Remember back in the summer,
when we discussed how Aputure only seems
to be bringing new value to the more premium categories,
with many of you hoping for some newer budget offerings?
Well, they listened, and Aputure will soon be shipping
four new lights that start as low as $200.
Let's get undone.
[offbeat music]
♪ Gerald Undone ♪
♪ He's crazy ♪
What's happening, everybody? I'm Gerald Undone
and your camera body is a wonderland.
So, as usual, some disclosure, but first,
I just want to take a minute
and say happy new year to all of you.
I hope the holiday season was a pleasant one.
I really appreciate your continued viewership,
despite how depressing the last year was in many ways,
being able to make these videos for you
made the year a lot more bearable. So here's to 2021
and I'm wishing you all the best.
Okay, so, Aputure sent me these two samples to review
as well as their new corresponding budget light dome.
However, no money changed hands,
my opinions are my own, and they do not get any input
on this video or get to preview it before it's published.
This video does have a sponsor though,
and that's Storyblocks.
So the two lights I have here are the Aputure Amaran 100d
and the 200d, which cost $200 and $300 respectively.
There are also bi-colour versions that cost $50 more.
So $250 for the 100x and $350 for the 200x.
The bi-colour versions, just like we've seen
with other Aputure models, lose a bit of output,
but gain a bit of colour accuracy.
And they have a greater illumination
at daylight temperatures than they do
in the tungsten range.
Here's a little table I made to compare the models:
So, if we just sort of go across the table, left to right
and then work our way down,
we can see that, take the first light for example, the 100d,
which is this one here. It costs $200.
At one meter away with the bare bulb at 5600K
which is what these are rated for, the non-bi-colour versions
We get 4300 lux and obviously we can't do the 3200K
because it's not bi-colour.
The SSI, which is the colour accuracy metric
that we're gonna use for daylight is 72
and again, we can't measure it at tungsten
because it's not bi-colour. And the last thing,
I put in output per dollar in lux here
so you know how many lux you're getting per dollar spent.
It's kind of a value calculation and on the 100d,
you're getting 22. Alright, moving on to the 100x.
It's $250, 3700 lux. As you can see, a little bit less output,
and a little bit less still at 3200K,
but you get a little bit better SSI, 74 for daylight
and 86 for tungsten, but the value is a little bit lower
at 15 lux per dollar. 200d, which is this one behind me
is $300. You get 8200 lux, which is quite great.
Again, no change for tungsten because it's not bi-colour.
74 SSI, so better than the 100d and matching the 100x
in daylight and the best output per dollar of all
at 27 lux per dollar. And the 200x version of this
would be $350 with a little bit of a lower output
at 6700 lux or 5650 when in tungsten,
but the SSI goes up again to 75
and 86 when in tungsten mode and the value doesn't drop
too much. It's 19 lux per dollar. And then I threw
the 120d Mark II in here for comparison,
which is $750, has 7000 lux at one meter bare bulb,
again you can't measure in tungsten
because it's not bi-colour, and the SSI is around
the same kind of category, like 73, so a little bit better
than the 100d, but not as good as the 200d.
Again, can't measure in tungsten, but the value is,
this is what makes these lights special,
is the value of the 120d II is only 9 lux per dollar.
So, the 200d and 100d both do a much better job than that.
Now this table by itself might suggest that the 120d II
has been made obsolete by the 200d,
but that's not really true.
There's major build quality and functionality disparities
between the two classes of lights
that allowed for the price reduction,
so let's go over those now.
So first off, these new lights are mains power only,
which means no battery operation through V-Mount
or Gold Mount. They instead come with
a 2-segment power brick that plugs right into the light head.
Thankfully, the segment that goes from the light
to the adapter is three meters or about 10 feet long,
so you're not gonna have
any dirty danglers with this situation.
In fact, I think Aputure has
been so used to me talking about dangling power bricks
for so long that they've actually added it
to their product sheet.
But anyway, dangling's not going to be a problem
on these lights, which is great.
The controls are also pretty limited
compared to the 120d Mark II.
It's basically just a single output knob.
On the bi-colour versions there's two knobs:
one to control the output and one to control
the colour temperature, but that's it.
No effects control on the fixture, no menu or settings,
just a power switch and an intensity knob.
Now you can control these lights with the Sidus Link app,
which then allows you to use the effects,
as well as set your dimming curves.
Which, the default by the way, is set to linear,
which is great because that's the dimming response
I prefer. The app is great, no complaints there.
However, if you already have a collection of Aputure lights,
you should be aware that these lights do not come with
or work with the old remote controls
that Aputure used to ship with their other lights.
So, this is mainly intended to be used with the Sidus app.
The LCD screen is quite nice,
even though it doesn't have much information to display,
it's large and clear with good contrast.
The rest of the fixture though does feel cheaper.
It's plastic instead of metal like 120d Mark II,
which does make it significantly lighter,
but it also doesn't feel like it could withstand a fall.
