These are the larger PavoTube II 30Cs from NanLite
that came out last year.
And this is Aputure MC, the best small light of last year.
And this is their lovechild, the PavoTube 6C,
and it's only $99.
Let's get undone.
[offbeat music]
♪ Gerald Undone ♪
♪ He's crazy ♪
What's happening, everybody?
I'm Gerald Undone, and don't call me Shirley.
So, I figured I'd structure this review as a comparison
between these new compact tube lights from NanLite
and the Aputure MC
to see which is the best mini RGB light for your kit.
So, let's start with the basic stats.
The Aputure MC is 127 grams,
costs $90, and comes with a case,
a charging cable, some Velcro, and a diffuser.
The PavoTube 6C is larger and weighs twice as much,
at 260 grams.
It costs $99, comes in this velvet sleeve--
which while not too protective, is absurdly soft--
and comes with a strap, a charging cable, USB-C,
and these little ferrous plates that you can attach to surfaces
that you want the 6C to magnet itself to,
because both of these lights are magnetic.
And both are sufficiently strong,
but the NanLite does seem to be a touch weaker in this regard.
I'd give its magnets a 7.5 out of 10,
compared to the Aputure's 10 out of 10
in the magnet confidence metric.
Both feature 1/4"-20 mounts, and both have internal batteries
that charge over USB-C,
but the Aputure MC accepts Power Delivery,
where the PavoTube was a bit sketchy in this department.
One of the two lights I have did charge with Power Delivery,
by the other didn't, and neither would charge
while the light was on when using Power Delivery.
But when using a regular 5V 2A USB Type-A connection,
they both charged fine and ran indefinitely on USB power.
Not a huge deal, but the Aputure's acceptance
of Power Delivery does allow it to charge a bit faster,
and be more accommodating to modern phone chargers.
The Aputure MC also has wireless charging,
where the PavoTube does not.
...Are they cutting the grass now?
It has been non-stop noise in here today,
but I can't make this last 40 hours while recording, so...
I apologize for any background noise,
but we're just gonna motor on through.
So the Aputure MC can be controlled via direct connection
using their app, which is fantastic, by the way.
But the PavoTube requires you to make an ad hoc network
using a separate hub device and downloading the app
directly from NanLite,
‘cause it wasn't listed in the App Store for me.
Now, I don't care too much about apps,
so I'm not gonna dock too many points for this,
but if you're a big fan of controlling your lights
with your phone easily,
the Aputure is the clear choice here.
Both lights have intuitive controls.
I might favour the PavoTube a little bit because
it's basically laid out in front of you, where the Aputure relies
on a series of clicks and holds with their turn dial,
and that turn dial makes the Aputure feel a little bit
less precise when compared to the plus and minus buttons
found on the NanLite.
But I vastly prefer the power switch on the Aputure
over the button hold on the 6C.
You have to hold it until the logo appears and enlarges,
which feels like an oddly long time.
But if you keep holding it, it just turns itself back off.
This is annoying if you're trying to move quickly,
but it does have one hidden advantage:
it likely won't accidentally turn on in your bag.
But, again, that's not really a problem I've ever had
with the Aputure, so I still prefer the satisfying
flick of the switch on the Aputure MC.
I did a battery rundown test at 100% power
to see how long these lights will last,
and on the PavoTube 6C, I got one hour,
ten minutes from full charge, at maximum output.
But the Aputure dominated here with an even two hours
of runtime at 100% output.
The Aputure did get quite a bit warmer than the PavoTube.
Not that it would burn you or melt anything,
but the Aputure does get uncomfortably warm to the touch,
where the NanLite was a lot more tolerable.
This battery life difference makes sense though,
when you consider the output of these lights.
Running them both at 5,000K on their bicolour modes,
which is right around the midpoint for each of them,
they're slightly different, with the PavoTube ranging
from 2,700K to 7,500K,
and the Aputure going from 3,200K to 6,500K.
But I set them both to 5,000K and measured them
at one meter away, and the NanLite measured 183 lux,
with a temperature of 4,924K and a 91 CRI,
where the Aputure was weaker, at only 119 lux
at 4,946K and a 97.6 CRI.
Both did really well to hit their temperature target,
but the Aputure scored much better
in terms of synthetic colour accuracy.
But if you want to see how they render skin,
I'll show you that when we talk about shadows in just a moment.
Another thing I like about the NanLite, though, is that
it allows you to adjust the green-magenta shift as well as
the colour temperature to better refine your colour balance.
