The First Test in 2023: Caster C02P in the Eyes of a Spanish Lighting Engineer

◆Platform: YouTube

◆Author: Jaime García

◆Video link: https://youtu.be/glvKDAZme7o

The SUNNYXIAO Caster series has officially entered the EU market since its debut at the IBC exhibition in the Netherlands in September 2022. Like domestic lighting engineers, overseas users are equally interested in trying new brands and products.

Among the different models, the C02P LED lights for cinematography have earned the most trial applications with their modest size and 450W power.

Below, thanks to Jaime García, a director and cinematographer from Spain, for bringing us the first evaluation at the beginning of 2023.

Product Feature overview

Considering that many users are new to SUNNYXIAO and Caster products, Jaime García started with a description of some of the C02P's notable product features.

The power of 450W is not only suitable for film and television drama shooting, but also for some small studios, because of the various and useful functions of Caster series products.

It not only has the industry's first-class level of color rendering and high brightness, but its color temperature and brightness can also achieve 50K/file and 0.1% fine adjustment.

Compared with competing products at the same level, the feature of one light panel with two light modules of C02P makes this product more interesting.

Thanks to their 28mm jack and light weight of 12.5kg, the C02P cinema LED lights can be easily mounted on a tripod or clip. In addition, lighting can also be easily controlled thanks to the app designed for this our products.

Product dimension measurement

On-site measurement: (1) Regardless of the light fork, the length of C02P cinematography lights is 68cm, and the width is 35cm. (2) With the light fork and external adjustment handle, the length and width are about 90cm and 43cm respectively. (3)The width part, plus the socket on the light fork, is about 54cm.

The data measurement of this part is mainly to consider that in the actual shooting, if the on-site space is very narrow, there can be a reference when placing the light board in it.

Operation panel demonstration and explanation

The interface design of Caster series products is friendly and easy to use.

It consists of 1 screen, 3 clickable scroll wheels, 6 shortcut keys, which has clear logic and can help users quickly enter different light control modes such as CCT color temperature, HSI color wheel, GEL color paper, X.Y coordinates, and EFFECT lighting effects.

Jaime García demonstrated the interface one by one, including lighting modes, dimming curves, fan settings, system upgrades, language settings, etc. By the way, he introduced some tips for quick adjustment of brightness and color temperature.

Mobile APP connection and use

As you can see in the demo section of the operation panel, Caster C02P can be set up via Wi-Fi and controlled with a dedicated APP.

The APP is called Color Express, which is customized for the product by SUNNYXIAO R&D team. To synchronize the lamps with the mobile APP, a bridge is required, which is an external router.

The router must use the 2.4Ghz frequency band, because this is the working frequency band of the wireless signal transmitter built into the lamp.

The specific operation is that after the mobile phone is connected to the router, open the APP, select one-key distribution network, then turn on the Wi-Fi in the lamp, and also select one-key distribution network to establish a connection.

The APP contains all the operable parameters, and in addition to single light control, the APP also supports grouping control of lamps.

Installation of light effect accessories

Choosing the right light effect accessories during shooting can often achieve twice the result with half the effort. For professional film TV and studio lighting, related light effect accessories are even more essential, such as soft boxes, egg trays, and four-page vertical boards.

In the video, Jaime García demonstrated in detail how to install different light effect accessories. The cleverly designed, lightweight and foldable accessories enable the installation to complete in one step, and the installation of each accessory takes only 1 minute.

Sound/fan

The emergence of LED lamps in the film industry has brought a revolution to cinematographers, lighting engineers, and electricians, so that everyone has more tools to use, but the work of the studio sound engineer can not be ignored.

Caster C02P has a built-in silent fan for heat dissipation, and a variety of fan modes are convenient for the lighting engineer to choose according to the on-site radio situation.

In general, the system defaults to automatic mode, and it can also be adjusted to low speed mode if the live radio requirements are high.

When shooting outdoors in summer, or when the temperature in the studio is high, the high-speed or full-speed mode will help the lamps to dissipate heat better and work more stably and for a long time.

Conclusion

It is not difficult to find that Jaime García's perspective on product introduction is very comprehensive through the timeline of this evaluation.

In fact, Jaime García's filming team has used Caster C02P many times in the actual shooting process after receiving it.

Combined with his experience in actual work, he said, Caster's family-style appearance and interface design are excellent, and the built-in series of Rosco and LEE color papers also bring convenience to their daily work, especially the color saturation and vividness of the lamps are amazing!

So, if you need a professional-grade soft LED light panel with comprehensive functions but your budget is limited, you can try Caster C02P!