Aputure: the Blackmagic of lighting

[Alex T]

6 hours ago, AaronChicago said:

Bummer news. I was shooting with the 120t indoors and it just didn't feel "extra bright" to me. I'm used to using the Arri 650w fresnel. I put them next to each other and set the Arri to flood. It looks like the 120t is about 3/5 as bright which would put it at around 400-450 watt equivalent.

Noooooooo . Can't believe this! I just sold an Arri 650 to fund a 120t. Haha, well at least I haven't bought one yet..

 

Maybe Ted can chime in with this?

[Herb]

2 hours ago, rotgg said:

I dont know if lens would help it get all the way to 1k-1.5k output it is supposed to have

I don't think it will, hence the reason I said "brighten" & "brighter"  

[icarrere]

terrible magenta corners, hope new operating sistem fixes it

On 11/6/2016 at 11:07 AM, AaronChicago said:

With the cone reflector it is really narrow. If you take that off its really wide. I don't know the exact angle.

Normally yes. In this situation I had alot of natural light coming in through the window (although I was planning on evening sun beaming through). If I were away from the window or in a normal indoor setting, or was shooting in shade close to the subject, then YES it would be bright enough to bounce as a key.

Here I had the 120t directly in front of the subject. To the left of the camera. A little bit of diffusion.

I haven't done any side by side tests yet but I think it's about equal brightness to an Arri 1K. I own a 650w so I'll do a side by side test soon.

 

[Zak Forsman]

11 minutes ago, icarrere said:

terrible magenta corners, hope new operating sistem fixes it

delete your account.

[Kristoferman]

15 hours ago, AaronChicago said:

Bummer news. I was shooting with the 120t indoors and it just didn't feel "extra bright" to me. I'm used to using the Arri 650w fresnel. I put them next to each other and set the Arri to flood. It looks like the 120t is about 3/5 as bright which would put it at around 400-450 watt equivalent.

 

The aputure seems to cover 3-4x the surface area so I'm not sure if direct brightness comparison is valid.

[rotgg]

2 hours ago, Zak Forsman said:

delete your account.

Great!!!!

 

[jcs]

1 hour ago, Kristoferman said:

The aputure seems to cover 3-4x the surface area so I'm not sure if direct brightness comparison is valid.

I suspect he put the barn doors down to make it clearer. Seeing the full beam angle would be helpful, though I would guess the ARRI 650 is indeed that much brighter.

Folks are stating the Zylight F8 produces more light than a 650W Fresnel ($2100): http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/886683-REG/Zylight_26_01020_F8_LED_Fresnel_Daylight.html drawing 90W vs 135W for the 120t... Efficiency, beam angle, optics?

[AaronChicago]

The barndoors are why the surface area is smaller on the Arri. 

I talked to Ted via email. He said that the fresnel lens definitely helps brighten the center beam and that he's going to post a video soon comparing the Arri 1K and 120t.

[icarrere]

Congrats! Now with the FW3.3, seems to be fixed anyway
(and for those...I love freedom of speech: perhaps I was unpolite but said what I saw)

[squig]

4 hours ago, AaronChicago said:

The barndoors are why the surface area is smaller on the Arri. 

I talked to Ted via email. He said that the fresnel lens definitely helps brighten the center beam and that he's going to post a video soon comparing the Arri 1K and 120t.

The daylight model should be quite a bit brighter too, even more so if you're putting CTB gels on the tungsten model.

[AaronChicago]

2 hours ago, squig said:

The daylight model should be quite a bit brighter too, even more so if you're putting CTB gels on the tungsten model.

I put CTB on the the photos up top, but I didn't have anything on the side by side with the Arri 650.

[sanveer]

10 hours ago, Kristoferman said:

The aputure seems to cover 3-4x the surface area so I'm not sure if direct brightness comparison is valid.

Seriously. The test is unfair to say the least. The Aputure light is covering between 5 to 9 times the surface area. And barn doors? Also, what are the setting in the shot? The light beam is set to (very) wide.

If you were a famous Filmmaker (ala Coppolla), this would have turned into another Zacuto shootout. Though, over here, the underdog (Aputure) seems to be the victim of a bias

[AaronChicago]

16 minutes ago, sanveer said:

Seriously. The test is unfair to say the least. The Aputure light is covering between 5 to 9 times the surface area. And barn doors? Also, what are the setting in the shot? The light beam is set to (very) wide.

If you were a famous Filmmaker (ala Coppolla), this would have turned into another Zacuto shootout. Though, over here, the underdog (Aputure) seems to be the victim of a bias

It's not covering 5 to 9 times more. Arri 650 flood beam is 55 degrees. The 120t is 120 degrees without any modifiers. This test I have a reflector cone wihich is shaping it to about 55 degrees. The only reason I used the barn doors was to show the line between the 2 clearly.

