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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Group Buy: Budget CRI 95 LED Strip Lights

Got my package last Friday.
Excited to test these.
Just need to read the tips on this thread.
Any notable ones to tie me over till the controllers are released?
 
Brandon J.F. said:
Thanks guys. I don't have any concrete news yet other than the engineers said they have made a lot of progress and will have an answer soon. I'm hoping to have an update tomorrow when I wake up. I'll post here as soon as I have news.
Click to expand...


Hi Brandon

Did you get that update?

Thanks
 
Aloha Brandon,

In December of 2014 I ordered LEDs for $494.00 and then in February 2015 put in an additional $161.84. So far I've received nothing. Can you please let me know when I will might be receiving these items I've purchased from you. It's been quite a long wait so I'm interested to know the status of this order.

Thank you.

All the best...

Aloha,
Mike

Michael S. Ferguson
North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii
RED EPIC-DRAGONS - PUEO #01567 and HONU #08206
 
M. FERGUSON said:
Aloha Brandon,

In December of 2014 I ordered LEDs for $494.00 and then in February 2015 put in an additional $161.84. So far I've received nothing. Can you please let me know when I will might be receiving these items I've purchased from you. It's been quite a long wait so I'm interested to know the status of this order.

Thank you.

All the best...

Aloha,
Mike

Michael S. Ferguson
North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii
RED EPIC-DRAGONS - PUEO #01567 and HONU #08206
Click to expand...

From your post it seems you may not have been keeping up with the situation via this thread. It actually has been quite helpful to monitor this thread (I'd suggest subscribing) as I am sure it is easier for Brandon to keep the thread updated rather than email directly the hundreds of people who have ordered. Given the many improvements he has made and the health challenges he has faced while managing all of this, I'd say he has done a really terrific job with the group buy. We are all excited to get the final product. I'm in for about $1300 myself!
 
Aloha Terry - Thank you for your comments.

Aloha Terry - Thank you for your comments.

Aloha Terry,

Thank you for your comments. I am a Forum member. I believe you must be a member to post. I have been following the thread when I can and I'm aware of the situation Brandon is dealing with - both personally and with the equipment his getting together for everyone. I have been in touch directly with Brandon but there was a disconnect so I thought I'd post a message. I just got a PM from Brandon and we'll work it out. You may have received some of your $1300 order - I don't know. I've not received anything yet. In my last communication directly with Brandon I took him up on his offer to send what he has on hand but then there must have been a disconnect. We seem to have lost contact with each other and nothing ever arrived.
This is a big Group Buy and I have faith that everything will work out. I think in light of the situation Brandon is doing a great job and I know he's a "solid" person and will do well by everyone. I appreciate that he wants to work out all the "bugs" and make sure what he sends out is the best it can be.

I'm looking forward to using these light in some very unique ways and would like to begin building some of the fixtures I have in mind. When the controller situation is sorted out Brandon can send them and I can finish the fixtures and create the film I have in mind.

I'm keeping the faith and I'm patient. I'm also eager to see some of the neat things that I can do with these lights. Yesterday eager got the best of me I guess so I thought I check the status of my order on the Forum. I'm now back in touch with Brandon directly so all is well.

All the best...

Aloha and Mahalo,
Mike
 
Mike, sorry for the mix up. I'll make sure everything gets out to you tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing what kind of rigs you make!

Quick update on the controller. The bad news is we lost a couple people on the engineer team who were needed to finish off a product in time for some big lighting convention. I guess it's their equivalent to NAB. They will be back next week. The good news is 3 new PCB designs are in the oven now. Hopefully one of these does the trick.

In other news... A lot of people are asking if there are any fixed color temp (tungsten/daylight) spools left after all the order shuffling. Looks like there will be if. If you are interested PM me. I'm still totaling up the numbers. They will go on a first come, first serve basis with a priority given to people in the group buy.

I'm a little behind on your emails because I've been buried in last minute auditions for my film. We just lost one of the co-stars of the film 8 days before we were supposed to start shooting with her. We are frantically trying to find a replacement before we lose this amazing location we have access to for a small window of time. We are shooting no more than 2 days in a row with plenty of time of time between shoot days, so it won't slow down things with the group buy once we get this part cast.

Oh, and here's a little LED test we did late last night...

r4Ngl9G.jpg


It's a very quick grade with a Film Convert Pro LUT and some grain added in.

Here's the whole lighting kit:

upzJJSt.jpg


That's 1 foot of our tungsten LEDs in a tube run off a v-mount with a little extra diffusion. All handheld.

These LEDs pump out a lot of light!

I'll post more tests soon.

Again, if you want your lights and kits now, EMAIL me and make sure you have confirmed your address and phone number.
 
Brandon J.F. said:
Quick update on the controller. [...] The good news is 3 new PCB designs are in the oven now. Hopefully one of these does the trick.
Click to expand...

Hi Brandon. So does this mean that November is realistically out as far as the controllers being ready to be delivered to everyone? The reason I ask is that I have a trip planned back to the US for next month and I was holding off with the airplane reservations to see if I could make it coincide with the delivery of the controllers. But if not it's not that big of a deal. By the way, good luck with your movie (and finding a replacement for that actress).
 
Instead of being a negative person, I'm wondering what would be the easiest way to film with one of the daylight or tungsten strips.

