review: nanlite pavoslim 120C

And now why you’re really here, let’s talk about the color accuracy of this unit!

 

I am *super* impressed with the light metrics on the nanlite pavoslim 120C. The unit stayed consistent across nearly all tested color temperatures and intensity combinations, the dimming curve was remarkably linear, and the color accuracy is incredible.

 

If you haven’t seen my video on how I analyze these next five graphs, make sure to go do that and then come back here because this next section will be much easier to understand.

 

Graph 1

 

Ideally a light should stay perfectly at 5600 Kelvin and 3200 Kelvin regardless of the intensity level, with 0 duv shift.

 

Let’s start with the daylight, 5600 Kelvin measurements. For the Nanlite 120C, the measured CCT values stayed within the 5600K perceptible range from 100% intensity down to 10%. At 5% the measurement dipped down to 5,507 Kelvin, which is barely below 1 JND value warmer than the 5600K range. Duv measured approximately 0.0020 across the range from 100% to 10%. At 5%, duv increased to 0.0025.

 

On to how the 120C performed at 3200K. Beginning with 100% intensity, the color temperature values started just over 1 JND value warmer than 3200K at 3,146 Kelvin, and trended cooler to 3,225 Kelvin as intensity was lowered to 5%. The light entered the 3200K perceptible range at 55% intensity, staying there the rest of the time, but moving towards just below 1 JND above the 3200K mark by 5%. The duv measurement was between 0.0020 and 0.000 throughout the spectrum.

 

Let’s quickly display how these graphs compared to the data I collected for the amaran F22c. As we can clearly see, the Nanlite Pavoslim 120C does a much better job at staying true to both 5600K and 3200K, even if it has a slightly larger duv value.

 

Graph 2

 

A perfect light would lay along the TM-30 Reference White line with no deviation as we lower the intensity from 100-25%. It is probably more realistic currently to expect a light to have less than 1/8 of color correction across the entire color temperature spectrum.

 

At 100% intensity, the light stayed well within the 1/8 color correction guides from 2,700K to 7,000K. The light was slightly greener from 2,700K until about 4,300K. At 4,400K the light shifted to being slightly magenta for the rest of the CCT spectrum. At 3,200K, 5,600K and 7,000K, the light was accurate to the reference color temperature. This graph changed slightly as the intensity of the light was decreased from 100-75-50-25%. From 75-25% intensity, the green shift from 3,400 Kelvin reduced and at 2,700 Kelvin strayed from a green to slightly magenta hue shift.

 

Compared to the amaran F22c, the Pavoslim was slightly worse at staying along the Planckian curve. Not enough to be beyond a 1/16 color correction gel, which is barely perceptible to our eye, but the data is what it is!

 

Graph 3

 

There isn’t an ideal graph for this particular metric, but I want to know if a light perceptibly changes color in 5 degree increments because I’d like access to the whole color gamut.

 

The Pavoslim 120C measured consistent spacing every 5 degrees throughout the entire color spectrum when measured at 100% saturation and 100% intensity. This result means an end user should be able to find the particular color that they are looking for with this unit.

 

When compared to the amaran F22c, we can see groupings at the red, green, and blue loci of this graph, indicated a loss of fidelity in these areas when those hues are selected.

 

Graph 4

 

Hue values were tested in 30 degree increments and from 100 to 75 to 50% saturation. This was repeated across intensity levels of 100 percent, 75, 50 and 25 percent.

 

Like before, there isn’t an ideal for a manufacturer to hit. However, as an end user, I’d like my lights to perceptibly change as I desaturate from 100 to 75 to 50 percent saturation since that kind of feels like the point of that dial.

 

The Nanlite achieved perceptible difference across all tested saturation and intensity levels. Not only did each hue trend inward, but 75% also was generally in the middle of 100% and 50% saturation levels.

 

The amaran F22c was not able to achieve perceptible difference between 100% and 75% saturation levels in some of the tested hues, although this graph did stay the same as intensity as adjusted from 100% down to 25% intensity.

 

Graph 5

 

ON SCREEN TEXT “How consistent are the chromaticity values for each hue as intensity is lowered from 100-75-50-25%? Do these groupings change as the saturation level is reduced from 100 percent to 75 to 50?”

 

This is much like the first graph we looked at. But this time, instead of seeing how consistent the light is at staying at 5600 Kelvin or 3200 Kelvin, we’re seeing how consistent the hue values remain as intensity is lowered.

 

Basically, when we dials in a color at a chosen hue and saturation level at 100% intensity, a light should ideally stay at that same perceptible color no matter how much we dim it.

 

This is probably the one place I would have liked to see Nanlite perform better. These groupings aren’t as tight as it seems they could be, and the groupings for each hue grow larger as saturation is reduced from 100 percent to 75 percent to 50 percent.

 

When we compare this to the amaran F22c, we can see that although the chromaticity values of the amaran F22c don’t change between 100% and 75% saturation, the amaran does have much tighter groupings at each saturation level.

 

Graph 6

 

ON SCREEN TEXT “does a doubling of intensity equate with a one-stop increase in light across the entire intensity spectrum?”

 

The final thing I tested was how linearly the 120C dimmed from 100-5%. Ideally, a unit doubles its output when the intensity is doubled. Put another way, increasing intensity from 5 percent to 10, or 10 to 20, 20 to 40, and 40 to 80, should all measure as one stop increases in light.

 

The dimming curve on the 120C didn’t disappoint in this area either, and is incredibly linear when measured at a distance of 3 feet. I dimmed the unit from 100% to 5%, at standard color temperatures of both 5600 kelvin and 3200 kelvin. From 5% to 100% the unit consistently doubled in output when I doubled the percentage for both color temperatures. Anywhere the unit measures the same across two intensity values above 1,000 lux is due to the fidelity of my light meter.