DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Soonwell FB-21 – An affordable option for a flex-type led light

Jul 14, 2019 by Ophir Peleg 4 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

The LED panel and LED Bowens mount are both familiar form factors of LED lights. In the last two years, we are seeing a third type of LEDs enter the market – the Mat LED, A.K.A Flex-LED. Essentially it is very similar to an LED panel, only instead of the LEDs being mounted to a rigid surface, they are placed on a flexible mat, hence the name – Flex light.

The Soonwell FB21 is the last member to enter this family. It is conveniently priced at $428.00, which is by far on the low end of flex LEDs. Well, at least compared to the similarly sized $1,199.90 Westcott Flex. Here are our thoughts:

The Dry Spec

  • Power Draw: 100W
  • CRI: Ra95~98
  • CCT: 3000-5600K
  • Light Angle: 10° – 360°
  • Dimming: 0-100%
  • Dimension: 610*305mm (2*1ft)
  • Light Weight: 0.5KG / 1.1lbs
  • Kit Weight: 2.3 KG / 5lbs
  • LEDs: 504pcs
  • Lumens: LUX(0.5m): 9920; LUX(1m): 3660; LUX(2m): 933
  • Control Mode: Touch Screen & Support 2.4G Wireless Control
  • Footcandles: 0.5M:922; 1M:340; 2M:87
  • Power Source: 100-240V AC or DC 15V 7A
  • Operating Voltage: DC-15V 7A
  • Dimmer Input: 12V to 30V
  • Power Unit: Automatic Voltage 90V–260V

What’s in the box?

  • Soonwell FB-21 Flexible LED Light Mat
  • swivel
  • vmount-enabled control box
  • Dimmer
  • Power Adaptor
  • Softbox + Eggshell type grid spot
  • velcro
  • Carry Case

There is a remote which did not come in the package and can be bought for additional $60.

The LED Mat

The LED mat is 30cm x 60cm (or one foot by two feet, which I assume gives it the “21” name). The mat is embedded with 504 LEDs, half warm and half cold. This gives the mat a range of 3000K-5600K color temperature. I kinda wished the lights went from 2700K to 6000K giving a bit more creative freedom over the light.

The LEDs are rated for 100W, and for that, the mat is extremely light and low profile at 0.5kg. This means that for internal use and low winds it can be used on a small light stand even without a sang bag. (Though it is generally a good practice to sandbag even small lights).

If a light stand is your route, there is an X-type bracket that makes sure that the mat is spread nicely. The bracket attaches to a swivel, and from there on it’s standard handling. The X bracket is not trivial to understand, but once you get the hang of it, it mounts and folds fairly quickly.

The other interesting mounting option is using the four rings of the mat to simply hand it on the wall, at less than 2cm width it takes practically no space. Or you can use the included velcro to attach the light to practically any surface.

Measurements proved the light to be pretty accurate both on the cold side and on the warm side. CRI is at about 96 and CCT was at about 3000-5450K.

Other than that, the mat feels nicely built, definitely above its sub $500 class. The case is stellar and everything fit nice and tight for easy storage and traveling.

Controls

The remote is a button/semi-touch screen hybrid, and I found that using the buttons is way easier than using the touch functions. You get to move between 1% and 100% dimming at 1% increments and 3000K to 5600K at 50K increments.

We also got an antenna which probably works with the remote which we could not find. If you know where to get it, please pop the link in the comments.

The control can connect to a power brick or to a VMount battery. We tested with the IndiPRO Tools 98Wh, and got a few seconds under 75 minutes. (so, either the battery has more capacity that its specs, or the light has less than 100W of power).

There are two nice bonus features to the light:

  • If you are running a DMX box, the controller has DMX in/out ports. That would be useful for stage lighting or for running big sets.
  • The light, the controller and the power box are using passive cooling (i.e. fanless). The units it absolutely quite and will not interfere with your audio.

I see pros and cons to separating the control unit from the power block, by for my style of shooting which is usually in my small studio, I’d prefer the two units to be combined and save on cables. Every cable is both a potential failure point and another thing that you can forget when transporting.

Modifiers

The Soonwell FB-21 comes with a softbox and an eggshell grid spot. They are easily mounted and take no space in storage. The diffuser on the softbox is placed just in the right distance to kill any multiple shadows, and the grid does a great job at controlling the spill.

bare mat
with softbox
with gridspot

bare mat
with softbox
with gridspot

Conclusion

All and all, I am pretty happy with the Soonwell FB-21, and definitely happy at this price point. It is extremely bright and gives a nice soft light.  It is easy to carry and has plenty of mounting options. To get my full 100% score It would need to be 2700K-6000K, combine the power block and control, and make the remote more… emmm…. locatable. That said, for a sub $500.00 unit the value for money is incredibly satisfying.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Westcott’s new Flex Cine lights add full RGB colour to their flexible LED lighting range How To Build Huge Dual Color DIY Flex Lights for $60 Luxi For All: An Affordable Light MeterLuxi For All: An Affordable Kickstarted Light Meter Why I swapped my “professional” DSLR camera for the cheapest option available

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: 100W light, LED Light, LED panel, Soonwell, west flex

Ophir Peleg: from diyphotography.net

About Ophir Peleg

Ophir Peleg is a commercial photographer and videographer based in Tel Aviv, Israel. Ophir mainly shoots commercial work, but will occasionally shoot funny videos too.

« B&H is fighting for your money before Prime Day with discounts up to $1,000 on Sony, Nikon, Canon and Panasonic
Wedding photographer’s rant against guests ruining shots with smartphones goes viral »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • This is why you should stop shooting music videos
  • First look at the Laowa Proteus Flex interchangeable flare optics
  • The Fotodiox RhinoCam Vertex shoots medium format images on L mount cameras
  • San Francisco filmmaker tracks stolen camera gear, police do nothing
  • Nanlite announces powerful AC-powered FC500B and FC300B LED lights

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy