Any requests for things to report on for the LitePanels Gemini?

puredrifting

puredrifting

Major Contributor
Yep, have my hands on a new Litepanels Gemini 2x1. Initial impressions without having fired it up yet.
Great build. Big fan. Huge heat sink. HEAVY beast. Not sure what this sells for but it appears to be aimed squarely at the Arri Sky Panel S60. Lots of controls, hard button presets.
Junior Pin only on yolk, lucky my Norms steel three riser hasn't sold yet. Requests beyond the obvious?
 
Luke Seerveld has a short review comparing the Gemini to the SkyPanel S60 which is pretty good, but I’d like to see something more in-depth about the LitePanels.

I’m in the midst of designing a simple interview stage for a well known Tech company, & was considering recommending a Gemini with SnapBag, but as I’m not fully sold on RGB+ LEDs as keylights, am leaning towards the Hudson Spider instead.
 
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I've worked with it a bunch and like it. The white light performance is better than the Skypanel according to the numbers. Only drawback I've seen is lower output, but it's not by much.
 
Charles,

Have you used the Spider? Heard lots of good things, but not directly from someone whose used it, & hoping they’re at Cine Gear.
 
Bern:

I've looked at it but haven't used it yet. Seems nice, but I have that functionality covered with other devices so for me it is a somewhat expensive piece of gear for what it does. For a one man band situation or those who have to travel light/small, would make a nice key for interviews etc.

The RGB aspect of the Skypanel and Gemini are for me what set these apart. There is usually a time on my shoots where I need a "party gel" or a gag like flicker, paparazzi flash or police lights etc. and it is very helpful to have this capability. I'm looking forward to adding RGB tubes into the mix as well. I very much look forward to a color-gel free work environment, much more efficient.
 
Thanks for your reply.

What intrigues me most about the Spider is the promise of high output in a relatively light package that seems like it be easy to rig to a menace arm, etc. Initially heard it was a 5’ Octo but seems smaller, which takes the shine off a bit.

For most my work I rarely add a color wash to the key, but still often use the RGB+ SkyPanels in that role, but regularly use washes on backgrounds, & look forward to working with the RGB+ tubes as they become more available.

Sorry for derailing this thread, & will start another if I have other questions.
 
I got mine a month or two ago. Then it took a few weeks for the bag to arrive, so I didn't bring it to shoots at the beginning of when I had it. So far I've used it on a couple interview shoots as the key light. Brighter than the Astras so helps me fight/balance a windowed background. Often times I'll leave it at home as it takes up extra space in my car and requires another cart trip. Sometimes when I don't bring it I wish I had it, other times I'll bring it and not use it. It will be a good light for narrative work as well.

The Skypanel is heavier and more cumbersome with the ballast, so not as suitable for me one-man-banding which I've done with the Gemini.

I'm always happy to make my kit smaller, but the Gemini is a step in the opposite direction there. I'm interested in the Practilite 802 LEDs to replace my Astras for many uses as they're half the size but have brighter specs, better Wifi connectivity/ap, different beam angles available with diffusion, and some other benefits.

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Eric Coughlin said:
I got mine a month or two ago. Then it took a few weeks for the bag to arrive, so I didn't bring it to shoots at the beginning of when I had it. So far I've used it on a couple interview shoots as the key light. Brighter than the Astras so helps me fight/balance a windowed background. Often times I'll leave it at home as it takes up extra space in my car and requires another cart trip. Sometimes when I don't bring it I wish I had it, other times I'll bring it and not use it. It will be a good light for narrative work as well.

The Skypanel is heavier and more cumbersome with the ballast, so not as suitable for me one-man-banding which I've done with the Gemini.

I'm always happy to make my kit smaller, but the Gemini is a step in the opposite direction there. I'm interested in the Practilite 802 LEDs to replace my Astras for many uses as they're half the size but have brighter specs, better Wifi connectivity/ap, different beam angles available with diffusion, and some other benefits.

