BBS Area 48 vs Litepanels Astra? (remote phospor vs led)

A

alohype

Veteran
What would you go for? Seems that Astra have much more output. Advantage of Area 48 is slightly higher CRI and ability to change a panel for chroma key.
Cannot decide. Cineo Maverick would be perfect for me, as it is weatherproofed but output is not high enough (at least when comparing to the ones above). Maybe other product suggestion? Anything than can compete with those above?
Thanks!
 
David W. Jones said:
If it were me... I would rent each choice so I could decide for myself before dropping that amount of coin.
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No rental houses in my city and nothing close within at least 300km that would have latest stuff from lighting. Rental houses placed further will have latest cameras but not lighting gear unfortunately.
But thanks for the input: that made think to maybe wait for some show that I could attend and then see them live first (instead of putting my dollar on them and then regretting).
 
Do you have the photometrics for the Astra? The Area48 smokes an original Litepanels 1x1 for output, but the Astra has a lot more punch apparently (I haven't had my hands on one yet to compare). They have the same basic power draw (150w for the Astra, 160w for the Area48) but if the beam spread is different the photometrics could be substantially different.

I would take a remote phosphor unit over a conventional LED 99 times out of a 100. Colour rendering is better (though again, I haven't seen the Astra), you lose no output switching colour temperatures, and there's no multi-souce shadows to contend with.

That said, the Astra is practically half the price of an Area48 - so if you need two lights more than you need one good one, that could be the way to go.
 
Grug said:
Do you have the photometrics for the Astra? The Area48 smokes an original Litepanels 1x1 for output, but the Astra has a lot more punch apparently (I haven't had my hands on one yet to compare). They have the same basic power draw (150w for the Astra, 160w for the Area48) but if the beam spread is different the photometrics could be substantially different.

I would take a remote phosphor unit over a conventional LED 99 times out of a 100. Colour rendering is better (though again, I haven't seen the Astra), you lose no output switching colour temperatures, and there's no multi-souce shadows to contend with.

That said, the Astra is practically half the price of an Area48 - so if you need two lights more than you need one good one, that could be the way to go.
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No, I do not have them. I though I have but it's probably my mistake because of searching through multiple lights and sites in the short period of time. That Astra is a first LED light I see that touch remote phosphor ones performance. I was decided to go for remote phosphor first. But lack of exact CRI on Litepanels website is suspicious - "high CRI" doesn't say anything.
 
Well in truth, CRI doesn't say much for LED technology anyway as it's not really suited as a measure for lights with a discontinuous spectrum. The TLCI (Television Lighting Consistency Index) is a much more appropriate measure - though I imagine we'll have to wait some time to get TLCI stats on the Astra.

If you want to play it safe - the remote phosphor units (both Cineo and BBS) are awesome, and a great Kino Flo replacement/alternative.

But I'd be surprised if the Astra doesn't perform very well. LED tech has been advancing rapidly, and Litepanels know their stuff.
 
I really like the look of the Area 48 but the price gives me pause. I was looking at the astra the other week at a trade show and it looked great. Its probably the only Lite panel product I felt was fairly priced given performance.

I saw this one sheet of specs on the Astra. No doubt I would want to use a softbox or diffusion to use on talent. Seems pretty powerful for a bi-colour as each end of the temp scale the numbers are solid.

http://www.litepanels.com/images/onesheets/astra_1x1_bicolor_onesheet.pdf

here is photometric chart

http://www.litepanels.com/images/products/photometrics_astra_1x1_bicolor_large.jpg
 
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Output looks good. Pretty much equivalent to the Area48, though in a much tighter beam angle (46 degrees for the Astra versus 160 for the Area48). So not as useful for flooding an area, but fire it into a frame of something and no one will know the difference.
 
Grug said:
Output looks good. Pretty much equivalent to the Area48, though in a much tighter beam angle (46 degrees for the Astra versus 160 for the Area48). So not as useful for flooding an area, but fire it into a frame of something and no one will know the difference.
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I figure once you soften the Astra they will come out close as a key light. I really love the Area 48 but my wallet doesn't especially buying an FS7 this coming month.
 
