New fixtures: SoftPanels

Yeah, Matt's test impressed me and now I'm sitting on the fence as well....:undecided
I do think the output of the 2x3 in that test is in a different league compared to the LM 4. So perhaps - if you need lumens - then rigid frame. If you need flexibility in mounting/velcroing - then LM or Wescott ??
 
I think if I'm honest with myself a good strong soft light on a stand as a key for interviews and beauty or product stuff is probably my usual use rather than rigging sources overhead or into cars etc. I'd probably lean towards the Wescott flex down the road if I do fine myself needing to tape a light places and hide it but for right now I think light quality and quantity wins for me. Especially with more power I can still add additional diffusion to get a larger softer source if needed or move it right up close to try and hold a window.

53hrs to decide.
 
FrameFarmMedia said:
I ended up backing the kickstarter for a 2x3 panel. 300w of color acurate soft light will be a nice tool to add to the kit.
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I am really on the fence about this! I love the size and intensity but 30lbs and it needs 2-vmount bricks to operate and for how long?!

The new F&V Z800S looks pretty interesting but I do love the color results from Matt's test...less than a day to decide!
 
traviswears said:
I am really on the fence about this! I love the size and intensity but 30lbs and it needs 2-vmount bricks to operate and for how long?!

The new F&V Z800S looks pretty interesting but I do love the color results from Matt's test...less than a day to decide!
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The weight had me looking towards the LiteMat4 but I really liked the appeal of 300W of LED power and once the independent colour reviews came in I was sold. The double battery is the price you pay for the extra power. In the end I opted for the more powerful light as it gives me more flexibility like firing the 2x3 through a 4x4 light diffusion for a book light in tight spaces. Also with it being soft I can get it up close without having to further diffuse in order to hold highlights in office windows on a nice day.
 
FrameFarmMedia said:
In the end I opted for the more powerful light as it gives me more flexibility like firing the 2x3 through a 4x4 light diffusion for a book light in tight spaces.
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Splitting hairs to some degree--a book light is an instrument pushed into a bounce with diffusion in front of it, so unless you meant that you would bounce the 2x3 first...

With today's faster cameras, it is indeed possible to use an LED instrument within a booklight though. A couple of times lately I've used a Cineo into 8x8 ultrabounce with an 8x8 light grid in front for soft key/fill at 2000EI. Works even better than a traditional open face tungsten unit because it has more uniform spread, so you can make a flatter book light for tight spaces (and also dims without color shift).

After some deliberation, I've gone in for a 3x4 Softpanel myself.
 
Yes I meant bounce through diffusion. Typing faster than my brain is working.

Larger watt LED soft sources have a
lot of appeal especially when shooting on locations with old wiring or limited outlets.
 
Haha, yes I know the feeling.

Given the right diffusion (129, maybe 216), you wouldn't even need the bounce to smoothly fill a 4x4 with a 2x3 panel, saving a step and increasing output, although you need a bit more physical depth for the setup.
 
FrameFarmMedia said:
The weight had me looking towards the LiteMat4 but I really liked the appeal of 300W of LED power and once the independent colour reviews came in I was sold. The double battery is the price you pay for the extra power.
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For sure. I emailed Kevin twice asking how long I could run the 2x3 on the double v-mount setup and though he did reply, he didn't answer my question either time. I want to be able to run this off a battery, so holding off until I can figure it out. If it's 15-30 minute run time w/two batteries that won't work for me.

EDIT: Third time's the charm. 1hr on the 1x2 and 40 minutes w/both batteries on the 2x3.
 
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The 2x3 is a 300 watt max power draw. So if you have two 190w AB batteries, you'd get about 1.27 hours (1 hr 16 minutes) at full power. With 90w batteries, as he said, about 40 minutes (or more like 36 minutes by my calculations).


I'd probably prefer a Cineo HSX or Arri Skypanel over the SoftPanel 2x3 as the former are 400w and 450w, and are around the same weight, and smaller size (which is good and bad; I often prefer smaller sizes for one-man-band work which I can then diffuse).

