Pixel K80 LED lighting panels

Review/video of the white/RGB LED lighting kit

Keith has been looking at the Pixel K80 LED lighting panels kit. Panels give white variable colour temperature lighting and RGB (HSL setting).

Note This review and video are looking at the device purely from the point of view of a photographer – we don’t do video in our professional work.

It is mains powered, but with the option of using batteries (NP-F style).

It provides full RGB control over lighting as well as continuous white lighting with a corrected colour temperature range from 2600K to 10000K

The device is available from a variety of suppliers:

• Product info
• Amazon US | UK

See Keith’s YouTube video review of the lighting unit.

Pixel K80 LED lighting units

The Pixel K80 LED lights give a smooth white or coloured light from its 552 discrete LED devices. These are in two sets of LEDs, one giving white light, from a combination of warm white/cool white LEDs, whilst the other LEDs are tri-colour LEDs.

The individual coloured (red/green/blue) LEDs can be set to different levels – giving a full RGB HSL adjustment (Hue/Saturation/Luminance).

What do you get

The two panels come with support stands, power supplies and diffuser sheets in a nice solid carry bag.

The bag is large enough that I could fit a third K80 lamp unit and stand inside.

Actually quite useful since although two lights are my most common on-site product photography lighting setup, I do sometimes add a third light for effects.

The camera is my EOS RP, which I use for many of my YouTube videos – the microphone on top is also by Pixel (M80), one I purchased last year.

Accessories

The LEDs are effectively points of light which can lead to unwanted highlight detail in reflections.

The light is turned right down and the photo exposed to show the two colours of white LEDs – this is at 4000K.

A diffuser sheet can be fitted. This softens the light and gets rid of sharp shadows caused by the multiple points of light.

There are two 15v 4A DC power supplies

Each unit can be powered by two NP-F batteries.

There are a range of suitable NP-F battery models from 550 to 970 listed in the specs.

These batteries are commonly used in video equipment, but I don’t have any here to test.

The LEDs

The Pixel K80 panel has the LED chips directly mounted to it. They look well attached, but be careful with the metal barn doors when closing. There are four short pillars at each corner, so it looks as if you could fit a more rigid filter/diffuser on them.

A close up view of the LEDs.

The larger ones contain three LEDs.

Shown here with just the blue and green ones lit – giving a cyan colour lighting.

I note that the white light option only has colour temperature adjustment – it would have been useful to have the RGB LEDs on as well (optionally) to allow for a bit of tint control, for matching other lighting. I guess that would make the control circuitry somewhat more complex is quite a specialised use.

Controlling the Pixel K80

The device can be set using the controls and LCD screen.

There are three modes of operation.

White CCT

You set the colour temperature from 2600K to 10000K and the brightness – this uses the warm/cool LEDS

RGB colour

You set the hue (colour), brightness and saturation. This sets the individual RGB LEDs to produce a colour at a desired intensity and saturation. The light is not so powerful as the white option. It’s brighter at low saturation levels, since all three LEDs can be on.

Effects

More for video I’d suggest. You can have a flickering white light (lightning), police/fire/ambulance flashing colour lighting or just continuously varying colours.

Wireless

The panel has its own wireless system (FSK at 2.4GHz) allowing communication between panels.

There are a total of 48 wireless channels. So a panel on channel 1 won’t communicate with one on channel 20 for example.

• If on the same channel, then there are six control groups A-F.
• Let’s say I have thee panels all on channel 1. The devices can talk to each other.
• If all set to group A, then adjusting any settings (brightness for example) on any panel will cause all three units to change at once.
• If I change one panel to group B, then I can change its settings independently of the other two panels.
• The other two panels (group A) are linked still, so changing either will affect the other one, but not the panel on group B.

As you can see it’s possible to have quite a complex lighting set-up with different lights linked or not.

I should note that there is a remote control listed for this system, but it was not available when I got my own lights – yes it would be fun to try, but would be overkill for the kinds of lighting setup I’m using in my work.

Colour accuracy and camera profiles

Experience with LED lighting tells me that whilst it’s improved a lot over recent years, if you want more accurate colour rendition, then making a custom DNG camera profile can help. The K80 specs give a CRI (and TLCI) ratings of 97+ suggesting pretty good colour rendition (for the white/CCT settings).

With the free ColorChecker camera calibration software you can create a profile for a single light setup, or if it’s variable make a dual illuminant (DI) one. See my LED ring light review for more detail about profiles and making them.

For the K80 I’d suggest single illuminant profiles at a known temperature if you are setting up a product shoot for example. Watch out for other lighting in the room though. Setting your lights to a nominal 5600K for ‘daylight’ when the room has some warm white lighting (~3000K) can cause problems with colour in shadows. I know from experience working on location at companies, that you don’t always get the ideal place to set up your kit.

Using the Pixel K80 lighting

Up until recently I’ve used flat CFL lighting panels for portable supplementary lighting for product work. However they are fixed output and lack the flexibility I want both for real use and for the bespoke product photography training I do for businesses of all sizes.

I do use flash for some work, but find it takes rather more setup and can also lack the flexibility of the LED lighting.

One area I’m looking forward to using the lighting, is for supplementary lighting on interior shoots. This is where a full lighting setup may not be warranted, but variable colour temperature fill lighting may be just the job.

The lighting strength, whilst impressive, won’t evenly fill large areas – sorry, but if you want to light a good size studio, you need good size lights. Lighting intensity falls off with distance as does the rate of change of intensity. As with any photographic lighting, different types of lights work at different scales.

Conclusions – Pixel K80 LED lighting panel

The panels are very light and easy to use. They are quick to set up and very easy to configure.

A minor grip would be the fitting of the diffuser sheets, which can be a little fiddly. Once fitted they are fine, but need removing before the barn doos can be shut.  Some care is also needed shutting the doors so as not to potentially damage the LED board. I treat my kit with a level of care I’ve not always seen duplicated by others on locations.

The light levels are quite intense at full power, enough that I’d consider one of the panels for minor fill use outdoors under battery power.

All in all an impressive device – I can think of lots of jobs in the past where it would have made things a bit easier…

–ooOoo–

The Pixel K80 is available from a variety of suppliers

• Product info
• Amazon US | UK

Specifications

• Weight: 3.1LB/1.4KG (with barndoor)
• Size: 25x34x2.5cm – 9.7×13.4×1 in
• Input Voltage: DC14-18V/4A
• Power: 45W
• Battery model: NP-F 550/570/750/770/950/960/970 etc.
• CRI: 97
• LUX: 5500 LUX/0.5M, 2000 LUX/1M