Dracast Fresnel 2000 Daylight Reviews
Solid build and beautiful even light.
By Robert
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2019-11-21
Very solid light with a wonderful and even light in both spot and wide. It's closer in brightness to my old 1k Strand Century tungsten Fresnel lights...perhaps 1 or 2 stops dimmer, but this Dracast has a much more even, manageable light source. The older tungsten lights always required a little diffusion to help even the spot that was always present in the center.
Not nearly as bright as the 2K equivalent I was hoping for (about half), but a very well built and pleasing light source. Will buy more.
Great lighting!
By Anonymous
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2015-09-22
I am an established photographer and I was looking for some new lighting. I found this and decided to get it because it was portable and lightweight. I do a lot of outside shooting and this is the perfect light for that. It does not get hot either, which is very lovely. A great investment!
Portable and Strong!
By Kelterss
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2015-08-21
Professional lights are a dime a dozen, but all of them only have partial parts that are great. This LED fresnel takes the cake because it does everything that it says it does, and there is no complicated part to it. It's a light that works great, with no unneeded bells and whistles. If you are a videographer (semi- or pro), you'll find the light weight capability of this LED panel is great for whatever your needs are. It easily portable so that you can move yourself to the scene you are filming, but still maintains the professional quality you require. It will not get hot and the light output is perfect for what you're looking for. Since it is a LED fresnel light, you'll see that it has all of the fresnel advantages, like the beam intensity and the longer distance that it illuminates. The LED portion comes into play by the energy-efficient and other pros to having a LED light. Just by infusing these two elements alone, it's already a great product. The color accuracy with this LED fresnel light is a huge plus. You don't have to worry about strange tints or color hues creeping into the purity and strength of the light even if you use it for the 2 hours straight. You can count on the color temperature to stay constant and consistent as long as the light is in use. Since it has built-in DMX controls, you are able to control everything with an external DMX panel. This LED fresnel light is all about bringing you the best light out there, and with all of the needs you require. This is better than a panel, and it's portable...pretty fantastic, don't you think?
Perfect Lighting for Many Reasons!
By J.D.
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2015-05-14
As a professional videographer I need the perfect lighting for my work which includes indie films and documentaries. I was looking for something portable and lightweight that didn't get hot yet gave a lot of light output. What I love is this light is an LED fresnel. It takes the same advantages of a traditional fresnel light (beam intensity, longer distance) yet has the energy-saving and efficiency pros of an LED light. I'm a fan of the color accuracy-- the purity of the light is great and has no weird color tints. The color temperature remains consistent, no matter how long I use it (30 min-2 hrs), the temp is always accurate and does not dip. How great is that? Another great feature is that this also has built-in DMX controls, so you can control it with an external DMX panel. If you're looking for well priced lighting that's light weight, has great color accuracy and is priced well-this is a great choice!
Great light at a great value
By BNATX
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2015-05-14
I needed a high output daylight balanced light source for my light kit and was originally looking for a 400W HMI but finding them cost prohibitive. I started looking into alternatives and discovered the Fresnel 2000 by Dracast. I can honestly say that this light is better in every way and I couldn't be happier with it. This light offers similar throw to a 400W HMI but doesn't require strike time to warm up or cool down, you can adjust spot to flood with the turn of a dial rather than changing lenses, it's more energy efficient and doesn't get hot, you don't have to lug around a ballast, it's fully dimmable, and all for less than half the price of the HMI. The quality of the light is also excellent, no visible color spikes like with cheaper LEDs. With a CRI rating of 90+ colors look as they should. Overall an excellent product and invaluable part of my light kit.
Awesome!!
By AmandaLS
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2015-03-25
I love this light! I was looking for a LED panel that was easily transportable because I never know where I'll end up working. I enjoy the LED aspect because there are same advantages of the traditional fresnel lighting along with the energy-saving and efficient aspects. This light is lightweight and the panel doesn't get hot which is a major plus as well. You can easily control the DMX with the external DMX panel. What I really love though is that the color temperature is so reliable. There are no weird color tints when in use. I've used this for anywhere between 30 minutes to a couple of hours with very accurate color temperature throughout the whole shoot. Overall this is my favorite light to work with due to it's reliability and quality. Highly recommended!