[sanveer]

13 minutes ago, AaronChicago said:

It's not covering 5 to 9 times more. Arri 650 flood beam is 55 degrees. The 120t is 120 degrees without any modifiers. This test I have a reflector cone wihich is shaping it to about 55 degrees. The only reason I used the barn doors was to show the line between the 2 clearly.

You could be right, to quite a degree. Did you use a fresnel lens in the front? On the Curtis Judd channe,l he rated it at 750 watts. I guess, a barn door on both of them, and a similar beam angle for both should help settle this. 

1-1.5k light equivalent seems a bit much for it. But, I am waiting for Ted from Aputure to clarify and explain the best way to use the maximum brightness. 

[squig]

44 minutes ago, AaronChicago said:

It's not covering 5 to 9 times more. Arri 650 flood beam is 55 degrees. The 120t is 120 degrees without any modifiers. This test I have a reflector cone wihich is shaping it to about 55 degrees. The only reason I used the barn doors was to show the line between the 2 clearly.

I suspected it was 120 degrees. The reflector gives it a bit more throw, but not as much as a lens. There's a huge illuminance difference between a focussed 15-55 degree light and a non-focussed 120 degree light. Personally I think it was a bit crazy Aputure releasing this light without the fresnel lens; it's stunted without it. Ledgo make a Bowens mount fresnel lens for $99. I can get one in Australia but I can't find any the US.

[AaronChicago]

13 minutes ago, squig said:

I suspected it was 120 degrees. The reflector gives it a bit more throw, but not as much as a lens. There's a huge illuminance difference between a focussed 15-55 degree light and a non-focussed 120 degree light. Personally I think it was a bit crazy Aputure releasing this light without the fresnel lens; it's stunted without it. Ledgo make a Bowens mount fresnel lens for $99. I can get one in Australia but I can't find any the US.

They're planning on releasing a fresnel adapter later this year. I might look into a third party one on ebay. One of the main reasons that I got this light was to use with a 36" parabolic softbox which I"m planning on testing this week.

[John Emery]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Aaron. After some research I'm going to get the Pixapro MKII+, mainly because I prefer daylight for powerful lights and I like having a narrower beam angle (45 instead of 120) without having to use any modifiers. With the code of this video you get a 5% off, so a light & 120" Easy-setup softbox with grid goes for around 550€ (including shipping cost to EU). The only major drawback is that it's remote control is sold separately, so the price goes up to 580€ if you want one. I would love to use my Aputure remotes (best design IMHO) for all my lights. 

The 120t still looks like a great neat option for interiors, I might give it a try once it's available directly from European retailers.

[AaronChicago]

3 hours ago, John Emery said:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Aaron. After some research I'm going to get the Pixapro MKII+, mainly because I prefer daylight for powerful lights and I like having a narrower beam angle (45 instead of 120) without having to use any modifiers. With the code of this video you get a 5% off, so a light & 120" Easy-setup softbox with grid goes for around 550€ (including shipping cost to EU). The only major drawback is that it's remote control is sold separately, so the price goes up to 580€ if you want one. I would love to use my Aputure remotes (best design IMHO) for all my lights. 

The 120t still looks like a great neat option for interiors, I might give it a try once it's available directly from European retailers.

What's the wattage equivalent on that one? 

[Teemu]

1 hour ago, AaronChicago said:

What's the wattage equivalent on that one? 

I have one of these lights, but just the mk II not the + version (+ version means v-lock battery option). I really like it and can also recommend it. It's about 1k at full power. Definetly get the mkII version. It's a lot more silent and a bit smaller than the first version.

Also good cheap fresnel adapter for the light is this:

https://www.amazon.com/Nanguang-NG-10X-Studio-Light-Filter/dp/B011HTRTUG?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B011HTRTUG&linkCode=as2&linkId=TOJXOS6VGXPT3Q6T&redirect=true&ref_=as_li_tl&tag=nitsapictu-20

Nitsan has reviewed same lights and recommended very much it.

[AaronChicago]

27 minutes ago, Teemu said:

I have one of these lights, but just the mk II not the + version (+ version means v-lock battery option). I really like it and can also recommend it. It's about 1k at full power. Definetly get the mkII version. It's a lot more silent and a bit smaller than the first version.

Also good cheap fresnel adapter for the light is this:

https://www.amazon.com/Nanguang-NG-10X-Studio-Light-Filter/dp/B011HTRTUG?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B011HTRTUG&linkCode=as2&linkId=TOJXOS6VGXPT3Q6T&redirect=true&ref_=as_li_tl&tag=nitsapictu-20

Nitsan has reviewed same lights and recommended very much it.

Whoa thanks for the recommendation.