Flolight's new Microbeam 512

M

meauounji

Well-known member
Flolight claim an astonishing (to me) CRI of 93 while outputting 730 lux at 9'. For comparison, litepanels 1x1 claims output of 560 lux at 8'. Coollights claim 1500 lux at 6' for their spot model, but they're actually honest and open about their CRI, which is 80.

Is this a bunch of crap? Flolight can get a high CRI AND high output AND keep prices low?
 
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Output power isn't what I'm questioning. It's the combination of high output and high CRI that I'm calling fib on.
 
I was one of the main ones calling them on this type of misinformation when the LED 500 first came out. They called it "CRI 90" back then in the specs on their product page. Many around the web referred to the fixture as "a bit" or "a lot" green biased in output. How can you have a fixture that's CRI 90 but its got visible green in the output? Not possible, that's an easy call. Then they changed their page specs (no doubt from all the pressure) to read "High CRI" which could mean anything. Now they're saying CRI 93--prove it.

If the color temperature of the panels is really 5600K or so, its not going to be 93. You just can't do decent CRI 5mm LEDs at this point in single color temp LEDs at 5600K.

Now if its 8000K or so, perhaps CRI can be higher but not 93. Bi-color leds will get you to 90. RGB may well get you to above 90 but that kind of a panel doesn't have great output.

And yes, High CRI and High output doesn't add up. Can't have both without adding more LEDs then you'd need normally.
 
Those Flolights LED's SUUUUUUUUUCK.

Run. Run Far Far Away.

Don't waste your money.

The idea of LED's is cool...but I'm not super stoked with anything on the market just yet... Former CL-600 owner, sometime LitePanel User...

Looking forward to seeing what Richard does in Higher CRI LED panels.

I've decided that CRI is one of my most important factors in owning a light now.

Richard - do your Flo systems have higher CRI than the CL-600s, or can I get bulbs for them that have 90 or higher CRI?
Thanks!
 
Our current flo tubes are all 90. Information on the site is just older and hasn't been updated in a while. 90 is good enough for anything.
 
I just got a pair of Microbeam 512's and took them out on a shoot. They are excellent actually. I turned off the tungsten house lights and lit an interview using the window and the two Flolights, it came out beautiful. They are small. lightweight, and very bright. Sturdy construction as well. On the negative side, it took them 14 days to deliver them to my door. I had to call them, and find out that they were back ordered. They don't come with Barn Doors anymore either. But the gel frame seems cool, i just haven't used it yet. Overall, it's a good buy for $1,000. (2 lights, 2 stands, 3 bags.)
 
Richard, what brand of biax replacement lamps would you suggest. I have several Osrams now and when mixing with daylight Kino flo there is a noticeable green shift.
 
I have had horrible experience with FloLights and their products.

One of their LED 500s was advertised as 5600k and it was 4300k, (totally GREEN) and they refused to replace it.

Bad products, bad customer service, I am sticking with CoolLights.
 
phudsontx said:
Richard, what brand of biax replacement lamps would you suggest. I have several Osrams now and when mixing with daylight Kino flo there is a noticeable green shift.
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Paul, if you mean the Osram 7xx or 8xx series then thats a lower CRI and may indeed not mix well with other sources in general. Try the 9xx series Osrams, our tubes, G.E. Studioline, Kino, or anything with CRI 90 or above should be fine.
 
I own four Flolights (1024, 2 x 512, and a 128) and like them a lot. The older generation, which I tested last year, was extremely green. Did not want it. The new version still has a slight amount of green but is usable with or without a 1/8 Magenta gel (Rosco 3317). The 1/8 gets me right on target according to a Minolta IIIF, but it's a rental and I can't speak to its calibration. My gut says that if a 1/16 Magenta existed, it would be perfect. There are pros and cons.

Cons:
- There is an off-color halo around the beam edge, noticeable when lighting a flat surface like a wall. I always use a 216 gel over the light anyway to flood it and make it easier on the talents' eyes, and that totally eliminates the halo.
- Though not crucial, a 1/8 Magenta (Minus-green) gel is recommended.
- Not a very robust light. Metal frame, but I had to get my 1024 replaced because UPS handling was rough enough to cause an LED row to go dead.
- Not all of their lights will be a total match in color temp. My 1024 was a few hundred K below the 512s, but customer service is switching it out for me.
- I own a barndoor for it, but it's worthless, and Flolight is the first to tell you that. If you need to shape the light, you'll need flags.

Pros:
- My 512s are coming in right around 5600K, plus or minus 100K. In fact, with the 216 gel (which actually shifts the light slightly to orange) and 1/8 Magenta, it is a dead match to daylight. It's even close enough to my Arri tungsten + full CTB gel to be used together (see photo).
- It is much brighter than a Lite Panel 1x1. I saw them side by side at my local rental shop and tested them with the sales guy. Even with a 216 gel on, the Flolights are brighter, and were closer to 5600K.
- V-mount battery option. Useful in a pinch.
- The usual great benefits of LEDs: ridiculously low power consumption, doesn't get hot, dimmable 0-100%, easy and fast to set up, etc.
- Customer service. I've heard mixed stories, but I've been dealing with Chuck Majewski there and he has been aces.

Conclusion: I use these primarily for interviews, and they work great. Certainly they're not perfect, but I'm OK with the gel hoops I have to jump through, that's well worth the many benefits. I simply keep a 216 and 1/8 Magenta in there constantly and don't think about it. To make the gel stay put, I took the 216 to Kinkos and ran it through their laminator to make it hard; it actually bought me back some light intensity, and the Kelvin shift was negligible (I think <50K). I stack anything else needed (magenta, CTO, etc.) behind it.

The photos below can also be seen on my website at http://www.image-generation.com/led. The screengrab with the older gentleman was shot WITHOUT a magenta filter. One 512 key and one 512 kicker (bg is natural daylight). In post I actually took out a slight amount of red because he had a reddish face. So if anything, there's more green now than when shot. The man with the white bg has had no color correction beyond evening the background brightness level and a slight overall contrast curve. Background was lit with Arri tungsten gelled with full CTB. Man was lit with four Flolights (key, fill, kicker, hairlight), all with 216 and 1/8 magenta. The photo of the light set up has not been color corrected at all.
 

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I just today got 2 of the Flolight 1024 units and I pretty much agree with the assessment regarding the color. In fact, these things make the strangest colored white light, so I'd advise not pointing these at anything directly, but instead either bounce them or aim them through some diffusion, yes with 1/8 minus green at least. I see a little blue in these, so I plan to use them with 1/8 cto and 1/8 minus green.
 
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