Gaffer & Gear 61 - YIDOBLO Ai 3000C

[@IAmAFilmDude]

As soon as you moved that intensifier panel over, you blew my mind. Such a great in depth vid as always Andrew! Thanks for sharing, I've been on the hunt for a more affordable version of the S-60

[@alice-14-k6b]

I love how thorough your reviews are. I learn so much from watching them!

[@larklandstudios6461]

By far one of the best, useful and detailed review I’ve seen. Thank you!!!

[@TedHolmwood]

Wow, thank you for doing the comparison and all that testing. Well done, this is really valuable information.

[@camcooke]

Your content is fantastic, I’m excited to watch all of your archive

[@willvazquez3218]

Great video as always! Thanks for taking the time and providing such a thorough evaluation.

[@cagf2013]

Interesting that it's just as bright as a gemini at 3m. But far too many drawbacks to make it worthwhile in my opinion. Thanks for the great review!

[@marshallandroxy]

Great review - thanks. Was surprised at how short the v-mount battery life was for such strong batteries.

[@FKfilmphotography]

Would be great if you could do a video on setting up a budget lighting kit for film makers, low sub $5k, med $10k, high $15k. Versatility, portability would be the most important elements. Interviews, feature spots, creative videos etc.

[@gagecallahan7663]

Ferhan Khan Photography second this!

[@LeopoldN]

15k is not a high budget (in lighting) fget an M40 and a set of Asteras and here you are...

[@gaffergear]

When things calm down covid wise, I'm hoping to get some one man band shooters to show us their kits.

[@aristotle_4532]

It is 2024 but things have been similar since the 60s. In order to light an 80m2 set for basic uses you need about 35 lights for a basic setup. If the ceilings are low, you can do it at about 25k euro today. If you just need to light small scenes for single camera, you can do it at 10k euro. The figures are for budget quality with dmx. 80k is more realistic for the 80m2 studio and high quality or slightly larger distances. For high ceiling and 200m2 you need 300k to 500k because double the distance is 4x the power and 6x to 10x the cost since no budget options are available.

[@fooddrink4549]

Hey Andrew regarding the colour with the app setting if you whack the hue slider up to +360 it works perfect . Great channel btw

[@aaronbernakevitch2861]

I bought the light after watching this video. Now have 2. For the price nothing comes close. If you really want to run more than 1 and the app, it can be a bit annoying for larger shoots where you are tweaking lighting quickly via the app. Other than that, really good value for the money.

[@aaronbernakevitch2861]

Also to note I bought the tenba roller bag for the sky panel and can fit both in it. Also bought the nice DOP choic snap bag for the s60 and the snap grid for the s60. Both fit well.

[@manchester8117]

Great review.... This was on my list. I'm hoping to find a direct comparison video of the Skypanel S30/S60 to the YIDOBLO Ai-3000C. In regard to output and color.

[@cinestudiosaus]

Have you had a chance to check out the Yidoblo GL-3000C? Looks to be an updated model?

[@gaboguerra950]

Thanks for sharing. Would have been good to make a brightness comparison with the Skypanel

[@a1selecta1]

Is there any kind of device or anything that you can do to overcome the buzzing noise at 6:20 in this video?

[@gaffergear]

That question is outside my area of expertise unfortunately.

[@a1selecta1]

@@gaffergear thanks so much for responding. Love your dedication for keeping us informed.

[@franzdeeke5753]

I got myself 3 lamps like that and after a few months of use its just all over the place now. Do you know if theree is a factory reset?

[@a1selecta1]

Do these lights use regular 14 volts batteries?

[@gaffergear]

Yes

[@richardmartz8499]

Does anyone know how to reach the manufacturer? I have 4 of these and I'm happy with them. Just want to know about other products.

[@alacazaba]

Tops Andrew - keep it up, mate! No sort of gel menu in the yidoblo?

[@gaffergear]

No gels menu

[@stu9000]

Thanks Andrew. It's probably not a light you'd use but I'd love to your review of the Falcon Eyes RX-818 or similar.

[@gaffergear]

Mention that to Falcon Eyes

[@stu9000]

Gaffer & Gear just wrote to them 🤞

[@gaffergear]

@@stu9000 Thanks, I'm in Australia so if any brands don't have local distributors they are reluctant to pay return freight for a review.

[@gaffergear]

@@ArtVideoProductions I get looked after by the local suppliers and distributors with substantial discounts, things sold to me at cost price, free repairs and things like that. Very rarely do I keep the lights that come in for review, some lights are first factory runs (test prototypes) and have to be sent to the next tester.

[@gaffergear]

@@ArtVideoProductions the LED lights that meet my work needs tend to cost typiclay 3 to 8 thousand. Lights like this one are seriously not close to good enough to put in my kit. Hence getting discounts from distrubutors on other product and free repairs. Gaffer and Gear also gets me about 60% of my new customers. Im subscribed to your channel by the way

[@studiovalotus]

There is something really weird in DMX signal decoding of AI-3000C. We purchased these lamps for our client's studio installation and soon realized DMX control doesn't work at all... We already got "fixed" motherboard to test from manufacturer, but it didn't work either, and only DMX controller which seems to work with lamp is a cheap dj-board they sent us as reference. My knowledge of signal processing is very limited, but when checking transmitted signals with oscilloscope, both of my DMX controllers (Zero88 FLX S24 and universal fixed 12 channel board) gives pure and steady DMX signal which looks like taken from DMX protocol textbook, but the dj-board (ironically named as "DMX512"...) which works with Yidoblos gives something else. Now we are trying to figure out what that something else signal might be, so if anyone using these panels had succeeded to get them work with DMX, please inform us.

