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Jan 22, 2008
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LitePad offers soft touch
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by Chuck Gloman
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Rosco, the well known gel manufacturer, has developed the innovative new LitePad lighting system. Basically, a LitePad is an LED light source that is less than half an inch thick and provides extremely soft illumination. Plus, the lightweight LitePad is small enough to put almost anywhere. You also get the usual niceties of LEDs: almost no heat, low power consumption, and long bulb life (100,000 hours, according to Rosco).
Measured in inches, the 3x3, 3x6, and 6x6 models were provided to me for review. Rosco also offers 3x12, 6x12, and 12x12 sizes separately, as well as a kit that's packed with two lights of each size, mounting brackets, and more in a Pelican carrying case.
I wanted to add a realistic dashboard light while shooting a nighttime driving scene. Real dashboard lights of that intensity are too dim to illuminate anything on video, so a little extra is needed to achieve an exposure on camera. But all too often, videographers use blinding lights mounted on the car's dashboard to simulate the illumination coming from the interior lights and it looks unnatural.
The 3x3 size is ideal to place in front of the speedometer to simulate the illumination from a car's instrument panel. I used gaffer's tape to attach the light to the plastic screen of the car's speedometer, which gave me enough light for exposure -- and it looked natural.
The 3x3 consumes 1/10 of an amp and gives off 1.2 watts of light, which is just bright enough. The color temperature is a little on the blue side (between 6000 and 7000 degrees Kelvin), so I prefer using a straw gel (actually, only a piece of one) to lower the color temperature slightly. Dimming a more powerful light would accomplish the same feat, but the LitePad has a little bit of green in its output that works in a car's interior.
Six LED lights (three along each edge) reflect against the background of the LitePad to provide a soft illumination. At a distance of six inches, the light provides 48 foot-candles. The falloff is rather sharp, with only 13 foot-candles at one foot.
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| Available in six sizes, the new LitePad from Rosco uses reflected LED lights as a subtle light source. |
The thin black power cable that dangles from the unit can be connected to the AC power supply, an optional cigarette lighter adapter for use in vehicles, an optional "Y" splitter, or an optional DC battery source. The 3x3 LitePad is a steal at $59.
The 3x6 (list price $115), which provides 3.6 watts with its 18 LEDs, is also effective. I used it on an interview as a fill light, hanging from an ornately framed painting. On the same shoot, I used the 6x6 ($175), which has the same number of LEDs as the 3x6 but offers much more light. I hung the 6x6 from the same picture frame as the 3x6, used Rosco's "Y" splitter to connect both lights to the same AC supply, and positioned a plastic plant in front of the LitePad. At a distance of six inches from the plant, the same 18 LEDs provided 150 foot-candles that cast shadows of the leaves on the bare wall.
My students found these lights invaluable in simulating computer and TV screens off camera where the realistic glow from the LitePad was the perfect. They even used the 3x6 as a "nightlight" following a late-night shoot in a dark parking lot to see what they were doing when they packed up their equipment.
These lights are ideal in that they are subtle -- they aren't too bright, but provide a "touch of light" to enhance the mood without calling attention to it. Adding a blue gel creates moonlight, while a color temperature orange (CTO) emulates a morning sunrise or an early evening sunset.
Chuck Gloman is an awarding-winning producer/director of photography with more than 800 commercials to his credit, and is program director of the TV/Film Department at DeSales University. Contact him at chuck.gloman@desales.edu.
MORE INFO
Rosco rosco.com
GOOD FOR GOVERNMENT
Rosco's LitePads are small, inexpensive, and in tight quarters (such as military vessels) will provide sufficient illumination as fills or even key lights for low-light interior shots.
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