Arguably, the most critical element to a successful photograph is light. For budding photographers, ones just in the neonatal stages of the craft, this often escapes them as they are stuck in the throws of camera body specs, and lenses. But eventually, the realization will be that light will have a greater effect on an image than just about anything else. It’s what I always tell those who I’m instructing or any who asks.
What I tell them is I will often seek out good light and photograph whatever falls within it. Even the most mundane or benign of subjects/objects/scenes can be beautiful and interesting in the right light. And you want clarity in your image? No matter how fast or expensive your lens, nothing is going to make your images pop with clarity like proper light. But how do you choose the right light? Is there one source that’s better than the others? To that I would say it depends on the occasion, but it’s hard to deny the total versatility of the IceLight by Westcott.
The Icelight is a portable, handheld, dimmable, and completely daylight balanced continuous LED light source. It can be run on both AC and DC power and can run a full hour on a single charge. It’s also diffused, making it very soft light, and has a high CRO – meaning the light it emits will reproduce the colors of the subject more accurately. Oh – and it’s a flicker free LED which makes it great for video.
Designed by famed wedding photographer Jerry Ghionis and produced by Westcott, the IceLight comes from good pedigree, and it shows in use – even if it is impossible to escape seeing it as, and pretending it’s a lightsaber. It’s been out for a few years now and photographers from all corners of the map have come to love it, and we here at SLRL are firmly in that group now, even as skeptical as we were initially. You can see Pye’s full review of the Icelight here, where he goes into detail about what makes this so essential.
[REWIND: Icelight vs GL-1 Review | The Ultimate Portable Constant Lighting Showdown]
The Icelight has also become a favorite among videographers, and the good folk over at Story & Heart have shared with us a blog post and video where they discuss concisely, 5 reasons why the Icelight comes with them on every single production. I’ve mentioned before that I believe it’s just a complete necessity for photographers now to be with video to remain relevant in a world that’s demanding more of it, and Story & Heart is a resource that will help you with that. That they use and admire the Icelight so heavily just gives yet another reason to add an IceLight to your arsenal.
Check out Story & Heart’s video below, and you can see our video review below that, here’s a link to the full review.
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What I like about this light is the possibilities it opens, but the fact that the GL1 is much stronger makes it a harder decision.
I love the idea of the Ice light. But pretty expensive for me. It’s been on my wish list since day one. I pray I will have the gut to buy it soon but for now, video light to my rescue.
I want! I agree on the price point though.
OK, it’s handy, but just cut two Pringles tubes, use some wax paper, gaff tape, and attach to speedlight… ;)
Like many others, love the light but I can’t justify the price. I am trying to get my head around to get Lowel G1 though.
I have had an IceLight for 2 years now and love it although I did (and still) find it overpriced. Just 2 weeks ago, I was searching on Amazon for the price of the barn doors kit for my IceLight and came across the Polaroid BrightSaber for $179. It seems Amazon just began selling it this past November. It only has 3 reviews but they are all 5 stars. And in December they began selling the Venturemax Magic Tube for $139, also with 3 great reviews. Might be something to check out for those of you not wanting to shell out $400+ for the original. (Don’t hate me Jerry!)
I love the Ice Light! Will I own one, probably not. Like other it’s way too expensive! I used one at one of Jerry’s and it is impressive. But at that price? Well, someone need to help with all of Jerry’s travel costs between Australia and the US. :)
Ahhh….I think it’s an amazing light. But, $450 is a bit pricy. I have two LED work lights and they work the same way, $20 each. They have hooks in the top and magnetic bases. Plus, I gel them and that works well. If the light was priced $99, I’d buy.
Like it as it produces really nice light, but for the price I can stack my two LED video lights daylight balanced to a rectangular shape and shoot with them for 1/4 of the price. It is a niche product so if you need it there is nothing with a better design but so far I can get by with LED lights just fine :)
just ordered one and can’t wait to get it
I’m sure you’ll love it Bogdan.
I’m sure I will :D it will be a good companion for my 50 1.4
I’ll add, I guess we are still paying for the tooling to manufacture since the R&D seems pretty simple.
I agree Anthony. If the price comes down to mere mortal territory I would love to pick one up.
Love the Icelight, but for me its too expensive for what it is.
I agree! If the Price ever drops ill be all over it.
I clicked the BH link thinking “Oh yay! New toy! AND it looks like a lightsaber!”
But .. come on, $450? I’m used to, by now, spending absurd amounts of money on gadgets and toys, but I cannot fathom spending that much money on an LED light. No matter how cool it may look, or how functional. It’s an LED on a stick.
It also has the functional drawback of being small and dim at a distance, you can see it would weaken greatly at distances further than a few feet requiring someone to hold it hiding behind something or else requiring the image to be cropped.