A few years ago, I was covering Photo Plus Expo in New York and Westcott showed me what was then a prototype of their Flex LED. These LED light mats were made from a tough waterproof surface and could be used in small spaces or (with an adapter) on a light stand. They immediately caught my attention. The Flex Series has been evolving ever since, adding the Scrim Jim frames and various sized mats to the lineup, but always keeping that slim and shapeable form factor and rugged build quality. And their latest addition is just as exciting.
Just recently, I got a chance to try out the brand new Westcott Flex Cine RGBW LED System. This new Flex Cine Series is available in RGBW, bi-color, and daylight with sizes ranging from 1′ x 1′ to 2′ x 2′. As before, the Flex mats are durable, lightweight, pliable, and super thin (just ⅓” thick)! Perfect for concealing in tight spaces, these mats can even be rolled to create a 360-degree beam spread. The Flex CINE Series is water resistant (IP 64 Rated) and Westcott backs them for life, so I can see these quickly becoming workhorses for both cinematographers and photographers.
Not having a lot of time with the lights and knowing from previous models these would be rugged, I didn’t bother to beat them up on location but rather decided to test the color, both natural and RGBW. I called Marisa to the studio and decided to start with a nice clean headshot, let’s see what kind of skin tones we could get out of the Flex Cine. My kit was composed of 2 mats, a 1×1 and a 1×2 with frames and silks. I mounted the 1×1 centered on Marisa as the key and used the dimmer to dial in my 1×2 from underneath in a classic “Clam Shell” look.
We’ve all come to expect excellent quality from Westcott and these fixtures do not disappoint. The Flex Cine Mats are brighter than competitively-sized flexible LEDS and produce clean color a 97+ CRI (98 TLCI) and flicker-free performance up to 960 frames per second. So I wasn’t surprised the skin looked smooth and the color was clean, It’s still amazing to me how far LEDs have come in the last six to 10 years.
Let’s talk control. Westcott has developed a single Wireless DMX Dimmer that can sense and operate the full range of mats from 1×1 all the way up to 2×2 and every flavor from daylight to bi-color to RGBW, which I got to work with for this article. Flex Cine LED mats use a heavy-duty cable with TE-9-pin connectors to connect to a Flex Cine Dimmer. An optional TE-9-pin adapter allows the dimmer to be used with your original Flex mats. This was extremely useful in dialing in the exact amount of fill light for the first set-up.
Before I get into the cool things you can do with the RGBW functions, I have have to say Westcott has really thought about how these units may be used in the field and have created fixtures with a huge amount of versatility. The mats feature metal grommets which are perfect for hanging, and magnetic corners allow them to adhere to metal surfaces, essentially making them zero footprint. They include touch fastener edging for conjoining mats and, of course, the great Scrim Jim mounting frames, the dual-joint tilt bracket worked perfectly to get the lights where I needed them, and make minor tweaks as I worked, as opposed to manipulating the entire stand.
Once we got the “clean shot,” I decided to play with the color functions of the Flex and keeping my key light the same. I dialed the fill into a lavender gel look to add a bit of mood to the shot.
For the next image (below), I swapped the key light to tungsten balance.
As noted, the dimmer is wireless via Art-Net as well as wired with DMX512 input and output (XLR). It provides dimmable output from 1-100% in various light output modes which control color and intensity, and it acts as a built-in source for matching and 120+ color gel presets and the ability to store user defined presets. What this means is that a creative can chose a color to match the scene on the fly, use known gel looks, and even save the results to repeat for future projects. Some of the more robust color tools are controlled via your smartphone or tablet with the Luminair app.
For my final shot, I really wanted to go crazy with color so I had Marisa change and simply dialed in the color I wanted from each of the two lights, creating a fun scene of blended color, which I captured with my Irix 15mm to add to the sense of strangeness.
For this, I ran one of my dimmers/mats off AC and the other off DC power. The Wireless DMX Dimmer is fitted with a standard V-mount to operate the unit from DC power (a 26V battery will offer about 3 hours run time at full power) or the AC adapter may be mounted in its place for uninterrupted power. The 1×1 bi-color and daylight may also be powered by compatible 14.4-14-8V V-mount batteries.
While I did not get a chance to try them, Westcott is also launching various shapers and modifiers, including collapsible softboxes, egg crate grids, hard diffusion panels, barndoors, drum softbox, cubes, premium diffusion and more. They have also created several kits or you can built out your Flex Cine LEDs as you see fit.
Westcott has noted this new launch is “Lighting Evolved” and having seen these lights from an early prototype a few years ago to what they are today, I’d say that’s an understatement.
To see the Westcott Flex Cine Series in action, check out this video from AdoramaTV:
Feature photo by Fernando Martinez/AdoramaTV
