New light for $1,000

S

spinkscapes

Well-known member
Needing to buy a new set of lights. I currently have a trio of Aputure Amaran 528Ws. Looking at the following three options at the moment and would love your thoughts:
1. Luxli Timpani 1x1 RGBAW LED Light - $999 + barndoors $99
2. Kinotehnik Practilite 602 LED Fresnel - $967
3. Aputure Light Storm C300d LED Light Kit - $1,099

My use is principally lighting at reception venues for speeches and dancing as well as the occasional interviews.
However, versatility is also a good trait for future projects (hence my consideration of the Timpani).
 
FWIW, I just bought the Luxli Cello and so far, I am impressed with the construction, features and how it works. I bet the Timpani is a pretty useful panel.
 
For me personally, I already have three of the Aputure LS 1S Lightstorms which I like other than the riduculous excess of cables and boxes necessary to make them work. As far as bang for the buck, pretty hard to beat the Aputure 120D II with their parabolic softbox, it puts you well under $900.00 unless you just plain need the output of the 300D (I have heard too many negatives about the fan noise on the 300D for it to work for my shoots). That Ikan? Hmm...not sure what it actually is, typically Ikan re-brands products they have made on contract, not sure who actually makes that light?
 
Such different lights. What will you use it for? 90w focusable vs 120w fixed vs 300w monocolor cob... I heard someone say the timpani overheated BTW
 
Just saw the Ikan a couple of nights ago but looking online the reviews look promising ...... for a company I never look at!
 
As far as RGB fixtures I would hold on purchase a while. If RGB isn't important there are many great alternatives but as for RGB I'm still waiting what will turn up this year.
 
I think the Aputure Light Storm LS C120D II LED could be a great choice for you. It’s more compact than the 300D. For your primary use cases, receptions and interviews, I think it would work pretty well. The 120D MK II has a lot less parts than the original (or 300D for that matter). It’s also reasonable to run on batteries vs the 300D. There’s a nice little remote to turn it on and off. Shoot it though a diffuser and you’ve got a nice interview key. If you need tungsten color (who uses that anymore?) throw a gel in front - you’re not fighting daylight at that point so the light loss isn’t as critical. Just my .02
 
I really like the options to control the light via an app by the first two options. I think that's where the future of lighting is headed. More control...
 
Nate Haustein said:
If you need tungsten color (who uses that anymore?) throw a gel in front - you’re not fighting daylight at that point so the light loss isn’t as critical. Just my .02
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Tungsten is a type of source, not a color. ; )

Not everything needs to be or should be lit 5600K. A lot of what I do is in the 4300K-4700K neighborhood and I still do a lot at 3200K, as well. One of the strongest selling points of LED's is that so many are bi-color(or better) so that you can quickly and easily work with the ambient/existing light without gels or the lighting looking un-natural/like a mistake. Only a few of my LED fixtures are fixed 5600K/Daylight. The rest are either bi-color or RGBW variants.
 
david1pittman said:
I really like the options to control the light via an app by the first two options. I think that's where the future of lighting is headed. More control...
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Several fixtures out there with great control apps(Hive C series and LP Gemini's, for example), but I wouldn't count on it as my sole means of control, because the apps can be finicky and flakey, still. I've had connection issues with both that I mentioned. And unless the fixture is in a position that makes it hard/impossible to access quickly, sometimes it's just quicker to walk over and spin the dial.
 
I'm wondering if I just increase my budget and look at something like the Lumo Superpanel (either bi-colour or full colour 30).
 
spinkscapes said:
I'm wondering if I just increase my budget and look at something like the Lumo Superpanel (either bi-colour or full colour 30).
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Take a look at the Intellytech Light Cannon series, specifically the F-165. It’s not exactly compact like a panel (a little bigger than an ARRI 650 Plus), but it’s worth the consideration. I bought one last year and ended up getting two more.

Color-tunable from 3000K to 8000K, and the COB design means full output through the entire spectrum. It puts out beautiful light with no magenta shift. The fan isn’t an audio issue at all. Draws 165W of power, puts out a rough equivalent of 1K-1.5K of tungsten head.
 
I've also got the Light Cannon 165, and it's been a great LED fresnel. There are times, though, when I also would like a little more firepower, so it wouldn't hurt to look at the F300 and F485 models, which also have a nicer softbox option than the 165.
 
captslomo said:
I've also got the Light Cannon 165, and it's been a great LED fresnel. There are times, though, when I also would like a little more firepower, so it wouldn't hurt to look at the F300 and F485 models, which also have a nicer softbox option than the 165.
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Unfortunately the weight of the Intellytech Light Cannon F-300 (10.43 kg) and Intellytech Light Cannon F-485 (11.3 kg) will not fit on my new light stands, being the Manfrotto 1004BAC (9kg maximum load capacity). So it's likely that the Intellytech Light Cannon F-165 (4.5kg) is the only one of these which would suit my light stands.
Besides I am concerned about the safety hazard a large heavy light would be at a wedding reception where people might be prone to tripping irrespective of the reasonableness of the placement location of my lights.
 
spinkscapes said:
Unfortunately the weight of the Intellytech Light Cannon F-300 (10.43 kg) and Intellytech Light Cannon F-485 (11.3 kg) will not fit on my new light stands, being the Manfrotto 1004BAC (9kg maximum load capacity). So it's likely that the Intellytech Light Cannon F-165 (4.5kg) is the only one of these which would suit my light stands.
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Buying light stands before lights is a little bit of cart-before-the-horse, since you can hem yourself in with stands that won’t hold what you need.

That said, the F-485 is a big light and for what you’re doing would probably not be a good choice. The F-300 is built in the exact same chassis, and for the difference in power between it and the F-485 isn’t really worth it in my opinion. The F-165 puts out a lot of good light, and is a manageable size and weight. That, and it fits in your $1000 budget.

Another option may be to get a 3-head kit of their pocket cannons... roughly a 500W tungsten equivalent for each head and spot-to-flood output. Great lights, but not bi-color. You have to get them either in tungsten or daylight.

spinkscapes said:
Besides I am concerned about the safety hazard a large heavy light would be at a wedding reception where people might be prone to tripping irrespective of the reasonableness of the placement location of my lights.
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Sand bags. And those should be placed on any stand with a light on it, no matter how big or small. Those stands are actually pretty good for the price. I wouldn’t extend one to the full 12’ with an F-165 on it, though. Of course, for the cost of the F-165, you’d still have some money within your $1k budget to get a beefy baby.
 
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