Black Friday Specials

Run&Gun said:
Only three reviews: One collected as part of a "promotion", one declaring it garbage, and the third the guy just bought it yesterday and probably has yet to lay eyes on it. Couple that with the price drop from $3K to $600 and red flags spring up in the air and you have to wonder. Are you getting the steal of the year or are they dumping junk while they can?
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My thoughts exactly (I edited my previous post). Could be that the features and looks are dated aren't what a consumer wants. The reviews could be missing because it was so over priced no one would buy it. One thing for sure when you buy something older and out of the norm you're taking a risk.
 
Peter C. said:
I saw an HP monitor on sale. I'm temped because its $2k monitor now only $699. I've decided against it because of its higher dci resolution it might not play well with a mac either leaving black bars or scale oddly.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1360365-REG/hp_z4y82a8_aba_z31x_31_1_dreamcolor_p3.html
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That would have been an instant buy for me had i seen it earlier (and if i didn’t buy an Eizo CG earlier this year, though, to your point, the Eizo is probably better suited to my current needs. But 31” 4K DCI would have been amazing. Will have to stand y for the OLED 48” LG i suppose)

But i am kind of glad i didn’t catch it before it got sold out.
 
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Peter C. said:
My thoughts exactly (I edited my previous post). Could be that the features and looks are dated aren't what a consumer wants. The reviews could be missing because it was so over priced no one would buy it. One thing for sure when you buy something older and out of the norm you're taking a risk.
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I know you said you need a computer sooner rather than later so this doesn't help, but if you didn't and you could wait then the money you've spent on the Mac Mini and the budget you said you have available for a monitor (around $1K I believe) would most likely get you a very nice M1 iMac in the future.

IMO, there is nothing better than one of those beautiful machines for people that spend a lot of time in front of larger screens.
 
ok i bought the impact kleenex kit. now it just says back-ordered, delivery estimate not available, so i guess a lot of other people did too. which gives me plenty of time to reconsider :)
 
oh btw hulu w/ads is on sale for $2/month for a year right now. (i guess they do that every year?) i snagged it because it's a churn-proof price, much as i hate ads.

the only problem is that now the marginal cost of disney+ for me is $10/month so I may never see the mandalorian...tho i guess we could binge it in a single month. i hear that spca types were pissed that baby yoda ate someone's eggs. but i haven't even seen season 1
 
Part of me thinks buying new clothes and watches are the thing to get during these fall sales, come out of lockdown with some fresh threads.
 
Oh, fashions come and go. But lenses are forever. Lenses are a girl's best friend. A lens in time saves nine. A lens in the hand is worth 2 in the Bush.

Plus, with a beautiful lens hanging around your neck, who will even notice what else you're wearing?
 
ahalpert said:
Oh, fashions come and go. But lenses are forever. Lenses are a girl's best friend. A lens in time saves nine. A lens in the hand is worth 2 in the Bush.

Plus, with a beautiful lens hanging around your neck, who will even notice what else you're wearing?
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What kind of fashions do you wear to work, that they go out of fashion in a year? Haha.
 
puredrifting said:
These are lower tier Chinese than Godox or Aputure. Not saying they are bad but they definitely aren't super desirable lights.
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Copy that!

I like the Forza 60 lites, but they are $300 a piece and require a $40 adapter for a full size Bowens mount, so, seeing these GVM's for $80 a piece and $10 off first order... That's less than a dollar per watt! tempting. But they'll likely have the sale again in the future, and I am pretty much all set.

But I am with you. I try to be more of a buy once cry once type. And go for minimal setups. I like having a 500W COB and a 60w COB, and a quasar bicolor tube. Everything else is practical and Home Depot, if I can help it. I'm still not commanding 18K HMI budgets.

I like using quasar cross fades as ambient room lights, and thinking about grabbing some old jo lekos, but those GVM's offer some compelling dollar to watt ratios for ambient fill.

Not hearing any fan noise, and it has good looking colour and has 0-99% dimming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slIeymLDS2I&feature=emb_title
 
ahalpert said:
What 500W COB do you use?
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Nanlite Forza 500.

Just absolutely over powers 90% of what I throw at it, leaving the Aputure 300Dii in the dark. Can be diffused to death and still kick. Absolutely silent, and can go for an hour at full bright on a block battery. Yes, please, and thank you.

Loking forawd to 800W and 1000W COB led's, but 500w LED's are already hot enough to melt things or maybe start fires. Use with care.
 
James0b57 said:
...but 500w LED's are already hot enough to melt things or maybe start fires. Use with care.
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Ah, so we're headed back to the Tungsten and HMI heat level days as far as the instruments, if not the ambient room heat levels? Funny, everything old is new again, lights than can melt
a Chimera like my Mighty Mole burned a hole through my Chimera Quartz Pro back in the early 2000s. Sent it to Chimera and they patched it up as good as new. I did a shoot with a rep from FLIR
once, I asked him to point his FLIR gun at one of my Totas and it's surface temp on the body was almost 500F! We didn't use lights back then, we used space heaters that glowed and gave
off some light!
 
