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Photographer Dustin Abbott reviews the super bright Genaray Bright Beast Bi-Color 1x1 LED panels - giving you about 20,000 LUX at one meter distance. | Purchase the Bright Beast panels at @ B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/46s0G9B
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
[music]
0:10
Hi, I'm [music] Dustin Abbott and I'm
0:12
here to give you a review of the Gener
0:14
Brightbeast byolor one by one LED panels
0:18
here. I for years I've actually been
0:20
using different Gener lights on set
0:23
here. This is the Gener Spectro LED.
0:25
They are bycolor panels but considerably
0:28
less light output. And one other thing
0:30
that I really was getting kind of tired
0:32
of is that they use the two of the Sony
0:34
L series batteries. And I just found
0:36
that it wasn't uncommon for one of those
0:38
to conk out in the middle of video
0:40
production. I really wanted something
0:41
with Vmount capability because I don't
0:43
always plug in the lights because a lot
0:45
of times I have to set up and tear down
0:48
here on set sometimes and so I want to
0:50
get away from any kind of light cords
0:52
and so I wanted Vmount. And so anyway, I
0:54
settled upon taking a look at the
0:56
Generate Brightbeast LED panels. They
0:58
are much brighter as we're going to see
1:00
and also they have the capability of
1:02
using those Vmount batteries. And so I'm
1:04
going to give you both a look at the
1:06
specification, what these panels, you
1:08
know, include those. That's something
1:10
you can look up for yourself, but then
1:11
I'm also going to give you real world
1:13
feedback on what I like and what I don't
1:15
like after about 6 weeks of use here,
1:17
primarily onset. and then also for
1:20
lighting my test charts where I value
1:22
both the quantity of light and then also
1:24
the consistency of light because I need
1:26
highly repeatable results. So, let's
1:28
dive in and take a look at whether or
1:30
not you should consider these LED panels
1:33
if you're doing video production or even
1:35
if you're wanting to do fixed lighting
1:37
for portraiture. So, let's dive in first
1:39
and take a look at those specifications
1:41
and what you are getting for your money.
1:44
So, as mentioned, this is an a 1 ft
1:47
square panel here. And so, it has 200 an
1:50
array of 256 LEDs, which are putting out
1:53
right around 20,000 lux at a distance of
1:56
about 1 meter or 3 ft. Now, obviously,
2:00
you can get panels this size and a huge
2:02
variety of light output. And I've seen
2:06
as little as same size and as little
2:09
light output as just a little over 600
2:12
lux at that same distance. And then
2:14
there are very high-end very expensive
2:16
panels that can get you all the way up
2:18
into the range of nearly 100,000. And so
2:21
obviously uh that light output is going
2:23
to vary hugely. But they call this the
2:26
bright beast for a reason. These put out
2:28
a really incredible amount of light.
2:31
actually really surprising amount of
2:32
light for a fixed LED panel like this.
2:35
So that was important to me. Also the
2:36
fact that they are flicker-free. It was
2:38
another priority. I if LEDs flicker,
2:42
which is something that LEDs will do in
2:43
some situations, it can be really
2:45
destructive to video production. In
2:47
fact, I am still trying to solve the
2:49
problem of lighting in this. I put some
2:51
LED lights in this wanting for a
2:53
particular kind of backdrop and look in
2:55
some of my test. The problem is is that
2:57
if you get that shutter speed up, the
3:00
flicker refresh is terrible on them. So,
3:02
that's a problem I'm still trying to
3:03
solve. I did not want that in my set
3:05
lights. These are by color and that you
3:08
have the option of going between a
3:10
30,000 up to 56,000 Kelvin so that you
3:13
can set kind of the color temperature
3:14
that you want on set. They do have very
3:17
good DMX control and so it's DMX 512
3:20
control with using XLR both. There's an
3:22
input and an output and so that you can
3:24
daisy chain them together. You can daisy
3:26
chain up to five of them together and
3:28
then of course control them from a
3:30
console. But if you're not that highly
3:32
invested, you also have the option of
3:34
using a free app that can give you
3:37
Bluetooth control over these units as
3:40
well. And we'll uh talk more about that
3:42
in just a moment. They can be powered
3:44
via AC. And I appreciate the fact that
3:46
we've got a professional power lock
3:48
connector. So you're not going to have
3:50
to worry about someone tripping over the
3:52
light cable and lights actually getting
3:54
pulled or unplugged. But you also have
3:56
some DC options that includes the Vmount
3:58
plate as I have mentioned and so that
4:01
you can input on that and so that is
4:03
useful as well. There is an 18vt port
4:06
also on there. It does have fan and has
4:10
some options on the fan and the fan as
4:12
we'll talk about is incredibly quiet.
