| Image: Godox |
Studio lighting can be a pain sometimes. Adjusting how diffuse your lights are or cutting down some of their output can require moving around large pieces of fabric and may mean dealing with velcro.
Godox’s new KnowLED Adjustable Diffusion panels, however, offer a different way: variable electronic control. Simply put the panel in front of your light (or the sun), and use a controller to make it more or less opaque, diffusing the light or cutting down how much of it is reaching your subject. The panel can go from 0% diffuse to 100% diffuse in its “Level” mode and can cut from 0.1EV to 2EV of light in its Light Reduction mode.
The company’s website doesn’t explain exactly how this works, but we’ve seen similar products before. In 2022, a company called Rotolight announced an electronically controlled variable diffuser softbox. It uses liquid crystals whose natural state is to be randomly dispersed, giving the material an opaque look similar to traditional diffusion gels. When an electrical charge is applied, however, the crystals will align with each other, making the material more transparent. This principle is similar to how electronic variable ND filters work.
However Godox achieves it, the end result is a panel that lets you change the character of the light hitting your subject quickly, easily and silently. Three sizes are available—45 x 60cm, 63.6 x 92.5cm and 105.3 x 100.6cm—and the kit comes with a folding frame that holds the panel, and lets you attach it to a stand.
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| Image: Godox |
The kits require power to work unless you want them to be stuck on full diffusion. Power delivery is handled by the controller, which lets you choose the level of diffusion or light reduction. There are two controller options; both support Bluetooth control and USB-C power input, but one lets you use V-mount batteries and CRMX control, while the other draws power from Sony-style NP-F batteries.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this sort of panel. Besides Rotolight, a few companies have been working on, and even selling, similar tech for years. Godox also showed off a prototype of this panel last year at broadcasting convention IBC. However, it’s exciting to see another option become available, especially one from a brand that usually focuses on budget-friendly products.
In an Instagram post, the company lists the panels’ “Asian Reference Price” in US dollars – they run anywhere from $449 for the small panel with the NF-P battery controller to $879 for the largest panel with the V-mount controller – but the panels aren’t actually available in the States. According to the company’s site, they’re available “only in Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania, and South America.”
