New Flexible LED Panels

nyvz

nyvz

Veteran
I just noticed there are a lot of new alternatives to the Westcott Flex LED series, including some inexpensive Chinese versions:

Travor FL-3030 30x30cm Flex Mat (aka LF740)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/371716486343 or http://www.ebay.com/itm/142090625468

Falcon Eyes
RX-12T
http://falconeyes.net/Product.aspx?id=1852
http://www.ebay.com/itm/201644263699
RX-18T
http://www.ebay.com/itm/201643579128

Intellytech Airlight
http://www.intellytechusa.com/collections/flexible-led-panel-airlight


Anyone used any of these or see any big red flags? I'm considering grabbing one. I'll probably go check out the Intellytech at B&H soon since the FL-80 looks like a great option.

Color rendering or flickering could be a concern with the Chinese models, and they are not bi-color but for the price it might be worth it. The Travor seems to have wireless dimming and doesn't need a bulky controller which seems especially useful. It's a bit concerning that the electronics take up so little space, I wonder if there is a big drawback to having the controller housed in a slim black box in the corner. But the idea of a light mat that only needs a simple DC barrel is cool since it would be easy to use cheap large batteries and adapters.

EDIT EDIT: Removed groupbuy information, putting it on hold due to price drop for buying 3060A lights on ebay/aliexpress without any groupbuy or minimum order.
 
Last edited:
I have not used any of these - but literally just stumbled upon Intellytech last week while researching other lighting products. I too am interested in that FL-80 as well as their 485 7" Fresnel. Specs look & sound pretty good but need to get more hands-on reviews. I inquired directly to them and they are manufactured in China. Beginning to wonder if more and more LED companies popping up here in US are merely importing from same factories and then adding their branding? Again, still interested, just need more info.
 
Hm Interesting. Been wanting to add a few of these to my kit and for this price might be worth the shot. Also Any idea on larger sizes, wouldn't mind a longer one as well.
 
I took a look at the Intellytech on display at B&H. Apparently it's brand new. Seems pretty comparable to the Westcott Flex 2x1' but the controller seems to have better build quality and more precise readout but is only controlled via an up and down arrow and a color/dimmer toggle button, which I suppose is more durable than a knob but doesn't offer as quick tactile operation. The output may also be lower, but I like that the Intellytech has essentially the same source size but is smaller since it doesn't have the 1" velcro border all the way around that the Flex does, and it can fold in half for storage versus the Westcott Flex which pretty much has to be rolled or laid flat. One thing that seemed odd was that the AC adapter included in the Intellytech was an IBM branded laptop charger that seemed to have its connector switched out for Intellytech's 5pin miniXLR, and the brand new floor model already had at least one pin connector broken, though it didnt affect operation (I imagine only 2 pins are even used for the DC connection anyway).

Frankly for the price I'm leaning toward trying the Travor first. I'll see how low of a best offer bid I can get. Seems pretty interesting in that one could conceivably get one big AC adapter and use a DC barrel parallel splitter cable and stick a whole bunch of these together (I'm thinking 2 or 4) and basically have a modular system that can run off one power supply and possibly could all be run on the same wireless channel for simultaneous operation like one big source or also be split up and run as several small ones. Seems like powerful possibilities as long as the color and flicker is good and the design doesnt suck. It seems by far more compact than any other option with the small controller and wireless receiver being built into the mat.
 
nyvz said:
I took a look at the Intellytech on display at B&H. Apparently it's brand new. Seems pretty comparable to the Westcott Flex 2x1' but the controller seems to have better build quality and more precise readout but is only controlled via an up and down arrow and a color/dimmer toggle button, which I suppose is more durable than a knob but doesn't offer as quick tactile operation. The output may also be lower, but I like that the Intellytech has essentially the same source size but is smaller since it doesn't have the 1" velcro border all the way around that the Flex does, and it can fold in half for storage versus the Westcott Flex which pretty much has to be rolled or laid flat. One thing that seemed odd was that the AC adapter included in the Intellytech was an IBM branded laptop charger that seemed to have its connector switched out for Intellytech's 5pin miniXLR, and the brand new floor model already had at least one pin connector broken, though it didnt affect operation (I imagine only 2 pins are even used for the DC connection anyway).

