3x3 Softbox for 1x1 Led

Bern Caughey said:
Bit off topic...pretty picky about my reflectors, & not a fan of 5-in-1 versions, so only buy 2-sided. The issue is the slippers never fit as tight as the fabric on simple 2-sided pop-ups.

And not much of a fan of pop-up reflectors, though I own some of the square versions for travel, & prefer beadboard, or when those are impractical, California Sunbounces.
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Bern, what would be your preferred diffusion that is OMB friendly, both in terms of frame style and material(s)? The collapsibles are just so damned practical, but if I can find something that breaks down nicely and yet improves the actual light quality, I'm totally down to spend a little more. Little, being a relative term.
 
Most everything I work on has two cameras (& operators), & on simple shoots tend to use softboxes, or panels, sometimes with grids/eggcrates, that don't require flagging, or at most some Black Wrap. Often I'll use two panels, or boxes, to create a larger source so they can be oriented differently then each other, further reducing the need for flagging.

When I'm working in LA, which is rare, I have Advantage Grip's collapsible 4x4' frames, & Chimera's collapsible 6x6' frames.

For anything bigger I usually have a Grip Truck, & proper crew.
 
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PaPa said:
I shoot through my 5-in-1 all of the time. And yeah, sucks for spill but like mentioned, most of the time it's the perfect tool. I just bring some black foam core and flag things off as needed.

but $500 for that 3'x3' velcro strapped softbox for that 1ft led panel? WTF!!! lol. absolutely insane. I have been wanting something like that for so long but I'll be dead before i spend as much money on the softbox as the fixture itself... Shame on them.
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Agreed! Because of that I am thinking about selling my Rifa ex88 and replacing it with a flexlight knockoff. If I need a lot of power I could shoot the astra and the flexlight though a 4x4 or a 5in1 diff. I already own the 1x1 softbox for the astra.

I really love the eggcrates on the Rifa ex88 though. I'm gonna be kinda sad if I end up selling it.
 
I have a pair of Rifa ex88 with eggcrates. Great lights, but rarely used anymore. Always hated how long they took to cool down.

Got a shoot on a empty theater stage in NYC next week where we'll key with either my Aladdin Bi-Flex(s), or a rental LiteMat 4, & light the background with tungsten fresnels, & Source Fours. Would love to key with tungstens too, but nobody seems to tolerate the heat anymore.
 
Bern Caughey said:
I have a pair of Rifa ex88 with eggcrates. Great lights, but rarely used anymore. Always hated how long they took to cool down.
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Thanks for reaffirming that people don't want to deal with the heat from incandescent lamps. I should sell that riffa ASAP because it's just going to keep losing value.

Good luck on your shoot next week. Looks like it'll be a great setup!
 
Eric Coughlin said:
How do you like the Lupo Superpanel, say compared to an Astra? Is it as bright as they say it is?
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Mythbuster
It is more focussed AKA a narrow beam angle.. not brighter.. I tested it vs some (new) Astras in a bounce situation and the total light output is about the same*.

For example in the situation pictured you can see that it is quite focussed not spreading even enough to fill this little shoot through properly - obviously the fixture I made was a compromise of smallness too keep it on one stand - you could put the diff on a second stand and place the fixtures further back to fill it properly.

So your choice is kind of based on that beam angle.. for example to bounce off a wall in an office the Lupo would have to be placed more into the room and use more floorspace therefore to get a good spread on the bounce.

in a fight the sun situation, clearly they can put down more lumens, over a small area which could get you out of jail in an interview in the sun.

In terms of physical build they are a bit more traditional than the Astra which I like, especially in the aluminum yokes, I have modded the U frame (yoke) to save some packing space (at a compromise of how far I can tilt the light) which you could not do with the astra because the Astra is not a simple U yoke.

I also modded the yoke with some extra holes that can accept modifiers or allow a three point mount to a car hood for shoting into the car on the move (where legal)

The astra has the ballast on the bottom not the back.. I guess this has pros and cons for packing into a peli (I use 'EuroBoxes') but the Astra is way more than 12in high.. 18-20 high maybe compared to 15in with my yoke modded Lupo, I also swapped out the yoke M6 wingnuts for flat ones to save me another packing inch in the other axis.

