Which to buy: amaran 60x or 200x

[Peter C.]

No offense but you seem to go out of your way to create difficult situations. Theses lights require 2 battery adapter with 2 standard 14.8v v mount batteries. So you need to buy this equipment if you want to use this light. It’s a moot point what other equipment you have if it’s not compatible. All of this could be avoided if you got a 150 daylight cob that requires only one battery. Blasting someone with an unmodified mono light is dubious at best.

 

[ahalpert]

No offense but you seem to go out of your way to create difficult situations. Theses lights require 2 battery adapter with 2 standard 14.8v v mount batteries. So you need to buy this equipment if you want to use this light. It’s a moot point what other equipment you have if it’s not compatible. All of this could be avoided if you got a 150 daylight cob that requires only one battery. Blasting someone with an unmodified mono light is dubious at best.

Well, I already have the v mount batteries and I have a two battery v mount power adapter for using them with a more powerful cob. And the Maxima 6 makes clear it would work with either the aperture battery adapter or with the one I already have. I don't mind spending money but I hate wasting it and it also seems like the aperture battery plate is a poorly designed unit

 

[ahalpert]

I toyed with the possibility of testing my battery plate with the amaran. But Jim Feeley's question about cables was on point. The Nicefoto battery plate I have uses some sort of 5-pin connector which seems to be uncommon. The amaran takes a 4-pin xlr. There isn't an adapter cable readily available. I might be able to build one but the 5-pin connectors I saw weren't rated for 60V and anyway I have zero soldering experience. On the plus side, the aputure battery bay has a common 3-pin xlr output and aputure sells inexpensive $20 3-pin to 4-pin header cables to feed the amaran. So, there is potential for replacrment cable cost savings down the line relative to some of the more expensive cables some comparable set-ups require. I'll get the aputure battery bay but probably not their overpriced clamp.

Generally, I think the bias towards OEM power solutions is overblown. I have 8 3rd party batteries for my Sony mirrorless cameras and haven't had any issues with them. But I have just 3 OEM batteries and 1 already failed. It started cutting the power on every charger I tried. They turned on, took a charge reading from the battery and then each just powered off abruptly and I decided to shelve the battery rather than risk it in a camera ever again.

I've also toyed with buying a 60x as well since they're so cheap. But my conclusion remains -- if I'm going to run and gun, I'm probably not going to stage 2 of these lights. And generally for interviews I think I'd rather invest in RGB lights for backlighting or background or accent lighting because I'm more likely to use colored accent lights than I am to use a colored key. But the aputure and amaran rgb lighting I looked at all had WAY worse color metrics than the amaran x S series. That was what drew me to these particular amarans to begin with. So, stay on target. Avoid mission creep. Get what I need for the amaran 200x and put the payboo card down...

 

[ahalpert]

Cracked it open, powered it on. Nice. Actually a 3-pin xlr input. Even better. There are some 5-pin to 3-pin cables...for DMX or audio...don't think it would work. Just ordered the battery bay and a 33" reflective umbrella.

Not sure my dream of a 2-umbrella booklight on a single stand will come to pass. It might end up being a stop weaker than needed, even from close range in dim interiors. Time will tell. But certainly to just be bounced, it will work a charm. Not a bad amount of output.

The 3200k color quality is excellent, just judging by eye. Maybe a touch of green. But you could fool me that it was a tungsten source. Not sure about the 5600k. Might have a bit of a sickly blue quality to it. But it sure has blue. And of course, I'm aware that its SSI scored slightly higher in tungsten than daylight, so I'm biased. Plus I'm judging it by eye in warm light night interior.

The hyper reflector is pretty much useless. Super tight and noticeable hotspot. Not sure when I would use it.

Otherwise, the system shows signs of maturation from a budget offering. A thoughtful plastic locking mechanism on the power cable into the AC adapter brick. The brick comes with a sort of safety chain incorporated for hanging it from the stand. There's a simple and effective locking mechanism on the Bowens mount. Extensive and effective internal heat sink. Not the greatest build quality I've ever seen on the knobs but far from the worst.

At 1% dim it's at least several stops below maximum output, I'd say judging by eye. That is useful. Overall I am quite pleased. Just need to settle on a preferred means of transport, especially with batteries and battery bay. Hopefully something compact

 

[Jim Feeley]

Not sure my dream of a 2-umbrella booklight on a single stand will come to pass.

I'm probably slipping slightly off topic here, but have you seen the Goyette Book Light floppy made by Modern Studio? (And was it here on dvxuser that I first learned about it?). Not a collapsible frame (though I bet they'd do a custom job for you), but available in three sizes (36x36, 40, and 48). I haven't used this, but in general, I like Modern's stuff. https://modernstudio.com/search?type...t&q=book+light

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AH, once you have your set up sorted, please post some pictures!