The Bowen's mount is a bit rattly
and the receiver and hand brake at the bottom here
are mostly plastic as well, which does feel like
you could potentially snap it off if you over-cranked it.
But I haven't noticed any sagging issues. So that's good.
The included reflector is also solid and rugged.
It seems just like the hyper reflectors
they have been including in their more premium lights
like the 600d or whatever. So, no complaints there.
And overall, I'm not trying to suggest
that this light is built poorly,
I think for a completely plastic build they did quite well,
I just think you need to know the limitations.
This is not a fixture that I would want
to take to different shoots or move it around a lot.
This to me seems like the perfect fixed-position light,
like for a home shooting environment or YouTube studio.
And I'd say that conclusion is also true
for their new budget parabolic softbox the Light Dome SE.
This thing manages to keep a similar front diameter
to the Light Dome II, but is much less deep,
contributing to a noticeably smaller footprint.
Which when added to the these new plastic Amaran COBs,
makes for a significantly lighter load
on your light stand,
which again would be ideal for smaller studio spaces.
Because the way they kept the cost down
on the Light Dome SE, which I think is only around $90,
is by going back to that annoying setup method
where you have to individually cram the rods into the ring,
which is tedious and occasionally painful.
And after using the Light Dome II,
this feels like a big step backward.
But again, if you're using this for a one-time-setup studio,
then the cost savings are worth it,
I just would not recommend it if you need to break it down
and take it to shoots. You'd be much better off
spending more to get the quick setup version
if that's what you need.
However, when it comes to modifiers and saving money,
something you can do with these new lights
that you can't do with the bigger COBs is use an umbrella.
These lights come with an umbrella receptacle
if you'd prefer to go that route.
My only grievance here is that the power cable
that plugs in here is very snug when--
if you put the rod of the umbrella through here
and you plug in a power cable,
there's not a whole lot of clearance here,
so you can make it work, but if you want
the rod to come back, it kind of pushes on the cable
a little bit. It works. I don't know if this is
because there's not enough space or room
in order to make it a bit more spacious
to keep it a compact size.
It's a small detail, but it is a bit tight
and I don't know if it was overlooked
or just wasn't possible to make it more spacious.
Another aspect that suggested that these lights aren't meant
to be travelled with is that fact they don't include
a carrying case. Instead it's just this cardboard box,
which is uncommon for Aputure, but makes sense
if the goal is to keep costs down.
Lastly, there are a couple differences between
the 100 and 200 to consider as well. The 200d did a bit better
to match its advertised 5600K. I measured it at 5650K,
where the 100d I measured at 5830K,
so it's a bit cooler on the 100.
However, the 100d did strike back when it comes to noise.
Both of these lights are actively cooled with a fan,
but the 100d takes longer for that fan to ramp up,
and when it's on, it's quieter than even my 120d Mark II,
which is great. But the 200d on the other hand,
activates the cooling much sooner and it's louder
than the 120d Mark II. The noise these lights make
is also a bit electrical sounding too,
rather than just the whirring of a fan.
Likely because it's an all-in-one build
instead of having a separate control box
like the 120d Mark II.
[fan whirring]
To give you some numbers though. I was getting 31dBA on the 100d,
33 dBA on the 120d Mark II, and 35 dBA on the 200d.
Also, as far as I can tell, there's no way to put the fan
into an always-on mode on these lights like you can
with the 120d Mark II. I like having that option
if I plan to run noise reduction software
as it's easier to take a consistent noise print.
Alright, now let me show you what these lights look like,
and we'll try out the Light Dome SE
and maybe an umbrella as well,
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The Light Dome SE by the way comes
in a soft folding case that contains an inner baffle,
outer diffusion, and a grid.
I'm happy with the value proposition of this modifier,
provided like I said,
you don't need to take it down frequently.
So to wrap up, I'd say overall these lights are a solid,
affordable option for a home studio or YouTube space.
These aren't going to make any location shooters excited,
or if you need something durable,
but if you're just looking for a reasonably-priced light
that delivers that Aputure's light quality
that you can just set and forget,
I think these are great options.
The best option from a value and accuracy standpoint
is probably the 200d, provided you're okay
with a touch more noise. But the 100d is a great choice too
if you have a tighter budget and don't need as much output.
And when it's on, it's quieter than even my [garbled speech].
My 100-- 120-- 100-- 120d Mark II.
How many numbers is in that light?
A little bit lower, down to sixty-s--
However, the 100d Mark II, that's not even a light.
The 100d Mark II.
Where the 100 Mark-- not even pointing to the right lights.
But the 200d Mark II, again there's no 200d Mark II.
Why do I keep saying that?
Why is this paragraph so hard for me to do?
But that's gonna be it for me.
I hope you found this video entertaining
or at least helpful. And if you did,
make sure you leave it the old thumbs up
and consider subscribing if you haven't already.
But if you did not find this video helpful or entertaining,
try setting the playback speed to 75%.
Alright... I'm done.