I reviewed the Westcott Ice Light last fall and while this is a great, bright LED continuous light for photography, the one thing that hampers its use on location is the relatively short battery life of 60 minutes. If you’re near an AC outlet, no problem because you can just plug it in and run it for as long as you need. However, the point of most portable light solutions is that you can use them in the field on battery and 60 minutes for most just won’t be long enough for an extended shoot. Since the rechargeable battery is built-in there’s no choice but to plug the whole unit in once it goes dead. Westcott has addressed this shortcoming by offering an external battery.
The Ice Light Power Battery Pack
This optional battery back can more than tripple the battery life of your Ice Light without being so big or so heavy that you wouldn’t want to travel with it. It’s actually quite compact considering the amount of extra juice you’re going to get out of it. Once you charge the battery pack you can use it to either power an Ice Light or charge it. The Ice Light Power Battery Pack runs for 2.5 hours and can give your Ice Light up to 5 hours total run time. Now we’re talking! 3-5 hours is great for the average half day shoot. Also if the AC plug is not right at the shooting location, you can charge the battery pack in another room and walk it over to the shoot in progress as needed.
Sounds great! However, my only issue with the solution unfortunately is the price. The external battery already adds to an already high priced piece of gear.
You can get the Ice Light Battery Pack here
You can get the Ice Light here.
Hey, Speaking of Westcott – check out my work in their New 2013 Interactive Catalog
See it here.