 

[ahalpert]

I'm probably slipping slightly off topic here, but have you seen the Goyette Book Light floppy made by Modern Studio? (And was it here on dvxuser that I first learned about it?). Not a collapsible frame (though I bet they'd do a custom job for you), but available in three sizes (36x36, 40, and 48). I haven't used this, but in general, I like Modern's stuff. https://modernstudio.com/search?type...t&q=book+light





AH, once you have your set up sorted, please post some pictures!

I'll take a closer look at that, but I realized this morning that photographers already have a simplistic bounce + diffusion tool that would be easy to work with (the "umbrella softbox")

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https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?q=umbrella softbox&sts=ma

 

[Jim Feeley]

For weddings and other events, that umbrella soft box looks useful... Less spill and distraction to everyone else...

 

[ahalpert]

For weddings and other events, that umbrella soft box looks useful... Less spill and distraction to everyone else...

I'm not going to use this light at weddings. But yes for events, and I think my principal concern is staying compact and tidy with as few pieces to move as possible. Next Weds/Thurs I'm shooting b-roll at a summit and if we interview attendees on the floor of the event, I should have more than enough output to use an umbrella soft box because the ambient level will probably be low.

But simply bouncing will also be an option. I would have been glad to have the 200x with me yesterday when shooting a handful of short clips for Instagram. I used a bicolor Dracast panel. For something like this I would probably have bounced the 200x into an umbrella:



But we had a couple set-ups that were continuous shots going from very wide to a closer framing, like this beginning/end:

to

or this beginning/end:

to

There I'd probably use a reflector with a diffusion panel, or a reflector with a grid if I needed to feather the beam off the near side. (In the second set-up, talent is walking down the length of the wall so she started out much closer to my light (staged off frame left) than she ended. I just tilted it up to aim towards the far end to try to balance it.)

I also have a couple bowens mount fresnels that may or may not work on the 200x. (Something about the bicolor strip pattern fouls up some fresnels, I read?) So, I think I'll keep all of the above modifiers on hand and land anywhere from book light to fresnel or bare reflector mostly depending on required output and target area.

 

[hojomo]

I'll take a closer look at that, but I realized this morning that photographers already have a simplistic bounce + diffusion tool that would be easy to work with (the "umbrella softbox")



https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...softbox&sts=ma

I've used the photek softlighter with flash and it does create a fairly nice diffused soft light. It eats up 2-3 stops from what I remember

 

[Run&Gun]

Honestly, if all you need to do is put some light on someone and don't have to control it or worry about spill, an umbrella can be great. First light kit that I ever bought had an umbrella or two in it. A 700 watt Lowel Tota into an umbrella is a lot of cheap soft-ish light. I've had dinners by myself that cost more.

 

[ahalpert]

Honestly, if all you need to do is put some light on someone and don't have to control it or worry about spill, an umbrella can be great. First light kit that I ever bought had an umbrella or two in it. A 700 watt Lowel Tota into an umbrella is a lot of cheap soft-ish light. I've had dinners by myself that cost more.

Yeah I'm running through my head the occasions that I'd want to use an umbrella with this light... and I feel like I don't need to worry about spill... It would be cool to be able to put a grid on the diffusion of the umbrella softbox if I wanted to. None of the units I've looked at come with one, but I could always clip a fabric grid on from another unit. Of course, I won't always use an umbrella with it...

 

[ahalpert]

I've used the photek softlighter with flash and it does create a fairly nice diffused soft light. It eats up 2-3 stops from what I remember

cool! the only thing I don't necessarily like is the silver interior instead of white. I ordered an off-brand unit that has a white interior and another one with a silver interior because the white will take a while to come.

I still feel like there would be some advantages to using a dual umbrella booklight (by mounting an umbrella mount below the light which has its own umbrella mount). Bounce into one umbrella and through the other. You could control distances of the umbrellas to maximize the light spread and use a larger diameter unit as the diffusion. But it would be much more cumbersome and fiddly than the umbrella softbox...

 

[morgan_moore]

So much depends on you mide of atrival.

bike subway - umbrella
car 24.24 frame small boxes
van 36.36 frame octa softboxes
truck 4.4 and 8.8

 

[ahalpert]

So much depends on you mide of atrival.

bike subway - umbrella
car 24.24 frame small boxes
van 36.36 frame octa softboxes
truck 4.4 and 8.8

I'm traveling by car but I'm more concerned with set-up times at location and how easy it is to move the thing around and how much space it takes up. an umbrella can be broken down and opened up very quickly. I have a number of softboxes... I'm leaning more towards bouncing the light than diffusing it. I like bounced light. With a softbox, I'm happier with 2 layers of diffusion than just 1. Then you're probably losing a similar amount of light there as with bouncing + diffusing but I feel like I prefer the look of a book light? Plus my little amaran has a weak stand mount and I won't want to put too much weight on the front of the unit or levered out too far. I think the umbrella situation will be lighter and anyway it mounts beneath the light right over the stand as opposed to the front of the unit on the bowens mount.

