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

I believe there are some patents that are keeping the competition out. I saw some remote phosphor prototypes from other companies that never made it to market.

BTW, the Cineo lights are built like tanks. Absolutely no issues with build quality there. I can't speak either way about the Area 48 fixtures.
 
The Astras scored really high on Alan Roberts TLCI tests.


NewsShooter Article to accompany the video.

Fiilex and Area 48 scored high as well.

Fillex = 95-99 depending upon model or color temp.

BBS Area 48 = 96 for daylight.

Astra Bi-color = 95 for daylight, 97 for tungsten, 98 for in-between.

Test results here.

Basically you'd have a very hard time telling the color difference between any of these lights.
 
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Run&Gun said:
Now why do they want to go and muddy the waters…? I'll stick with my bi-color "4x power" Astra's.
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I have not used the Astra's, but if they are anything like the 1x1 in weight, then I would love them. The Area 48, are a touch on the heavy side (~8lbs bare), and they are not as easy to boom out on a c-stand arm.

In more direct applications, the Area 48's deliver a nice light, and creates some pretty light from such a small surface, but not quite as flexible in uses as some lighter-weight LED's.

Well, there are many options out there, and many work arounds, and many formulas, so, just get what you feel like getting and go from there. And i am continually amazed by the ingenuity of the engineers and the end users.
 
James0b57 said:
I have not used the Astra's, but if they are anything like the 1x1 in weight, then I would love them. The Area 48, are a touch on the heavy side (~8lbs bare), and they are not as easy to boom out on a c-stand arm.
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The Astra's are more than twice as heavy as the original 1x1's(7 lbs vs. 3 lbs). And I don't think the design/construction will standup as well as the original version, either. But the light quality is very good and they're convenient to use. I personally haven't pulled out my Diva's or Barfly's for an indoor live shot since I got them because of those two main reasons.
 
I saw the different Astra models yesterday and also the Area 48. I don't know why anybody would choose the less powerful Astra panels. I'd say the brightest Astra version is pretty bright but less than what I'd expect. The Area 48 panels were lovely in softness and plenty bright. Money aside I would pick the Area 48 but I actually opted for a set of LEDGO LG-1200CS panels instead after seeing the high score they got from Alan Roberts. The light surface on these is larger and also plenty bright with a wider spread which suits me better. They can also be used with honeycomb and a softbox.
 
Osslund said:
I saw the different Astra models yesterday and also the Area 48. I don't know why anybody would choose the less powerful Astra panels. I'd say the brightest Astra version is pretty bright but less than what I'd expect. The Area 48 panels were lovely in softness and plenty bright. Money aside I would pick the Area 48 but I actually opted for a set of LEDGO LG-1200CS panels instead after seeing the high score they got from Alan Roberts. The light surface on these is larger and also plenty bright with a wider spread which suits me better. They can also be used with honeycomb and a softbox.
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I'm kind of surprised by the three levels of Astras as well. Maybe two makes sense, 1x & 4x? Studio situations may only need the 1x.

I shot for the first time with the Astras (4x bi-color) yesterday and I am, initially, very happy with them. The color rendering is clearly better than the previous models. Having more power never hurts. Time will tell on the build quality - I think they are more solid than they look. The back looks, feels, and is plasticy but they are overall more solid than the 1st gen 1x1's. There's a full metal core running top to bottom. It's visible on the front of the light and evident when handling the light.

The only negative I've noticed so far is that the shadows, in certain situations, seem more prone to stepping than the 1st gen. This may just be because the light is brighter - dimmed down it's not as noticeable.

Vs. Area 48, price differences aside, the Astra is a better fit for me. The Area 48 is super soft and kind of amorphous. The Astra starts off harder with a more contained beam spread. You can always soften it. I often need more lights in small spaces so more contained is a better starting point. I think the Astra is actually a bit more than twice as bright as the Area 48.
 
I've just been in touch with the Danish dealers of both brands and the Astras are quite a lot cheaper here as well... however... I'm drawn a bit back by the build of the Astras, as my main concern would be to rent out the lights.