Would that be a spool of say daylight + connect that directly to my vmount (operating within the voltage guidelines?)
 
Note Suwanchote said:
I'm wondering what would be the easiest way to film with one of the daylight or tungsten strips.

Would that be a spool of say daylight + connect that directly to my vmount (operating within the voltage guidelines?)
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's really that easy with the fixed color temp strips.
 
Aloha Brandon,

Thanks so much for getting that gear off to me so quick! I covered that PayPal invoice. That's unique lighting in that shot from your film - it creates a neat "feel" . My feeling is that these LED lights can add a very special original look to a scene that you'd have a very hard time achieving any other way - and you can light quick without a lot of hassle as well!

I wish you all the best with your film. I hope you'll post a few clips for us to check out when it's done.

I'm really looking forward to putting some interesting fixtures together when my strips arrive then when the controllers are sorted out and sent I'll get to light um up and see some new and different lighting moods. These LED strips lights add a whole new aspect to the look and "feel" a filmmaker can create in a scene - wonderful!

Aloha and Mahalo!,
Mike

Michael S. Ferguson
North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii
RED EPIC -DRAGONs "PUE0" # 01567 and "HONU" # 08206
 
Hi Brandon,

My daylight strips arrived Thursday, thanks for kicking my order into high gear.

First impressions are really good. I've checked them at a bunch of frame rates from up to 240 with no issues at all with flicker using a 12v switching power supply.

I've uploaded a hand full of Macbeth test frame grabs. These show a kino-flo style fixture I threw together using 4 x 120cm sections of daylight strip diffused with 216.

The images show the fixture at 1 metre, 2 metres, 3 metres and 4 metres from the chart. F stop has been adjusted at each distance to keep a (reasonably) consistent exposure.

I found 5700 Kelvin and a tint setting of around +6 worked best for the 1970s Nikon 85mm lens I used for the test.

I'm looking forward to having some down time soon to put together a bunch of cool rigs. We'll definitely be looking at buying more strips soon.

All the best with your health Brandon, and thanks again for getting my parcel to me so quickly after we sorted out the shipping.

Cheers,

Judd

4_bank_LED_1metre.jpg


4_bank_LED_2metre.jpg


4_bank_LED_3metre.jpg


4_bank_LED_4metre.jpg
 
Hi Brandon,

First, thanks for all your hard work on this group buy.

Just checking in here since I emailed and PM’d over the past few weeks but have not heard back. It would be great to receive the second half of my order that got lost in the shuffle and did not come with my early delivery queue.

At the time the original shipment arrived in early September, I was open to waiting for the controllers, but since the second part of the order has all my fixed strips, I am unable to begin tests with the variables.

Much appreciated if these could be sent out now.

Thank you.

Best,
Jeff
 
Jeff Harkavy said:
Just checking in here since I emailed and PM’d over the past few weeks but have not heard back. It would be great to receive the second half of my order that got lost in the shuffle and did not come with my early delivery queue.
Click to expand...

They are on the way, Jeff. Submitted for shipment the other day.

Judd Hyland said:
I'm looking forward to having some down time soon to put together a bunch of cool rigs. We'll definitely be looking at buying more strips soon.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting these charts, Judd! Really looking forward to seeing what kind of rigs you come up with!
 
hello, i still havent' received any of my order, can you please tell me how much further down the list i might be? it appears people are receiving theirs already.
 
Here are a few more lighting tests I did tonight:

VlGoMYW.jpg


This is a 2ft x 2ft polywhatever plastic square with 1 roll of Daylight LEDs on it positioned about 9 feet overhead. That's all.

3M186yq.jpg


This shot is the same as above except we added some foamcore in front of the actor. It's still all with one light.

fyOBX34.jpg


This shot is with the same 2ft x 2ft rig, but positioned camera left about 6 or 7 feet away. There's a 1 foot tungsten tube overhead and he's holding a flag against the right side of the door frame. It was shot at ISO 250 and at T2. Nothing was overexposed or underexposed in the shot.

Again, none of these shots are graded or color balanced at all. I only threw a FilmConvert Pro Kodak LUT on there with default grain. I used the LLO OLPF. I'm going for a moody look for the film, so the overhead lighting fits. I, obviously, wouldn't light a comedy this way.

For the next tests, we will add an eye light and use the STH OLPF. We are making 3 of these polywhatever cards to light up the lobby of a hospital for a Steadicam shot. Just taping them to the ceiling. These lights, plus the sunlight coming through the windows, is all we are using. I'm using the same lights and bounce cards or possibly a china ball for a doctor's office and a patient's rooms. It looks like for, what will be, 3 days of filming (over 2 weeks) we will use these LEDs entirely except for 1 scene where we need a 2k tungsten light that will be gelled to look like street light coming through a window at night. The whole lighting package can fit in the trunk of a car :)

Adrien oneiga said:
hello, i still havent' received any of my order, can you please tell me how much further down the list i might be? it appears people are receiving theirs already.
Click to expand...

I'll PM you Adrien. Orders are shipping on request right now. I'm still digging through all the PMs and Emails and getting them out as fast as I can. If you haven't already emailed me your shipping address and phone number, please do so.

Oh, and I will have an update on the controllers on Monday!
 
What's the latest on the controller? Last I heard, it was some Chinese holiday.

Hope the news is good!

Stephen
 
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