F&V K-Series LED Lights with Expandable Link System
The K-Series is a new line of LED lights from F&V that offer a unique Expandable Link System that delivers a compact lighting solution for your DSLR camera setup. The idea behind the Expandable Link System is to provide multiple power options and features along with their new SmartSync Control Circuit.
The K-Series lights can attach to one another via a dovetail joint built into the lights. The K160 acts as the center fixture allowing any combination of K320′s or K480′s to attach to either side. Please note that the K320 and K480 cannot link together on their own. The K160 is the center fixture or “linking light” needed to attach multiple K-series lights together. When the K-series lights are linked together, they can be controlled via F&V’s SmartSync Control Circuit. The SCC allows for one of the lights to function as a “parent” light to the other connected lights. The first light that is turned on becomes the parent light and when you increase or decrease the parent light’s intensity, the children lights match the parent light’s intensity. Only the K320 and the K480 can function as parent lights. I noticed that even when dimming via one parent light, the K160 will not turn off completely or dim. The K160 must be powered off independently. The K160 is not dimmable.
In the video above I compare the K-Series LED lights to their popular Z96 to test brightness and quality of color temperature mainly. Our camera’s settings were locked in at 1/50th, ISO 400, f/4 and WB 5600K at 24fps.
**The 3 conclusions that I came to while using and testing the K Series LED Lights is this: 1) While linking any lights together, you must keep in mind the multi shadow factor. Multiple lights will produce multiple shadows. This problem can be corrected by pulling your subject further away from the backdrop. 2) The F&V LED light are very true to 5600K. The CRI or Color Rendering is very clean and produces pretty much no color cast. 3) The K480 was a strong light and lit the subject well for a medium shot.
Only the K160 (2XAAA) cannot be DC powered and only accepts AAA batteries. The K320 (4XAAA) and K480 (4XAAA) accept batteries or DC power
One K-series light cannot power the other connected k-series lights. All lights must have their own available power.
Daylight Balanced: 5600K
Expandable Link System: Link multiple lights together to create a larger light source
SmartSync Control Circuit: Control the brightness of the K320 and K480 through only one units dimmer knob. The K160 cannot be dimmed, it must be either on or off.
The K480 and K320 can still be in sync, in terms of dimming, without the K160 being on.
Magnetic Filters: (1) Diffusion & (1) Tungsten
The images below show the Z96 (left) compared to the K480 (right), the K480 and the Z96 alone, in that order.
K480 LED Video Light
Do you know if we can attach two K480 together ?
You need the K160 in order to expand the K-Series Lighting System.
Thank you Olivia, awesome review as always!
Thanks for your share. How do you think the k-series led lights comparing to z96 ? I find the price for these small lights are not so cheap and even more expensive than z96 but with fewer leds and brightness.
What’s the hightlight ? I’m wondering.
The K Series can be pretty versatile depending on your uses of the lights. The stand out characteristic for me was the quality of light coming from these lights. There was basically NO color cast that I could detect. In other words, they have a high CRI or color rendering index. For some, this really matters when lighting for video. I also found myself using them individually in the studio as special lights (for small pools of light when shooting products).
Thanks Olivia.
What’s the external power option you use ?
I didn’t find it on the web…
Thanks…
@Thomas Here you go! It’s a Tekkeon external battery pack, details can be found HERE
Thanks for the great review. These look great and clearly put out a better quality of light than the Z96. Would you say that the single K480 put out as much light as the Z96?
@Rob I just inserted a gallery at the end of the article for you that has a split screen and individual shots from the Z96 and K480. You can see the CRI and light intensity.
I think Olivia has some sort of psychic line into my brain.
I was thinking about this on Monday. I was looking SPECIFICALLY for a small LED panel system which could link together, for less than $100 per panel.
ESP, Dave….. ESP
How where you lite in that last shot of you with Yoda behind you?
the light on you looks really good.
I was lit with two softbox lights. You can see them HERE
The mulitple shadow thing is best eliminated with some Rosco Grid Cloth or Tough White diffusion. These filters are designed to combine multiple light sources into one with a single shadow. You will need to place it in a frame on a c-stand or something in front of it so there is a little distance between the lights and the fitler. Depending on how far you separate, it could have the effect of making the light almost shadowless, so that may not be what you want.