The Area 48s weigh in at 12.7 pounds when using the v-mount option and a dynacore battery with built-in charger.
Dunno how much less the Astras weigh with their battery option, but it's probably not much?

I'm not too concerned with the cardboard of the Area 48, I'm confident that they are using that for a reason.

In the currently shipping models of the Area 48 the barndoors come off if you want to. I didn't notice any rubberbands, but I wasn't checking.

As far as the accessories go, both brands are rediculous in price :) You could argue that you don't need to buy panels with the Astras, but then we can talk about cri and so on. The Area 48s keep their light intensity wether you use the daylight panel or the tungsten panel.

In the long run, I think the Area 48s will give me the least hazzle, so I'll probably be purchasing those over the LitePanels.
 
legrevedotcom said:
I've just been in touch with the Danish dealers of both brands and the Astras are quite a lot cheaper here as well... however... I'm drawn a bit back by the build of the Astras, as my main concern would be to rent out the lights.

The Area 48s weigh in at 12.7 pounds when using the v-mount option and a dynacore battery with built-in charger.
Dunno how much less the Astras weigh with their battery option, but it's probably not much?

I'm not too concerned with the cardboard of the Area 48, I'm confident that they are using that for a reason.

In the currently shipping models of the Area 48 the barndoors come off if you want to. I didn't notice any rubberbands, but I wasn't checking.

As far as the accessories go, both brands are rediculous in price :) You could argue that you don't need to buy panels with the Astras, but then we can talk about cri and so on. The Area 48s keep their light intensity wether you use the daylight panel or the tungsten panel.

In the long run, I think the Area 48s will give me the least hazzle, so I'll probably be purchasing those over the LitePanels.
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The Astras weigh 7 pounds each without a battery. The battery plates are negligible in weight - so the additional weight to run via a battery is really just a matter of the battery's weight. You will need larger, higher output batteries to run them at 100% power. I have found that with a smaller v-mount battery I can get ~90% of full power.

The battery plate is an accessory. Another accessory I'd recommend is the Opal Frost diffuser. If you want a softbox, both Area 48 and the Astra have a custom made softbox from the same manufacturer, Snapbag. I have not seen either but the Astra one runs about half the cost of the Area 48 one.

The Astras keep their light intensity very well. I have the bi-colors and you only lose ~1/3 of a stop on the Tungsten end vs. mixing the colors or full daylight.

The CRI/TLCI of the Astra appears to be what it is claimed to be. It's basically the same as the Area 48. The skin tones with the Astra feel much more full and lifelike than what I got with the 1st generation Litepanels 1x1's. There's a visible difference with the new lights.

From the front he Astras feel solid in that they have the aluminum core running top to bottom but the back of the Astra is plastic and feels plasticy. The knobs are plastic and the on/off switch punches in instead of being a rocker/toggle.
 
Thanks for sharing.... I couldnt tell you why but I prefer the Area 48s and just pushed the button on three panels. I really like their build, heavy or not.

Maybe I can do a little test to share...
 
So... I had a good long talk with one of the partners of BB & S and this gave me a lot better understanding of why they do as they do and why something as bundling power supplies with the lights is something I should talk to the retailer about and not BB & S.
Anyways, I had to go the cable route to ensure that my clients can use them with out relying on batteries and the duration of those. All in all I'm pretty happy with my purchase...

Right now, I'm doing a battery duration test or three Area 48 Soft running them at 60 / 80 / 100%. I'll post the results here for future reference.

About the build of the Area 48s..... well, it's amazing. Metal casing with nice finish. The v-lock system is just as solid and easy to attach / detach all though you could just leave it on all the time.
The quality of light is simply great.

Jon did a nice job of comparing the 1st gen Litepanels to the Astras... I think I might do an unbiased comparison between the 1st gen Litepanel, the Astra and the Area 48s when I have the time for it.

