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Lighting company Aputure has announced a new studio light for still and movie shooters that offers color temperature settings of between 2700 and 6500K. The LS 300X joins a system of lights in the Light Storm range, but is the first to offer bi-color controls as the other lights in the series are designed with a daylight color balance.
The LS 300X uses both cool and warm balanced LEDs in its head and mixes the two sources to achieve the desired color temperature. As such the head is at its brightest in the 4000-5500K temperature range, and the company claims that when combined with its Fresnel 2X lens adapter an output of 65,000 LUX can be reached. The output is a little below that of the company’s daylight-only LS 300d ll, which can produce 80,000 LUX at 1m with the same adapter.
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The LS 300X has two modes for color adjustment that allow users to prioritize color accuracy or maximum output, and oft used color temperature can be pre-set into the main control wheel to make switching easier and quicker. Dimming is possible between 0-100% and color temperature can be adjusted in 50K increments. Nine special effects are built-in to the head, including flicker to emulate flash bulbs, fireworks and a TV.
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A series of lenses can be used over the LED, as with the other LS series heads, to modify the light and a Bowens S mount fitting around the front panel allows softboxes and accessories to be used. Power comes from either V-Lock or Gold Mount battery on the control box and mains electricity, and a smartphone app can be used to control the head’s settings.
The Aputure LS 300X retails at $ 1199 and is available now. For more information see the Aputure website.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
