LED Lighting Battle - Litepanels vs. Rosco Litepads

Until the past decade, no one has even heard of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) before. These tiny lights used to be available only in red colors, but now have expanded to Blue, Green, Yellow, as well as white balanced colors. These LEDs have opened many doors as they require only a fraction of the energy used to emit the same amount to light when compared to a typical incandescent bulb. providing power to an LED is simple, and the amount of space as well as energy saved has really revolutionized the way we live. Slowly, traffic lights, large electronic displays, as well as flashlights have moved over to the LED - And guess what? Lighting Equipment have too!


At Filmtools, Two new systems have arrived:

1. The Litepanels LED lighting Kits

2. Rosco Litepad LED Kits

While both of these companies have made relatively similar products, there are many key differences that this blog will highlight and review on our very first Battle for the Supreme LED Panel 2008.

Battle for the Supreme LED Panel 2008

On the LEFT corner:

The Litepanel

The Litepanel Kits come in different sizes

The Light Panels 1X1
Price: Roughly $1700
Power Draw: 37 Watts @ 24V 45 Watts @ 12V
Dimensions: 12"W x 12"H x 1.75"D

The Litepanels Mini
Price: Roughly $700
Power Draw: 0.7 amps at 12VDC (8.4 watts)
Dimensions: 6.83" W x 2.30" H x 1.18" D

The Litepanels Micro
Price: Roughly $350
Power Draw: 3 watts
Dimensions: 3.3" W x 3.3" H x 1. 5" D


The Litepanels Mini Ringlite
Price: Roughly $8500 for Cinema System, $2700 for Mini System
Power Draw: 70 watts @ 12V DC for Cinema, 40 Watts/3.5 amps @ 12VDC for Mini
Outer Diameter: 19" Cinema, 10.5" Mini
Inner Diameter: 9" Cinema, 5" Mini
Depth: 3.5" Cinema, 2" Mini

The Litepanels Systems are all designed for the professional, and so is the price tags. The 1x1 system is really geared for use as a fill light or a spotlight situation. The panel is large enough to encompass and fully light a sitting person. The Mini and Micro systems however are small and compact enough to be able to fit on a medium-sized video camera or even a small handi-cam.

All these kits are meant to be portable - Litepanels offers many accessories that can allow the unit to connect to the power supply of a camera system. For example, Litepanels makes a Sony adapter plate and D-tap wires to allow these panels to be powered through the cameras that they are attached on.

Because of the diligence of Litepanels to offer solutions for maximum portability for their lighting units, it stands up pretty well to situations in which fast and portable lighting is needed. The Mini and Micro Kits even include hot-shoe adapters for attaching to your camera.

How the panels are made:
Each Litepanel system uses an array of white balanced (Daylight or Tungsten) LEDs that combine to give a VERY soft light without the use of diffusion gels or filters. Because each LED is wrapped in transparent plastic, the light ray projects are already naturally diffused. There are also optional accessories that can enable the dimming of any of these systems.

Some problems however. The Litepanel Micro System mounts six rows of by eight rows of LEDs, resulting in a total of 48 LEDs mounted on the Micro System. As a result, 4 AA batteries will power the unit for only 1.5 hours. Two DV camera batteries will run for 8 hours on a Litepanel Mini, and a Ringlite mini will last 1.75 hours on a Litepanels Backpack PowerCell.

Also, the many accessories out there for the Litepanels means that you will be spending considerably more than just the amount for the actual panels.

On the Right corner:

Rosco's Litepads


Rosco Litepad - Quick Kit
Price: $2100
Number of Panels Included: 6 panels
Sizes: 3" Diameter Circle, 3"x6", 3"x12", 6"x6", 6"x12", 12"x12" Panels
Power Usage: 6 Watts (0.50 Amps) to 24 Watts (2 Amps)

Rosco Litepad - Gaffer Kit
Price: $3400
Number of Panels Included: 12 panels
Sizes: 2 - 3" Diameter Circle, 2- 3"x6", 2- 3"x12", 2- 6"x6", 2- 6"x12", 2- 12"x12" Panels
Power Usage: 6 Watts (0.50 Amps) to 24 Watts (2 Amps)

When Filmtools first received the kits, we thought that we were dreaming when we learned that we could almost get 6 Rosco Litepad panels for the price of one 1x1 Litepanel. Rosco has decided to create affordable kits that are filled with all the accessories that you would possibly need.