4:14
You're probably never going to hear it
4:15
under any circumstance really. It is
4:18
very very efficient in that regard. It
4:20
has onboard um LCD screen. The controls
4:23
are simple and easy if that's a priority
4:26
for you. You don't have to navigate
4:27
through menus. And so it means that yes,
4:29
maybe there are few less options than
4:32
what you might have in some other
4:33
lights. But in many cases, those extra
4:36
options are not things I'm looking for.
4:38
You can actually do more finite control
4:41
of the units through the app itself.
4:43
even in terms of the, you know, the
4:45
effects, the color temperature, but even
4:47
things like the brightness, whether it's
4:49
going to be linear, slang, logarithmic,
4:51
exponential. Um, and so you have
4:53
different options on how you're going
4:54
to, you know, kind of tweak that light
4:56
output through the app. I kind of like
4:57
that rather than trying to navigate
4:59
through a lot of menus to just
5:00
accomplish the basic things like color
5:02
temperature andor brightness. So, quite
5:04
easy to use. I appreciate that. Also
5:06
important is the fact that the light
5:08
output is accurate. There's a CRI CRI
5:11
rating of 97, a TLCI rating of 98,
5:15
helping you to get accurate, repeatable
5:17
colors on set. This does have nine
5:20
different customizable effects, but
5:22
again, I find that effects are of
5:24
limited value, at least to me, kind of
5:26
gimmicky in general, but also the fact
5:29
that this is not full RGB means that you
5:31
have again a limited range of how much
5:34
the light can be customized to a
5:37
particular look. And so anyway, that may
5:39
or may not be of value to you. It does
5:42
include a nice padded travel case, which
5:46
is obviously going to be useful. And as
5:48
you can see, I mean, it's not a small
5:50
light. It's not necessarily a small
5:52
case, but at the same time, it is it's
5:55
fairly slim and so it's not difficult to
5:57
bring along. Has good straps on it. All
5:59
of that is good. MSRP on this is 799 USD
6:04
per panel. Um, currently it's available
6:07
for 528 at B&H Photo and then so, um,
6:11
right now the value is very good. We'll
6:13
take a look at some of the comps here at
6:15
the end of the video in just a few
6:17
minutes. So, how about some of my real
6:19
world observations? Some things that I
6:21
liked is that I found, you know, I was
6:23
looking at them initially and kind of
6:24
that unique offset. Kind of wondering at
6:26
that at first, but that unique yolk
6:28
actually really helps with balance. It
6:30
means that although the panel is quite
6:31
heavy that as you're rotating it, it
6:34
rotates uh with a kind of a good center
6:36
of balance to where it's easy to do that
6:38
and to rotate it. I appreciate the fact
6:40
that it is crazy bright. I am having to
6:43
scale light output down all the time.
6:45
Otherwise, I would literally be kind of
6:47
blinded here on set. And so, there is
6:49
tons of light here. It's very, very
6:51
versatile in that regard. There's enough
6:52
light output here that I can and will
6:55
use this um in summer settings sometimes
6:57
in outdoor filming to get get some fill
7:00
light on my face. It's going to have
7:01
plenty of light output for that. There
7:04
are a couple of available accessories
7:06
and so we'll talk a little bit more
7:07
about those. There is a diffuser panel
7:10
that is magnetic, very very easy to
7:12
mount. It also has a couple of of just
7:15
projections up here that make sure that
7:17
it's going to lock in the proper
7:19
position and so you can align it
7:20
properly, but it stays in place very
7:22
nicely and then you can pop it up off as
7:24
needed, but it's very secure on there.
7:26
Also available is you can get the barn
7:28
doors that I've got mounted here. Again,
7:31
they mount very easily and very
7:33
securely. It's a very good setup for
7:35
that. And the quality of these barn
7:37
doors is very, very nice. In fact, I
7:39
would say construction in general is
7:41
very, very nice. good materials, feels
7:44
tough and robust. Obviously, six weeks,
7:46
haven't had a lot of bumps and bruises
7:47
of moving things around, but to this
7:49
point, all of that, it seems, everything
7:51
seems to be well constructed. The
7:53
Bluetooth control allows you to operate
7:55
one or more panels remotely. You can set
7:58
them up in groups. Uh, so it's, you
8:01
know, fairly easy to control them
8:03
through that setting. And as I
8:04
mentioned, it does give you a little bit
8:06
a little bit more options on how you
8:08
want to shape that light. I love the
8:10
fact that we've got Vmount support. That
8:12
was very very important to me. We also
8:14
have about six stops of light output
8:17
that is available in dimmable steps all
8:19
the way from zero to 100. And so you
8:21
have nice finite control over the
8:23
quantity of the light. Appreciate the
8:25
fact that the fan is extremely quiet.
