Stephen Mick
Totally Usable
Day two is in the books here at NAB. Here's what I saw today that I think might tickle your filmmaky-parts...
LED Fresnels. (Copied and pasted from my other thread because I'm exhausted.)
The two booths who had the best-looking fixtures were Aputure and LEDGO. The Aputure 120T is a killer light. CRI 97. High output. Super quiet. And it's a single-source bulb. Works with Bowens mount accessories, so you can stick all sorts of modifiers on the front of it. The actual fresnel lens itself is very cool as well. The ballast is compact, and easy to use. (Pictures later tonight.) The price: under $600. You'll want two or three of these.
Then there's the Aputure LS-C20. It's a cute little bugger, with 95 CRI, adjustable beam angle and fresnel lens, and it's got dual/switchable power supplies. You can power it off an Anton Bauer battery, or you can plug a cellphone charger into it and use that. The barndoors really let you shape the light, and it's so light and powerful, you can put it just about anywhere. Add it to two of the larger 120T lights, and you've got a great LED kit that travels well. Price: under $200. Both LED fresnels should be shipping in about a month or so. Pics...
LEDGO also had some nice LED fresnels on show. They come in a variety of sizes, from the smaller 300 up to the pretty huge 4500. The two models I think you guys would be most interested in would be the 600 and 1200. All of LEDGO's fresnels are 95 CRI. The 600 is a 60W (I think it has 60 LEDs) fixture, and the 1200 is a 120W (120 LEDs) fixture. Both are 5600K, and come with color-correction filters for different temperatures. Both are fully dimmable, with no discernable color shift, and can be controlled via wi-fi. (The 1200M adds DMX capability.) They're well-built and solid, and I'd have no issues using these on a daily basis. I can't recall pricing, but I spoke to the CEO of LEDGO, and he gets it. These will be competitively priced based on the features they have, and they'll be available in 6-8 weeks. Pics...
If you put a sharp object to my throat and made me pick one or the other, I'd probably lean towards Aputure. And if you've ever seen or used the LightStorm LEDs, you'll know how good their quality control and build quality can be. The Aputure 120T is a little smaller than the LEDGO, and at the price, I think it's a no-brainer. I don't think you could go wrong with either one, and it was good to spend time with the guys in charge of both companies. Like I said, they both get it. They want to give us high-quality filmmaking tools that compete with the big boys, but at prices indies like us can swing. And I think they're both hitting the mark.
LED Fresnels. (Copied and pasted from my other thread because I'm exhausted.)
The two booths who had the best-looking fixtures were Aputure and LEDGO. The Aputure 120T is a killer light. CRI 97. High output. Super quiet. And it's a single-source bulb. Works with Bowens mount accessories, so you can stick all sorts of modifiers on the front of it. The actual fresnel lens itself is very cool as well. The ballast is compact, and easy to use. (Pictures later tonight.) The price: under $600. You'll want two or three of these.
Then there's the Aputure LS-C20. It's a cute little bugger, with 95 CRI, adjustable beam angle and fresnel lens, and it's got dual/switchable power supplies. You can power it off an Anton Bauer battery, or you can plug a cellphone charger into it and use that. The barndoors really let you shape the light, and it's so light and powerful, you can put it just about anywhere. Add it to two of the larger 120T lights, and you've got a great LED kit that travels well. Price: under $200. Both LED fresnels should be shipping in about a month or so. Pics...
LEDGO also had some nice LED fresnels on show. They come in a variety of sizes, from the smaller 300 up to the pretty huge 4500. The two models I think you guys would be most interested in would be the 600 and 1200. All of LEDGO's fresnels are 95 CRI. The 600 is a 60W (I think it has 60 LEDs) fixture, and the 1200 is a 120W (120 LEDs) fixture. Both are 5600K, and come with color-correction filters for different temperatures. Both are fully dimmable, with no discernable color shift, and can be controlled via wi-fi. (The 1200M adds DMX capability.) They're well-built and solid, and I'd have no issues using these on a daily basis. I can't recall pricing, but I spoke to the CEO of LEDGO, and he gets it. These will be competitively priced based on the features they have, and they'll be available in 6-8 weeks. Pics...
If you put a sharp object to my throat and made me pick one or the other, I'd probably lean towards Aputure. And if you've ever seen or used the LightStorm LEDs, you'll know how good their quality control and build quality can be. The Aputure 120T is a little smaller than the LEDGO, and at the price, I think it's a no-brainer. I don't think you could go wrong with either one, and it was good to spend time with the guys in charge of both companies. Like I said, they both get it. They want to give us high-quality filmmaking tools that compete with the big boys, but at prices indies like us can swing. And I think they're both hitting the mark.