One dumb thing (for packing) is the lupo does not have a 90 degree XLR from the ballast which sticks out badly in a perfect position to bash as you pack or move the lights, mendable but inexcusable design

So for physical.. I give it to the Lupo

Also Im local to the UK importer so if I get a problem I can go and bash him.. or borrow some spares from his show stock - that actually swing the purchase of Lupo to me.. a local face/shop

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* the SMM illuminance light test (Pat pending TM) involves placing a fixture at any postion where it is illuminating an 8foot polyboard and then taking a meter reading from each edge. In this case a lupo might need to be 3.5m back to 'cover' the poly compared to 2m back for an astra and both give F5.6-8/50th/800ISO - so they are the same brightness. `Otherr lights tested.. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X68SIDZJs7xo3Cnoat7QvNpQCyJLEgtO0CK_WAIO7Pg/edit?usp=sharing
 
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Bern Caughey said:
Most everything I work on has two cameras (& operators), & on simple shoots tend to use softboxes, or panels, sometimes with grids/eggcrates, that don't require flagging, or at most some Black Wrap. Often I'll use two panels, or boxes, to create a larger source so they can be oriented differently then each other, further reducing the need for flagging.

When I'm working in LA, which is rare, I have Advantage Grip's collapsible 4x4' frames, & Chimera's collapsible 6x6' frames.

For anything bigger I usually have a Grip Truck, & proper crew.
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Thanks Bern!
 
Morgan, have you seen this review of the superpanel? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hirJzhoti4M&t=86s

The guy measured the light output, on the bi-color version, at 5600K and got this readings:

at 5 feet: 27000 lux
at 10 feet: 6,300 lux
at 15 feet: 2,744 lux

This seem a lot to me! Lupo are officially claiming, I think, 22000 lux at 1m. how did this guy measure 27k lux at 1.5 meters, and that's with the bi-color model, that should be half as bright no?

Do you concur with his measurements?
 
The bi-colours are as bright as the single colour.

This surprised me so I tested it before making my purchase using a stills camera and histogram.

Simply the daylight has half of the leds as the bicolour, but the light is not brighter at 4000k than 5000 or 3000 as the two sets of lights (DL and Tung) fade up and down in opposition as you swing the CT wheel

You cannot therefore engage all LEDs at max power at the same time.

It seems that this happens because the limiting factor to the construction is probably total current draw or heat dissipation.

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Lumen values. I dont do lumens as I consider it to be a poor metric for ascertaining the useful power of a fixture - it takes no account of beam angle/spread.

The light is 'very bright' but partly achieves this through quite a focussed beam angle.

(if one halves the beam angle one gets two more stops of light in the illuminated area - simple physics)

As I said above the lights are not wildly brighter than the latest Astras once your fire both through a diff or bounce them off a wall.
 
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According to the Newsshooter article, "Superpanel lights have a 40 degree beam angle." The Astra is rated as a 45 degree beam angle. So, practically the same on paper. But, from the sounds of it you seem to be suggesting the Superpanel actually has a considerably tighter beam angle than the Astra, correct?

I'm a big fan of using the wireless phone ap to control my Astra lights, so that's the winning feature for me.

I've got three 4x Astras now (one a SOFT version), and am thinking to get two more 6x versions before too long.
 
My "feeling" is that the beam angle is tighter.

LP now make so many models that I'm a bit lost but the ones that were on a shoot with me seemed broader.

Let us assume that Lupo don't have access to some miracle tech then the way to get super bright is to reduce beam angle.

I've not used the app on Lp or dmx on the lupos
 
Tnx Morgan! Sory but I havent seen the Astra's in person, so the comparison is lost on me.

I was comparing the Lupo to thr Apature LS1s and it seems that the Lupo is about 70% brighter in terms of lux output 17000 lux vs 27000 lux at 1m, it draws less power and it has a wider beam angle 25° vs 45°. It also doesn't cost that much more - app 200€ more. So it seems like this lights indeed are using magic to produce light, especially if you consider that the bi color produces the same amount of light as single color :)

Have you by any chance used them with a vlock battery?
 
KINOKS said:
Tnx Morgan! Sory but I havent seen the Astra's in person, so the comparison is lost on me.

I was comparing the Lupo to thr Apature LS1s and it seems that the Lupo is about 70% brighter in terms of lux output 17000 lux vs 27000 lux at 1m, it draws less power and it has a wider beam angle 25° vs 45°. It also doesn't cost that much more - app 200€ more. So it seems like this lights indeed are using magic to produce light, especially if you consider that the bi color produces the same amount of light as single color :)

Have you by any chance used them with a vlock battery?
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I dont know the apture light but from a quick look at google images it seems that the LED lamps are of a completely different kind - it looks 'old'

I know nothing of LED technology but it seems there are generational improvements

gen 1 - green
gen 2 - OK but not so bright
gen 3 - bright

So yes maybe the Lupo is 'magic' being gen 3, but no more magic than LP astras which latest generation seems very similar.

Lupo have a cheaper older (gen2) panel that was on sale when I was at the dealer.. it was shockingly not bright so if the apture uses that technology then it could indeed be not bright.

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The Lupos draw 100w at 12v (8.3amps)

My personal Hawkwoods Vlock batteries cannot deliver the required current (I think they are 5amp max). I did not therefore buy Vlock plates.

I have used these lights connected to a 'car' battery with good results.

S
 
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