Which to buy: amaran 60x or 200x

[ahalpert]

Well then you need to change out all the lights in venue you're filming in to match that same level of color accuracy of your lights.

1. A lot of the time this light plays it will be the key on talent and overwhelm any ambient light on their key side. I can balance camera to it and have great color from their primary light. And if they're wearing a dark blue blazer or tie, it won't look gray.

2. Combining light sources averages out their colors. It's always going to be preferable to mix in a high-quality light source rather than a poor-quality light source that matches the spiky spectrum of whatever else is already there, especially since this light is bicolor and can match the color temperature of the ambience. If the ambient light is missing deep blue and your light is missing deep blue as well, then you're not going to get any deep blue. Color correcting the imbalanced spectrum is not going to solve that problem.

Plus, even if you wanted to match the crappy color of lower-SSI LEDs, that's going to be a different palette in different environments. You're better off just getting as strong of a color source as you can.

3. This light is going to mix with daylight a lot. It's going to mix with proper tungsten. And it'll be used on studio set-ups. It's a versatile light and it will probably come to bear on every set-up I do outside of weddings.

[ahalpert]

The sidus link app is awesome

Here's my amaran 200x kit prepped for tomorrow in my new little impact rolling case, with the foam insert covers off

Light + battery bay + 4 v-mounts + fresnel + barn doors/grid for hyper reflector + 3 umbrella variants. (The 60" umbrella will have to travel in my stand bag.) Actually just got a wider reflector with a more evenly illuminated beam to fit in there as well

I found a purpose for the hyper reflector... it can focus a higher illumination in the center of the beam than either of the 2 fresnels I tested. I guess that's not surprising since it's a bespoke design. Anyway, I'll keep it around as a hail Mary if I really need to max out the lux and maybe I can improve the shape of the beam with barn doors and grid...

Screenshot_20230718_225211_Gallery.jpg

[ahalpert]

This is the basic idea - the 200x in a 33" umbrella softbox (white reflector + diffusion). sony gm 135 on the a7iv. I matched the ambient color by eye and set the light at 3300k. Balanced to a gray card in-camera and the camera reported the amaran-dominant mix to be 3200k with no green or magenta correction. the unit was at about 40% strength. straight from camera
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filedata/fetch?id=5704756&d=1690128171&type=thumb

[ade4all]

Great thread, how is the 200x S holding up for you Abe?

Not wanting to derail thread too much, maybe I should start my own but am in a similar position. These are the lights I'm considering

https://www.aputure.com/products/amaran-200x-s/

https://www.aputure.com/products/amaran-300c/

https://www.aputure.com/products/amaran-150c/

Am looking at replacing my trusty but slightly cumbersome 4 and 2 bank fluorescent tube lights (daylight and tungsten) with these new LED's from Amaran - the 200x S as my key light and a 150c or 300c as fill and versatile does it all light including colour backgrounds/washes if needs be. I will keep my Dedolight DH4 for hairlight, accents etc

I make documentaries mainly for galleries and museums so do a lot of talking heads, green screen, filming artefacts and also occasionally room settings/interiors

Just wondering if anyone else has any experience with these LED's or if there are other lights I should also be considering?

Am often on my own filming lighting and capturing audio - be nice to be able to dial in colour temp, brightness etc all from an app on my phone as I set up, will speed up the process a lot and hopefully create better control of light, nicer images...

From what I've read and as mentioned by Abe earlier, the 200x S has better accuracy and skin tones than the 150 and 300 so that would be my key light when filming people. Is the 300 worth the extra over the 150 for when I occasionally film in large historical rooms and want to bring out features, am imagining a little more power is always good to have?

I love the soft light I get from the floursecents so would augment the LED's with softbox. Is the light quality similar, would the 200x S with softbox be able to light as much as a 4 bank floursecent? I also like hard light at times so will also use the LED's with barn doors.

