Arri Locasters. Anyone have experience with them?

traviswears

traviswears

Well-known member
Really wanting to add a battery-powered LED light to my kit. Looking for something portable and durable with high color accuracy. The price on the Locaster is a bit high, but maybe it's worth it? I have used the F&V and wasn't too impressed with the build quality or the way the diffuser attaches to the front.

I do like the LitePanels Miniplus. I've used that on other shoots mounted on heavier, ENG-style cameras. Wondering if it's smarter to purchase one of those as opposed to the larger and twice as expensive Locaster.

Or any other recommendations?
 
I've used them before and they're definitely one of the nicer small brick style LED's that I've seen around. I used some barn door/intesifier things along with them though and those were pretty goofy. It's just a shame, I don't remember them having very much output. I'm really much more impressed by the Literibbon cards than anything else. The only problem is the lite ribbon cards don't really go very nicely onto a stand, they're much more of a tape it up sort of light. A friend of mine did manufacture some housings for them, but I think they were a pretty one off sort of thing.

What are you looking for exactly? An on camera LED light?
 
I bought this off the floor at NAB and have been very happy with it. Every other row is daylight or tungsten (salt and pepper) balanced LED and you can dial in color temp by varying the intensity of that color temp. It comes with batteries (Sony), diffuser, charger, car cord, 1/4 20 tilt all, and carrying case. For $299.00. I just ordered another one. Oh, it has a battery checker and master dimmer, too.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AUK79XG/
 
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The locaster specs say that it outputs 68 fc (foot candles) at 1 meter distance (3.3 ft.). That would equate to 738 lux at 1 meter. Not too bright is it ?
The miniplus specs say 140 lux at 6 ft. so it is 560 lux at 3 feet. Not too bright is it ?
Both seem to output like a 35 to 40 watt filament.
My 2 c as usual.
 
I consider myself to be a bit of an expert when it comes to bi-color LED Light Panels because I have owned/rented a lot of different manufacturer's models and have used several colleagues lights as well. In the past I was one of those guys that said 'you can't use bi-color as your primary light source, they just aren't bright enough' (due to the fact that they only use half of the LED's when on either Tungsten or Daylight compared to their single color counterparts). All manufacturers (Litepanels, F&V, iKan, Arri, etc) do this on their bi-color units EXCEPT for Socanland.

Socanland literally doubles the amount of LED's in their bi-color units to keep the brightness levels as bright as the single color versions. They are easily more than twice as bright as the Litepanels 1'x1' bi-color and are even brighter than the Litepanels single color version.
Before ordering the Socanland 1x1 bi-colors, I either owned, rented, or saw in person the following units: Litepanels Bi-Color 1x1 (rented & used colleagues), iKan 1024 units (owned), Arri Locaster (used colleagues) and the F&V K4000S Bi-Color (used colleagues). Here is why I didn't go with those units and chose the Socanland 50CTD & Socanland Nova-CTD:

F&V K4000S Bi-Color Negatives:
-Low CRI of 85 with green & tints
-Poor brightness levels. Just like the single color versions, the bi-coolor uses only 400 LED's. That means only 200 are on when all the way to Tungsten or Daylight. In comparison, the Socanland has nearly 1800LED's on the 50CTD and over 2300 LED's on the Nova-CTD. The Socanland is significantly brigher.
-Poor plastic build quality
-Hassle to attach diffuser (need to screw it in, can't slide it in like with the Socanland and Litepanels)
-Needed to pay extra to add on an Anton Bauer Battery plate
-Can't add on barn-doors like on Socanland or Litepanels (something I find very useful....yes, even on LED's barn-doors can be a great tool)
*This unit was tempting because of the cheap $499 price tag ($599 if you want it with an Anton Bauer Battery Plate). But with the F&V K4000S' weak throw, green LED's, plastic frame, and lack of accessories, the Socanland 50CTD was definitely worth the extra $200 (it costs $799)

Litepanels 1'x1' Bi-Color Negatives:
-Very weak throw. Around 1700lux@1 Meter. The Socanland 50CTD/D-50CTD is nearly twice as bright at 3200lux@1 Meter.
-Green tints at lower brightness levels. When below 50%, the green tint is very noticeable. The Socanland has no green at all.
-Plastic Frame (the Socanland is all metal)
-Need to pay a fortune for the light (over $2500). If you want to add on barn-doors and other accessories, they are all way overpriced (typically 3 times more expensive for the same exact same product materials when compared to the Socanland 1x1 accessories)
*The Litepanels seems tempting because it is the industry standard and the name that everyone knows. However, compared to Socanland, the Litepanel 1x1 bi-color is 50% less bright, with inferior color temperature and inferior build quality.

iKan Bi-Color Models (IFB1024):
-iKan just re-brands and drastically marks up the price of a cheap Chinese manufacturer called Yayo Lishua (this is only on their lights, not sure on other products). On the iKan units your paying 3 times the price for the same product.
-The build quality and reliability is absolutely terrible. I owned 2 iKan units in the past (1024). On one unit half of the LED's went out after using it for a month. On the other unit the AC Adapter and battery plate stopped working after 3 months of use.
-Very bulky and unattractive. Can't order in the 1'x1' frame (I found this to be a problem because you can't order a lot of the accessories that work on all other 1x1 panels (cases, diffusion, Chimeras, ect.)
-Uses a lot of power so you get very short battery times.
-They drastically lie about their lux/meter levels. My iKan 1024 units were just slightly brighter than a Litepanels 1'x1' bi-color. The Socanland 50CTD and D-50CTD are noticeably brighter. The Socanland Nova-CTD is nearly double the brightness of the iKan 1024.
-By far the greenest bi-color light I have experienced. Also, the tungsten was incredibly unattractive, very gold/orange looking and looked terrible on white backgrounds or people with light skin or blonde hair.

Arri LoCaster Negatives:
-Only offer on-camera light which isn't nearly powerful enough if your trying to have your key and fill lights be only LED Panels
-Overpriced for an on-camera light.

Reasons for buying Socanland 50CTD & Socanland Nova-CTD:
-Brightest bi-color LED Light Panels available.
-Very fair price for the performance and features.
-Great build quality (all metal). 1 year warranty. One unit I have owned for nearly 3 years and still works great (I've been rough on that light too)
-Can select an Anton Bauer or V-Mount battery plate at no extra charge. Can add on barn-doors.
-Fantastic & accurate color temperatures rated at a CRI over 90+. Checked mine on a spectrometer and they were rated at 93.
-Shipped quickly from Denver.
*the Nova-CTD is amazingly bright. It makes for a fantastic Key light. The 50CTD can also be used as a key light. But if you want a ton of punch and are looking for a Key/Fill combo, I found this kit to look pretty attractive (also comes with 2 x Anton Buaer or V-Mount batteries): http://www.intellytechusa.com/colle...lor-nova-ctd-1x-1-x1-bi-color-50ctd-batteries
-Here is a link to the 50CTD: http://www.intellytechusa.com/collections/led-light-panels/products/socanland-50ctd-1x1-bi-color
-Here is a link to the Socanland Nova-CTD: http://www.intellytechusa.com/colle...ts/nova-ctd-1x1-bi-color-led-light-panel-100w
-Here is a link to the available kits which are very discounted: http://www.intellytechusa.com/collections/led-light-panels/Light-Kit
 
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