Litepanels Astra 6X Bi-color screamin' deal $949 - Free ship!

Likewise itching for my damned paycheck to come in so I can pull the trigger on a pair. I missed the last time they were down this low, just barely.
 
Not wanting to be the rain cloud over the parade(and everyone knows I love the light quality of the Astra's and LP in general), but LP still appears to have issues with the Astra's. I'm about to send my two 6x units, that are less than a year old, back for repair, because they are exhibiting the same issues that two of my four 4x units did last year(bad power boards). That is FOUR of SIX Astra's with power board issues. 50% of my 4x and 100% of my 6x units with (apparently)the same problem. Is it a design issue or a poorly manufactured part issue?

They're still under warranty, but it is such a PITA having to pull them out of service, ship them off and then deal with Vitec(what's the use of registering them with Vitec/LP if you still have to jump through 27 hoops to prove to them they're under warranty?). And if I'm lucky, I'll have them back in a month.
 
Run&Gun said:
Not wanting to be the rain cloud over the parade(and everyone knows I love the light quality of the Astra's and LP in general), but LP still appears to have issues with the Astra's. I'm about to send my two 6x units, that are less than a year old, back for repair, because they are exhibiting the same issues that two of my four 4x units did last year(bad power boards). That is FOUR of SIX Astra's with power board issues. 50% of my 4x and 100% of my 6x units with (apparently)the same problem. Is it a design issue or a poorly manufactured part issue?

They're still under warranty, but it is such a PITA having to pull them out of service, ship them off and then deal with Vitec(what's the use of registering them with Vitec/LP if you still have to jump through 27 hoops to prove to them they're under warranty?). And if I'm lucky, I'll have them back in a month.
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That too bad, they are such great lights but it can be a nightmare if reliability is a compromise. Are there any competitors that might be more reliable in that range Run&Gun? I've read about the Lupos, they make some interesting panels. Perosnally, I would like the get the Aputure 120d II to go with my two Lightstorm LS-1S panels. That Briese knock off light bank that Aputure makes and sells looks amazing. It's deep, round catchlights and supposedly Aputure fixed their convoluted AC cable to power supply to control box to back of light cabling that works but is a PITA to setup and break down. Having an LED fresnel would be nice too, you can only do so much with big blobs of soft light from panels.
 
puredrifting said:
That too bad, they are such great lights but it can be a nightmare if reliability is a compromise. Are there any competitors that might be more reliable in that range Run&Gun? I've read about the Lupos, they make some interesting panels. Perosnally, I would like the get the Aputure 120d II to go with my two Lightstorm LS-1S panels. That Briese knock off light bank that Aputure makes and sells looks amazing. It's deep, round catchlights and supposedly Aputure fixed their convoluted AC cable to power supply to control box to back of light cabling that works but is a PITA to setup and break down. Having an LED fresnel would be nice too, you can only do so much with big blobs of soft light from panels.
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Several friends with Dracast units. And I actually picked up a couple of the round ones last year on a B&H flash sale. But I feel pretty locked-in with LP. I'm a stickler for my lights matching, which is why I generally stick to using the same brand when they're going on people. LED's are getting much better and a lot of your more mainstream brands are pretty darn close to each other on-cam-if not virtually indistinguishable, but I still like to avoid mixing & matching on faces when I can avoid it. At least with key and fill. Hair lights/edgers you can get away with usually, because they're going to look different anyway, even from the same model fixture.

I actually looked at the (numerous!) Dracast panels really hard a few years ago when I started adding LED panels hot & heavy, but they just didn't have the power/output of the Astra's. But maybe that's the achilles of the Astra's... Maybe LP is driving them too hard and the components, like the power boards that seem to go out on everyone, just can't take it.
 
I have a bunch of dracast lights and like them a lot. I also have two 6x astras and the astras win when it comes to output for sure. So the astras are my main lights now due to the available horsepower when you need it. I like pretty much everything else better about dracast though. The stories I've heard about the astra reliability concern me. I hope mine don't so the same thing.
 
Bit of a derail here but does anyone know anything about these Dracast 728 RGB units? They're $300 (on sale now for $270). Can't find a thing about them online. B&H listing has ONE review. So only one guy, ever, bought this thing?
 
Tempted to buy one of these sale lights, just so I have a full Astra set while I send one back to Vitec (FOR A SECOND TIME) to fix it.
 
Run&Gun said:
Not wanting to be the rain cloud over the parade(and everyone knows I love the light quality of the Astra's and LP in general), but LP still appears to have issues with the Astra's. I'm about to send my two 6x units, that are less than a year old, back for repair, because they are exhibiting the same issues that two of my four 4x units did last year(bad power boards). That is FOUR of SIX Astra's with power board issues. 50% of my 4x and 100% of my 6x units with (apparently)the same problem. Is it a design issue or a poorly manufactured part issue?

They're still under warranty, but it is such a PITA having to pull them out of service, ship them off and then deal with Vitec(what's the use of registering them with Vitec/LP if you still have to jump through 27 hoops to prove to them they're under warranty?). And if I'm lucky, I'll have them back in a month.
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Damn man, that's too bad! I have four of the 6X units and have zero problems. I had heard that the previous series (OG, 4X) had some issues but apparently they redesigned the power boards for the 6X series, so this may be more a case of bad luck than anything else. Hope you get 'em up and running soon. Even at the full sale price, I haven't seen anything even close to weight, output and color quality when it comes to 1X panels. Pairing them with a brick and a snapbag is super helpful for run 'n gun work.

