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DIYP reviews the Sirui Dragon flexible LED light strip

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The market for photo and video LEDs is becoming quite commoditized. Having good CRI (95+), both RGB and white LEDs, or an app, is not enough to compete in the market anymore. This is why brands are turning to fight either on price, quality, and service or, most interestingly, on features and innovation. Enter the Sirui Dragon Light, a bendable, app-controlled RGBWW LED strip. While this is not the first bendable light (see KYU-6), it is the first big, high-output flexible light. And this is worth a look.

Sirui is well known for its tripod line and its anamorphic lenses, so it is interesting to see how their knowledge of other photography lines will translate into making an LED. And right off the bat, you can see it is not a tube, it is not a panel, it is not a COB, it is something else entirely.

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Godox adds the bright and tiny C5R mini RGBWW panel to its Knowled LED Light series

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Godox’s Knowled line of LED lights as so far been a little higher-end and more powerful than their usual target market. With the release of the Knowled M600D and then the Knowled M600Bi, Godox announced “We’re here, and we’re coming for you, Aputure!”. Then we saw some more modest 230W and 330W LED lights added to the range. Now, they’ve gone right down to the smallest extreme with the new Godox Knowled C5R.

The C5R is a small, ultra-compact RGBWW “Creative LED Light”, as Godox calls it. It’s pretty much a direct competitor to the Aputure MC and it comes in at a similar price point with a similar set of features. It features built-in CCT, HSI and various effects modes, has a magnetic back panel for mounting to metallic surfaces and all the rest of the features you’d expect. But it appears to be significantly brighter.

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Litepanels expands its “Hard” panel lineup with the new Gemini 2×1 hard RGBWW LED panel

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Litepanels has expanded its Gemini Hard product line with the addition of the new Gemini 2×1 Hard RGBWW LED panel. Like the Gemini 1×1 Hard, the Gemini 2×1 Hard boasts being the brightest at its size, offering 23,000 lux in daylight mode at a distance of 10ft with a 20° undiffused beam angle. As an RGBWW light, it offers full-colour gamut mixing, with the usual CCT, HSI and XY control modes. The white light mode offers plus/minus green colour correction and has a temperature range of 2700K up to 10000K, and you vet 0.1-100% dimming that’s completely flicker-free at all shutter speeds.

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Slite is a portable magnetic 55 watt LED light for photos and video

While Slite’s claim of being “the world’s most portable light for creators” might not be entirely accurate (there are a lot of small portable lights out there for creators these days!), this new LED light currently running on Kickstarter does look rather interesting. It’s an ultrathin panel about the size of a laptop, runs off a Type-C USB power bank, has a magnetic back and offers the full RGB spectrum as well as 96+ CRI/99+ TLCI white LED lights.

At only 14mm thick, these continuous LED panels can fit into very tiny spaces, and thanks to the magnetic back they can easily attach to metallic surfaces. You’ve also got a couple of 1/4-20″ attachment points for sticking it on a traditional light stand or articulating arm. Once up and running, it offers 16 million colours and you can control one or multiple lights easily from a smartphone app.

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Litepanels announces the new Gemini 1×1 Hard with its brightest output yet

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Litepanels has announced their new Gemini 1×1 Hard RGBWW LED panel. Litepanels says it’s “the brightest and most accurate 1×1 light ever”, which is a pretty bold claim, but boasting a bright 3,000 lux at 3 metres (10ft) with a 46° beam angle there might be something to it. It has 0.1-100% flicker-free dimming at any frame rate or shutter angle, wired or wireless DMX and Bluetooth remote control and can be powered by either 100-240VAC or a DC input from 13-33 volts.

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Aputure kicks off its new Pro LED Panel range with the Nova P300c RGBWW Softlight

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Taking a little break from the Bowens mount LED lights that Aputure’s become famous for, the start of their new professional line of LED panels is finally available. They’ve kicked the line off with the Aputure Nova P300c, a 300W RGBWW LED panel designed to produce a softer light without modifiers (although, there is a softbox available, too).

The P300c was actually first debuted at NAB 2018, and it’s taken the last two years to take the feedback on board and implement the necessary changes to bring it to release. Compared with the original design, it has a higher range of white balance from 2,000K up to 10,000K with CRI and TLCI of 95+, an internal ballast and a stronger mount.

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The Vortex8 is a $5,000 650W cinema LED panel with an IP65 waterproof rating

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Well, this is an interesting looking light, if not cheap, by any stretch of the imagination. Coming in at $4,999, the Vortex8 is the new flagship LED panel from Australian lighting manufacturer Creamsource. It’s a high powered 650W LED panel with a 60 x 30cm front face and it’s IP65 rated for use in even the wettest of weather.

If you haven’t heard of Creamsource before, that’s perhaps not too surprising. They’re not a common name amongst most photographers and filmmakers. But their kit has been used to light the likes of The Mandalorian, Captain Marvel, Black Panther and more.

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Manfrotto announces the water-resistant Lykos 2.0 bicolour on-camera LED light

While billed as an on-camera LED light for video, the new Manfrotto Lykos 2.0 is a pretty powerful 2-in-1 LED light panel that can also be quite handy for photography, too. And, of course, you can take it off your camera if you wish.

It’s a bicolour LED ranging from tungsten to daylight and it’s water-resistant, but not waterproof, meaning you can use it outdoors even in not-so-great weather. Its array of LEDs feature built-in lenses, to optimise efficiency, and it can be controlled from your Android or iOS smartphone, too.

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The DOP Choice Universal Snapbag is a softbox you can mount to any light with barndoors

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There are a lot of LED panels out there these days with no real access to add modifiers. Sure, there are some that are Bowens mount that let you use the same sorts of things you’d use with strobes, but for panels, not so much. There are also a lot of Fresnels out there, that can be a pain to attach softboxes to as well. DOP Choice’s Universal Snapbag solves that problem by attaching directly to the barndoors on the front of the light. We spoke with DOP Choice at IBC 2019 to find out more.

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