That's an appreciated inclusion.
Both lights are dimmable down to 1% in 1% increments,
but the NanLite does have that issue
where the jump from 2,700 to 2,800K
and from 7,400 to 7,500K is stronger than the rest.
This is when the warm and cool diodes are turning off
at the different extremes.
Now, it shouldn't affect things much, because
both of those temperatures are out of the normal use range,
but it's something the Aputure does do a little bit better.
Again, though, this is only ever an issue if it happens
at 3,200K or 5,600K, which it does not,
so I wouldn't worry about it.
They both have very similar effects
with similar controls for the frequency and intensity.
This one is called Hue Loop on the NanLite,
and it's called Party Mode on the Aputure MC.
And they also have the CCT Loop, Intensity Loop,
CCT Flash, Hue Flash, CCT Pulse, Hue Pulse,
Storm, Police Car, TV, Paparazzi,
Candle/Fire, Disco, Bad Bulb, Fireworks,
Explosion, Welding, and then we're back to Hue Loop.
So I think that might be, like, two more there
than the Aputure, but the basic ones--
faulty bulb, lightning, TV, fire, candle--
they both have those, and they both have
HSI controls for dialing in the colour you want.
But like I said earlier, even though they both offer
the same degree of hue specificity,
I do find that the NanLite achieves the hue
more smoothly than the Aputure's rocker dial,
but the Aputure can get to the hue you want more quickly,
because that rocker dial can also move in ten increments
instead of just individual ones.
There's also the difference in the quality
of their white light in the RGBWW.
If you turn the saturation all the way down
in the HSI mode, we can evaluate the quality
of just the white light that mixes in with the colour to see
what kind of imperfections or rendition errors are introduced.
Now, both of them performed quite well for a tiny RGB light,
but the NanLite did shift the entire scene to the magenta.
You can see that on the vectorscope,
where the NanLite has less accurate colour and shifts
the red off its marker and more towards the magenta side.
Now, generally speaking, using RGB lights in their HSI mode
is not great for colour quality in the first place,
but between these two,
the Aputure is a bit better in this regard.
I also did flicker tests at 24fps
up through and to 120fps
at various shutter speeds, from 1/25th to 1/250th,
and neither light had any issues at any power setting.
But the PavoTube 6C did start to capture some rolling pattern
at extremely high shutter speeds of 1/800th up to 1/1600th,
but this shouldn't matter to anyone unless
you're shooting extremely slow motion
at 500fps or above.
Lastly, let's talk about shadow quality, because
these two products distribute their light in different ways.
The Aputure MC is a panel,
and gives off a naturally soft light relative to its size.
It comes with this diffuser
if you want to mix the diodes down a little better or take off
some of that close-proximity harshness.
But overall, you're gonna get a nice, round,
smooth shadow if you're lighting something up close.
The PavoTube 6C doesn't do this quite as well.
It's a little harsher for close-up lighting,
and the long, narrow tube makes it difficult
to direct the light in the same way as the MC.
So I'd give it to the Aputure for close-up product lighting.
For anything larger, or once you get a bit
further away, they tend to equalize pretty quickly.
They produce a similar catch light
and similar shadows across the face.
I'll show you this now, and this will also demonstrate
the rendering of skin tones I mentioned earlier.
For a use case like this,
both light produce a similar shape and shadow quality,
but the PavoTube is brighter, so it's the winner
if all you care about is output.
By the way, for the comparison shots,
the white balance is the same as it is for my regular
lighting setup, so any differences in colour
are created by the lights themselves.
Overall, I think the PavoTube 6C is a pretty fantastic option.
The Aputure is still probably the winner
if you're going for the most compact,
long-lasting, cheapest option,
or if you really want phone control.
But the 6C is a worthy rival with a stronger output.
It costs $9 more and isn't quite as colour-accurate,
but its wider CCT range and larger size
give it a touch more versatility.
And NanLite makes a bunch of accessories
for these lights too,
like housings to take them underwater,
grips that extend the battery life, and clamps,
like these here, that you can sort of
turn a pair of these into one larger light.
And, of course, they make larger lights too,
if you needed more output.
These 30C tubes will give you 600 lux each
up from the 183 lux on the 6C, but a pair of these lights
will cost you $750, and that's with fewer effects,
no magnets, and no USB battery pack options.
So I think when compared to the larger lights,
we can really see just how good of a value
these new mini-tubes are.
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.