If you are considering to buy these lights, just be vary of writing down exactly what you need with these lights. Americans have several retailers that sell the lights with the PSU bundled in the price. This is not the case for most Europeans so you have to factor that in when doing your calculations.
I haven't gotten my bags yet as they are in back order, so I can't tell yet if they have a compartment for the colour panels. But I can say so much that you should consider finding a solution as I can easily see these panels getting scratched up, bent or broken, if not handled with care.
 
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Battery duration on Area 48 Soft with a 150w Dynacore 150dsi battery.

100%: 1 hour
80%: 1 hour and 10 minutes
60%: 2 hours

I didn't take into account that the batteries are all completely new and that some lighted up as full although might not have been completely full.
 
legrevedotcom said:
I haven't gotten my bags yet as they are in back order, so I can't tell yet if they have a compartment for the colour panels. But I can say so much that you should consider finding a solution as I can easily see these panels getting scratched up, bent or broken, if not handled with care.
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There's a pocket on the inside top section of the bag for your phosphor panels. Though I think the actual sleeve case for holding your spare phosphor panels is a separate item (unless bought in a kit).
 
Has anyone compared the Area 48/Cineo Maverick/Litepanel Astra together on skin in a video test yet?
 
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Going back to the whole Area 48 thing...

Seen from a rental point of view, it has turned out to be my worst investment so far. It's not that the lights are poorly made, but I think a lot of people here prefer to work with what they are used to.
Also I really really really dislike the idea that BBS is trying to promote with these lights; the whole "freedom of choice" bullshit. Basically, you have to empty your pockets to get the bare necessities all the way down to the type of power cord you want with the fixture.
While they try to promote this as freedom, I see it only as a way to make more money of the customers, and yes, good business for them, bad service for customers. I wish they would do region specific packages, so that we in Europe would get EU PSUs and the US people would get US PSU, INCLUDED IN THE PRICE.

The light quality is still pretty amazing, but in terms of output, they are still wanting. If I could go back, I would definitely look towards Aputure instead and check out the lightstorm fixtures. They seem to be a little more powerful.

So what those things in mind, I can't directly endorse Area 48 anymore, they are simply way too expensive compared to the competition.
 
I checked out both the Astra and the Area 48 at B&H in NY. I found with the Astra at about six feet from me with me looking off-axis to it (as if it was a key light for an interview) I could only put it at 20-30% before my eyes started to hurt, while I could put the Area 48 at 100%. Since the Astra is harsher it will be more harsh on the eyes, obviously, and that was my problem with it; that it needs to be punched though diffusion 9 times out of 10.

The thing that I mostly need is an LED that can be used for quick lighting setups for b-roll, so battery powered, good colors, etc. I feel like with the Astra you have to punch it through diffusion for it to look good and not be too harsh, while with the Area 48 I can use it bare, which greatly speeds up setup time and moving it around without needing to also move a light stand holding a large diffusion cloth.

For the 1 out of 10 times I do want a harsh light, an Astra may be nice to have, but hey, I've already got Fresnels for that, so maybe there wouldn't be much point to an Astra for how I work (which is mostly corporate, event, and doc, so soft lighting for me). Bi-color may be nice for some trade-show type shoots where the lighting changes from room to room and I don't want to carry panels around or need to be more precise in my Kelvin numbers than what the Area 48 panel Kelvin options provide.

I'm planning to invest in LED lighting (I'm all tungsten now) hopefully in the next 4-8 months, so am thinking two Area 48s, perhaps one Astra (or not), and two or three LED Fresnels such as the Kinotehnik Practilite 602 or Fiilex P360EX.


@legrevedotcom: Yeah, I doubt the Area 48 would work well as a rental only item. Litepanels are a much better known brand and I'd think brand name popularity is very important for rentals. I was on a shoot with a guy who owned a lighting rental company with perhaps a million dollars of lighting gear, and he'd never heard of the Area 48 before, and thus didn't think his clients would be interested in it. For me, I just need something that will work for my needs, so brand recognition isn't that important for my LED panels.
 
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