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LATEST LEDS
APUTURE’S POWERHOUSE OF COLOUR
Aputure made its name as the go-to LED lighting of choice for an army of YouTubers and single-person filmmakers, with products that are powerful, easy to use, affordable and reliable. But in recent times this has expanded, largely thanks to the flagship LS 1200d Pro – the most powerful light of its type you can buy at any price. The 1200d is a daylight-only COB that takes Bowens-fit modifiers and pumps out an extreme amount of power – over 83,100 lux at three meters with the included Narrow Hyper Reflector. Plus, the unit plugs into mains rather than needing a powerful generator. Costing £3316/$3390 complete with three different reflectors, a power unit and carrying cases, it’s a relatively cheap solution to creating a huge amount of light – which is why DOPs love it. Now, Aputure has launched the LS 600c Pro for £2516/$2490, and it’s making waves again. Not due to its outright power, but because it offers a full spectrum of colours thanks to an RGBWW COB chipset. That makes it one of the brightest full-colour point lights on the market. It’s also significantly smaller and more portable than the 1200d; with all accessories in its case, it weighs 27.3kg/60.1lb. The 600c Pro is still 14.4kg/31.7lb, though – it’s a fair lump to move around and mount. Aputure already has a range of 600-series Light Storm fixtures, with the daylight-only 600d and bicolour 600x, both of which are
industry-standard x/y coordinates, more than 300 gel presets or an advanced HSI mode where you can change the white point. So if you’re matching with other lights at a certain colour temperature then want to add colours, it’s easy. And in terms of CCT mode, this is extremely wide at 2300- 10,000K with fully tunable green/ magenta adjustment, so you can get it just right. Our tests showed it was accurate right across the board, especially at low-Kelvin temperatures, which is where many COB lights struggle. That’s where the RGBWW chipset pays dividends. With a CRI of 95+ and TLCI of 98+, you know it’s accurate. If you end up shooting at incredibly fast speeds, such as on a 1000fps camera, the dimming frequency of the light can be adjusted by up to 2000Hz to avoid any flicker. Aputure claims that the light is flicker-free all the way up to 2000fps. We didn’t have anything
cheaper, lighter and more powerful. For example, the 600d puts out around 98,500 lux at one metre using the Hyper Reflector, while the 600c does around half that. Still, it’s full colour and that’s only one stop difference. If you don’t need the flexibility that full-colour lighting brings, then you should save money with the 600d or 600x models. But it’s a joy to dial in any colour you want right on the unit’s power pack. Use the menus and screen to set all the RGB colours you want, with
GREEN MACHINE A splash of bright colour is no problem for the Aputure LS 600c Pro
BAG IT UP The Aputure kit
comes in a wheeled case and has some room for extras (left)
WHY HAS LED TAKEN OVER?
in recent years. Now, these smaller, lighter lamps don’t need to warm up and stabilise to a consistent colour temperature. They can be turned on and off at will rather than needing time to reset and re- strike. They don’t need power generators like HMIs. They’re flicker-free, and come in daylight, bicolour or full-spectrum RGBWW and RGBLAC versions, controlled via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or DMX.
It wasn’t long ago that HMI lights ruled for power, tungsten was cheaper and not far behind, while Kino Flo led the way for tubes. But HMIs are notoriously pricey and need massive power to run, tungsten gets very hot and Kino Flo lights are unreliable. Then there’s the problem of flickering. At first, LED lighting suffered from inconsistent colour and lack of power, but this has changed
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