On the go with the new Lumen Panel LED continuous lights

LUMEN PANEL 600BI AND 900BI REVIEWED BY PHOTOGRAPHER SEBASTIAN NAGEL

Whether you prefer photographing with studio strobes or continuous lighting is a matter of taste. For those who belong to the latter group, we would like to introduce our Lumen Panels 600Bi and 900Bi.

Before we launched the panels, photographer Sebastian Nagel from Kaiserslautern put them through their paces. The result was fantastic images – with backlighting and dramatic clouds.

WHITE AND WARM LIGHT LEDs

Both models mentioned above are mobile bicolor continuous lights. The 900 is larger, with 450 white light LEDs and 450 warm light LEDs, than the 600. The 600Bi has 288 LEDs of each type and is the smaller version of the two panels. Both achieve the same color temperature, which is adjustable between 3200 and 5500 K. The wattage of the two versions differs slightly, as the 900Bi has a total of 60 watts, while the 600Bi has 40 watts. They also differ in weight by a total of 400 grams.

WHICH PANEL FOR WHICH SITUATION?

But which panel is best for which situation? Sebastian Nagel answers:

"In my opinion, the 900 is very well suited for very bright backlit situations, while the smaller model (600Bi) is excellent for dusk. As shown in the following example, you don't need the higher power of 60W (900Bi) compared to the smaller model with 40W (600Bi) at dusk. For this shot, we passed a large, flat field and saw the clouds begin to turn red and purple. We immediately stopped, I took the Lumen Panel 600Bi with a tripod out of the trunk, set everything up, and we were ready to go."

Sebastian Nagel used the panel here at full power, but at 3400K and placed a little further away to create a more harmonious warm/cold contrast between model Juliane and the reddish clouds.

"Here I deliberately chose the panel because, for technical camera reasons, I needed a light source to brighten Juliane and capture the colorful sky without having to push the ISO value too high and to guarantee a high dynamic range."

BACKLIGHT AND EVEN MORE POWER

"For the backlit situation, I used the 900 panel at 5500K and full power to illuminate Juliane optimally and avoid a blown-out sky," explains Nagel. Since there was still plenty of time until sunset, he chose 5500K to match the light temperature of the current conditions as closely as possible.

By the way: Our Lumen Panels are extremely mobile, thanks to the option of battery operation. For example, Sony NP-F750 or F970 batteries are suitable for this, although they are not included in the scope of delivery. With battery operation, you are able to work on location and wherever you find your subjects – such as sunsets with dramatic clouds, just like photographer Sebastian Nagel.

HIS CONCLUSION:

"I love working with the panels, which applies to both models, as they are incredibly flexible, powerful, and mobile thanks to separately available batteries. They are super quick to set up and screw onto a light stand. The control via app is also brilliant, and I also find the two diffusers, barn doors, and swivel bracket extremely practical, as they allow precise control of the light angle. Both models also have an unbeatable price-performance ratio. For extremely bright backlit situations, you need the greater power of 60W and 324 more LEDs (a total of 900) compared to 40W and 576 LEDs in the smaller model. To put it even more concisely: If you're shooting indoors, the small one is sufficient. If you want to leave nothing to chance outdoors, then you definitely use the large one."

CONTROLLING LUMEN PANELS WITH THE SMARTPHONE APP

You can control our Lumen Panels either directly on the device or with our Lumen App. This way, you can easily adjust intensities, colors, and gradients with your smartphone without having to put down your camera. In this case, you can either switch between the Rollei app and your smartphone's camera – or work with another person operating the app.

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