Lights - 2018 : New, deals, low budget, DIY

[UncleBobsPhotography]

On 5/16/2018 at 7:07 PM, salim said:

The Aputure 20 is arriving tonight and I'll compare it next to Boltzen and see which one will take with me. But I've realized for the look I want I need something with a reliable 3200K light option. Since I want to WB to 3200k and give everything but the skin tone of actors a blueish cool tone. 

Any update on how the Aputure 20(c?) is comparing to the Boltzen?

The 20c is very tempting. I like the connectivity, size, and convenience a lot, but I'm worried about the fan noise.

[salim]

10 hours ago, UncleBobsPhotography said:

Any update on how the Aputure 20(c?) is comparing to the Boltzen?

The 20c is very tempting. I like the connectivity, size, and convenience a lot, but I'm worried about the fan noise.

so I was comparing Aputure 20D vs Boltzen 30 W bicolor.  I picked 20D over C because I wanted more light output and since it was mostly as a kicker/ hair light, I actually preferred the lights being even a bit cooler. Plus in theory you can gel the 20D to get to 5600k or 3200K.  I say in theory, because the filter for 5600K apparently bleaches. I tested the 3200K gel but I put it in the same slot as the 5600K filter spot (between the fresnel and the barn doors. And in matter of like 10 min of testing, it almost melted. You need to put those gel on the barn doors with the clip. Anyways, withe gel you lose like 1 stop so there is almost no reasons to get the 20C version IMHO. 

So, for the money Boltzen is a bigger bank for the buck! The Bicolor output is the same as the single color. It's really the best bicolor fresnel deal in the market. The output doesn't really change between 3200K or 5600K. There is a strange stepping between 4000K to 3200k. It almost jumps from 3600K to 3200K. But that's fine. 
The light is solid, no fan (for 30 W). But I returned the Botlzen and kept the Aputure 20D. For these following reasons (basically because of my specific needs). 

1 - The Aputure is not as heavy as Boltzen (the heat sink is very heavy) so it's much lighter on your luggage weight limits. 

2 - The light control with aperture was much better than with Boltzen. Botlzen would create these soft cut off shadows. The aputure (unfortunately more so on the flood spread of the light not on the spot range) creates fairly clean cutoff compared to Boltzen and has a tighter spot.

 

If you're going to push the light through some soft box, with some occasional spot needs, and you're not goin to be flying with your equipment so a bit of extra weight is not an issue, Boltzen 30W (bicolor) is one of the best buys in the market so far. I would pick that no questions asked. 

If your needs are like me, then Aputure 20D might work better for you. The fan on the 20D comes on in matter of 10 minutes, but it's not that bad and for what I'm going to use it for, it's fine for me. 

 

 

[UncleBobsPhotography]

Thanks for the feedback. I ended up ordering the 55w bicoloured Boltzen with the Wi-Fi accessory. The fan noise seems tolerable, and with ~3500lumen output in both ends of the colour scale, I feel like it has a lot more use-cases than the Aputure 

[IronFilm]

On 6/6/2018 at 8:43 AM, salim said:

On a different topic this guy does not a overview of portal lights that you can travel with 

 

 

 

His entire channel is great! I also highly recommend Luke Seerveld:

 

 

[salim]

WOW...so B&H/Luxli have quietly released their 1X1 RGBW light (Luxli Timpani) . It's available on July 2nd.  At $1000 seems like a reasonable price for a 1x1 RGBW panel with such a  hight CRI color. 
 

The question for most people is, should you buy multiple Luxli cellos or 1 Timpani. Cello retails for $400. But It goes one sale some times at $300 or $350.  4 cellos at sale is about $1200 which a few more LED than a Timpani but basically close enough. So 4 Cellos will give you more flexility, the Timpani might be easier to deal with, just having one light to worry about. Either defuse it, or bounce, etc. I guess Ideal case you have one Timpani couple of Cellos and one COB light source. 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1353086-REG/luxli_timpani_1x1_1x1_rgb_studio_light.html

 

 

 

[majoraxis]

24 watts @ $300 is $12.50 per watt for the Cello 

120 watts @ 1000 is $8.33 per watt Timpani

To get the same output you need 5 Cello, which is $1500 on sale.  It seems the Timpani is sweet spot price wise - especially if and when it goes on sale at BH...

If you already have lights it seems that 2 Timpani's would be a good place to start...

Looks like the Digital Sputnik DS 1 has some competition at defuse light source - the Timpani can't touch the  size and beam angle of the DS 1 though... it all depends on your application of course.  The Timpani and DS 1 would probably work great together as well.

[salim]

On 6/23/2018 at 8:28 PM, majoraxis said:

24 watts @ $300 is $12.50 per watt for the Cello 

120 watts @ 1000 is $8.33 per watt Timpani

So I just went with the number of LED lights. I'm assuming Cello and Timpani are using the same LED so LED count is what I used. I looked at the wattage and it said "maximum" usage is 120 watts. So I'm not sure if this number should be used at face value or not. 

Shooting ISO 800-2000 gives you a lot of options, especially if you shoot f/2. So in this case 2-4 cellos is what might all be needed.  The Digital Sputnik DS 1 seems like a great choice. But I'm not sure about RGB and high intensity LEDs. Im worried the heat might degrade the RGB colors. I have no data on this, but I would be worried about that.