[@bikeshopagency7789]

Did you ever resolve the DMX signal issue?

[@studiovalotus]

@@bikeshopagency7789 never did resolve it completely. We purchased and tested a "DMX slowdowner" box from company named Engineering Solutions and that seemed to work - almost. It decodes and encodes signal in real time, not just slowing it down but adding some time between bits and that seemed to work. There is only some random blink, maybe once in 15 seconds or so, but that's enough to make lamp control useless while it otherwise works perfectly. We have asked upgraded software version with even slower bitflow for the box but haven't got it so far.

[@bikeshopagency7789]

To follow up, I have installed these lights in a production studio with a dmx controller and they work consistently with no issues. They are on a single daisy chain loop with 12 lights. @@studiovalotus

[@antimaxsmacks]

I'm having trouble with this light. Ran some tests here and there, and was satisfied with how it acted. However, after leaving it on a certain color setting for a few hours, it started to dim on it's own, and the hue shifted as well. Turned it off, turned it back on, and it's acting REALLY weird. Flashing random colors, when I have it on a single-color setting... Really starting to wonder if I screwed up with this purchase.

[@gaffergear]

That's not good. Hopefully they can just swap it out for you. I've got a $5000 US light here that is faulty out if the box and needs replacing, it can happen on all brands.

[@ryanblackwood1]

I wonder if the Arri Centre Mount Yoke works on the Yidoblo?

[@gaffergear]

No

[@ryanblackwood1]

@@gaffergear cheers, loving your reviews btw!

[@Jada_Maru]

This seems like another case of "Buy 2x Luxli Timpani for a few hundred dollars more" situation.

[@thekylenovak]

You still prefer the Luxli Timpani over this?

[@gaffergear]

Yes, but not for output.

[@ratonstubey1306]

@Gaffer&Gear This model is going for $1500 USD nowadays. I know you responded to someone's comment that you thought this was too much. BUT, what other model with comparable power (I don't care about color accuracy) WOULD be a good bang for your buck that you know of? Thanks!

[@gaffergear]

Nothing else comes to mind with RGB capabilities except for the Nanlite mixpanel 150. That may be worth a look. A lot of TV stations use these Yidoblo in commentary boxes here in Australia.

[@antimaxsmacks]

Has anyone been able to get the DMX mode working with this light? I can't seem to figure it out. Can't tell if I'm setting the channel incorrectly or what, but my DMX console software isn't reading the light. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[@brendancuff508]

Yeah I'm not able to figure it out either. I've tried using all the ARRI s60 profiles to no luck. Also tried just patching individual dimmer channels and running them up and down but still can't make sense of what is what.

[@antimaxsmacks]

Brendan Cuff I’ve actually been in contact with Yidoblo about it lately, through sending videos back and forth, and them even sending me a new, updated chip to replace in the light, we’ve come to the realization that the light can’t be controlled via computer using a usb controller. It can only be controlled via an external light board... I got one of those cheap $30 dj lighting controllers, and can control the light with it. Unfortunately for my use, I need to control it via my computer, so... bummed about that. But at least I figured out the light is the problem, and not a part from my setup.

[@studiovalotus]

@@antimaxsmacks This is first place I found someone else mentioned DMX problems and AI-3000C. I got mine couple of days ago and since that have tried to get it working with a brand new Zero88 FLX S24 desk without success. Also tried plain dimmer channels and different profiles, but all i get is random blinks and flashes with every unit like it was a signal problem from desk. Unlike written in manual schematics, I was told that my units have upgraded DMX board and it should have direct WRGB control by first four channels when the fifth channel is set as 100%. So the information in manual is more than confusing and badly outdated anyway (actually, manual says this unit uses only three channels and then tell about five parameters...), but haven't still had more information or specs about modes of upgraded board. I will soon get a basic 16 channel DMX controller and keep on testing with that.

[@bikeshopagency7789]

Was this ever resolved?

[@antimaxsmacks]

​@@bikeshopagency7789 I have never been able to get the light to communicate with any DMX software on my computer, even after many back-and-forth emails with the people across the world at Yidoblo. They even sent me a new board to install and try with the light, but the same problem persisted. I did find that I was able to control it via DMX using just some cheap pshysical DJ board I got for $30. Weird. Yidoblo eventually said "It's not meant for use with computer", but, although they were surprisingly helpful, I think that was their way of brushing-off some kind of fault.

[@lyoonwei]

I cant pair with my phone... Any solution?

[@gaffergear]

It so long ago that I reviewed this light! Check you have Bluetooth enabled in the phone setup menu. By memory when I reviewed I initially had a problem getting an operational pairing, the light showed up but I couldn't link to it. By memory it fixed up with a firmware update, that was somewhere in the phone app options. And then it worked perfectly. This was a long time ago and I'm not sure if I remember correctly.

[@recardosands9948]

1st off. great reveiw as always...but due to the drawbacks and the fact that good LED video light pannels are really getting more affordable . This light is still overpriced, I've seen it for $1, 450.00USD...

[@gaffergear]

That's way way to much.

[@antonzimin4930]

No way it has a linear current regulator. For 300w it will produce so much heat that you’d probably need a heatsink size of this light. For sure it has a Chinese PWM 400Mhz regulator.

[@gaffergear]

Could be, my meter only reads up to 100Mhz.

[@FKfilmphotography]

😂😂😂 "CRAP" 😂😂😂

[@cobralyoner]

Just don't like that they always need to copy the design. Nobody will buy the Yidoblo thinking it's a Skypanel. Just make it your own design and a lot of people would think much better about it.