Thank you Jim (and Charlie), I really appreciate your feedback to my OP. Let me start off by saying that I have the z90 and it is a phenomenal light in what it can do and has very usable brightness, so kudos for bringing something completely unique to the market. And its a solid hunk of aluminum and high quality plastic housing, the switches seem to be top notch. It is very well built and has served me well over the years. At the time I bought it, the price seemed high, but when compared to other lights it just did so much more and used less power that it wasn't that hard to justify since it was such a paradigm shifting light. Flash forward to the f8 and I have no doubt its awesome at what its supposed to do (battery power, water resistant, compactness, etc) for those who need those specific features its the cats meow! But for me, who doesn't go out into the woods for interviews or rain for that matter, who lugs his large kino deva 400 trunk around, its benefits are less important. So you can probably understand that the f8 isn't quite as phenomenally paradigm shifting as the z90 was for on camera lighting...for its price point. All associated costs aside, you should charge what you think its worth since that can be pretty subjective, to an ENG crew your light is worth $5000 each (since they can use battery power and don't need hmi's, etc), to me its worth $1200 each (because I'd want at least 2 of them and for the $4800 I'd rather buy a Zaxcom Nomad, since I have to choose my expenditures more carefully), so obviously that light isn't for me...which is a bummer because I love your products. Will the f8 ever become either color temp adjustable or work the rainbow? You do obviously use pretty specialized LED arrays, have they gotten any brighter? Are the ones you're putting in the current z90s any better than the ones from 3 years ago?
Also there is the question, are LED's really ready for the mainstream...not quite yet since they seem to be pretty costly right now. I assume as mass production and more manufacturers come on line producing more specialized arrays, prices will come down and they will become as ubiquitous as incandescent and fluorescents have become.
I agree, color fidelity is the big problem. A colleague of mine has been through several large led panel brands and they are all different color temps...less so within the same brand and same lot, but manufacturer to manufacturer they're just not mixable in my experience.
Also there is the question, are LED's really ready for the mainstream...not quite yet since they seem to be pretty costly right now. I assume as mass production and more manufacturers come on line producing more specialized arrays, prices will come down and they will become as ubiquitous as incandescent and fluorescents have become.
I agree, color fidelity is the big problem. A colleague of mine has been through several large led panel brands and they are all different color temps...less so within the same brand and same lot, but manufacturer to manufacturer they're just not mixable in my experience.
