GEAR OF THE YEAR AWARDS ACCESSORIES EDITOR’S CHOICE: APUTURE LS 600D PRO
From lighting to hard drives and cases tomonitors, accessories are vital and deserve to be recognised for the value they add to the life of a working professional. Lighting is one area where buying the right equipment canmake a huge difference to your work, and once again British company Rotolight proved victorious in the Light Panels category, with the super-advanced Titan X2 that boasts electronically adjustable diffusion. You can throw away your gels, since diffusion is adjusted using the rear controls or remote control. The glass panel of the 2x1ft light alters from fully clear to opaque, instantly softening the light. Changing the diffusion also changes the spread and focus of the light to become wider andmore even. It features a full RGBWW lighting array, so you can simply dial in any colour you want, from standard correction gels to bold colours for creative looks. And it’s all controlled from the touchscreen display on the rear of the unit or a remote control. In the Hard Lights category, the winner is a name that is familiar to
Aputure is taking the world of vlogging by stormwith its range of powerful, yet relatively affordable lights. And the LS 600D Pro is the latest light that takes the offering even further, with an exceptionally bright 600Woutput. It’s even smaller than many of its rivals and has a very quiet fan. It can be run off a 48V DC transformer or four 310WV-Mount batteries, ideal for on location. It’s the first Bowens-mount LED to have a weather- resistant design, too. It’s dimmable in 0.1% increments, and can be controlled by DMX, wireless DMX or an app. Not to mention, there are built-in SFX effects like paparazzi-style flashes and a fake TVmode.
light. It’s small and affordable, but that doesn’t mean it’s low on spec. As it uses RGBWWLEDs, you can set it to any colour and control it from an app. It also has a built-in battery that can be charged wirelessly. Another place where an accessory canmake a very real difference to the quality of your work is in the category of Monitors/Recorders, where the winner is the Atomos Ninja V for the second year running! Many cameras can output video via HDMI, and there is often a huge improvement in the quality of the footage if you record it on a suitable external drive. The Ninja V records up to 4K/60p, 10-bit HDR video direct from your camera’s sensor through its HDMI socket on to an SSD. It can also record Apple ProRes Raw direct frommany cameras, too. The five-inch touchscreen helps get your shots right as it displays waveforms, false colour, vectorscope, focus peaking, instant zoom, anamorphic de-squeeze, and you can load up to eight LUTs via the SSDmemory, and even bake in the look if you want. For storing your precious footage, especially on location, you need a compact, but fast and reliable hard drive. And the winner in our External Hard Drives category is the Lacie Rugged SSD Pro 1TB Thunderbolt 3. Lacie’s latest Rugged drives use a silent, solid state disc inside, far faster andmore reliable than any conventional HDD drive.
professional photographers, but one that’s fast making a name for itself with filmmakers, too. It’s Broncolor, with the new LED F160, built to allow photographers to produce photo and video in one go using the wide range of light shapers. The LED F160 works well with the Broncolor light-shaping accessories, as it’s designed as a point light source. This is then focused with the light shapers, allowing precise lighting. A small dial on the side of the unit allows the light to be focused, giving precise control. Using the rear OLED panel, it’s very easy to change lighting power output, as well as colour temperature from2800 to 6800K in steps of 50, and alter tint from green tomagenta. For quick changes, a single button on the rear overrides the settings and toggles between daylight and tungsten. The performance is bright, consistent and accurate. The light has built-inWi-Fi to integrate with the Broncolor bronControl app, and can be controlled via DMX with an optional unit. To use it on location, Broncolor also sells a Li-ion battery kit, which comes with a 36V XLR V-Mount battery, stand clamp and charger. It can be recharged in 90minutes. In the Lighting Innovation category, the winner is the Aputure MC RGBWW light. It’s a tiny LED light panel that can be hidden in lots of places to add small pools of
LEFT When it comes to hard plastic cases, Peli is the brand that instantly springs to mind
“The Broncolor LED F160 performance is bright, consistent and accurate”
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