then that is a plus for sure.
The SZ150R is an intriguing one because I love the features BUT in the end, I decided I was better of getting one with bicolor so I can fine-tune white balance and just have a different panel for RGB only like Neewer.
The reason, at least for me, is that it seems those that come with all in one, tend to offer less power since they have to have LEDs for the different requirements of RGB and bicolor, etc.
But again, if the power of the 150R is enough, then it surely is a VERY interesting tool.
I am working with Godox on a review of a new Wireless mic system they sent me but after that, I am going to see if I can get a 150R to do a full real-world review.
Hope they go for it. Well part of my thinking here is that I want a continuous monolight or two for doing indoor or night time “available” and added light blending in cases where my strobes will totally wipe out practical lamps. Outside in daylight or inside with a background stopped down a bit, I’m using strobes. Inside at f1.4-2 at iso 640 or 800, I am finding strobes to not really be the ideal tool because they are too strong at minimum power and then I am either wanting to gel to match the fixtures or gel to create contrast from them. So variable color temp is obviously helpful there even without RGB, progressively more so if you can get really warm or really cold on the extremes of the Kelvin scale (really handy on the LC500R), and then minimum power is actually part of the appeal for me as well since I have strobes to cover higher power situations with lots of ambient light or for zeroing out the ambient and building from scratch.
I think the SZ150R is about as bright as an SL-60 at 5600k, but it does a lot of other stuff and all you need to do is twiddle a few dials to get the effect of any gel regardless of the modifier you are using. Super cool to be able to change colors without taking down your softbox and taping a new gel in there…I’d be curious just to hear what some of your real world SL-60 shutter and ISO’s are like with the SL-60 as a key light. Most people using these lights are film guys.
Regarding outdoor battery power, I can’t decide if it’s worth thinking about for continuous lights. On the one hand, I would use them indoors the vast majority of the time but on the flip side, it would be really fun to light a car scene at night in an interesting and controlled way and shoot some portraits. There are plenty of other low light situations outside at night where I think battery power could open up some creative possibilities.
Hopefully Godox will let you review an SZ150R! I’m curious which other monolight you are using and how the cheap RGB label is treating you as well!...Show more →
Yeah for night shooting an LED certainly is often easier to manage but also a strobe with modeling light can be useful. I think Francisco Hernandez in Youtube likes to do that for example. Of course, the dedicated continuous light is easier to handle in terms of more features to control white balance and power etc in that situation.
For studio with strobes I can always just go to HSS if I need more light control which works fine for me to shoot wide open if that is my desire. Plus as I mentioned, I love my Mola Setti and that one works much better with the strobe which is a BIG deal for me. Same if I wanted to use my "parabolic" umbrella with adjusting arm..much easier with the extension head.
I honestly don't use the SL60 as the main light, in fact I don't use it much these days aside of lighting my backdrops during my triple LED setup for headshots. I was mainly using LED for the sample I posted above because it was already setup for the test of the Samsung S21 and RX100 VII
The generic 100W LED I was using is ok, I don't find anything offensive in skin colors but its a bit bluish so if I were to use it with my other 3 lights for headshots then I have to tweak my backdrop more. For that particular setup is why I want to get one that I can adjust the white balance more but then again, I can just try with my Neewer ones and see how it goes. I got them recently so have not played with them much.
I did get an SL200 before that was pretty green and had to return it, but these days, the newer versions are a lot better for skin tones so I don't worry about getting new models as opposed to the past.
So I would for sure go with one of the newer Godox or the 150R if adding more LED lights to my tools.
I will let you know about what Godox says as it would be a fun test for sure.
p.72 #14Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
Not really a portrait shooter but stood in as one for friends wanting senior portraits. Mix of 50 and 135 GM, natural light, some with a reflector. One of the subjects handled the reflector, so shadows were imperfectly controlled but still happy with the results overall.
p.72 #16Portrait and People Image Thread using Sony
I took this images quite some time ago but I didn’t edit this for whatever reasons. Yesterday, while searching for something else I came across this and I started questioning myself why I didn’t until now…
