Best on camera LED's?

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What on camera LED's are you guiz currently using? I plan to mount it on some Canon DSLR's for a doco project we've got coming up.

[JohnBarlow]

For event type stuff I use YongNuo LED unit - search ebay. Good quality , cheap and runs off AAs

 

Also I find bouncing a very powerful HID flashlight off ceiling (<12ft) works very well, but you need an assistant

[Quirky]

What on camera LED's are you guiz currently using? I plan to mount it on some Canon DSLR's for a doco project we've got coming up.

 

Well, the question in the headline and the question in the opening message are actually two very different things.   ;)

 

To answer the one in the headline, I honestly don't know. I've seen/heard nice things about some Quantum lights, for example, and no doubt there are a handful of other good and pricey ones, but so far I haven't had the chance to use those myself. Are those Omicrons the best, let alone the best for you, who knows. The ones with the least colour issues aren't necessarily too portable, and never cheap. The rest is a matter of taste.

 

To answer the question in the opening post, the on-camera one I have is a Youngnuo YN-160. It's cheap, and easy to find in almost any online and b&m shop. It takes the common Sony (and maybe Canon) camera batteries as well as AA batteries, it has a rudimentary brightness level switch and barn doors, and it comes with the usual colour filters. But other than that, it's pretty much as crappy as the other small and cheapo LED lights out there. It's small enough to be mounted on a camera hotshoe or a rig, but I hardly even use it that way. I use it as an occasional backlight, 'emergency' light or whatever, whenever colour balance is not critical. 

 

In hindsight, I might have chosen a slightly bigger and different one, like a Polaroid, Walimex or whichever generic brand ($80-$200) model that has a narrow but wide LED panel, rather than an almost square one. Or maybe a regular shape one by Manfrotto. But on the other hand, the barn doors are a nice touch, and the Youngnuo was quite cheap and in stock at walking distance from home.

 

When it comes to the light quality, I think the ones under $350 price range are all pretty much the same. Each have their own colour signature which you either need to measure and work around at each desired brightness level, or just ignore.