Dracast Fresnel 2000 Versus Arri 2000 and Arri 1000 Studio
By Allen
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2018-11-03
I’ve been shooting video content with my Red camera for years with several Arri Tungsten fixtures. And I’ve have my eye on adding LED fixtures to my rig for some time. I’ve purchased 2 of the Dracast 2000 Daylight Fresnels and I thought I’d share some observations and comparisons between the Dracast 2000 LED Fresnel and the Arri Studio 1000 and 2000 Tungsten fixtures.
Since I shoot most of my footage at 5600 Kelvin, at that setting the Daylight Dracast has a lot of punch. I have to use color conversion gels on my tungsten Arri Fresnels to convert to 5600K. So, when comparing in Daylight temps, the Dracast 2000 has a few more stops of output than the converted Arri Studio 1000. Just a size note…the size of the Dracast 2000 Fresnel is about the same size as the Arri Studio 1000 Fresnel. When comparing Dracasts 2000 against an Arri 2000 fresnel…the Arri 2000 is a beast. It’s big and it’s heavy, it’s really hot, let’s say extremely hot, and it requires so much power. It really needs it’s own 20 amp circuit. Interestingly, when I compared the Daylight Dracast 2000 to the converted Arri 2000 (using the gel to convert to 5600K) I got the same light output measurements.
Another thing that I typically do when shooting videos is to diffuse the fresnels to soften the shadows. I compared the Dracast with the soft box and the Arri 1000 with a conversion gel and diffusion. With this setup, the Dracast had about 1 stop more output than the Arri Studio 1000. When comparing the soft box setup on the Dracast to the Arri 2000 with gel and diffusion, the Arri 2000 had 1 stop higher output.
Just to compare bare and raw output, I took meter readings with the Dracast in it’s default 5600K and the Arri Studio 1000 in it’s default 3200K and the Arri tungsten 1k had 2 more stops of output. I also compared the Arri 2000 with it’s raw tungsten output and it was 5 stops brighter than the Dracast 2000. So in their native form, the tungsten Arri Studio 1000 has more punch than the Dracast 2000, and the Arri 2000 has significantly more raw punch.
I’ve seen this mentioned before…remember that if you go with the Bi-Colored version, you only end up with half the output on either 3200K or 5600K. You get max output when they are mixed together. This is why I went with the daylight version…to get the most punch in 5600K setups.
I shoot a lot of videos in rooms where natural light may be spilling in a window and I need to match for daylight…so for me in most of my shooting scenarios, the Dracast 2000 is a winner. Add to that, less power draw...I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been on shoots and had to find the breaker boxes after blowing them. Then spending time trying to find another receptacle thats on a different circuit. Add to that the fact that the LEDs remain cool. Not having to wait for the fixtures to cool before taking them down to reset for the next scene setup is fantastic! I’m looking forward to adding more of these to my lighting arsenal.
Impressive Performance at a Very Reasonable Price
By Andrea Joiner
Rated 5 out of 5
Date: 2015-10-07
I've only been working as a videographer for about two years, mostly part time, but every now and then I get a great gig to work on during my vacation time. I decided to purchase the Dracast LED 2000 Fresnel because I was going to be traveling to Central America to work on a travel documentary, and I wanted a portable and lightweight LED panel that would be easy and convenient to carry. I also wanted to find something that wouldn't over heat in the hot tropical climates of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. I feel like I made a great choice. Not only did the Dracast LED 2000 Fresnel deliver on my expectations of convenience and portability, but I can also give it great marks for things like energy saving (I get up to two hours on it, depending on how I am using it), while still providing excellent beam intensity and long distance capabilities. It's essentially an LED fresnel. The color quality is impressively accurate, offering a pure light and no funky color tints. I also appreciated the built in DMX controls that I could control with my external panel. Highly recommended accessory.
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