New Flexible LED Panels
- Thread starter nyvz
- Start date
Duncan Craig
Active member
I mentioned the 3090 panels many months ago, but finally they are available to buy separately.
The price of a 3090 panel is almost double the price of a 3060, so for now they don't work out as good value based just on the size.
They seem to have changed the 1/4inch thread locations and now have the dimming electronics mounted inline on the power cable.
Yet again, they seem to be incorrectly rating the power supply.
If they would only get these little things right they could have a much better selling product.
homestar_kevin
Well-known member
Hey guys,
Been lurking on this thread for awhile now and have been super excited about these.
Finally got everything lined up financially to grab some of these.
I've ordered 3 3060a's and 2 3030a's
I also found a pretty good deal on a lightware power kit 1600 case that should be wide enough to allow me to keep all the lights stored while assembled on their frames.
Just wanted to thank you all for such an awesome and informative thread and I'll hopefully be getting these in soon and able to post up some footage.
I've been running a kit with 2 aputure 672s units, so I'm looking forward to expanding my LED kit with all the Tavors.
Been lurking on this thread for awhile now and have been super excited about these.
Finally got everything lined up financially to grab some of these.
I've ordered 3 3060a's and 2 3030a's
I also found a pretty good deal on a lightware power kit 1600 case that should be wide enough to allow me to keep all the lights stored while assembled on their frames.
Just wanted to thank you all for such an awesome and informative thread and I'll hopefully be getting these in soon and able to post up some footage.
I've been running a kit with 2 aputure 672s units, so I'm looking forward to expanding my LED kit with all the Tavors.
I am not Noah but used the 18td on a shoot yesterday. I like it.
Taped it to walls and ceilings, it was my main light for the shoot and dimmed to 30% most of the time.
The shots are graded to be dirty. Color quality is good!
Any questions? I also own the softbox which is a great addon.
Taped it to walls and ceilings, it was my main light for the shoot and dimmed to 30% most of the time.
The shots are graded to be dirty. Color quality is good!
Any questions? I also own the softbox which is a great addon.
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nyvz
Veteran
Can't complain for the price. I like how small it packs down but the x-bracket sometimes is a pain to install. Otherwise it's as expected, similar to the 18TD, though I wish I could update all the 18TD controllers to the TDX controller so they can use the remote. They are interchangeable so falconeyes could just sell the controller separately as an upgrade...
Looking into ways to add big diffusion to it on the same stand since that's what seems missing to me. Sadly the tilt adapter doesn't let the unit tilt down at all but a simple right angle stand adapter would do help.
Well I bought a Fositan 3060A (same as the Travor) from Amazon and tried it out today on a little interviews and had some mixed reactions . The negative was - 1 -no readout on the color temp and the inability to use with batteries unless I buy that 4 battery adapter. Tying up 4 batteries for each light when any one going down will kill the whole light just seems nuts to me. Also would want a grid or barndoors.
However the positive was that i had never tried out one of these panels and was mostly using all daylight or tungsten fixtures before ( late to the party
. I gotta say I was very impressed. Even with a 1'x2' unit it was pretty darn soft and the output was very impressive. It's output compared favorably with a diffused YN600 and was much softer . I also found that it wasn't much different from a diffused 6 bulb Biax flo light that I use often. I loved the Bi color but wish it had a readout. So I am going to check out the Falcon Eyes 18TD (18x24) and 12TD (18x12) and also look at their 290TD ( 4'x10" and the 24 which is 2x2.) I think I was sold on the idea of getting a bunch of these things. I did sign up to the LC-160 group buy as well. I wish Falcon Eyes made a 2'x1' but will return the Fositan.
Thanks very much for everyone's thoughts and opinions. I would have never thought of going this route with these threads.
Lenny
However the positive was that i had never tried out one of these panels and was mostly using all daylight or tungsten fixtures before ( late to the party
. I gotta say I was very impressed. Even with a 1'x2' unit it was pretty darn soft and the output was very impressive. It's output compared favorably with a diffused YN600 and was much softer . I also found that it wasn't much different from a diffused 6 bulb Biax flo light that I use often. I loved the Bi color but wish it had a readout. So I am going to check out the Falcon Eyes 18TD (18x24) and 12TD (18x12) and also look at their 290TD ( 4'x10" and the 24 which is 2x2.) I think I was sold on the idea of getting a bunch of these things. I did sign up to the LC-160 group buy as well. I wish Falcon Eyes made a 2'x1' but will return the Fositan.Thanks very much for everyone's thoughts and opinions. I would have never thought of going this route with these threads.
