Aputure: the Blackmagic of lighting

[HJD]

To those of you who have received the PixaPro LED 100 Mark II, how loud is the fan? Supposedly it's very quiet. Would it be possible to get up really close to your subject with a big softbox and not have the fan affect the audio in a really quiet interview situation?

[John Emery]

9 hours ago, HJD said:

To those of you who have received the PixaPro LED 100 Mark II, how loud is the fan? Supposedly it's very quiet. Would it be possible to get up really close to your subject with a big softbox and not have the fan affect the audio in a really quiet interview situation?

You can definitely hear it, I would say It's as loud as a Macbook Pro. If you get in a less than a meter range, a condenser mic could pick it up. Out of that range you should be fine.

[HJD]

On 2/7/2016 at 5:04 PM, John Emery said:

You can definitely hear it, I would say It's as loud as a Macbook Pro. If you get in a less than a meter range, a condenser mic could pick it up. Out of that range you should be fine.

Thanks John Emery!   Sounds okay, though I was hoping you'd have to put your ear up next to the light to hear the fan. With a softbox in front of the light, I guess you'd most often be more than a meter away from any microphone. It would be great if someone would do like a Youtube review where they (ideally) were in a sound studio and moved a widespread and popular microphone on a popular recorder closer and closer to the light till the microphone picked up the fan noise. I also hear people use the low cut filter for air conditioning noise, perhaps the noise of the fan is in a frequency range where it would also be cut off by most low cut filters. Thanks again for your help!

[SR]

Not my greatest week. My Aputure Amaran HR672S , which I love, just decided to get funky in the middle of a shoot yesterday.

My third time using it. But it was my first attempt at using it during an architectural photo shoot (or any photo shoots for the matter, since I usually go for strobes and speedlights). This light allowed me to use my beloved Samsung NX1, which has amazing latitude, but terrible low-light auto-focus. Towards the end of the shoot, two things happened:

a) The back LCD died out. Suddenly I was left without any control over the brightness of the battery. It stays at max brightness.

b) And it might be because the batteries are too big for a plastic casing that thin, but soon the batteries stopped working until you gave it a constant gentle squeeze. 

Any idea on what can be done? 

[Zak Forsman]

only batteries that work for me on my 672's are the ones that came with them, and authentic Sony batts. I tried some off-brand batts and I'd lose power intermittently, and always when wiggled.

[SR]

4 minutes ago, Zak Forsman said:

only batteries that work for me on my 672's are the ones that came with them, and authentic Sony batts. I tried some off-brand batts and I'd lose power intermittently, and always when wiggled.

It's the original batteries that came with the light (all bought from Amazon). Since they last insanely long, I've never needed to get a spare. And they were working fine until yesterday. I think the fact that we had to do like 6 different rooms in half a day, moving around, made it loose.

[squig]

Enter the Dragon

Just got the NanGuang CN-60F 60W fresnel from China. I’m not easily impressed, but this is an awesome light. I compared it to the PixaPro 100D MKII+. The color temp measurement on the CN-60F is 5650k with a slight magenta bias reading of 7M (23% plus green to compensate). With a full CTO gel the reading was 2750k and 0 bias. The hard plastic CTO gel that comes with it is crap: 24M (80% plus green compensation). The 100D MKII has similar readings with the reflector but gives a measurement of 6000k and 14M (56% plus green) with a fresnel lens attached. The CN-60F isn’t quite as bright as the 100D: 9800 lux vs 13500 lux at 1m, but that’s comparing it to the 100D focused at maximum width (with fresnel). The CN-60F measures 7400 lux flood and 14000 lux spot at 1m. With a reflector the 100D measured 9650 lux. I measured a slight variation in color temp (up to 100k) when the CN-60F is dimmed or focussed.

The CN-60F has no fan, but it doesn’t get very hot, just warm to the touch. It comes with barn doors and a padded carry bag. It’s got a 4 pin XLR 12-19v plug so it can run off v-mounts. It’s about the same size and weight as the 100D. It doesn’t have a Bowens mount like the 100D, but the fresnel lens is removable if you want a super wide flood. Maybe there’s a Bowens adapter available for it?

I don’t have the Aputure 120T to get an accurate output comparison, but it doesn’t look like the 120T is any brighter. The CN-60F is cheaper than both the 120T and the 100D MKII+ plus it comes with fresnel and barn doors, and has no fan which makes it a winner for me. The output at full flood is about the same as a 72w 1200 LED panel with a hard plastic diffuser (9750 lux w/o diffuser). The only thing it’s missing is a v-mount adapter, but you can pick them up for about $50.