The floursecents would still be useful especially for lighting the green screen, am currently using some old photo lights with no control of spill and harsh hot spots. The floursecents would light the green screen more evenly and with more control hopefully, and use the LEDs to light the talent

Anyway am open to other suggestions and also best ways of transporting these lights, my bag for the fluorescents is horrible - huge and falling apart, be nice to be a bit more streamlined whilst also keeping the lights safe. Don't have any V lock batteries so would be looking to run these off the mains, at least initially

[ahalpert]

Great thread, how is the 200x S holding up for you Abe?

Not wanting to derail thread too much, maybe I should start my own but am in a similar position. These are the lights I'm considering

https://www.aputure.com/products/amaran-200x-s/

https://www.aputure.com/products/amaran-300c/

https://www.aputure.com/products/amaran-150c/

Am looking at replacing my trusty but slightly cumbersome 4 and 2 bank fluorescent tube lights (daylight and tungsten) with these new LED's from Amaran - the 200x S as my key light and a 150c or 300c as fill and versatile does it all light including colour backgrounds/washes if needs be. I will keep my Dedolight DH4 for hairlight, accents etc

You're making me want to get a 300c now.

I love the sidus link app. Sometimes it can be a little finicky to reconnect. Like at the start of a shoot or if you went away for lunch and came back or if you connected to something else via Bluetooth. It always reconnects for me but I can't tell quite how long it will take. But that's true of many if not most Bluetooth devices for me.

But the app is great. It's pretty much convinced me to invest more with aputure. I just bought 2 amaran 60x s units. One of my regular clients owns an aputure 1200d and 600x and now I can bring in my 200 and 60's and they're all playing on the same app together.

What are the flo lights you're using? What is the power draw and output like?

How often are you contending with daylight? I'm not sure any of these units will be strong enough if you need to fill daylight or cast an effect on background when there are bright windows in play. But for normal interior lighting levels or if I'm working in a studio, I can key with my 200 while bouncing and diffusing it and I'm fine at iso 640 f/1.4. Maybe don't even need full power.

It's cool that they have a spotlight attachment for the 300c. But my client has the beefier version for use on their aputures and there is some fringing and multiple shadows when you close the shutters down. Useful but not perfect.

I feel like I would lean towards the 300c if you're planning to light a large area with it.

Moving the 200x has worked out like I expected. A little heavy. Lift with your legs. But I've walked it around a wedding reception on one occasion while rigged at 10' with a 48" umbrella. I may start doing that regularly.

I only had 3 v-mount batteries when I got it so I bought one more, a 190wh by Neewer: https://a.co/d/7GGTMPT

I think this was the most affordable unit i foind that had overcharge protection. Neewer sells a cheaper one but a reviewer said they bricked the battery by leaving it in a charger overnight. I can't give you a longterm review of the one I got but so far so good.

The 60x s is really small. Fits like a 70-200 in my backpack (maybe even like an f/4). Really convenient npf battery plate rigging, and it runs at full power on batteries which was a concern of mine.

[ade4all]

Yes I think if the app works well enough it could really tie me into this system.
The 60x s definitely piqued my interest too, have some Sony batteries I use for monitor, was just concerned they wouldnt have enough umph to rely on for talking heads stuff, but could work well in the same way I tend to use the Dedo and love the idea of no leads portability. A light that you could always have on you - think you might have talked me into getting one of those. V-locks would be great on the larger fixtures too but quite a big outlay alongside the proprietary Aputure adaptor you need. Have had good experience with Neewer 3rd party batteries for both Canon and Panasonic cameras though.
I have Cool Lights - kind of poor man's Kino flo Diva's, got them about 15 years ago and they have been great - they were a sponsor here on DVXuser back in the day. Don't have any spec for them but Kino flo claim about 1000W soft light from a 4 bank so probably in that ball park. Not expecting quite the same amount of light once the LEDs have a softbox but feel the 200 and 150/ 300 will cover most of my needs - not competing with daylight more likely augmenting or in normally lit rooms.
As you suggest think the 300 will be worth the extra when I need it.