Charles, I've read you using the Cineo lights and you seem to like them. I don't recall seeing you mention an opinion on the Arri Skypanels. What are your thoughts?


The 4x3 is appealing to me with a large source and powerful 600w power draw, but I'm not sure it's practical for me as it'd be a tough fit in my SUV crossover with all my other gear, and seems a bit too much for one-man-band work which is a lot of what I do. Would be nice to have for occasional bigger shoots I do or lighting larger rooms, and perhaps I'll buy a larger van at some point down the road.
 
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Eric Coughlin said:
The 2x3 is a 300 watt max power draw. So if you have two 190w AB batteries, you'd get about 1.27 hours (1 hr 16 minutes) at full power. With 90w batteries, as he said, about 40 minutes (or more like 36 minutes by my calculations).
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I specifically asked him about 150wh bricks.

Until the light is out and tested in real world scenarios, I'll take Kevin's word on the 40-45 minute runtime. After all...he created this light! :)
 
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The Softpanels 2x3 is pretty much an Arri Skypanel with a better spectrum at a fraction of the cost. After watching Matt Hayslett's comparison of the softpanels vs Skypanel I don't see why you would go with the Skypanel other than name recognition for rentals
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In the comments Matt also commented that the Softpanel was brighter also because the Skypanel's colour shifted above 90%.
 
Eric Coughlin said:
Charles, I've read you using the Cineo lights and you seem to like them. I don't recall seeing you mention an opinion on the Arri Skypanels. What are your thoughts?


The 4x3 is appealing to me with a large source and powerful 600w power draw, but I'm not sure it's practical for me as it'd be a tough fit in my SUV crossover with all my other gear, and seems a bit too much for one-man-band work which is a lot of what I do. Would be nice to have for occasional bigger shoots I do or lighting larger rooms, and perhaps I'll buy a larger van at some point down the road.
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Yes, I like the Cineos for their punch and clean color rendition. I used a whole run of them on an 80 ft translight on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, because we could dim up and down without affecting color, and they run cooler than usual cyc lights.

The Skypanels are a nice instrument. I primarily use them for the RGB application. In the midst of shooting a nightclub set, and it is super-helpful to be able to dial in colors without screwing around with gel, so that has become my color key or fill through 4x4 diffusion or larger. I still have my trusty Zylight IS3 which was wayyyy ahead of the time, having the same capability 5 years ago! In terms of output and certainly white light accuracy, it is a dated unit, but for color wash still quite handy. It's very interesting to read Matt's findings comparing the spectral output of the Softpanels vs the Skypanels.

Certainly my qualifications are very different than many here because these days I rarely if ever have to deal with the shlep factor, how much room one has in an SUV or van or on a one-man band cart. Very occasionally I'll do a smaller shoot for a friend or myself and then it all becomes a different beast!! I like to have a few personally owned lights for such moments but have been slowly turning over that inventory to newer units.

Old gear (10+ years)
two Arri kits with (3) 300 fresnel, (2) 600w open face, (2) 650 fresnel and (1) 1K fresnel.
Gyoury light kit with two fixtures (similar to Diva 200's)
tota with chimera

Somewhat newer gear:
Zylight IS3
Zylight Z90

Newest gear:
(2) Dracast 2000 bicolor old style (bought on sale, retrofitted with custom diffusion panels)
Litegear literibbon kit (litecards, litesticks, dimmers etc)

Probably will get rid of all the old stuff except for 3 or so of the Arri lights in next year.
 
FrameFarmMedia said:
The Softpanels 2x3 is pretty much an Arri Skypanel with a better spectrum at a fraction of the cost. After watching Matt Hayslett's comparison of the softpanels vs Skypanel I don't see why you would go with the Skypanel other than name recognition for rentals
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Expanding on what I was saying above, there are two versions of the Skypanel. There isn't really an apples to apples comparison of utility because the C version has tuneable color temp like the Softpanel, but adds green/magenta adjustment as well as full RGB capabilities. And the RP version doesn't have dialable color temp other than changing out the panels.
 