This is going to be my go to hard light, I like it so much I’m going to put together a set including the 30w and the 100w models. I'm hoping they're all the same color temp. Ideally there would be no magenta bias, but beggars can't be choosers, and color correction is a thing. The Dragon Image CRI and TLCI readings were excellent, so it could just be that my metering isn't that accurate. I bought mine from Wit Vision on AliExpress, but if you don't wanna join up or pay with a credit card you can get them for the same price on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nanguang-CN-60F-LED-Fresnel-Spotlight-LED-Studio-Light-High-CRI-Ra-95-for-Video-/222172427712 Take note: the listed lux readings are bullshit. The 100D MK II+ will probably end up on eBay.

 

On 01/07/2016 at 1:51 AM, Teemu said:

@spuig: please tell us how you like the Cihenese Nanguang CN-60F light if you decide to order it. I am interested to hear opinions now after you have tried out the Pixapro 100D. 

Done.

On 01/07/2016 at 10:52 PM, John Emery said:

I do like it as a hard light, but I use it without the reflector because it blurs the shadow edges. I might get a cheap reflector and paint it black inside.

The fresnel I bought for it gives it a hard edge, but the beam is quite narrow at its widest setting, and it increases the magenta bias.

On 02/07/2016 at 0:03 PM, John Emery said:

Anyway, just to share the info with anyone that's interested... in the video he measures the light @ 1m with the fresnel on, and it's just under 5000lux on flood, and under 11000 on spot. Not bad at all, but less powerful than the Pixapro (18000lux with fresnel on spot). CRI rating looks better on the DN-60F.

Dragon Image's readings would be more accurate than mine, but mine are still useful for a side by side comparison.

[squig]

On 02/07/2016 at 3:37 PM, HJD said:

To those of you who have received the PixaPro LED 100 Mark II, how loud is the fan? Supposedly it's very quiet. Would it be possible to get up really close to your subject with a big softbox and not have the fan affect the audio in a really quiet interview situation?

It's a lot quieter than my MacBook Pro, but mine's an old 17" model with a fan louder than my Mac Pro. It's quieter than my 2010 Mac Pro.

[Chrisis]

PixaPro seem like a pretty decent company. Has anyone tried their KinoFlo knock off or got an opinion on how these things stack up to newer LED panels? Seems pretty cost effective.

https://www.essentialphoto.co.uk/product/pixapro-litebank455-fluorescent-light-bank-with-mirrored-finish-4x55w-tubes/ 

[Oliver Daniel]

On 1 July 2016 at 10:47 AM, AaronChicago said:

For anyone looking to buy a softbox for the LS1, this one is amazing. It collapses into an 8" circle (similar to the big round reflectors). Takes about 30 seconds to unzip, open, snap the magnetic frame, and velcro to the light.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=1258825&gclid=CNnOwb_90c0CFQ-raQodPRgLwA&is=REG&ap=y&c3api=1876%2C52934714882%2C&A=details&Q=

Thanks Aaron. 

Got myself one of these with the Aputure LS1-C and 2 V-locks.  

[neilmac]

Bought 2 of these and they do not fit onto a LS1 LED. Happy to be proven wrong. Will just fit onto a LEDGO 600W LED but covers a row or two of LED's. Personally I would wait for the promised larger size version.

[HJD]

@squig : thanks a lot for your comparison of the NanGuang CN-60F to the PixaPro 100D Mark II I'm still leaning toward the PixaPro myself, as I really appreciate the Bowens S-mount for adapting different light modifiers. Also, in my case, I would have to add 5% import duty and on top of that 25% sales tax as well as a processing fee to the price of the CN-60F making it quite a bit more expensive. However, I really like that the CN-60F has no fan. That's about the only thing that's still holding me back from just ordering the PixaPro. I'm very particular about noise, but so far the feedback from PixaPro owners seems to indicate that fan noise shouldn't really be a problem. Thanks also for your comments on that topic. May I ask why you're considering selling the PixaPro on Ebay instead of keeping it along with your CN-60F? In my (rather inexperienced) opinion the S-mount makes it very versatile. Is it because you would need to invest in new high output v-mount batteries to make it useful away from AC-power, or is the fan noise still loud enough to worry you, or is there some other issue with the PixaPro that makes it a no go for you, or do you simply want three matching NanGuangs which in your case are cheaper as well? I would be grateful if you could elaborate a bit on your considerations as I'm trying to avoid or minimize potential buyers remorse :-)

