just got mine a few days ago... been using it and love it thus far. super bright, great color and small enough and light enough to. handle easily. replaced my incandescent light and really like these!

The world of lights has changed so much since I first rented Litepanels (the originator of the panel LED) 5 years ago. Since then I've rented or purchased just about every panel LED from pro to budget and I always come back to LitePanels. Sure there are cheaper options and everyone's needs are unique to their situation as will be their light choices. For me, for my small studio needs, nothing matches the build quality, light quality, brightness and overall feel and texture of these lights. I love em and they work best for me. Your mileage my vary. With the Astra Soft Bi-Color, I have never needed a softbox addition and at full brightness, it works great as a key for closeups. My 2nd Astra Soft works well as a fill at 1/4 brightness and I have a couple of budget lights for hair and edge lights. This combination just works.

I bought 4 of the Astra Softs and have been using them daily for the past 4 months. The light output is great and the built in diffusion is perfect for the type of work I do which is mostly interviews and product videos.

However, having read so many reviews about the quality control/power issues with the Astra series has me constantly on edge. I always turn the output down before powering on and off to avoid the issue that so many other owners have experienced. This can be quite annoying since the output is just a knob and is not tied to an LED or graphical indicator. So if your previous shot was at say, 79% and you dial it down to 0 between shots you'll never really get it back exactly.

The same holds true for the color temperature. The color rendering is excellent, but if I'm at a setting somewhere between tungsten and daylight, it would be nice to have an actual readout of the value. The only indication are preset color temp numbers along the ring making it difficult to set all 4 lights to the exact same value.


These aren't deal breakers and I knew this before I bought them. I'm just reporting back my feelings after 4 months of use in the field. (I have countless other bi-color LEDs that have digital displays which cost less than half of the Astra Soft).


I gave the lights a 5 star review but in actuality, I'd rate them a 4.5. Add a digital readout and then definitely a solid 5+.

Perfect Astra, prefer over the 6x if you don't need the punch. Use often and has worked great so far. Lightweight

No idea why B&H ran a deal zone on this light, but I quickly purchased one at the sale price of $949. �I'm primarily a still photographer, but have been doing more videos. �I had purchased some inexpensive (Dracast) LED lights from B&H but was not happy with the harsh lighting effects of using without a modifier (soft box). �I had read other reviews of the Astra soft and all rated this unit very well, almost on par with the Kinoflow Celeb at nearly half the price. �At the deal zone price, it was a no-brainer to pick one up. �The built-in diffuser is terrific, and you really don't need to add an external soft box. �The light output is lower than the 6x Astra, but I'm only using this indoors, not for outdoor fill, where the 6X Astra is better to balance with sunlight. � �
Still don't know why B&H put these on sale, you won't find these discounted anywhere. �It's worth the retail price as it's about the same a the Astra 6x + soft box.

I own or have owned every light known to man. (ok, slight exaggeration). I currently have the Gemini Soft, Gemini Hard. and Kino Freestyle LEDs of a variety of sizes. Never mind Apurtures and Nanlites plus a few of them lightweight flexible led panels. But when I need a fast and simple setup, I always got back to these Astra Softs. And when I look at the image, I wonder why I went and bought all those other expensive fixtures. Just today I shot a multicamera interview for ABC's new show Impact with the U.S Attorney investigating the Matthew Perry case and because going thru security was so complicated and time was of essence, I chose to bring these lights instead. I loved the picture to much I wondered to myself why I keep buying these way more expensive fancy lights. And the beauty of these is that I can fly them with a micro 150 battery and because I rarely have to turn them up all the way, they will last the length of some of these long interviews no problem. I did notice on this thread some folks complaining about these lights failing them, and have heard similar complaints from other Astras too. I have never had any issues with these or my other Astras, but that's likely because I read the instructions that clearly state you should dim the lights all the way down before you turn them on, wait until the flashing green light stops flashing, and then dim up at your heart's desire. And always before I turn them off, I dim them down all the way, as not to forget. That might be the secret. I see people using them wrong all over the place.