Advantage to softboxes for spill control especially with grids. But it's not a huge concern for the applications I'm using it for because it will either be basically a flood or it will be so close to talent that fall-off will take care of the spill. Or I'll be using a fresnel or maybe a reflector with a grid in the event that I want to spot it in.

Frames are pretty much out for this consideration because I want to minimize stands and maximize portability.

 

[morgan_moore]

I agree on bounce vs modifiers. Bounce ususall equates to a larger soouce. I spend 15 years on bounce only for stills.

For basic work I would always use a bare head and bounce it until you cant.

You cant bounce because the walls are purple or not there are all.
-

I think a 24sq frame mounted to the same stand as the light is easier to move than a softbox that has depth.

Grids Ive never bothered.. if I wanted to constrain (stop spill) a light Id use a 18.36 black flag or (not portable .. a 8.4 foot poly or 4.4 floppy)

 

[ahalpert]

I agree on bounce vs modifiers. Bounce ususall equates to a larger soouce. I spend 15 years on bounce only for stills.

For basic work I would always use a bare head and bounce it until you cant.

You cant bounce because the walls are purple or not there are all.

It sounds like you're talking specifically about shooting stills and bouncing against walls or ceiling. I'm only talking about video and bouncing into an umbrella. (Could be foam board or something else. But for this scenario, umbrella.)

I think using walls/ceiling only works because flashes/strobes have so much more power than similarly sized continuous lights, and the flash is instantaneous. Imagine continuously lighting the room to that level with a ceiling bounce. Anyway, you can't rely on having a neutral white wall available.

I think a 24sq frame mounted to the same stand as the light is easier to move than a softbox that has depth.

Grids Ive never bothered.. if I wanted to constrain (stop spill) a light Id use a 18.36 black flag or (not portable .. a 8.4 foot poly or 4.4 floppy)

Never bothered with grids on a softbox? Come on, man. They're great. Not just for fast and easy spill control but also for a slightly different look on talent. Large area light source but without as much wrap, a little more dramatic.

Anyway, all good tools you mentioned but not going in this particular kit. I'm talking about scenarios where a lot of folks might just use on-camera light (which I hate). A frame is going to add bulk to the kit or set-up time if it's foldable, plus the arm you're mounting it with.

I'm pondering the feasibility of hanging a little umbrella case off a tie down on the stand to hold the umbrella/s I'm not using (which should be doable) along with a zippered canvas bag to hold a fresnel and reflector etc hanging off a different tie down (which I'm less sure about). Battery bay clamped to the base of the stand. You would be able to move the whole set-up with any additional modifiers you think you may need as one piece. No extra cases lying around or left in an adjacent room. Then if you want your bounce umbrella instead of umbrella softbox, or if you need to go fresnel, your tools are right there and you can make the switch quickly.

 

[ahalpert]

It's interesting reading up on SSI (Spectral Similarity Index). It sort of seems like SSI is what we always wanted CRI to be -- how distinguishable is the light source from daylight or tungsten? (In contrast, CRI only spot checks 8 colors and is easy for manufacturers to game, which is why crappy-looking lights can still get good CRI scores).

The amaran 200x S has a claimed SSI of 90 at 3200 and 89 at 5600. Youtuber Curtis judd measured it at 91 for 3200k and 90 for 5600k.

For comparison, the prolycht 675 has a claimed ssi of 84 at 3200k and 74 at 5600k. (By the way, the prolycht lists its input voltage as 46-50v. That's probably the case for the amaran as well since it centers around 48v.)

One unfortunate difference between the newer dual-blue chip "S" version of the amarans and the original version is that the R13 (ie caucasian skin tone) reading is slightly less accurate, now measured at 96.4 at daylight setting and 93.9 at tungsten setting. Previously, it measured at 98.3 and 97.7 respectively. For comparison, the prolycht scores an R13 of 98.9 at 5600k and 96.5 at 3200k. But the R12 (deep blue) of the prolycht is just 83.5 and 86.7. And the new "dual-blue" amarans get the R12 up to 93.5 and 90.1, which is probably what largely accounts for their higher SSI scores.

 

[Peter C.]

This doesn't matter as much as you might think because you're filming in a mixed light situation not in a controlled studio.

 

[ahalpert]

This doesn't matter as much as you might think because you're filming in a mixed light situation not in a controlled studio.

Color quality always matters

 

[Peter C.]

Color quality always matters

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.