What’s Your Preference?

3bayjunkie · #1 (**permalink**) 08-31-2011, 09:38 AM

It is this!!!

Sony HVL-20DW2 20W Video Light HVL20DW2 B&H Photo Video

handy little thing for low light photography where you don't want to blow out your image with a huge flash. Very soft light and allows for more of the background to be exposed. I had it sent to my wife in MA because she is staying with her parents there, and this ships from NY, so it says it will only take 1 day! when she gets my Nikon D7000 and ships it out to me, I'll just be a week or two from having my precious!

BigFuzzy · #2 (**permalink**) 08-31-2011, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3bayjunkie

handy little thing for low light photography where you don't want to blow out your image with a huge flash. Very soft light and allows for more of the background to be exposed. I had it sent to my wife in MA because she is staying with her parents there, and this ships from NY, so it says it will only take 1 day! when she gets my Nikon D7000 and ships it out to me, I'll just be a week or two from having my precious!

I don't get it. Why not just get a proper hotshoe flash?
How is this a 'soft' light? "softness" comes from the size of the light source relative to the subject..and the size of this light is not significantly bigger than a hotshoe flash so that one could call it 'soft'. If you mean 'soft' as in 'weak', then yeah I'd agree.

And "allows for more of the background to be exposed".. well, that's because it's a weak light and will force a longer shutter speed for decent exposures which is how you get more exposed backgrounds. Proper flash usage allows you to do that as well....if oyu know how to control flash vs ambient light.

I say all this because I just don't get the purchase compared to a proper SB flash for your nikon?

Was price the mitigating factor? If so, ok I get it, I guess.

TheMoons678 · #3 (**permalink**) 08-31-2011, 01:41 PM

So....this is a hot shoe flashlight basically...? This is a constant light source

zona5101 · #4 (**permalink**) 08-31-2011, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMoons678

So....this is a hot shoe flashlight basically...? This is a constant light source

yes - a 20 watt video light.

3bayjunkie · #5 (**permalink**) 08-31-2011, 10:08 PM

Yes thanks for your response Fuzz. You can control this light form 10-20 watts. I am also getting and SB-700 but not right at the moment. The video light has its advantages, for one you can see what it is going to look like before you hit the flash. In the type of photography I will be doing (wedding mostly) It can be helpful for those after party shots where you may want to get photos of the bride and groom dancing without losing too much of the background. for this you would also use a low f/stop slow shutter speed and high ISO. However it wouldn't be AS low of a shutter speed than if you didn't use it. I will also be using flash inside, but this is more of a mood light

I also wanted to use this to film or take photos of some helicopter maintenance in our hanger here in IRAQ and just experiment with it.

BigFuzzy · #6 (**permalink**) 08-31-2011, 11:43 PM

Mmmm'kay. If you say so.

3bayjunkie · #7 (**permalink**) 09-01-2011, 12:38 AM

I also ordered my Nikon D7000 today with the Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-f/5.6 VR lens! Yay can't wait. When I do my wedding in May 2012 I am going to rent another NIkon D7000 and a Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 and buy the Carl Zeiss 50mm f/1.4. I will use these three lenses on these two camera bodies, accompanied by an SB 700 flash and the video light. I'll get a small reflector for portraits in the ready room of the bride and it should be a pretty simple setup.