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Portable Lighting Options, Webstar II Video Chat Light Giveaway

By: Todd Stabley

I’ve been doing some research into inexpensive portable lighting kits and wondering if anyone has discovered a killer solution for attaching lights to the top of a laptop or that can sit on a desktop and illumine someone’s face at a computer. Preferably something under $30.00. Several years ago we discovered the Micropro LED light (link is to current v2), which did a good job but was extremely expensive and difficult to mount.

Softbox lighting kits such as this one are extremely cheap now–even coming in under $30.00 in many cases (sometimes as part of kits of two or three), and they do such a great job that the benefits can often outweigh the bulkiness and portability issues in a lot of cases. However, there are certainly scenarios where something more portable is definitely called for.
Via DDI (thanks Libby Evans!) we have four USB-powered Webstar II Video Chat Lights free to the first four members of the Duke Community who email oit-mt-info@duke.edu to request one and are available to come by our offices at American Tobacco to pick theirs up. The Webstar does a great job (see before and after pictures below). The only downside I can see so far in my limited testing is that the unit is a little loose when attached to the top of a laptop.
Video from Macbook Pro built in iSight camera after using the Webstar II
Video from Macbook Pro built in iSight camera with the Webstar II Video Chat Light
Video from Macbook Pro built in iSight camera before using the Webstar II
Video from Macbook Pro built in iSight camera without the Webstar II Video Chat Light
Webstar II Video Chat Light
Webstar II Video Chat Light
Categories: DDMC Info, Lecture Capture

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