Multi colour lights?

B

bob'slaststand

Member
There’s some pretty amazing budget LED lights about these days. Right now I’m trying to find a light that can change colour through the full spectrum, red, green, blue etc and I’m looking for any advice. Anyone come across any panels like this? Anything anyone’s spotted lately would be welcome but especially some lights where you can dial the colour in.
 
Here's are the ones I've heard of.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...rc_viola_5_viola_5_multi_color_on_camera.html
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...uo_yn360_ii_flash_speedlite_yn_460ii_for.html

Also I've been playing with RGBAW pars lately and some of them are pretty impressive but you have to be careful and many of them require a DMX system to run. I just did an install with 13 Chauvet SlimPar H RGBAW lights. They have 1.2KHz PWM which isn't high but have no fan and work for most common shutter speeds. But if you don't need high speed they are like cheap mini digital sputniks.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1226926-REG/chauvet_slimparprohusb_slimpar_pro_h_usb.html

American DJ has their 12P HEX which is the same price but has higher PWM and is a bit brighter but isn't fanless and seems like a less reputable brand. There are plenty of other similar pars for cheaper but its hard to find one that isn't flicker free at the right framerates.

Frankly I think there is also a lot of promise in RGBW strips but the controllers/drivers are pretty limited, they all either have <500hz PWM which flickers at some common shutter speeds, and the ones with really good PWM frequencies are expensive and require dmx control which can be tough in the field. Still playing around with making a big bright RGBW blanketlight but there isn't an easy way that doesn't require expensive DMX equipment or have flicker problems yet.
 
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Hi nyvz, thanks for the help. I was looking at the strips too but I have to stop DIY'ing, so many half finished projects on it's daft. These ones from Hive Kickstarter I found on the NAB coverage look nice, just under $1000 though which is pushing past my budget really:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...ighting_hivewls1ckit_wasp_100_c_led_spot.html

I was sure I remembered seeing some panels that have just been release too, I though they were from Aputure but cant find anything like that on their site.

There was some flexible panels I saw also but I remember them being very expensive and I've no real yearning for flexible lights, maybe I don't know what I'm missing.
 
If you want quality RBG ribbon, Litegear has it: http://www.litegear.com/product/led-literibbon/chroma-literibbon-led/

The go-to right now for RGB washes is the Arri Skypanel, and the Sputniks are starting to get popular. I've been using a Zylight IS3 for about 8 years now, it was the grandaddy of cine-friendly RGB but got very little attention! They have smaller units as well.

It is important to stay away from the budget/consumer RGB stuff as it will kill you with certain shutter speeds/framerates/dim levels. I'm still hoping we will get a version of the E23 bulb (Philips Hue etc) that is actually usable--I got burned once or twice with those.
 
Yes the lighting forum, that was a bit daft, I didn't spot it when scanning through. Read through the hive thread and it looks interesting. Arri Skypanel, this is exactly what I want, but for a few hundred quid.
 
I recently bought three Zylight Z90 RGB LEDs. They were discontinued so are only available used now. I'm finding them great for using as quick and simple colored background kicker lights. I'd say preferable over a similarly powered panel light as they're smaller and you can use barn doors to shape the light.

I also bought the wireless remote control to use with them, though a phone ap for control is preferable to me. The Luxli Viola 5" has my interest because of the ap control.

Yongnuo also has the Yongnuo YN600 RGB panel which I've thought of picking up.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1302098-REG/yongnuo_yn600grb_yn_600grb_led_video_light.html
 
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There nice those Zylight Z90s, look like tough little things. I'd like to find something with a bit more power but certainly worth keeping an eye on eBay for.
 
Not sure why the Zylights never caught on as big as I thought they would when I first saw them..they are the "grandaddy" as Charles put it - just always wished those Z90's put out more lumens.
I haven't gotten to use my 100-C's as much as I would like - but for the OP - you can certainly "dial in" the color you want very easily on them. And the app to control the light is pretty user friendly. But they aren't panels and not sure $1k is "budget".
 
Given the relaxed requirements on colour quality this ought to be reasonably easy to DIY, although watch out: most RGB(W) LED strip is common anode, which is not really usable with commonly-available DC-to-DC converters for flicker-free dimming. Possibly better to get red, green and blue strips and stick 'em side by side. In most circumstances, the limitation is not your ability to cram more emitters into a smaller area, the limitation is cooling. It's possible to make a foot-square panel that will push 75-100W reasonably reliably this way. It won't quite have the power efficiency of a more properly-designed device, as it's resistively-ballasted, but it will give you coloured light if that's what you need.

I think Skypanels in general, not just the RGB ones, are very big, very heavy, and very expensive. I base that on something like the Cineo HS series. They don't do full colour mixing, but I wish they did. Not only are they cheaper (Cineo HS, £2432 vs Skypanel S60-RP, £3068), a Cineo HSX is about the same weight with its power supply as the Skypanel is, excluding its separate power supply.

Come on, Cineo, where's the RGB?!

Zylight, too, is another very well engineered if somewhat premium product. We almost never see Cineo or Zylight in the UK, but it's available.

P
 
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