Anecdote: I have two friends who use Dracast and they are both selling off to swap for these. I borrowed a set for a shoot recently when I didn't have my lights hoping to use it as a subtle fill in a shaded outdoor area but even a few inches away, they added nothing. The Astras work great for this purpose.
 
puredrifting said:
Having an LED fresnel would be nice too, you can only do so much with big blobs of soft light from panels.
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Unless you're talking about the Astra Soft, the light from the Astra 6X is actually pretty hard and punchy. Unless I'm outside in a shady area, using it to fill, I always bounce or put the Snapbag on it. Certainly not as hard or shapable as a fresnel but I wouldn't describe it as a "blob of soft light". That's how I'd describe a Kino, Quasar or Litemat.
 
On a semi-related note, and without wishing to hijack the thread, would a new Litepanels Astra (935-1003, the preceding model), for 400 euros ex-VAT, new, and from a reputable online retailer, be considered good value? Any downsides?

Thanks in advance for any input!
 
I see the astra soft is now down to $1010 with a c stand. I've been curious about this light for a while.

How many of you guys shine your astras through a scrim or diffusion? Is the soft version soft enough to bypas diffusion? I know it's not as bright as the 6x, but after you diffuse the 6x, it isn't as bright as it was either
 
traviswears said:
Wanted to throw this out there for anyone who is interested in picking up some of the new Astras. I personally own 4 of these units and at least 2 of them come on every project! I don't get any commission on this, just wanting to share!

https://www.adorama.com/lpas6bc.html?emailprice=t&utm_source=rflaid913830
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Seeing as just about any Astra 6x owner is going to want the softbox, this might be an even better deal:

https://www.adorama.com/lpas6bch.html

I've had no issue with the Astra 6x I own. But I've only used it around 20 times. I considered getting the Astra soft because I've seen it in person and it has a lovely soft quality of light, but the versatility of the 6x w/softbox made me go with a second 6x. I felt that if I got the Astra Soft I'd regret not having the punch that the 6x has, especially for lighting reporter stand-ups in full sun.

If your jaw hit the floor when you learned that the Litepanel brand softbox for the Astra retails for $265.00, don't look at the price of the fabric grid for that softbox. ( It's a whopping $250.00 retail. The softbox & grid combo retailing for $515.00 on top of the price of the Astra. )
 
I actually just returned the Astra soft (bought it before the sale) because I need something brighter. How much brighter is the 6x with the soft box on it?
I was thinking about doing a set of 3 aputure 120dii's instead, but now I'm on the fence (3 120dii's or 3 Astras)
 
I think the Astra 6X is a much better deal than the soft. You can always "soften" a light by bouncing or using diffusion but you can't make a soft light brighter or "harder". I would stick with the 6X. I own 4.
 
anthonyfurl said:
I actually just returned the Astra soft (bought it before the sale) because I need something brighter. How much brighter is the 6x with the soft box on it?
I was thinking about doing a set of 3 aputure 120dii's instead, but now I'm on the fence (3 120dii's or 3 Astras)
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Those are pretty different products. Personally, I prefer Litepanels. I don't like the separate ballast and would prefer having the color knob of the bi-color, as it's very helpful to be able to go 4300k quickly in an office, etc...

As far as how much brighter? That is a tough question to answer without context.

Are the lights equidistant from your subject, what kind of beam angle is more helpful for the kind of work you do? Is there diffusion on either, and if so, which product? For me, I want the brightest possible source and then I'll use distance, intensity and modifiers to shape it to my needs. If you want to go 4300k or 3200k with your Aputures, you're instantly losing a lot of output. You lose nothing with the Astra.
 
traviswears said:
If you want to go 4300k or 3200k with your Aputures, you're instantly losing a lot of output. You lose nothing with the Astra.
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We've discussed this before. With every bi color light I've used the output drops significantly as you go between daylight and tungsten color and it's only it's brightest somewhere in the midde. For instance my Dracast are brightest around 4100. But go to 3200 or 5600 and there is a big drop in output. So if you want the birghtest daylight color you need to buy the daylight only version. But somehow not the case much with the Astra. The specs show the bi color version being almost as bright as the daylight only version. Don't know how they do that. Maybe have white LEDs that also light to keep the output bright through the entire range?
 
traviswears said:
I think the Astra 6X is a much better deal than the soft. You can always "soften" a light by bouncing or using diffusion but you can't make a soft light brighter or "harder". I would stick with the 6X. I own 4.
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The Astra soft is brighter than the 6x with comparable diffusion, i.e. where all of the dots disappear as you look at the unit, but that is a complicated comparison to make. You can use lighter diffusion on the 6x to where the dots are still visible but the projected effect of the light will be virtually the same.

I went with the soft version because I use it for a very specific application, which is as a fill or eyelight to pop individuals in a given scene. I don't have the snapbag for it, I have the four honeycomb grids to be able to dial in the spread for a given shot. It is a truly fantastic way to help balance out tones (like a darker skinned subject further from the key than a lighter skinned subject) without needing cutters. It's almost like a soft Leko!
 
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