Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • 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 :)

The "LED" light Group Buy

KETCH ROSSi said:
I should have the conclusive update this week!

If I do decide that it is best to start a new thread I will most certainly post the LINK to that thread here, as to inform every one following this thread.
Click to expand...

Ok, now I feel like traveling with kids. Are there yet? :)
 
I'll be checking back in - along with others! SO, on behalf of many, we appreciate your due diligence - whether this works out or not - I'm sure it has been taking time out of your busy schedule ... much appreciated!
 
Jerry Hattan said:
I'll be checking back in - along with others! SO, on behalf of many, we appreciate your due diligence - whether this works out or not - I'm sure it has been taking time out of your busy schedule ... much appreciated!
Click to expand...


Time is just money... ;)

And to me money is not what is all about, is the pleasure of interaction with fellow Filmmakers, and in any way I can help I will, I just hope that the final deal presented will please every one which also very patient has been checking back and awaiting this to happen for some time now.

But it will be all worth as the Area 48 are truly fantastic Lights!!
 
Ketch,
I see that their website bbslighting is up and running and has options of cart and shipping. So if we can be given a discount code to apply there, then we can make the payment and check out. That way we can avoid sending the lights to US and then ship it back to the other end of the world. Also, it will be easier for them to directly connect with the individual customer. I am sure you can convince them about the value of directly bond with so many users.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi
 
Sabyasachi Patra said:
Ketch,
I see that their website bbslighting is up and running and has options of cart and shipping. So if we can be given a discount code to apply there, then we can make the payment and check out. That way we can avoid sending the lights to US and then ship it back to the other end of the world. Also, it will be easier for them to directly connect with the individual customer. I am sure you can convince them about the value of directly bond with so many users.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi
Click to expand...

Could it be that bad that they would send it to US first. Hope not. I like to keep it as green as possible. Denmark is so close from here it would be madness to send it half around the globe and then back.
 
Just got my Area 48... so of course the first thing I want to do - take some quick measurements. Using a Sekonic L-398M (not a lab quality instrument so I don't think I'd trust the absolute values are accurate to better than 10-20%, maybe worse)

Lightmeter at 60" from light source, no snapbag or diffuser, flags rotated out of the way.
Light Source at "100" for all these tests unless noted.

edit: Neither battery was fully charged for this test... fully charged they gave around 39 minutes each at full intensity. The intensity levels however are consistent.

On Battery 1 (starting at 5/5 bars but possibly not fully charged) : 170 Ft-Cd
... after 6 minutes on Battery, showing 4/5 Bars : 170 Ft-Cd
... after 10.5 minutes on Battery, showing 3/5 Bars : 170 Ft-Cd
... after 14 minutes on Battery, showing 2/5 Bars : 170 Ft-Cd - light started resetting: would shut off, go through power on test, then turn back on for about 5 seconds before resetting again.
On Battery 2 it started with only 3 bars of charge. I was able to run it down to 1 bar before it started resetting after about 10 minutes of runtime.

Batteries : Bebob V90RM's (6Ah @ 14.4V, 12A Peak)... so I'd expect better than 15 minutes runtime even at full 12A draw. I'll repeat the battery life test after putting a few cycles on them and giving them a long charge. I got those batteries because I figured they could supply full rated power to the panel... it appears that is the case. I suspect I'll get much better than 15 mins runtime after breakin and with a full charge, but I'm willing to bet that after the cells drain to a certain level (1 or 2 bars remaining) I'll need to drop illumination level down to fully discharge them (consistant with what I've seen in other high discharge rate batteries).

On AC, light output reads the same 170 Ft-Cd, so the batteries don't cause a loss in intensity.
Adjusting the brightness value to 88 (%?) drops the AC illumination level to 160 Ft-Cd (~6% drop).

So lots of good news... light output on batteries is very consistant and appears to stay uniform through a full battery charge down to where the battery can't sustain full output anymore, and brightness on batteries is the same as on AC if your batteries can sustain the current draw. Downside is at full charge the Bebob 90's will only give me (at best) 30 minutes of runtime (likely less before needing power reduced, and they'll take 90-120 minutes to recharge according to docs), maybe the V275RM would be a better choice for those looking for longer runtimes.

One thing that makes me a bit nervous is that full panel power is rated at 150W... but I see that the V-Mount they shipped is only rated for 70W, does this mean I'm overloading the V-Mount by >200% when running on Battery? I suspect it does and wonder if it will cause problems.
 
Last edited:
Congrats on the purchase David, and tanks for the specifics on your tests, some good info in there.

And while it might not seem a lot of time getting "30" minutes out of a 90whr Battery and getting the insane power output form the Area 48, it is in my opinion an truly fantastic thing, especially when we get just about the same power run time out of the Epic camera with the same battery.

I also use the Bebob's while expensive they are well tough out, and might look i to a Group Buy for those as well, to accompany the Area 48's.

