Litepanels have announced a refresh of their Astra line of 1×1 LED panels and a simplified naming convention for the range. The Astras are now classified as either 6X or 3X, indicating strength of output.
The previous generation of Astra is probably the most popular 1×1 panel in use around the world today, and the company invented the form factor with their original LED panel light. So there’s no real change to the form factor – it’s what’s inside the casing that’s been tweaked.
Litepanels Astra 6X and 3X
The new lights are being compared to the original 1×1 Litepanel in terms of brightness though, not the previous generation of Astra. So although the 6X is six times brighter than the ur-Litepanel 1×1, it’s actually three times brighter than the previous Astra. Likewise the new Astra 3X is actually 1.5 times brighter than the old Astra. Clear?
Power Draw
The new lights are brighter than the old ones, then. They also draw less power. The 6X draws around 105W and the 3X 40W – that’s a reduction in draw of around 10%. The 6X is actively cooled with a fan you can also disable in quiet interview situations. The 3X is entirely passively cooled.
Photometrics
Matt measured the Astra units on the show floor at NAB with a Sekonic colour meter and found the following. TL;DR – they’re pretty punchy and as colour accurate as the previous Astras.
5600K
When set to 5600K we recorded a Kelvin reading of 6162K and a ⊿uv reading of 0.0013. The light’s output at a distance of one metre was 9130lx.
Pricing and availability
The first lights in the new range will be bi-colour units in June, followed by daylight fixtures. In due course there will also be Soft versions too. They should be around the same price as the current Astras.
