Looking for something that will provide some light if filming in a dark room (say party with dimmed lights). Need something portable and looking to spend <$50.

Have read about 2 Bescor devices: KLK-35 (20 Watts) and VS50 (50 watts). Can anyone advise whether these are good selections or not? Are there any better devices around?

Many thanks in advance!

Not sure about the models you mentioned but this Bescor model has a lot of good features. It has a battery that will last more than a few minutes and it has barn doors to control your lighting and it can be aimed to bounce off the ceiling for a more natural, diffused lighting look. Plus it can be adjusted o different power levels by turning one of the lamps on or off. This gives you much more control over the amount of light. You can get these lights with different bulbs too so if you want more or less wattage you can get it. I chose this one because it is a compromise between a lot of light and a little light. You can buy extra batteries for this light also and you can use a car or motorcycle battery charger for faster charging. Try to get the one with an auto shut off on the charger if you buy this model.

It should be noted that an on camera light is probably the last choice in lighting for most people. Lighting a subject from straight on makes the subject look very flat. This is especially true of faces. Faces don't look natural with a camera mounted light. Plus they are very bright when you point them right at someone's face.

King Ghidora - thanks very much for your response. If I'm right in thinking, doesn't the Bescor KL-623 have a separate battery? I think this would be a bit unwiedly. If this is so, is there a light unit with on-unit battery that you could recommend?

Yes the Bescor I mentioned has a separate battery. That's what makes it good IMO. You just can't get more than a few minutes (10-15 minutes tops and that's with the last half of the time the battery is getting dimmer by the minute) of light from a light that has the battery on the light, or worse still, uses the battery on the camera. The separate battery can give you 45-60 minutes of run time or even more if you get the bigger battery available. There are some LED lights that are starting to show promise for working with small batteries but at this point I wouldn't suggest one. Maybe in a few years they will develop one that lasts more than a few minutes.

Also remember that you have to hold up the weight of that extra battery if it's on the light. If it's a very big battery the extra weight will wear you out pretty quick. That's why I prefer batteries that will fit in my pocket.

There are really no shortcuts to having enough power for a video light. The battery isn't going to be your big problem anyway. Shining a very bright light in the face of your subject is the biggest problem. Remember that it takes a lot of light to produce good video and when a light bright enough for good video is pointed directly at someone, especially someone who has been in a dark room for a while, the bright light is going to hurt their eyes pretty badly.

Whatever you do please don't try to use a bright light on a baby or a small child because you could damage their eyes with a light bright enough for video.

Simacorp has some interesting models. I have their smaller version LED lite, it's ok, but now they have a newer, bigger model. Not sure if it is out yet. But it's on their site. And you can snap them together to make an even brighter light source. http://www.simaproducts.com/product...?category_id=18

__________________
Guy Cochran

DVcreators.net Training and Resources for DV creators - Producer - DV Gear Talk