Night Vision Item ID: #785Sima SL-20IR Night vision Video Light (Black)Product Information:
Item DescriptionNew IR video light enables you to film in near ansd absolute darkness. 36 infrared LED’s act as an invisible light source that you can’t see but your camcorder can with an effective range up to 30′ Item Reviews5 Responses to “Sima SL-20IR Night vision Video Light (Black)” |
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The Sima SL-20IR Night Vision Light is a great light for the price. The only downsides to it is it only holds a charge for 45 minutes if your lucky, and another is when you have the power adapter plugged into it the lights will not power up it only charges the battery. If you planned on using it on a tripod with the power supply forget about it. That’s really the only downsides and other than that it’s very light weight and really easy to use. The shoe mount that comes with it is very sturdy. I was impressed by that.
I bought these with the thought that I could get as good a view as they advertise (see pictures on the packaging) and it is nothing like that. The image is horrible and the battery life is horrible. I really wish I had never bought them. Save yourself some trouble and get a IR flood light of the same frequency that runs on 115 like this one [...].
While this might work OK with SOME video cameras, it’s useless with my Canon Vixia HF100. It turns out some cameras, such as the HF100 and its siblings, have internal infrared filters to prevent infrared from distorting normal video. These cameras can’t “see” the light produced by this video light.
This is something Sima should make clear but they don’t. They should have a list of known compatible cameras. I’m told many of the newer digital HD video cameras have infrared filters in them. So buyer beware!
The rechargeable battery seems to have a very short charge life. To compensate I had to buy more than one. This way I can replace one with another. It takes a long time to charge too. It takes 3-4 hours to give them a good charge and the battery then only lasts 20-30 minutes tops. If you are recording in the dark for an hour you will need 2 or 3 units.
The Sima SL-20IR is a great improvement from the 10IR. One is sufficient to light up two entire rooms indoors unlike the 10IR (I have not tried it outside yet). My guess would be an illumination distance of 30-50 feet. The lighting is more of a Flood-like effect, unlike the Sony HVL-IRM which is more like a “Flashlight”-type illumination. However, that’s where the positive characteristics end. The 20IR is capable of up to 45min.s of continuous IR lighting, and requires over 2hours to recharge. I bought two of them, so between the two I can shoot for approx. 1 1/2 hours (with the camera’s small IR light to help on the last 5 min.s or so). I’ve been using a Sony Handycam DCR-HC28 with Nightshot. The short illumination time is further hampered by it’s recharge time …. OVER 2 HOURS!!!
In short, I’d much rather prefer the Sony HVL-IRM infrared light (see my review of this product). In my line of work as a Paranormal Investigator, changing lights every 45 min.s is just aggravating, though the “Floodlight”-type effect does have its benifits. I have relegated these two SL-20IR to the job of enhancement/emergency use.