Rosco has included in the Gaffer Kit 6 separate AC adapters, several Y-splitters, a car power adapter, extension cables, battery adapter, D-Tap and XLR cables, dimmer, filter packs, eggcrates (louvres) - and even a pelican case for the safe keeping of all your panels. Rosco really threw the whole shabang. You won't need to spend a cent more short of a couple of rigging materials.

If you want portable, Rosco's Litepads define the meaning of portable. The Litepads can run off camera battery power, AC power, car power, or even old-fashion AA battery power. Because of the Rosco design, the thickness of all the panels are ultra-thin too - only 0.3" thick!

How the panels are made:
Rosco's Litepads follow similar designs as the Litepanel unit, however, with one very unique variant of design. Rosco's Litepads don't actually use an array of LEDs to light their panels. Instead, there are a number of LEDs distributed along the sides of the unit, shining into the pads. Rosco then cut highly reflective grooves into the plastic - cleverly using the grooves to reflect the light rays from the LEDs. The result is a 3"x6" Litepad that uses only 24 LEDs, resulting in a dramatic cut in power usage when compared to the Litepanels Micro.

The problems? Well, the cleverly designed Litepads don't quite have the impact that it should have.


My picture of Zoe meant that I had to place Litepads ultra-close to her face. I foresee some issues when trying to shoot with a wider angle.

We can see the reasons for this when we look at the numbers-

A Litepanels 1x1 panel (12" by 12") measures 1400 Lux at 48" (4 Feet) away.

The Rosco Litepad 12"x12" Pad only measures a measly 240 Lux at 36" (3 Feet) away. There wasn't even any data available for a 4 Foot measurement. Clearly the less use of power, even with the aid such groovy techniques does not measure up to direct LED light exposure.

The Verdict:

Both units have their weak points, but also have extremely strong points that would make me choose these LED units over traditional lighting units. There is no way any traditional bulb be able to measure up to the the power to brightness ratio that LEDs have, nor the fact that LEDs have up to 50,000 hours of life expectancy and produces heat that is only warm to the touch of the LED. Currently, there is nothing that can complete with these LED units in terms of portability, and the savings on not needing to buy burnt out bulbs will save you in the long run.

I can't say that really if there is a clear winner, but we can definately break down the results for the consumer to decide.

	Litepanels	Rosco Litepads
Price:	Expensive	Good Value Buy - One Kit includes entire set of lights.
Portability:	Easy Use, but with expensive consequences	Ultra Thin Pad, Less power demand means less batteries
Durability:	Rugged, built with solid casing - Equipment can be attached to back of units.	Thin and made of plastic. Casing is easy to scratch and repair of unit appears to be difficult due to compact design.
Luminosity:	Very Bright, can compete with traditional incandescents.	Not very bright, can pose problems for users who need more fill lighting.

Conclusion:

So, if you want a powerful unit that can has the power to sufficiently light entire rooms, the Litepanels units are the way to go.

If however, you are strapped for cash, and need the ability of your batteries to have enough juice
to power your lights for more than a few hours, the Rosco Litepads seem to be the better choice.

Either way, you'll be saving on the electric bill and will be able to break free from the power hungry incandescents that can't be relied on when portability becomes most important. Both these units offer daylight balanced lumination, and Litepanels even offer tungsten balanced LEDs. Come check them out in person at the Filmtools store or order them from our online store:

Litepanels Units - http://www.filmtools.com/liledliandli.html
Rosco LitePads - http://www.filmtools.com/rosco-litepad.html

-FT