Today, we will be looking at two types of tube lights from Viltrox – the longer K90 and the shorter P12 pixel tube light.
About Viltorx
We have already covered many products by Viltrox, which is known for its extensive lens lines; however, the company makes all sorts of accessories, including monitors (and we are working on a review of one of those), and today we will be looking at a couple of its most recent tube lights.
K90 and P12 tube lights form Viltrox
Design and Build
The K90 and the P12 are very different lights aimed at potentially different target audiences. The K90 is the longer, more robust, and more powerful, while the P12 is more compact and affordable, with the pixel option as the main unique feature.
The K90 is just short of 1m long with an effective light zone of around 92cm and a diameter of 38mm/1.5”. It has a metal back, and it weighs in at around 870 grams.
The P12 is just over 75cm long, but its effective light zone is only 57cm, and it has a diameter of 33mm/1.3” in the center. It has a very light plastic design and weighs in at less than 420g.
Both lights have the same button layout with an on off button, plus and minus a mode/set button, and a scroll button. Both have a USB-C port for charging and ¼” 20 on both sides with no Arri locating pin holes. The P12 also has magnets in the top and bottom and can sort of hold itself against a thick metal door. The K90 is too heavy and has no built-in magnets (but you do get two magnetic clips in the case, which can help you connect it to a flat metal surface).
The menus are again very similar, with CCT going all the way from 2500K to 8500K, HIS, RGBW, and FX/PX modes, with the P12 having special pixel effects that the K90 lacks.
A long press on the mode or set will get you to the pretty basic setting menu with options for changing the channel and group, with the P12 having an extra screen with DMX control and input power settings. On both lights, you can also reset the light and turn the OTA on and off.
The monitor and buttons on the P12
All in all, the control of both lights is very simple and intuitive. Having a scroll wheel would probably make for faster control, but other than that, they both work well.
The K90 tube light
App
Both the K90 and the P12 can connect and use the ViltroxLink app that offers extremely advanced control of the lights as individuals or groups. You can control the lights using different methods that include temperature, output, Green/Magenta shift, and of course, multiple ways of changing colors and effects, as well as playing with pixels in the case of the P12.
The app is generally intuitive, although we would suggest some interface changes, such as increasing the brightness of the non-active mods, which are hardly visible on our tablet.
The biggest issue with this otherwise very capable app is having the lights connect to it. If you look online, you see many negative user reviews that claim they were not able to connect their lights to the app.
We also had issues connecting our lights to the app. After trying all sorts of solutions, we talked to Viltrox, which offered the following solution:
- Long-press the SET button on the K90/P12 to enter the background settings.
- Set RESET to ON and short-press the switch button.
- Add a light in the app and wait K90_1_0 or P12 to appear in the app, and you should press complete to finish (you might sometimes need to repeat this process).
This issue could have probably been resolved if each light had an individual QR code that the app would scan and connect to directly. We had this in other products, such as security cameras, and it worked really well for us. We suggest that Viltrox add this in the future as well.
Performance
We tested the output of both tube lights as well as their color accuracy from 1 meter using our Sekonic C-800 Spectrometer. Here are the results:
Results for the K90 5600K @1m:
- Color temperature: 5288K.
- Output: 984 Lux.
- CRI: 94.3 (R9 – 75.3; R12 – 81.9).
- TLCI: 99.
- TM-30 RF: 93; TM-30 Rg: 104.
- SSI: 72.
Results for the K90 3200K @1m:
- Color temperature: 2990K.
- Output: 843 Lux.
- CRI: 94.4 (R9 – 86.7; R12 – 84.9).
- TLCI: 98.
- TM-30 RF: 95; TM-30 Rg: 104.
- SSI: 84.
We tested the light in red, green, and blue modes and obtained 319 lux, 623 lux, and 141 lux, respectively.
We tested the P12 and got the following:
Results for the P12 5600K @1m:
- Color temperature: 5510K.
- Output: 158 Lux.
- CRI: 93.7 (R9 – 66.7; R12 – 79.7).
- TLCI: 98.
- TM-30 RF: 92; TM-30 Rg: 103.
- SSI: 72.
Results for the P12 3200K @1m:
- Color temperature: 3202K.
- Output: 96.2 Lux.
- CRI: 92.3 (R9 – 74.3; R12 – 85.3).
- TLCI: 98.
- TM-30 RF: 93; TM-30 Rg: 103.
- SSI: 83.
We tested the light on Red, Green, and Blue modes and got 39.3Lux, 97.4Lux, and 19Lux, respectively.
We also tested the battery life on both lights, and they were both able to run at full power when set to CCT 5600K for a little over an hour (the P12 actually lasted close to 80 min). In terms of charge rate, the K90 was able to charge at a rate of 36W, while the P12 was much slower in our test at under 10W.
Update: During our final battery test, something happened to one of our K90 units, and its battery stopped working (it still works when plugged in). We are talking to Viltrox to try to find out what happened, and we shall update when we have more info.
Conclusion
With the K90 and P12, Viltrox seems to provide two solid, affordable tube lights. Both share much in the way of operation, with the P12 having the pixel features which the K90 lacks.
The K90, on the other hand, is bigger, better built, with faster charging and much more power, and for the most part has better color rendering.
Both can be controlled via the advanced Viltrox app, although we would like to see a more streamlined wireless setup.
Solid, affordable tube lights
Pricing
The K90 dual light kit sells for $230 (and comes with a case). A single P12 sells for $86 (no case included) and $150 for a dual kit.
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Iddo Genuth 
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