Oh right I forgot about the RGB adjustability of the skypanel. It's not something I have need of so it didn't cross my mind but your absolutely correct.
 
I am curious how they're getting the stated lumens out of 100w on the 1x2. The F&V z800s is 180w for similar output... and the Astra Soft is 110w for HALF the output... in half the size, but more watts? (Yes, I get the obvious answer could be more efficient LED diodes... but double efficiency warrants discussion.)

Also... I watched Matt H's video again. He should have shown the skin effect in real time, instead of a static (pre white-balanced) shot... and... again, when something is said to have tremendous output... I'd like to see what it can do.

Anyway... the countdown is on. The campaign is finishing strong... 3x where it was a week ago. I hope they put some of that money into better looking buttons.
 
I wonder if they took the measurements without the soft white panel in place.


Last few hours of the Kickstarter. Anyone else jumping on these lights?
 
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MattinSTL said:
I am curious how they're getting the stated lumens out of 100w on the 1x2. The F&V z800s is 180w for similar output... and the Astra Soft is 110w for HALF the output... in half the size, but more watts? (Yes, I get the obvious answer could be more efficient LED diodes... but double efficiency warrants discussion.)

Also... I watched Matt H's video again. He should have shown the skin effect in real time, instead of a static (pre white-balanced) shot... and... again, when something is said to have tremendous output... I'd like to see what it can do.

Anyway... the countdown is on. The campaign is finishing strong... 3x where it was a week ago. I hope they put some of that money into better looking buttons.
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Think Matt only had an hour and a half w/the 2x3...

I am also curious about output! We could always email Kevin through the kickstarter. He got back to me quickly yesterday on a few of mine.
 
traviswears said:
Think Matt only had an hour and a half w/the 2x3...

I am also curious about output! We could always email Kevin through the kickstarter. He got back to me quickly yesterday on a few of mine.
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Yeah... he said he had a short time with them.

Regardless... I'm "in" for the Kickstarter. I've been torn between reluctant, and eager, to say that I go a ways back with LED lighting. At one time it had the potential to point my life in a new direction through a partnership started here on DVXuser... or with the creator of Vidled. LED technology will continue to evolve, and unless you can use your "investment" to make money, it's only an expense, because your new light will be surpassed in a year or two (maybe for less money). That's MY conundrum, because I don't make money with lighting. My plan is to offer a package to out of town clients, and to local shooters who would otherwise rent. This way I'm not competing with anyone who hires me for sound... and hopefully, my ability to offer such a package will actually help book more gigs. I guess time will tell on that.

But the gist is... r.e. LED panel technology, is the panels are made up of a commodity product. Like a bowel of rice, you can evaluate the quality but it still takes a lot of grains to make a bowl full. In this regard, I think this is a reasonable expense/investment, because we're getting such a big serving of quality LED per dollar.

That 2x3 is gorgeous, but (as a sound guy) I'm not buying anything that requires a junior stand. 16.5lbs will be plenty to schlep around. Most of my sound gigs are 2-person interviews, stand-ups, news, or reality... and in reality there's not a lot of lighting (except for the stand-ups).

Something else that Kevin said on the KickStarter page... is that early adopters will be given better pricing on future editions. If he sticks to that... it's further value to the current deal.
 
I emailed Kevin and he said the stated output was WITH the diffusion panel attached.

I use my two Kino Divas all the time and am often wishing they could run off batteries and had more accurate color temp while dimming. Getting two 1x2 Softpanels could replace them. I may just buy one for now. What I do like about the Astras is how lightweight, portable and powerful they are but I still haven't seen a video that shows the light from the Astra to be as pleasing as what I saw in Matt's video.
 
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