SOONWELL SENSEI RGBWW LED Tube Light Launched

Lighting News

by Jeff LochMay 14^th, 2021

SOONWELL has recently launched a new lineup of RGBWW LED tube lights: the SOONWELL SENSEI. These lights are available in three sizes: the ST25 (25W) that is 80cm long, the ST50 (50W) that is 115cm long, and the ST100 (100W) which is 219cm long. The SENSEIs are IP65 waterproof, you can power them via a removable battery or AC power, and they can go from 1.600K to 20.000K. Let’s take a closer look at them!

LED tube lights are gradually starting to become part of every filmmakers’ tool kit, and a lot of options are now available on the market at various price points. Indeed, Asteras are still the “industry standard” when it comes to RGB LED tubes, but companies such as DigitalFoto, Vibesta, Nanlite, or Quasar Science, to only name a few, all have options.

SOONWELL already had the small MT1 LED RGBW tube light, but they are back with the SENSEI lineup of RGBWW fixtures.

SOONWELL SENSEI tubes – Features

The SOONWELL SENSEI RGBWW lineup consists of three models: the ST25 (25W) that is 80cm long, the ST50 (50W) that is 115cm long, and the ST100 (100W), which is 219cm long. Except for the size/output difference, all models are quite similar.

The lights are battery-powered with one removable battery on each side of the tube light (except for the smallest light, the ST25, which only uses one battery). According to SOONWELL, you can expect a battery life of around 4 hours at maximum brightness. Also, you can plug them to mains power via the included 5m 100-240V power supply.

All lights are IP65 weather-resistant, which means the light can resist the intrusion of spraying water. IP65 allows for using the lights outdoors under various inclement weather conditions but it does not mean that these lights are 100% waterproof (no underwater use).

Output

The SOONWELL SENSEI RGBWW LED tubes can go from 1.600K to 20.000K in wide color temperature mode, which is quite impressive. According to SOONWELL, the CRI of each tube is 96+, while the TLCI is over 97+, which means they should be pretty color accurate.

If we talk numbers, the ST25 has a maximum output of 518 Lux at 1m/5600K, the ST50 has an output of 1030 Lux, and the ST100 can throw up to 2011 Lux. In short, the ST25 will be useful as an accent light but a little too low for a key/fill/backlight in an interview setup. However, the ST50/100 should have enough power for this kind of scenario in a controlled lighting environment.

Of course, you can adjust the fixtures’ output from 0 to 100% with no color shift/flicker.

The SOONWELL SENSEI RGBWW LED tube lights feature various lighting modes, including CCT, CCT-S, RGBW, Effects, X-Y coordinates, HSI, SET-C, and LEE filter mode. These modes are now pretty standard amongst RGBWW fixtures, but nothing is missing.

Control

You can control the SENSEI tubes via the physical switches at the end of the unit, but you can also control them via the built-in wired and wireless DMX module. This means, that you have the choice to link multiple units together via a cable or wirelessly. The master unit will then control all the slave SENSEI tubes.

SOONWELL SENSEI RGBWW mounting options

The SENSEI RGBWW LED tubes comes with several mounting options:

• A light stands adaptor plate with a ball head for quick and easy adjustments.
• A small tripod and ground mount.
• A wire rope to hang the light.

Price and availability

At the moment, only the SENSEI ST50 is available for $499.00. We have no information about the ST25/100’s availability nor their price.

The ST50 comes standard with a 33.6v battery charger, a user manual, one power cable, a mini tripod, a mounting plate with a light holder, batteries, a tube clip, one wire rope, an E-type connector, and a DMX to DMX cable.

For more information, please visit SOONWELL’s website here.

What do you think about these new SOONWELL SENSEI RGBWW LED tube lights? Do you often use LED tube lights? If yes, what is your go-to model? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!