Lenny
nyvz
Veteran
Just came across a new light that looks very interesting:
https://axflexmat.com
https://ledflexmat.en.alibaba.com/
If anyone can find more info I'd interested. These seem to be similar to the falconeyes but with RGB+bicolor capability. Oddly they have almost no info on the controller hardware, but I assume the remote control options are similar to their skypanel knockoff which looks pretty nice with RF remote and Wifi app remote. Would be nice to be able to dial in colors since these lights are so hard to gel and it's great to have tunable control over magenta/green, and at this point all the big name lights are RGBW (arri fresnel/skypanels, gemini, digital sputnik, soon litemat, etc). The price is a bit high to be ordering a unit just to test from China, but it does seem promising if it's basically a 200W 2x2' flexible panel with wifi/rf remote control.
I've been playing around with the idea of building my own big high output RGBW LED light (4x4' 400-600W with wireless-dmx), but frankly I can't quite decide on the right way to get it to do what I want, so I might end up settling for something like this...
https://axflexmat.com
https://ledflexmat.en.alibaba.com/
If anyone can find more info I'd interested. These seem to be similar to the falconeyes but with RGB+bicolor capability. Oddly they have almost no info on the controller hardware, but I assume the remote control options are similar to their skypanel knockoff which looks pretty nice with RF remote and Wifi app remote. Would be nice to be able to dial in colors since these lights are so hard to gel and it's great to have tunable control over magenta/green, and at this point all the big name lights are RGBW (arri fresnel/skypanels, gemini, digital sputnik, soon litemat, etc). The price is a bit high to be ordering a unit just to test from China, but it does seem promising if it's basically a 200W 2x2' flexible panel with wifi/rf remote control.
I've been playing around with the idea of building my own big high output RGBW LED light (4x4' 400-600W with wireless-dmx), but frankly I can't quite decide on the right way to get it to do what I want, so I might end up settling for something like this...
How much do you guys trust the reliability of these types of lights/brands? For instance, even the relatively well-respected (for lower-cost stuff) Dracast still has reviews of their lights that say they arrived with pieces missing or nonfunctional, several LEDs went out the second time the guy used it, something didn't power up after a few times, etc. etc.
nyvz
Veteran
Guess it depends what you mean by reliability. Do you mean build quality or service/support or what exactly? LED technology is moving so quickly, it almost seems silly to worry too much about long term durability. As long as it can last a year or two until I sell it for the next great light I'm happy. Can't say I've had any reason to complain about any of these lights. I've had plenty of reliability issues with much more expensive rental lights. So many broken kinos etc. I think it's more about how you treat your gear since nothing where weight is a factor and being lightweight is a feature can really be built to witstand the same abuse as a big metal light. Also it really varies so I'm not sure I could generalize about "these types of lights". Don't expect it to be a skypanel. The way I see it is there are so many flaws in the top brand name lights (astras are flimsy, litemats had sketchy wiring until recently, kinos are just coroplast and metal rods that get bent out of shape) that I'd much rather spend hundreds and get a flawed light that will be superseded in a year or two than spend thousands and get a flawed light that will get superseded in a year or two.
Noah,
Those axflexmat lights looked pretty interesting and I liked that there was 1x3 choice (though 1x2 is really what I would like to see for back lights) but did you look at the photometric specs for the RGB version . At daylight it was less than 1/2 the bicolor so you would be giving up a lot of juice for the ability to adjust for green/magenta tuning as nice as that would be.
Those axflexmat lights looked pretty interesting and I liked that there was 1x3 choice (though 1x2 is really what I would like to see for back lights) but did you look at the photometric specs for the RGB version . At daylight it was less than 1/2 the bicolor so you would be giving up a lot of juice for the ability to adjust for green/magenta tuning as nice as that would be.
I am about to take on a bare bones project that will require the smallest footprint possible. No hard cases, lots of interviews that will require minimum set up/pack down times + lots of travel. I was thinking that lights were out of the question, but I feel that maybe these panels can fill that void. I was excited until I saw the size of the power/dimmers that come with the kits. Given the nature of the project, I am thinking that maybe I could create more bag space at the sacrifice of the dimmers (maybe just rely on the environment), is this possible?
Alternatively, what kind of kit would you suggest for this kind of project?
Alternatively, what kind of kit would you suggest for this kind of project?
Bern Caughey
Veteran
Suggest starting a new thread on this topic that likely receive a more diverse set of opinions. Include details of where your based, & the sort of places you’ll be traveling. Also camera kit you need to transport.
nyvz
Veteran
It may depend on your needs what is most appropriate or useful but I've gotta say it's hard to imagine not having room for a couple fl3030a panels. If stands won't work then they can be bent to stand up on surfaces or clipped or taped up easily on location.