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Thanks Eric and Charles, good info. For me, while this light is cool (I'm shooting a few interviews with it this week), it's too much of a beast to use when OMB or small crewing it. It is Junior pin, and the light itself weighs a lot, you should see the Anvil-type case they shipped it in, the whole thing with the light weighs about 80lbs. I too find the direction that lights like this take to be more for grip trucks with crews, which is fine, but not really applicable to the documentary work that I mostly do. Even though the build quality is pretty low, I've using my Kamerar Brightcasts to light most of documentary interviews and they are great. I wish they were built a little better but if you baby them, they are small, light and work well.
 
The Kamerar Brightcasts aren't nearly as bright as the Gemini or Astras, though cheaper, smaller, and lighter. I often double up my Astras when fighting a bright background, and still don't find them bright enough, so I can't imagine using a Brightcast as my go to key (not sure if you're using it as your key) since it's probably around half as bright as my Astra 4x lights, and 1/3 as bright as an Astra 6x.

As far as footprint, the Practilite 802's look quite small, perhaps even smaller space taking than a Brightcast kit; I haven't found out yet if there is a separate ballast/power supply or if it's just a cable that connects (like with the Gemini).

The Anvil case may make sense if you're stacking things in a grip truck, but I got the Portra Brace bag which only weighs 4.7 lbs, so with the light it's 27 lbs total, which is a lot lighter than some of the other bags (up to 70 lbs) I have full of lighting and camera gear. As you can see from the photos, I got a low boy with a junior pin, so unlike a big combo stand, the stand itself is still relatively small and packs down to a small size without weighing a ton. I still have to fit everything in my Mazda CX-5.

There's actually a good amount of room left in the Porta Brace bag; I think you could possibly fit two Geminis in it (which would then bring the weight to 49 lbs), which with the dual Gemini yoke would yield a pretty powerful soft light setup.

Even though my 70 lb bags have wheels, I typically put them on a cart as it distributes the weight better (four wheels vs two wheels). The Gemini and low boy stand fit in the cart, but take up enough space that they may require their own trip (I can still fit other items on the cart, just not a ton). If a trip takes say 1-5 minutes (depending on parking, building size, etc.), a lot of my shoots have enough time for me to one-man-band and take that extra 1-5 minutes to do another trip with the gear, and sometimes a producer, client, or someone working at the location offer to help with gear as well. So, while not ideal for one-man-band, I find it's certainly doable in most cases while allowing me to better fight daylight as a one-man-band.

Another little thought that just occurred to me; the Gemini weighs 22 lbs and is said to be oh so heavy. You rarely carry it for long duration, mostly just out of the car, into the cart, lifting it up on a light stand. On the other hand, a rigged camera setup weighs around 15-30 lbs and you often carry it throughout the day, sometimes carrying a 10-20 lb tripod at the same time.
 
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In a crew setting, where the light comes out of a van or truck, the size and weight difference between the skypanel and gemini is negligible. Plus (at least in Australia), Skypanels are a semi household name. This makes life easier for owners of lighting packages when convincing the decision makers to use their equipment. I'm sure it'd be a different story had the Gemini been released earlier or even at the same time as the skypanel.

I'm also less interested in the light now that RGB LED tube lighting is maturing. Personally, I'd rather an array of Quasar Science tubes, which I could also pull out and use individually (assuming output comes close, effects are good enough etc.).

This isn't an attack on the Gemini, I think it looks like a fantastic light. For Eric's set ups I think it really hits a sweet spot in looks it can create while still being manageable for one person.

Eric, if you haven't already, check out this Avenger combo stand. I own it, as well as the matthews low boy combo you mentioned and they'd probably weigh the same. The avenger goes as low as you'd need for a sit down interview, but also covers you for height. They can easily be strapped to a cart vertically too, giving you the same footprint as the small stand.
 
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