300d

Aputure COB300d First Look at NAB 2017

Aputure keeps cranking out high quality, reasonably priced lighting gear and their latest announcement is for the impressive COB300d - an LED light that is roughly equivalent to a 2k tungsten. That’s a lot of light output. This one is daylight balanced (6000K) and a tungsten version will follow. All the same accessories that fit their smaller COB120 lights also fit this including the soft box, fresnel lens and other bowens mount accessories available on the market like barn doors and beauty dishes. The color quality is rated at a TLCI of 98 which is very high.

Can’t wait to get our hands on one of these for review!

When might you use a light this powerful? The first two scenarios that come to mind are though a window to simulate daylight (so you can shoot a daytime scene at night or just when you want to make it look like a different time of day) or when you want to bring the ambient light levels up in a larger space. Aiming this as the ceiling could do an impressive job lifting that ambience.

Apologies for the wild camera work. I had the clever idea to go super light without a tripod at NAB this year. Lesson learned. My brother Cary Judd was kind enough to suffer through shooting. Thanks bro!

Our Vlogging setup:
Panasonic Lumix GH5 Camera - the in-body stabilization saved us because I had the "clever" idea to travel light and not bring a tripod this year. That was a mistake but the IBIS in the GH5 did a pretty nice job!

RODE Reporter Microphone - great at managing handling noise. I didn't hear any in this recording.

RODE iXLR Audio Adapter for iPhone - Yes, recorded this audio to my iPhone. Pretty good for a phone recording on a noisy show floor.

Panasonic Lumix 12-35mm f/2.8 Lens - This is the original version of this lens. The new version is a bit pricier but evidently works even better with the GH5 to smooth out camera motion.

Copyright 2017 by Curtis Judd