Europe
Professional Video
Content creation & presentation
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ProHD in the Forbidden City
Searching for a versatile lighting solution for his new JVC GY-HM100
tapeless HD camcorder, Wim Goddyn, a filmmaker from Netherlands based Millennium Media, put a Rotolight ‘Stealth’ RL48 ring-light through its paces whilst filming on a
journey through China. 
The Rotolight, supplied by Planet Video, features 48 super-bright LEDs, arranged in two rings, with a universal 38mm mounting hole that allows it to be installed onto the GY-HM100’s shotgun microphone over the foam windshield.
“The first trials were on the overland Chinese hard sleeper night train to Beijing, filming in very dim lighting conditions,” Wim explains. “The Rotolight fitted perfectly over
the GY-HM100’s microphone and still kept the weight of my rig really low, which was one of my main requirements. The light also provided a nice level of background light to reduce
picture noise at low levels.”
The highlight of Wim’s trip was filming in The Forbidden City, the former Imperial Palace built during the Ming Dynasty. This complex of almost a thousand wooden buildings presented some very challenging lighting environments.
“The Rotolight effectively has 48 lightsources, which provided a shadowless wide diffusion with a long throw that was perfect for illuminating wide-screen subjects,” Wim states.
“I found it easy to match ambient light colour temperatures using a calibration chart, and the GYHM100 captured everything with ease. The combination of camera and light worked
especially well with interviews, exposing the face perfectly without the ‘pointlight’ effect that you normally get with a halogen lamp. No big light and no heavy batteries any
more - great!”
Wim’s company also specialises in shooting medical training videos; the GY-HM100 and Rotolight was recently used in an operating theatre during an open heart surgery operation.
“During the operation, the theatre light was turned off for a little while, due to the danger of over-heating the heart valve, but with the camera and Rotolight, I could still capture beautiful HD video images and there was no threat to the patient,” Wim comments. “I am constantly discovering new applications for the system.”
Click here to vistit the GY-HM100 microsite.
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