digiDirect's video: Lupo Kickass Panel Small LED panel with huge power

We review the Lupo Kickass Panel, a small LED panel that packs a lot of power. Learn more about the Lupo Kickass Panel: http://bit.ly/LupoKickass Like us on Facebook: http://fb.com/digidirect Follow us on Instagram @digidirect and Twitter @digidirect_AU Intro - 0:00 Body - 0:30 Power - 1:33 Beam Width - 1:47 CCT (White light) Mode - 2:04 HSI Mode - 2:36 RGBW Mode - 2:53 Preset Mode - 3:03 Effects Mode - 3:15 Summary - 3:26 Today we’re looking at the Lupo Kickass Panel. This is a full colour LED light panel that attempts to mix small size with a lot of power. The panel offers white light with temperature control and green/magenta compensation, plus full colour modes allow you to select the exact hue and saturation needed. There’s also a few nifty effect modes in here to simulate things like cop car lights, fire, paparazzi, and so on. The Lupo Kickass Panel is on the large end of a small-sized light. It’s not pocketable, but it will easily fit in a camera bag. It has a sturdy body that feels well built. The light panel is at the front, and on the back we have the controls, which consist of the power switch, 3 dials, and three buttons. Of course we have the display to show us our settings. There’s also three 1/4-20 connection points, on the bottom or either side. The panel does come with a hotshoe swivel mount so you can mount it on top of your camera. It also comes with a diffuser panel that can be screwed into the side mounts. The panel can be powered by USB input, for example from a powerbank - but note powering via USB reduces the maximum output to 50%. It comes with a USB cable. Alternatively it can use a Sony NP style battery, or a power cable. Note that neither the battery or power cable are included though, so you’ll have to factor that into your budget. The Kickass Panel can output 2150 lux at a 1 meter distance. Many of the small size panels it is competing against max out at 350 lux or less at this distance, so the power output here is substantially higher. Part of that power is due to the lenses that are in front of each LED chip, which focuses the light to make it brighter. This does come at the cost of narrowing the beam, giving it less wide of a spill than most competitors. This can be good or bad, depending on what you’re aiming to do. The default mode of the panel is CCT, which gives you white light where you can adjust the temperature from 2800 - 10000K. You can also change the intensity, as well as adjust green/magenta compensation in order to match, for example, the greenish tones of an overhead fluorescent light. As the main way that most will use this light, this is a simple yet effective mode that allows you to easily create a wide range of normal-looking lighting situations, and the control dials make it easy to tweak any settings. The provided diffuser can help here if needed, and the high power output of the light (considering it’s size) means you can bounce the light or diffuse it if needed as well. Then there are the colour modes. Now note, like most other panels, dropping from white light to colour will reduce the overall output. HSI mode is probably the simplest way to get the colour you need. Here you can adjust the hue, saturation, and intensity independently, to get the colour desired. RGBW mode allows you to enter in the exact RGBW values to obtain a specific colour, as well as adjust the temperature, intensity, and green/magenta compensation. Preset mode comes with 48 factory presets for different colours, and 5 spots for user-defined presets. In any of the previous modes you can press the up-and-down buttons at the same time to save the current setting as a preset. The effects mode comes with a series of light effects that can be used to simulate different situations. Most of these effect settings allow you to modify the effect in various ways, whether it’s the frequency of the effect, or other adjustments. Overall, the Lupo Kickass Panel is very competent. It’s relatively compact, but can output quite a lot of power for it’s size. The controls are easy to use and allow for fairly easy access to a wide variety of lighting settings, both typical and atypical. The one thing to consider is your power source, you should factor in the cost of either a battery or power cable. But If you’re looking for an extremely versatile light that can cover a lot of bases yet still remain small, I think this is an excellent option. The Lupo Kickass Panel can serve well as the main light is a small and portable lighting setup, or integrate seamlessly into a larger lighting setup.