As an Area48 owner, I really like the power and light quality- you can get them a bit cheaper through a dealer like Abel. It's enabled me to sell my Diva kit and now I use 2 x Area48s + 3 x 150s for edge and background.
 
truelife said:
As an Area48 owner, I really like the power and light quality- you can get them a bit cheaper through a dealer like Abel. It's enabled me to sell my Diva kit and now I use 2 x Area48s + 3 x 150s for edge and background.
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What kind of a deal were you able to get through Abel? I asked B&H and they wouldn't budge much. PM me if you need to.
 
I've played with the Area 48 and love it but the price is just ridiculous right now.

Especially the accessories. The softbox, grid, etc...are super expensive. The price of the Astras is appealing but it doesn't look as soft and "high CRI" means nothing. The Area 48s have great color. Decisions, decisions!
 
Buy once, cry once is my philosophy these days. The only time you regret it is when the money first goes out - but good gear makes up the deficit in spades.
 
Grug said:
Buy once, cry once is my philosophy these days. The only time you regret it is when the money first goes out - but good gear makes up the deficit in spades.
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I agree to a certain point. The remote phosphor tech seems destined for a Movi-like decrease in price once a few other companies begin to play.
 
traviswears said:
I agree to a certain point. The remote phosphor tech seems destined for a Movi-like decrease in price once a few other companies begin to play.
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Except that it has been out for almost two years now and instead of going down in price it has actually gone up in price; I remember when it sold for $2200 about nine months ago and I thought I'd wait until it went down in price and then it went up to $2500. The only competition is Cineo which is priced at about the same. I don't know why other companies aren't making remote phosphors, but hopefully it won't be too long before the prices begin to drop.
 
Eric,

I've been waiting for the price to drop as well. It's amazing how quickly gimbals dropped. I'm kinda surprised that remote phosphor lights haven't dropped at all.
 
Wondering if anybody who has used the Area 48 has any thoughts on the negative aspects of this review on B&H.

"After much research I finally bought the Area 48 LED Fixture. The light quality and output are impressive and beautiful. What I am less than pleased is the manufacturing. First, the light's diode surface is made of CARDBOARD!!! Unbelievable!!!! This is VERY expensive light. The use of cardboard is inexcusable. Second, the barn doors are basically held in place WITH A RUBBER BAND! Really????? yes, a RUBBER BAND. It WILL fall off at the worst time: DURING A SHOOT in front of clients. And lastly, the barn door frame is very roughly finished and will require me filing it down so as not to get injured. I will probably keep the light due to the soft Rembrandt quality. However i am VERY disappointed with these issues. If this were a cheap Chinese product priced accordingly I would accept its poor workmanship and manufacturing. But at this price, it is very disappointing."

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1062188-REG/bbs_lighting_bbs_9001_area_led_fixture_with.html
 
Grug said:
Output looks good. Pretty much equivalent to the Area48, though in a much tighter beam angle (46 degrees for the Astra versus 160 for the Area48). So not as useful for flooding an area, but fire it into a frame of something and no one will know the difference.
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I'd be wanting to use it for a key so I would put diffusion in front of either light. Since I don't have a large kit the extra punch of the Astra might come in handy. If these two lights were around the same price I would love to own the Area 48 but the price difference for what I would use it for is just too great and accessory prices put it way past my budget.
 
I finally saw some remote phosphor tech first hand yesterday at the Thursday night NFL game. CBS/NFL Net were lighting the tunnels near the locker rooms and field entrances with Cineo HS panels and they looked amazingly clean('white') and produced a lot of light. I was impressed with what I saw. Granted it was far from a controlled situation in which you'd like to initially evaluate new lights and was mixing with the existing lighting, but they still looked very good.
 
Eric Coughlin said:
Except that it has been out for almost two years now and instead of going down in price it has actually gone up in price; I remember when it sold for $2200 about nine months ago and I thought I'd wait until it went down in price and then it went up to $2500. The only competition is Cineo which is priced at about the same. I don't know why other companies aren't making remote phosphors, but hopefully it won't be too long before the prices begin to drop.
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Good point. I do wonder why more companies haven't jumped on the remote phosphor bandwagon. I am wondering what we'll see at NAB this year.
 
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