[ahalpert]

Yes I think if the app works well enough it could really tie me into this system.
The 60x s definitely piqued my interest too, have some Sony batteries I use for monitor, was just concerned they wouldnt have enough umph to rely on for talking heads stuff, but could work well in the same way I tend to use the Dedo and love the idea of no leads portability. A light that you could always have on you - think you might have talked me into getting one of those. V-locks would be great on the larger fixtures too but quite a big outlay alongside the proprietary Aputure adaptor you need. Have had good experience with Neewer 3rd party batteries for both Canon and Panasonic cameras though.
I have Cool Lights - kind of poor man's Kino flo Diva's, got them about 15 years ago and they have been great - they were a sponsor here on DVXuser back in the day. Don't have any spec for them but Kino flo claim about 1000W soft light from a 4 bank so probably in that ball park. Not expecting quite the same amount of light once the LEDs have a softbox but feel the 200 and 150/ 300 will cover most of my needs - not competing with daylight more likely augmenting or in normally lit rooms.
As you suggest think the 300 will be worth the extra when I need it.

Looking at kino flo photometrics, it looks like the 4-bank diva puts out about 2500 lux at 1 meter distance: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...p;opi=89978449 &url=https://www.kinoflo-lighting.com/downloads/Kino-Flo-Lighting-Catalog.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjNn6S078iBAxU9kokEHcbqC bEQFnoECBAQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1LvfxRIYvwUs8Ubu-IOkdD

Open face, the 200x s has a 111-degree beam angle and puts out 5630 lux at 1 meter set to 3200k, and 6400 lux set to 5600k.

I frequently bounce + diffuse my 200x s which cuts about 2 stops so i would end up weaker than the diva. (Although I get a bigger light source out of the deal.)

With diffusion cutting only 1 stop, the 200x s strength should be on par with the diva. And if you're adding diffusion to the diva to make it a larger source, you should be on par with my 200x s in a bounce + diffusion umbrella.

Long story short, I think you can do the same job with the 200x s as you do with your cool light. And you get bicolor, remote control, much better color rendition.

One thing that sucks about running these fixtures off batteries is I don't think there's any way to tell how much power they have left. In practice, it may not be a huge issue depending on how you're using them. Just something to keep in mind. On interviews, I've plugged them in. When dancing around locations/events, I've used them on batteries and not come close to depleting the power supply.

[ade4all]

Ah OK thanks for the breakdown sounds like the 200 is exactly what I need, the 300c will be a nice light to have and evrn the little 60x s could work as fill or hairlight and as a battery powered light I can always have on me.
if skin looks better on the 200x s than it does on the osram bulbs i use on the Cool Lights then im all set. Fantastic

[ahalpert]

Ah OK thanks for the breakdown sounds like the 200 is exactly what I need, the 300c will be a nice light to have and evrn the little 60x s could work as fill or hairlight and as a battery powered light I can always have on me.
if skin looks better on the 200x s than it does on the osram bulbs i use on the Cool Lights then im all set. Fantastic

not sure which Osram bulbs you're using. the Osram tubes with highest CRI at B&H are 3200k and have only an 85 CRI: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...amp.html/specs

I would imagine fluorescents typically score higher in 5600k. I see some Alzo 5600k tubes on amazon that get a 91 CRI - https://www.amazon.com/ALZO-Video-Lu.../dp/B001W8UO50

The 200x s has a CRI of 95 (in daylight, I believe. I think a little higher in tungsten). CRI is a flawed measurement that's easy to game. But I'd be shocked if you weren't happier with skin tones out of the Amaran

[ade4all]

All great information thank you, very much appreciated. My mind is made up, will order all 3 lights

[ahalpert]

The amarans are on sale today at b&h 15% off

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...00x%20s&sts=ma