For the specific question I forward it to the guys at BB&S and hope to receive an answer form them about it, and if they do not post here, I'll copy/paste their reply.
 
Hi David,

As I posted above, somewhere, I got 1hour 21 minutes at 100% constant power, with two linked PAG PL96e batteries, fully charged.

Thank you very much

Fury
 
Couple more data points:

With the snapbag light output increased to about 310 Ft-Cd at 60".
With the snapbag and diffuser you're back to 170 Ft-Cd at 60".

With snapbag (no diffuser):
1 - not enough energy to excite the phosphors (no read above ambient)
2 - light is now 'white' instead of yellow. 5 Ft-Cd at 60"
10 - 18 Ft-Cd
20 - 60 Ft-Cd
30 - 100 Ft-Cd
40 - 140 Ft-Cd
50 - 170 Ft-Cd
60 - 200 Ft-Cd
70 - 240 Ft-Cd
80 - 270 Ft-Cd
90 - 290 Ft-Cd
100 - 310 Ft-Cd

Don't get me wrong about the batteries... I bought the Bebob 90's figuring I'd get 30 minutes tops, which I thought would be enough given the type of work I'd have to do on battery - it's just that if someone is thinking that 30 is way too short then they should think about getting the larger models. The 275 should give you well over an hour at full intensity (3x the runtime for 2x the price).

Nick your numbers would seem to indicate that the panel's are running lower than the rated 150W (which would give a pair of 6.4 a-h batteries a 1h 10m runtime max). Are you able to fully discharge the PAG's at full intensity?

(can't wait to do some color analysis)
 
Last edited:
Do you think we get an update this week? I have jobs I would love to use it on. Are we there yet=)
 
Joel Arvidsson said:
Do you think we get an update this week? I have jobs I would love to use it on. Are we there yet=)
Click to expand...


Unfortunately Joel, I am not in a position to make any guesses, as this has become more difficult then I tough, and I have been pushing and pushing for a resolve on this, and now I have done absolutely all that I could, and it is simply in the hands of the guys at BB&S!!


All that I can do now, is wait for that final answer, if it comes when it comes, I'll report here immediately, sucks, but unfortunately there is truly nothing else I can do, as I have exhausted all words towards making this happen, and it is no longer up to me.


I of course remain positive and look forward in bringing the good news to you here shortly, but at this point I simply can on longer give any updates till they reply with a definitive answer.
 
KETCH ROSSi said:
Unfortunately Joel, I am not in a position to make any guesses, as this has become more difficult then I tough, and I have been pushing and pushing for a resolve on this, and now I have done absolutely all that I could, and it is simply in the hands of the guys at BB&S!!


All that I can do now, is wait for that final answer, if it comes when it comes, I'll report here immediately, sucks, but unfortunately there is truly nothing else I can do, as I have exhausted all words towards making this happen, and it is no longer up to me.


I of course remain positive and look forward in bringing the good news to you here shortly, but at this point I simply can on longer give any updates till they reply with a definitive answer.
Click to expand...

Cool, now I know how it is and don't need to ask "are we there yet" more=). You know we love you for all you done to make this second round happen. The only thing I know is if I order one now the next day the second round shows up=).
 
Joel Arvidsson said:
Cool, now I know how it is and don't need to ask "are we there yet" more=). You know we love you for all you done to make this second round happen. The only thing I know is if I order one now the next day the second round shows up=).
Click to expand...


I totally understand you Joel, and truly wish I had an answer for you now, but I do not, and yes, chances are that you could be in that exact predicament, but at the same time I can't say that either as I have not been given back any definitive answer to this, so you are in a 50/50 chance of getting it and the second group buy happens, or you don't get it and the second group buy never happens, it just can really go either way, despite all my efforts to make sure it actually does happen, it is now no longer within my power ot make it happen, as having done and said all that I could in favor of, it is now only in the hands of BB&S.

My advise to any one at this point would be to not buy any units until they absolutely have to, at list not until I'll bring you that "DEFINITIVE" answer, either with a "Yay or Nay".
 
Group buys
a) result in many of us either preponing our purchases of a particular brand
b) attract customers to select their brand amongst many competing brands
c) entice the customers to impulse purchase.

Group buys in reputed sites like this results in a manufacturer penetrating a particular customer profile.

BBS may feel that they have now become famous and hence everybody will only buy them. They don't realise that there are many manufacturers of lenses, tripods, sliders, MoVI type gimbals, remote follow focus etc etc are vying for our funds. There are always too many items competing for our small wallets. People will keep on allocating and reallocating their funds based on these market realities.

In this economy many companies would like to pick up as much money as is possible from the market - a bird in hand is more than two in the bush. Anyway, BBS knows best.

There are other remote phosphorous lights coming up as well. I will wait for a group buy of either BBS or any other alternative.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top