Digitalfoto’s new FS-100S is a 100W bi-colour COB LED that’s shaped like a camera
Digitalfoto has announced their new FS-100S bi-colour COB LED light, and the first review already appears to be up on YouTube. Itâs an interesting if slightly odd-looking LED light in the fact that it seems to be emulating the look of a (somewhat large) mirrorless camera. It features a âMini Bowens Mountâ and comes with a gobo projector lens and an adapter for using the projector on lights with regular Bowens mounts.
Given the cost of 100W LEDs, the Digitalfoto FS-100S is not inexpensive. At $365, it sits well above the cost of similarly powered bi-colour COB LEDs from companies such as Aputure, Godox, Colbor, Nanlite and others. The Digitalfoto FS-100S does come with a little extra accessory that the others donât, though; A gobo projector lens to let you project patterns onto a surface or subject. Whyâs it shaped like a camera, though?
Mauro Licul has gotten his hands on one of the new Digitalfoto lights and has already posted a review going over its form factor and features. When I first saw photos and the video of this light, I thought âOh, this is coolâ but that somewhat quickly turned to âBuy why?â.
It definitely an interesting design, but Iâm not sure Iâm seeing the point. Yes, I get that smaller lights that weigh a lot less mean you can carry several of them in your bag and this would be great except that you donât seem to be able to buy just the FS-100S light by itself without the projector lens at a reduced price. This means that if you want a bunch of them, youâre paying for a whole bunch of extra projector lenses you donât want or need.
A quick overview of the specs shows some fairly reasonable and standard specifications. Itâs bi-colour with a colour temperature range of 2800-6500K (+/-200K), has a CRI>95, full power adjustability all the way from 0-100%, works all over the world thanks to 100-240v compatibility and comes with a remote controller. It uses a 6cm âMini Bowens Mountâ for modifiers â of which there are only three, the included projector lens and reflector as well as an optional softbox.
Interestingly, the Bowens mount adapter included doesnât go both ways. It lets you mount the projector lens onto standard Bowens mount lights but there isnât an adapter to let you use standard Bowens mount modifiers on the FS-100S lightâs âMini Bowens Mountâ. This is probably a good idea, though. With as compact as it is and having virtually no weight on the back end to counterbalance, if you were to add a big 4ft Bowens mount softbox on there, thatâs a lot of strain on that tiny little 1/4-20âł socket underneath it.
Also, being so small and compact, there isnât much room in there for heatsinks for passive cooling. So, it has an active cooling system that uses a fan to force air through the system. Mauro doesnât give us a sample in his video of how the fan sounds or how loud it gets when youâre using it, but if audio is a concern, itâs something youâll want to check into before you choose to buy.
Itâs always interesting when companies approach a certain type of product from a whole new design angle and Digitalfotoâs certainly done that here. But, it seems like itâs a bit of a one-trick pony. Its compact design is great for carrying multiple lights but you canât just buy the light itself on its own. Youâre forced to buy it with the projector so itâs not like youâre actually going to want to buy a bunch of them to really maximise on those space and weight savings. Interestingly, you can buy the projector separately for use with other lights.
Its lack of any âjunk in the trunkâ for counterbalance and also the fact that the only connection point underneath is a 1/4-20âł socket means itâs not going to be great with large modifiers. Although, thatâs not something you really have to worry about, given that there are only three âmini Bowens mountâ modifiers and there isnât an adapter to let you use regular Bowens mount modifiers on it anyway. So, even if you could buy several of them without projector lenses for a lower cost, youâre still going to be fairly limited on what you can do with them.
And if youâve already got a lighting system with Bowens mount lights youâre already happy with, you can pick up the Godox projector lens kit for $279 (probably a lot less when it invariably goes on sale). Even though the Godox solution doesnât come with a light, it would be cheaper to buy this to use with your existing lights â and be able to keep using those lights for your regular stuff when you donât need the projector â than it would be to buy the Digitalfoto FS-100S just for this one task.
I think if Digitalfoto offered this as a cheaper unit without the projector lens, it could potentially sell quite well for those who want to keep their kit as small as possible and arenât using massive modifiers â especially if there were a regular Bowens mount adapter available for it. But as it is right now, I donât know, itâs an odd product that seems to be a solution looking for a problem that doesnât really exist. Spending this much for a light youâre only really going to use for one purpose â especially when other lights can be made to perform the same task â just seems like a waste of money.
If it seems intriguing to you, though, the Digitalfoto FS-100S is available to buy now on the Digitalfoto website with the projector lens kit for $365 which includes the light, remote, projector lens, reflector, Bowens adapter for the projector lens, wrist strap, 12 gobos and four colour gel filters. Thereâs also a kit for $464 that includes the same as the $365 package but also the optional softbox ($99 for a small softbox seems excessive these days, too). If you donât need the light but want the projector, thatâs available on its own for $199.