I wonder if these lights will strobe when dimmed.

Some rough measurements at 1m:
F&V Z96 with diffuser - 450 lux
312AS with diffuser at 5600K - 850 lux
312AS with diffuser at 3200K - 650 lux
300W halogen worklight - 2200 lux
500W halogen worklight - 3600 lux

The latter is more or less equal to the luminance in the room near the window on an overcast day. While outside luminance is around 10000-15000 lux.

Slightly better:
312AS w/o diffuser at 5600K - 980 lux
312AS w/o diffuser at 3200K - 720 lux
312AS w/o diffuser mixed color - 950 lux

While Z96 yields 530 lux without diffuser.

I ordered 2 sets of the bi-colour lights a couple of weeks ago. The whole process went really well, with the lights shipping on the Monday or Tuesday after I'd ordered them on the Saturday. They arrived a week later and so far seem to be great.

There was a slight issue with one of the lights, it wouldn't work consistently off of mains power. I reported it to the seller and considered a return, but the temptation was too great to try and see if I could fix it myself. Thankfully it wasn't too bad, hardly rocket science just like Vitaliy said it wouldn't be, although it could have been easier to get at the offending solder points. I've thrown together a cheesy video on my iPhone which may be interesting for anyone else wondering what lies inside them.



I've added a small description of the disassembly into the video description on vimeo.

@Psyco

You pressed the buton to the left of indicator? I mean T in circle.

I'm thinking of shooting a test video to judge the power of these lights, and wondered if anyone had some suggestions on anything useful to shoot?

I was planning to just shoot with the light mounted on the camera at different distances from a subject to see how the light falls off with distance at all levels of dimming and colour temperature. Will shoot in the dark with my 25mm Nokton to see how far away I can get any useful illumination. Any other suggestions?

I paid for the 312AS light (via CatchIt deal) on October 6 afternoon and it arrived at my current domicile in the north of Spain on October 13 morning even though the 12 was a national holiday. That was pretty fast and with no custom bullshit problems whatsoever. Congrats to @Vitaliy_Kiselev on putting us in touch with trustworthy sellers like this one.

On another hand, as it's stated in the opening post, leds have a way of hurting your eyes that makes a proper softbox/diffuser almost compulsory. Any advice on a softbox/diffuser that will suit this little light?

Thanks a lot in advance.

>So this begs the question why is there a DC 7.4 to 14.8v socket at the back of the light?

Extremely strange question.
Socket is for powering using big external bettery, for example.
You can also use any other adapter.
And can also use included one, if it works, without all this instructions reading.

Small reviews of latest 312AS

@skiandbike

For quite long time already all 312 are as on this videos (AS or others).
ASZ is just sellers fantazy, as I know.
Factory just do not make old ones, so all are new. :-)

Vitaliy,

Is the 312 5500K twice as bright as the 312 bi-colour when set to 5500K? What I mean is, when in 5500K mode, does the bi-colour have only half the LEDs lit?

Sorry if the answer has been mentioned already, and I've missed it.

well.... fantastic light! I have just received bi color unit and its wonderful! i really love it! they sent it on Monday i got it already on Thursday..... so its kind of fast, it was dhl delivery, i got lucky and did not pay any custom taxes or vat.

did not find any issues so far, there is 1 little issue with its left(temperature) dimmer, it turns nice and smooth only on half, then its goes not so smooth like it touches something inside....and makes a little noise while u turning it. the good thing - it turns smooth right to the point where it goes too yellow if u turn more.
i did not notice any noises while its working.

i really love the unit ! Its much much better than CN-160.
some difference between these 2 :

- after i pointed that new light on a wall i noticed that there are no SPOTS in light, something that CN-160 has and u have to use a supplied filter/diffuser to get rid of it.
- the new light is much more powerful! the new unit has less - 156 white leds and 156(yellow), but still....even 156 leds gives u much more of light, i would say twice as much. and if or when u add 156 yellow leds to it it gives u even more of light...
- love the bi color thing so far. i really enjoyed changing the temperature to more warm light, and it really helps mixing with other light source!
- having 2 batteries not just 1 - is a real pleasure!
- lighting has a much wider angle!

so i would really recommend it as its cheap(considering the package), small and very useful

@Jonathan_P yep, photoflex softboxes, XS S or M all work. Use their plastic speed ring, rivet (or screw) a steel plate (the kind with 2 or four holes drilled already) to the plastic speed ring, then screw the 312 light in with a seperate screw and use the black screw fasteners that come with the 312 light to tighten in place.

Probably doesn't make sense but is very easy. Will snap a photo and post when I got it setup and am shooting with it again on Wednesday. Apologies for delayed response -- on vacation for two weeks.

Screen grabs of the first test with this setup (sorry for cross posting but figure better than referencing the thread where these are already posted, only to end up reposting in the end).