Oh, looks like Nanlite introduced a verrrrry interesting new DAYLIGHT COB. The FS200, not to be confused with their Forza 200.

Internal ballast, so I can't imagine the head would be silent, but could be great as an auxiliary light from a further distance. Also those Forza 60 lights keep becoming more mighty, as they have the most diverse accessories for their size. Also great output for their size. They rival the original Aputure 120D in output.

The FS200 is $370 and has wireless control.
https://www.cined.com/nanlite-fs-200-compact-all-in-one-led-light-announced/
 
puredrifting said:
Ah, so we're headed back to the Tungsten and HMI heat level days as far as the instruments, if not the ambient room heat levels? Funny, everything old is new again, lights than can melt
a Chimera like my Mighty Mole burned a hole through my Chimera Quartz Pro back in the early 2000s. Sent it to Chimera and they patched it up as good as new. I did a shoot with a rep from FLIR
once, I asked him to point his FLIR gun at one of my Totas and it's surface temp on the body was almost 500F! We didn't use lights back then, we used space heaters that glowed and gave
off some light!
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Still isn't the radiating heat of a joker 800, but if put a gel close enough to any COB and they can do some damage.

500w COB is still more or less a cool light, but at close range the element can burn.

I melted a gel on the Aputure 120D when I got it too close to the COB chip. Moved it back a few inches, and was fine. 500w just ups the ante a little. Best not to drape things on the reflector or put things too close to the business end. Also, I'd rather look at the sun than a 500w COB at close range.
 
James0b57 said:
Speaking of cheap COB lights, this is a BOGO
https://www.gvmled.com/products/cop...Y8s3UmMWcNR5INYWj-Z-LyCqT5iXeq0nwQlX-GXClEnKA

80w little kickers with native bowens mount is not too shabby, but i have no experience with these lights or this brand
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Yeah, this brand is definitely a major step down from some of the other Chinese products. At this level, I'm not sure I understand the point for any working pro who is billing their client for real, unless you have a situation where you need A LOT of small fixtures and quantity (in lockstep with total budget) is more important than the quality of each fixture.

The other use is for folks just starting out.

I had my hands on a motorized slider from that brand and it had to be sent right back. Too many issues.

One of the most important things with LED fixtures is stability of color. Even if it starts reasonably solid, if it's going to drift a lot over time, how can you use that for professional work? Just not worth the few bucks saved, IMO, at least not among folks who are on this forum posting about the pros and cons of Komodo vs FX6 vs C70 vs xyz. ; )
 
ozmorphasis said:
Yeah, this brand is definitely a major step down from some of the other Chinese products. At this level, I'm not sure I understand the point for any working pro who is billing their client for real, unless you have a situation where you need A LOT of small fixtures and quantity (in lockstep with total budget) is more important than the quality of each fixture.

The other use is for folks just starting out.

I had my hands on a motorized slider from that brand and it had to be sent right back. Too many issues.

One of the most important things with LED fixtures is stability of color. Even if it starts reasonably solid, if it's going to drift a lot over time, how can you use that for professional work? Just not worth the few bucks saved, IMO, at least not among folks who are on this forum posting about the pros and cons of Komodo vs FX6 vs C70 vs xyz. ; )
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I was thinking these as supplemental lights, not as mains. Like trying to light up a larger room on a budget, seems they have higher Cir that the Home Depot variant, while being similarly priced, but to your POINT, if they break or completely suck, the what's the POINT?

Not that I just learned about the FS200 by Nanlite, I may be leaning that way, much more expensive comparatively, but also still affordable. And not having a ballast or power supply means they are perfect for supplemental lights that are less hassle to set up quickly.

But I was think the GVM's might be good for the indie indie indie peops. AS those lights for lighting up the back ground and less mission critical things. IDK. They'll probably break in a few months and end up costing you more in the long run.


Ah, you guys are right.
 
puredrifting said:
I did a shoot with a rep from FLIR once, I asked him to point his FLIR gun at one of my Totas and it's surface temp on the body was almost 500F!
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Slight tangent: Cool! They are one of my major clients.

James, as a user of the Forza 500, what do you think about that Clar 500w light that Adorama is offering for $700? Any red flags? I have been going back and forth on it for the last several days. It's either that, or two Godox VL300s. Or, just stick with my pair of 575w HMI pars (not dimmable, a little noisy, and lower CRI than I would like -- but paid for and pretty powerful).
 
QuickHitRecord said:
Slight tangent: Cool! They are one of my major clients.

James, as a user of the Forza 500, what do you think about that Clar 500w light that Adorama is offering for $700? Any red flags? I have been going back and forth on it for the last several days. It's either that, or two Godox VL300s. Or, just stick with my pair of 575w HMI pars (not dimmable, a little noisy, and lower CRI than I would like -- but paid for and pretty powerful).
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Fan noise might be the main red flag of the Clar 500w. You may be able to replace the fans with something more quiet if you are handy.

The HMI tends to have cleaner cut and sharper shadow when you need it, but the Cooler operating temps, the dimming and wireless control on LED cob is difficult to pass on.

That’s a tough one.

You could wait till bi-colour cob gets more powerful.
 
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