testing: aputure light & modifier combos
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We’ll start at the lower end of the power output, with my 60x, and we’ll work our way all the way up to the monstrous 1200d, going through the amaran 200d, the aputure 300d, and the aputure 600d pro along the way. I am intentionally skipping the 120d because it is no longer for sale. As for the modifiers we’ll be talking about, they’ll be the Lightdomes II and 150, the Lantern 90, the 60×90 and 30×120 softboxes, the F10 and 2x fresnels, both sets of barn doors, and lastly the spotlight.
aputure 60d/x
So, like I said, let’s start with the 60x. This light has its own proprietary mount, but does have a bowens mount adapter for it. Interestingly, there are a couple of modifiers you can use on this light, despite the focusing element not having the dispersion of an open-face COB light like the others you see here. As long as you still have the internal baffle for the Lightdome II and the 60×90 softbox, then you’ll get enough spread from this light on flood mode to be able to use these softboxes. However, the light is unable to fill out something larger like the 30×120 softbox. I’ll probably only ever use this with the LS60 softbox that’s purpose built for it, but it’s nice to know that in a pinch I can use this light in other ways.
amaran 200d
Moving on to the 200d, while this one is made by amaran, I felt it was worthwhile to include due to the how popular this light is as a starting point for entering the Aputure line of products. Even though this light has a plastic build construction, the yolk handle is incredibly strong and I would feel comfortable using quite a few modifiers on this light. I’ve got a 10lb boa bag hanging off the front here and you can see that it’s not budging. The Lightdome II, the 60×90, and the 30×120 softboxes work great on this thing. It’s also built to work with the fresnel 2x, so add that to the list. The Lightdome 150 will look hilarious, but technically it does work and the light will support it just barely. Another weird combo, I can actually recommend using this light with the Aputure spotlight as long as you’re using it to throw light somewhere and not necessarily to have it on screen with gobos or have it raking across your backdrop.
aputure 300d II
The 300d, the old flagship of Aputure, is one of their most compatible lights with all of the accessories. In fact, the only thing that isn’t purpose built for this particular light is the f10 fresnel and larger set of barn doors that come with it. This isn’t a big deal though because you can use the fresnel 2x instead to increase the output of the light. Even the 5′ softbox works on this light due to the brake disc design of the yolk.
aputure 600d Pro
Like the 300d, the 600d is another incredibly compatible light with Aputure’s line of bowens mount accessories. It’s basically the flip of the 300d, the fresnel 2x isn’t built for it, but that’s fine because you can pull out the incredibly awesome F10 fresnel for it instead. The only difference is that I wouldn’t recommend using the 30×120 or 60×90 softbox with this one at a high power. Because of the way these softboxes are designed, they need an internal baffle to help spread the beam of the cob light to get to the edges of the softbox. This internal baffle sits relatively close to the COB of the LED lights, and at a high enough power I’d be worried about starting a fire. I won’t say don’t use these modifiers at all with the 600d, because at 1% they’ll work just fine, but know that if I’m bumping the power on this unit then I’m 100% finding a different way to modify it.
aputure 1200d Pro
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