02.24.2022
Many have been excited since the announcement of the latest and most powerful daylight hard source in Aputure's Light Storm lineup, myself included. I've been fortunate to beat on and test a production unit now for a couple of weeks. This is indeed an LED alternative to the HMI based M18 or J16 to hit the nail on the head. Interestingly it functions in familiar ways. Light head, ballast, 7.5m head cable, and 6m power cable. Then it's up to the light modifiers from there. Much like Aputure's other LS Series, this uses a Bowens Mount to mount your Par Reflectors and other shaping goodies.
Aputure offers 3X Par-style reflectors (known as Hyper Reflectors) and I would imagine for most of the time you'll be using the light with one of these with additional modifiers. Meter readings for the par cans: At 20 feet with the Narrow 15° beam I'm scoring 17200lx/1600fc. Med 30° beam = 5100lx/474fc. Wide 55° beam 2900lx/270fc. This is tremendous output and meters higher on the narrow par than the M18, which is impressive. Shares similar dirty-ish edges as well, common for pars. Output is equivalent to beyond an M18 with the narrow par. Medium and Wide pars slightly less so, but that's more or less down to the COB and it's reflective collar and still very high intensity. I'd say it's comparable to say the least.
Output is one thing, but color quality is of the utmost importance when it comes to modern LEDs. Specificaly when it comes to wedge of skin tones and the color response picked up on camera. That's where it's all pretty amazing news for this pure daylight fixture. After about 3 days of burning in and readings the CCT lands in the 5600-5800K realm on my fixture with minimal lean to green. I actually measured CCT a few times along the way and began at 5660K. Honestly I suspect with this output even in a black setting ambient bounce is contributing to this. Either way this is well in bounds with HMI landing in the same range and it of course drifts over the bulb lifespan. CRI is hitting a consistent 96+ with R9 landing at 96, in fact only score below 90 is R12 floating around 80. TLCI is hitting a seriously impressive 98. A nice test I enjoy doing with high output lights like this is shooting a shot of my hand in daylight and attempting to match/create a similar look with the light itself. I did this quick and dirty, was pretty impressed. It's more than convincing and clean.
Aputure rates the bulb at about 50,000 hours of stable color temperature and output. In comparison to HMI this is where things make sense for this light and why LED might be a smart investment. Typically I would replace an HMI bulb in the range of 500-600 operating hours as it drifts. In this span of time that would be pretty much between 100 and 80 bulbs usually landing at $250-$550 per bulb. You can get a bearing for the cost savings there. Time will tell, but that is the extreme value proposition here with a slightly more controlled source. Plus I should mention the 1200D does feature weather resistance against rain and wetness, which I wouldn't exactly let an HMI experience. I'd still umbrella it if you can. Soggy lights and wet stands aren't much fun.
The Control Box is well built and comes with the clamp quick release so you can make it live on a stand. I/O is expected with DMX IN/OUT, LAN, 2X 48V DC IN (both connectors yield full output), and AC. Head Cable is confidently keyed as well as the Neutrik AC cable, so you can rig this light in dark or dimmed sets. Plus you have Sidus Link to control wirelessly. GUI is new and clean. Won't go through the whole menu, but lights like this are attractive for high speed filming applications and there is indeed a frequency range adjustment to tend to those faster shutter speeds/narrow shutter angles. That is something I was really looking for. Aputure is saying flicker free up to 2000fps. Very nice to see stepless dimming here for manually operated effects.
Striking the light is fairly immediate, but I do recommend letting the light settle for a few minutes. Also, if you are new to working with high output units, do bare in mind you don't want talent staring into the bare bulb of this thing. The light does generate heat, but not massive heat. You'll feel the warmth at max power at 15 feet for instance, but very reasonable IMO. Making the note because a lot of people will rig this up for book, bounce, or silk diffusion within 6-15 feet of the head. Power draw is 15A, so common household socket safe. Draws around +/- 1400 watts. Basically the light itself seems to actually tap into about 1200 of that and the guts draw the rest. Fans are reasonably quiet for this output range. You won't be using this light super close talent if you can avoid it.
Build is solid, well thought out. Nice top handle on the head, yolk has an oversized kip handle and is a sturdy lock. Junior pin fits on every combo I have and I did invert it via a hanging C-Clamp just to see how that felt. Aputure included a safety line which is always a nice touch.
The light itself comes in a rolling hard/soft case with extra room for AKS. The 3 pars come with sized donuts and spacers to prevent warping in a drumhead-shaped hard/soft case. For the creative, though I'm certain this likely isn't intended, you can swap out some of the internal spacers and fit much more than you'd expect in here. Certainly the Medium and Wide Pars, but take caution in ensuring the dividers are stable. There are no barn doors included here, but I can say I've already populated a spot in this case for some black wrap for exactly this reason and there's a good chance you'd be using flags over barn doors in some setups with a light this powerful. I'll hunt down one that works on the Narrow Par for sure. Also still testing out modifiers. Have a few custom ones I've made oddly for still work long ago and they are working great. Units like this and anything in the 300 and 600 range inspire some thoughts on additional modifiers. Hoping to see some new goodies from Aputure on this front actually. I'm investigating various Bowen's fresnels, but heat dissapation near the source may or may not be an issue. What I'd really like to see is something closer to K5600's excellent beamer as that is one of my favorite modifiers and light shapping tools for lights this range. That particular one cleans up the edges and produces a wonderful draw across the fall-off.
TL;DR - Real bright, powerful, and a good quality daylight source with confidence inspiring performance when going up against HMI. Well thought out kit as well.