SkyPanel X

[ahalpert]

As a Vortex 8 owner....nothing to be impressed of, other than the high price....

Supposedly the skypanel x will be price competitive

[ahalpert]

As a Vortex 8 owner....nothing to be impressed of, other than the high price....

there you have it, ladies and gentlemen -- $5750 for an X21, available now for preorder: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...led.html/specs

vs $5500 for a vortex 8 - https://www.adorama.com/oskcsv8ess.h...-google-shop-p

Vortex 8 draws 650w. X21 draws 800w.

I guess the X22 and X23 are actually just 2- and 3-light modular kits. which looks pretty juicy when you pack 3 of them together and I imagine is great for balancing your power load

[rob norton]

It's more like $6800 with the hyper/yoke/power cable option. Not that it matters, I doubt many people will have trouble deciding between the two, with the skypanel x being the more sensible option.

Except it seems like Arri lighting isn't on a pedestal at the moment like it used to be. They need to convert as many claypaky (arri recently bought them) products for film work as possible, then they'll easily be back on top.

[Run&Gun]

It's more like $6800 with the hyper/yoke/power cable option. Not that it matters, I doubt many people will have trouble deciding between the two, with the skypanel x being the more sensible option.

Except it seems like Arri lighting isn't on a pedestal at the moment like it used to be. They need to convert as many claypaky (arri recently bought them) products for film work as possible, then they'll easily be back on top.

6D5F1B6A-8CB5-4C57-A48F-D0B2C4FB7407.jpeg

[rob norton]

claypaky logo?

[ahalpert]

I've never heard of Claypaky. Looks like they have a lot of moving heads?

that logo with "an arri company" comes up on their splash page

[cpreston]

It can be a bit frustrating that most of the innovation of the more affordable brands is going into making lights bigger and brighter and heavier and heavier.

Fiilex has a new dedicated RGBW projection light called the G3 but it's only 90w. They have the dense matrix technology to keep the size of the COB down, so the optics are usually great on their lights. The Astera Leo and Pluto are also interesting in that they use 'light pipes' to improve the optical efficiency of the COB in the native fresnel and projector.

Have you seen the Cineo R15? I wonder if Cineo could take the water cooled Corncob style light engine from this fixture and turn it into something specific for softboxes?

image_processing20210810-1-1tne9dc.jpg

The Fiilex G3 looks interesting, other than the fact that it doesn't seem to be for sale yet in the US.

I'v been interested in the Dedo Neo light. I decided to watch the description video and found it pretty funny when the Dedo rep basically dismissed the usefulness of RGB LED lights for projection lenses at this point the video: https://youtu.be/a_6RIL6nw_8?si=NRWFZPuM3k2Ux2CK&t=473

[rob norton]

I've never heard of Claypaky. Looks like they have a lot of moving heads?

that logo with "an arri company" comes up on their splash page

Abe, do yourself a favour and check out some of their products - https://www.youtube.com/@ClaypakyOfficial/videos

Skylos as an example - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn4G3ZS8BYg

Event lighting obviously isn't held to the same standards of film lighting in terms of colour indices (indexes), but there are elements of it that feel far more ahead of film equipment.

From 01:28 onwards you can see Claypaky's sharpy at work (4 years old now!) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI2AuN4msoE, a million times cooler than any titan tubes or infinibars clearly in shot.

And yes, these would translate to mostly hard lighting applications, but I think if Arri rebadged a few of these, either still available as movable heads, or less expensive static heads, that they'd be pretty popular. I could be wrong?!

[rob norton]

I'v been interested in the Dedo Neo light. I decided to watch the description video and found it pretty funny when the Dedo rep basically dismissed the usefulness of RGB LED lights for projection lenses at this point the video: https://youtu.be/a_6RIL6nw_8?si=NRWFZPuM3k2Ux2CK&t=473

That's funny Casey, pretty strong words from a Lighting Designer. Nothing wrong with gels!

[chris_f]

The Fiilex G3 looks interesting, other than the fact that it doesn't seem to be for sale yet in the US.

I'v been interested in the Dedo Neo light. I decided to watch the description video and found it pretty funny when the Dedo rep basically dismissed the usefulness of RGB LED lights for projection lenses at this point the video: https://youtu.be/a_6RIL6nw_8?si=NRWFZPuM3k2Ux2CK&t=473

It seems a strange thing to say when promoting a RGBACL product, but there is a lot of truth to it. It’s probably why Dedolight’s most powerful LED fixture is only 300watts and mono-color - the size of the chip still gives good optical performance at that size. And then HMI can take over. In interviews with Dedo himself, he does lament the fact that LED has taken over.

I think of it like different size film…. medium format sensors / film is much harder to design lenses for
and the whole system becomes bulkier and more expensive. A cropped sensor tends to have smaller, faster more affordable lenses.

The Arri Orbiter is another fixture that strikes a good balance for optical performance at the 400w power level. The projection attachments look great optically for that light.

One thing that is also often over looked is the sharpness of the shadows within the beam of the projector. With larger LED lights its still possible to create sharp cuts in gobos etc. but if objects / subjects are within the beam and casting their own shadow, there is often quite a difference in shadow sharpness vs the projected shadow.

I doubt these little details matter enough on most shoots (especially on fast paced ones) to sacrifice the convenience of Color tunability etc. But it is one of tge remaining challenges of higher powered LED fixtures.

[Run&Gun]

Abe, do yourself a favour and check out some of their products - https://www.youtube.com/@ClaypakyOfficial/videos

Skylos as an example - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn4G3ZS8BYg

Event lighting obviously isn't held to the same standards of film lighting in terms of colour indices (indexes), but there are elements of it that feel far more ahead of film equipment.

From 01:28 onwards you can see Claypaky's sharpy at work (4 years old now!) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI2AuN4msoE, a million times cooler than any titan tubes or infinibars clearly in shot.

And yes, these would translate to mostly hard lighting applications, but I think if Arri rebadged a few of these, either still available as movable heads, or less expensive static heads, that they'd be pretty popular. I could be wrong?!

Hey, Astera was "just" an event/stage lighting company not that long ago.

I don't think it's too much of a coincidence that as cameras have gotten better and better(dynamic range, etc.) over the last several years that some people have been going back to harder and more dramatic lighting.

[morgan_moore]

That's funny Casey, pretty strong words from a Lighting Designer. Nothing wrong with gels!

ive used gels on my ap600 on my current “feature”

Rigged with a 24in frame and a 3in airgap there is a lot of reflection and spill

movevthe (lee) gel closer and it melts.

lesson - id take rgb lights given the budget

[rob norton]

ive used gels on my ap600 on my current “feature”

Rigged with a 24in frame and a 3in airgap there is a lot of reflection and spill

movevthe (lee) gel closer and it melts.

lesson - id take rgb lights given the budget

I should've said nothing wrong with gels, except for several things.

[ahalpert]

People got by with just gels for a long time. Will it melt it even if you have it on a reflector so there's a gap but no spill

[morgan_moore]

-other brands
-black wrap
-regular smoke and fire

???