Flexible Led panels Cineroid or Westcott

A

arturrito

Well-known member
Hi folks trying to find right Led flexible panel, as lightweight as possible, (one man crew) accurate color and strong output to corporate interviews, mainly indoors.
Anyone test them? cineroid FL400/800 S or Wetscott Flex?
thanks!
 
Flexible panels is a bit of a mixed bag. They are light and flexible put also involves more parts to put together. A solid panel provides faster setup times and less clutter. But I've used Aladdin bi-flex panels for years now and they have the best colour I've seen from any LED panel so far. Currently I have two M7 panels which at the moment has the best size/light output ratio. Compared to other flexible panels the dimmer is small.
 
I have a pair of Aladdin’s Bi Flex 2 (1x2’) panels that I love. AFAIK the actual LEDs were exactly the same as Westcott’s, but have different ‘ballasts’, cables, softboxes, etc. Back when I bought-in Aladdin was clearly the better choice, but since then Westcott has upped their game, & I wouldn’t hesitate adding them to my kit.

You’d be hard pressed to find any lamp, not just LED, with better color.

Biggest downside of any Flex panel is the extra time they take to build, & breakdown. On the flip side they’re extremely easy to transport, & rig with lightweight G&E, plus they don’t have fans.
 
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Wescott are très expensive IMO. There's a new crop of 1X2 and 1X3 LED mats that are really inexpensive and to my eye, have very good if not perfect chroma. They're dimmable, come with remotes, and can be battery powered (24VDC). Look for them on amazon.com. I currently have 4 of these and am probably going to build a case for them so I don't have to build & break down for non travel work.
 
I've worked with the less expensive panels like Swit and they look okay but I dislike the huge dimmers.
 
J.Brown said:
I've worked with the less expensive panels like Swit and they look okay but I dislike the huge dimmers.
Click to expand...

That's one of my gripes with Intellytech. I have two of their LC-160 2x2's(fold to 1x1). They're bi-color, look good on-camera and have lots of output, but the control unit and A/C power supply are F'n ridiculous. That and I can have at least two (if not 3-4) Astra's out on stands with Chimera's on them in the time it takes to build just one of their lights up. I like the idea of collapsible/foldable lights, it's just that in practice and execution it's falling a little short.

Im actually surprised that no one has gone the route that Chimera has with some of their softboxes with internal collapsible frames. The frame rails are essentially 'slap bracelets' from the 80's. Kinda genius, if you ask me.
 
Astra panels are fast to setup, even with a softbox, but they are also prone to break often in my experience.
 
really useful advices folks, yeah, flexible panels are great but they has a lot of cumbersome add-ons (ballasts, dimmers) so, trying to find a route with another ratio time-fold-unfold-mounting-cri-output !
 
I would never purchase Astra panels myself as they are so unreliable. Just before christmas I had a panel with trouble powering from V-locks.
 
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