What kind of project is it? There's obviously a limit to whats possible since no matter how small or lightweight the lights are the stands and battery packs will be bigger and heavier anyway...
Is the limitation that you are flying or hiking with the gear or what?
What kind of project is it? There's obviously a limit to whats possible since no matter how small or lightweight the lights are the stands and battery packs will be bigger and heavier anyway...
Is the limitation that you are flying or hiking with the gear or what?
all of the above haha.
It is a 2man project with a timeline that is constantly on the move, rarely with a base for more than 3 days. I will be shooting with a canon c200. From cities to jungles and from rivers to snowy mountains, I think we are tackling everything Earth can throw at us. Also the same for travel, plane (big and small) bus train bike. There are arranged and "less arranged" interviews, my goal is to try my best to frame and light the subjects identically and let the location reflect the interview. Ideally I would like a 3 light kit, but very open to suggestions. Ive never done a project of this barebones nature before, but it is being shot at broadcast level, so I would like the interviews to be strong and well lit at the very least!
It is a 2man project with a timeline that is constantly on the move, rarely with a base for more than 3 days. I will be shooting with a canon c200. From cities to jungles and from rivers to snowy mountains, I think we are tackling everything Earth can throw at us. Also the same for travel, plane (big and small) bus train bike. There are arranged and "less arranged" interviews, my goal is to try my best to frame and light the subjects identically and let the location reflect the interview. Ideally I would like a 3 light kit, but very open to suggestions. Ive never done a project of this barebones nature before, but it is being shot at broadcast level, so I would like the interviews to be strong and well lit at the very least!
I am interested in the AXflexmats. I reached out to them to get some more images of the product since the didn't show the power supply. Interestingly they have a DMX power supply that can supply 960Watts. I am looking into putting together a 3x3 so this could potentially power all three. I will look further into it.
nyvz
Veteran
Thanks for doing that research.
Funny you should mention it, I wonder if that 5x8A 960W DMX controller is the same one I just got. I specced it out for a job a few months ago when I found that it is the only adjustable pwm or high pwm RGBWA controller of any kind in the world. It's a Chinese product that literally every high end LED company around seems to rebranding. I just saw even the best of the best cinema led strip company litegear has put their name on it too. I just bought one myself ($70) and a 600W power supply and I'm planning on eventually hooking it up to 500-1000W of RGB and high cri W and A led strips for an awesome big bright blanket key light. Hopefully a good cheap portable replacement for the 2x skypanel/gemini lights behind diffusion I find pretty nice for keying against daylight windows.
http://www.sunricher.com/media/cata...ab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/2/1/2108a-m5-5.jpg
$35 for that dmx controller is a deal, I paid $70 and most Alibaba bulk prices were at least $50. Maybe it'd not the same one or it's a variant I'm not aware of... Of course a lot of well known companies are putting their name on these and selling them for 3x the price.
Funny you should mention it, I wonder if that 5x8A 960W DMX controller is the same one I just got. I specced it out for a job a few months ago when I found that it is the only adjustable pwm or high pwm RGBWA controller of any kind in the world. It's a Chinese product that literally every high end LED company around seems to rebranding. I just saw even the best of the best cinema led strip company litegear has put their name on it too. I just bought one myself ($70) and a 600W power supply and I'm planning on eventually hooking it up to 500-1000W of RGB and high cri W and A led strips for an awesome big bright blanket key light. Hopefully a good cheap portable replacement for the 2x skypanel/gemini lights behind diffusion I find pretty nice for keying against daylight windows.
http://www.sunricher.com/media/cata...ab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/2/1/2108a-m5-5.jpg
$35 for that dmx controller is a deal, I paid $70 and most Alibaba bulk prices were at least $50. Maybe it'd not the same one or it's a variant I'm not aware of... Of course a lot of well known companies are putting their name on these and selling them for 3x the price.
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fromashesrise
Member
Does a large edge-lit LED panel similar to the Falcon Eyes SO-148TD (https://www.cinegearpro.co.uk/produ...-bi-color-ultra-thin-soft-led-edge-light-148w) exist in flexible/collapsible form (basically where it can be folded in on itself for easier transport, similar to a 5-in-1 diffuser https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-43-in...W/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_421_bs_t_1?_encoding=UTF8)?
Very interesting. What power supply are you using with it? Do you have a picture of the cabling from the LED mats plugged into the DMX box?