[squig]

4 hours ago, HJD said:

@squig :May I ask why you're considering selling the PixaPro on Ebay instead of keeping it along with your CN-60F? In my (rather inexperienced) opinion the S-mount makes it very versatile. Is it because you would need to invest in new high output v-mount batteries to make it useful away from AC-power, or is the fan noise still loud enough to worry you, or is there some other issue with the PixaPro that makes it a no go for you, or do you simply want three matching NanGuangs which in your case are cheaper as well? I would be grateful if you could elaborate a bit on your considerations as I'm trying to avoid or minimize potential buyers remorse :-)

I need a high output LED hard light for film location work that can run on batteries all day. I figured it would work out a lot cheaper to get the CN-100F and run it off 24v ebike batteries. The other issue with the 100D is it has a very narrow beam with a fresnel lens fitted, the CN-60F has a much wider range. The fresnel also increases the magenta bias and the colour temperature on the 100D. I don't like fan noise either, but I don't think a mic will pick it up except maybe in a very small reflective room like a bathroom, where I wouldn't use a light that big anyway. Nanguang have $20 bowens adapters for the CN-60F and 100F so that's not an issue. The CN-60F is more versatile, silent, and draws a lot less power with only slightly less illuminance than the 100D. The colour accuracy and design has me thinking I'll be buying a bunch of these 30, 60, and 100w Nanguang fresnels over time.

Full CN-60F review here: http://wolfcrow.com/blog/nanguang-cn-60f-led-fresnel-review/

I just realised my 72w CN-1200SA LED panel is made by Nanguang too. The colour temperature and CRI of the panel closely matches that of the Nanguang fresnels. Its output with a plastic diffuser is about the same as the CN-60F at full flood.

[HJD]

@squig : Thanks for sharing more of your thought process on why you consider the CN-60F and its sister lights the better choice for you  I can see why it would probably be cheaper with the CN-100F for day long battery operation and good to know about the difference in beam with and increased color bias on the 100D when using a fresnel attachment. I'm also pleased to hear that you're not worried about fan noise on the 100D. Nice that there is an s-mount adapter available for the CN-60F and its siblings. Interesting that Nanguang also makes panels and you happened to have one. Thanks for your quick reply and for taking the time to elaborate! 

[Pyriphlegethon]

I've been testing the Aputure COB 120t for a bit now and have to say I'm impressed. I'd put output at just under a 1K, but the CRI/TLCI is amazing and not at all misrepresented by Aputure. I have all the measurements up on a post here, but in short, I feel like this light is really undervalued by a lot of people. I think the wide 120º beam angle and lack of fresnel have given it the reputation of being underpowered, but I'm not really finding that to be the case. I’d say it’s above a Lowel Tota after pulling them both out and comparing side by side. Like I say, the included reflector bumps this number significantly, but Aputure's own advertised specs are given without using it. At 1M, for example, the 2900 lux reading sans reflector measures 4000 lux with the reflector. Anyway, more info here if you want the details:

http://www.fennworld.com/aputure-cob-120t/

[photographer-at-large]

120d

http://www.newsshooter.com/2016/09/11/ibc-2016-aputure-light-storm-120d-is-the-daylight-version-of-their-120t-led/

 

[Cinegain]

Ah! I was wondering when they'd bring out the daylight balanced version. For me that's just more practical. I've been using multi-LED panels all this time, but am really looking into a studio set-up lighting kit that could would be nice for both photography and video use and allows me to use the multitude of Bowen-S accessories.

But I'm first waiting on reports of the Yongnuo YN-760...

I'm skeptical... but you never know. It might be quite a bit cheaper, but it will probably be noticeable in some way. Aputure always seem to mix value with good quality.

[IronFilm]

Yes! Now who wants to buy my soul so that I can afford a few 120D lights?

[Jonesy Jones]

1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

Yes! Now who wants to buy my soul so that I can afford a few 120D lights?

We're talking about Aputure here, not Kino Flo. No soul selling necessary. 

[IronFilm]

Has anyone compared the Aputure LS-C20 with the CAME-TV Boltzen 30W? As it is another LED fresnel, which is priced almost exactly the same. 

https://***URL not allowed***/hands-on-came-tv-boltzen-compact-led-fresnel-light/

http://www.came-tv.com/2-pcs-cametv-boltzen-30w-fresnel-fanless-focusable-led-daylight-p-862.html