Frankly for the price I'm leaning toward trying the Travor first. I'll see how low of a best offer bid I can get. Seems pretty interesting in that one could conceivably get one big AC adapter and use a DC barrel parallel splitter cable and stick a whole bunch of these together (I'm thinking 2 or 4) and basically have a modular system that can run off one power supply and possibly could all be run on the same wireless channel for simultaneous operation like one big source or also be split up and run as several small ones. Seems like powerful possibilities as long as the color and flicker is good and the design doesnt suck. It seems by far more compact than any other option with the small controller and wireless receiver being built into the mat.
Click to expand...

Let me know how it goes and what offer they accept, I'm tempted to do the same for the RX 18T since its 45cm by 60 cm and could be good for some nice large portable setup that could fit in a small bag for shooting food on the go. Plus Tape it to a wall and you got a makeshift window light.
 
Unfortunately one of them with NP or LP battery plate :( The whole point is to have it extremely portable and not have to deal with big (and expensive) V-mount batteries.
 
alohype said:
Unfortunately one of them with NP or LP battery plate :( The whole point is to have it extremely portable and not have to deal with big (and expensive) V-mount batteries.
Click to expand...

I assume you're referring to the intellytech? I believe it comes with a v mount plate but uses a d-tap to 5pin minixlr cable to attach to it so it would be trivial to adapt that to any other battery that fits the input voltage range. NP1 or BPU batteries should be fine. Or cheap Chinese li-ions with a simple adapter cable would work.

It's also worth noting that as expected the intellytechs are bicolor and seem to be brightest when at 4650K. So it's an 80w light but it's basically only 40w at 2900k or 6500k.
 
Last edited:
Very interested to see and hear what you guys discover on these. The Westcott seems interesting but is just expensive and limited enough for me to wait. But the Travor is cheap enough to take a gamble on for me. But you guys go first! ;-) Would definitely like to hear about CRI (in real life), flicker, flicker with higher frame rates and how the CRI stays or varies when dimmed down in output.
 
So this Travor LED light came today. So far it seems quite nice. I paired it with the controller and it dims and turns on and off well, and it is incredibly compact since all you need is the flexible panel and the 24V power adapter which also has a surprisingly long cable and a power switch on it. It took a few minutes to figure out the controller and pairing since the controller has a separate manual I didn't see.

I tested shutter speeds and couldn't get it to flicker at any shutter speed. Output looks good. According to my Kill-A-Watt meter, it draws 39W at full power or 59VA, which means it has a pretty low 0.6 power factor which isn't awesome but isn't a huge deal I suppose.

One interesting thing is the manual is for all 4 models, the FL-3030, 3030a, 3060 and 3060a. The 'A' is for bi-color and the 3030 refers to 30x30cm size and 3060 refers to 30x60cm size. That is interesting since the FL-3060A sounds quite appealing to me. This also lead me to look up the models and see if one could buy them anywhere. Seems like the 3030 is still the only one available but I just saw it is now sold on amazon under the brand Samtian for only $140 and free shipping: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HPGG6Z4
Also the reviews look pretty good, which is reassuring.

Oddly it seems like there is no protective coating on the front of the panel and the soldering points and emitters may be susceptible to damage easily, though this may be easy to fix by painting on a transparent waterproof coating like most similar panels have. Also the material the LEDs are on makes a crinkling noise when you bend it, but there appears to be a moldable outer frame inside the panel so it does hold its shape when you bend it or roll it into a shape.

I need to do some color tests with it to judge the CRI and color temperature, but so far it looks promising especially for $150. If it turns out well I'd be excited to get my hands on a couple of the FL-3060A units. It really does seem like it would be easy to gang a ton of these together pretty easily and cheaply and have an awesome big source that packs up into almost nothing and doesn't need a whole bunch of separate controllers and hardware hanging off it. I'm also curious to try this with a 24V battery, though I might have to run two 12V batteries in series since I don't have any 24V batteries...

Hoping these work out and I can sell all my yongnuo yn-600 LEDs and replace them with a bunch of these.
 
Thanks for the write up and link Noah! This is exciting, I may pick up a few of these or may wait for the 3060 units to be available. With the way the unit ships, can you see any way to affix a D-Fuse or other softbox? Does is look as if this light is built well enough to last a while with careful use? Could be the hot ticket for my travel kit, always looking to save weight. Let us know what you discover as far as CRI, are there any color spikes and actual FC output.
 
puredrifting said:
Thanks for the write up and link Noah! This is exciting, I may pick up a few of these or may wait for the 3060 units to be available. With the way the unit ships, can you see any way to affix a D-Fuse or other softbox? Does is look as if this light is built well enough to last a while with careful use? Could be the hot ticket for my travel kit, always looking to save weight. Let us know what you discover as far as CRI, are there any color spikes and actual FC output.
Click to expand...