8:28
I've got one going full tilt. Right now
8:30
I cannot hear it at all. And so um and
8:33
I'm only about seven or eight feet away
8:35
from it at this point. It is very very
8:37
quiet. Couple of things that I I'm less
8:41
crazy about is that because this light
8:44
panel is reasonably heavy means that on
8:47
the light stand, the light stand is
8:48
going to feel very very topheavy. And so
8:50
you're if you're moving it around
8:51
attached to the light stand, you're
8:53
going to have to kind of learn a proper
8:55
protocol for doing that. I find for me
8:57
the best protocol is to have one hand on
8:59
the light, one hand on the stand to
9:01
where I'm kind of exerting a little bit
9:03
of pressure on both places and that
9:05
seems to be the the most controllable.
9:07
But um just one thing to be aware of
9:09
that, you know, this this is not
9:11
necessarily a lightweight, you're going
9:12
to want to be careful when you're moving
9:13
it around. I also find that the
9:16
Bluetooth app, while I appreciate that
9:18
it's there, it still still feels
9:20
relatively primitive. And so it's not
9:22
nearly as sophisticated as some of the
9:24
apps that I've used for other lights
9:26
before. And so it kind of feels, you
9:28
know, like generation 1.0. And and so I
9:31
would like I hope that they continue to
9:33
develop for it and it gets a little bit
9:34
more sophisticated in the future. Uh I
9:37
also don't appreciate the fact that uh
9:41
none of the accessories are included.
9:43
And so I mean while the little diffuser
9:45
panel here is much cheaper on the much
9:48
cheaper spectral spectral lights, the
9:50
diffuser panel was included. And so and
9:52
unfortunately here in the box you don't
9:54
even have the diffuser panel. And
9:55
frankly these are so bright I I didn't
9:59
get them initially. I immediately needed
10:01
to get the diffuser panels because
10:03
having that just to soften that light a
10:05
little bit is useful. And so, uh,
10:08
anyway, so you're going to have to pay
10:09
for any of these accessories. Right now,
10:11
the cost for the diffuser panel is 4275.
10:14
You know, not the end of the world. The
10:16
barn doors are currently running about
10:17
70 bucks. As I mentioned, everything is
10:19
wellmade. However, if you're wanting to
10:21
get the setup that I'm showing you here,
10:23
you're going to have to essentially plan
10:25
on spending another $115 or so to get
10:28
those two accessories. That leads me to
10:30
my conclusion on these. And to give you
10:34
a little bit of perspective on price,
10:36
price, you know, MSRP of $799, current
10:39
price about 525.
10:42
Uh the light panel Astra that is similar
10:45
in terms very similar in terms of the
10:46
build and the design has very slightly
10:48
more light output. It runs you about
10:50
$1,420.
10:52
The Lupo Super Panel costs around
10:54
$1,700.
10:56
And so when you're talking about
10:58
equivalents of these, you're probably
11:01
not going to really get a better price
11:03
on a panel that puts out the quantity of
11:05
light that this does. Gener is one of
11:08
the in-house brands for B&H Photo, which
11:10
allows them to be very competitive in
11:12
terms of their pricing. And so I think
11:15
in that sense, as far as the value
11:16
proposition, even though they're not
11:18
cheap, they are very good values
11:21
relative to the competition. As far as
11:24
my experience with the lights, it's tons
11:26
of light output. There's good
11:28
versatility there, good light
11:29
consistency, and so I'm happy with the
11:31
results that I'm getting for my
11:33
application. You're obviously going to
11:35
have to determine whether this form
11:36
factor and this quantity of light output
11:38
is going to work for you. But as far as
11:40
the value goes, I feel like the Gener
11:43
Brightbeast LED panels are very solid
11:46
value. If you want more information,
11:48
I'll throw a link link in the
11:49
description down below where you can go
11:50
and you can check them out for
11:52
yourselves. As always, thanks for
11:54
watching. Have a great day and let the
11:56
light in.