Looks like the bicolor FL-3030a panels are starting to be available for maybe even <$100, but only on Alibaba so far. Anyone want to go in on a 10 unit minimum order? :)
(http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/NEW-2-4G-wireless-remote-control_60502094996.html)

Seems like these would be quite easy to gang together since a simple DC barrel splitter and a larger 24V power supply would also be easy to come by. Also I wonder if they are capable of being brighter with a more powerful Power Supply since the low power factor may be limiting their draw... So far according to my light meter they are about 1/2 stop less bright than a westcott flex, which makes sense given that these are drawing 39W on my meter vs Flex's 55W, but I wonder if a more 3A power supply or a 5A for two ganged panels might help. It does seem like the top few dimming steps are smaller than the others which may support this theory. Also the 48W rating in the specs seems suspiciously like they just assumed a 24V 2A supply would make it a 48W light.

I'm playing around with the idea of new designs for mounting multiple units together since the frame it comes with is pretty light but still overkill for such lightweight units. some adhesive velcro on the back and a single collapsible bar with some velcro on it and a stand mount point could make these pretty easy to line up 2-4 in a row on a stand. I think 4 of these could be a really nice kit since you could gang them together for a big light to push through light diffusion or just gang two for a key and still have two other separate ones for fill and backlights for simple setups. Gotta go out and try shooting with it a bit. Might have a job in LA next week that would be perfect to test out a light that is so easy to carry on. It's gonna make me wish I ordered more of them already though.

Then again at about 1/10th the price of a flex, having to buy 10 might still be worth it and just make a huge bright 3x3' 350W soft light that can pack up flat and be controlled by one wireless controller and still have one left as a backup.
 
Last edited:
Noah, any reports or footage on what your thoughts are on the color temp and how the light the panels produces looks and feels? Enough output to use a softbox, for instance?
 
Haven't tested extensively since I've been busy shooting. Thought about bringing one of these but it didn't make sense since I haven't worked out a battery solution yet and only have one so I'm finishing up this travel job with my YN600s first and then I will get more into working on testing color and finding interesting ways to mount and diffuse these. The output is pretty nice and these are probably more appropriate in a softbox. I have a method I'm working on for using these in a way that gets me a bigger softer brighter thinner source and packs down into a smaller space than my current travel kit which is YN600's with umbrella softboxes and is already very convenient and flexible in my opinion.

I did order a second one on amazon and am working on ways to easily mount and power two or more of these combined into one source.
 
Looking forward to hearing your day to day impressions of them and what your footage with them looks like. I was hot on a flexible panel but instead just bought two of the Lightstorm LS 1S for a project shooting next week, I needed more output and the wireless remote seems like such a handy thing when one man banding it as I do sometimes. But still interested in these for travel, the LS 1S weight almost twelve pounds each with all of the accessories so two of them in a Pelican case alone is already bumping up against the 50lb per piece limit (Pelican 1610 weighs around 20lbs too!). Would be cooler to have three flexible panels, some sort of softbox setup at about 3-5lbs total each, I could bring more lights and put more of my other stuff from other cases into the light case. Lighter and smaller is so important for travel.
 
I have the same issue with your link on my phone but on my laptop there is a "continue to amazon" that gets to the right link eventually after the annoying ad page, but not sure it matters though since that link looks familiar. I think it's an issue with dvxuser redirects.

That's just one panel. Pictured is the panel and the diffuser next to each other. These go for $100-200 each, you won't get 2 for <$200 if they cost $100 on alibaba from the factory. Some sellers on ebay and aliexpress charge $200 each... Definitely would not recommend buying from that link since it's $50 more and delivery is estimated in 30+ days. I just received my second one but this time for only $135 from the link I posted to the amazon seller called samtian, which I would recommend using instead given the much lower price and much faster shipping, not to mention lots of good reviews.
 
Last edited:
Got it, I will have to check out your link again. Would love to see some clips you have lit with them when you get a chance Noah.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top