Hi. My name is Viktor. I’m a cinematographer at Motionary. We are a small production company in Switzerland. And today I’m going to talk about the Aputure LS 1200d Pro. It is probably the strongest lED light in this price class.
Summary
First, I’m going to show you what you’re going to get in the box. Then I’ll go through some specs. After that I’m going to show you some of the tests we did, inside and outside. And at the end, I will give you my personal opinion on this lamp. Unfortunately, the lamp is currently out of stock everywhere, but we got lucky and we could grab one for ourselves. That’s why I’m trying to give you a look at the lamp, and maybe if this is something you want to spend your money on.
Aputure 1200d Pro
The light comes in a big transportation case, which has everything you need to operate the light. It has also a space for one of the three included reflectors. But if you want to carry around all three of them, they have included a separate carrying case for them. The head cable is seven and a half meters long, which is much longer than the one included in the Aputure 600d. They also made improvements to the control box. The power is now located on the side, which is much more accessible. You can also mount it on two sides. You have the mounting plates here and there, and if you want to change the light, you can change it with the dial, in point one increments or if you tap it, it will change in 20% increments. And the protection cap is now in red. So in case you forget to remove the cap, it will light up the scene in red. The light is also IP54 water and dust resistant. So it is possible to use it in the rain. They even claim it in their product video. You can put every bone smart accessory on this light. So for example, if you bought already the F10 Fresnel or the Light Dome 150, you can also put them on your 1200d. There is a list on Aputures website where you can see which ones are optimised and which ones are compatible. They also included some third party accessory, so make sure to check it out before you buy them.
Aputure 1200d Pro vs Arri M18
The 1200d is often compared to the M18 from Ari because they have a similar light output and the same color temperature. Also, they both can be run on the regular wall plug. Because the 1200d is an LED, it has many advantages to the HMI from the Arri M18. For example on the M18 you have to at least wait a couple of minutes until the light gets warm enough so it gets to its brightness and color temperature. Also, if you turn off the Aputure you can move it right away. With the M18, with the HMI, you have to at least wait a couple of minutes so the lamp can cool down and you can move it. Otherwise there’s a chance you can damage it. The lamp is also quite expensive with a price tag of $560. Speaking of the price, the 1200d is also much cheaper than the M18.
Aputure 1200d Pro vs Apature 600d Pro
Because we don’t have a M18, we compared the 1200d with the 600d. In our first test, we placed the model about five meters away from the lights and also behind the camera. In the second one we’ve placed the light at a 45 degree angle. We’ve used the different reflectors and light modifiers on both lamps. As you can see, the reflectors make a huge difference on how the light gets focused. The narrow reflector on the 600d was able to achieve the same results as the medium filter on the 1200d. We’ve also tried two 600d against the 1200d. We shined through a one stop diffusion frame at the same distance. It wasn’t the most scientific way to test it, but we thought this is maybe something interesting you want to see. The biggest difference you will see is that the shadows in the background are more visible on the 1200d. Also on the brightness level, the 600d is like a half a stop darker compared to the 1200d. In post we add like a half a stop on the 600d and achieved the same brightness level.
Conclusion
What I’ve seen from other tests with the 1200d and M18, the 1200d is a pretty good alternative. If you’re looking to invest in a very strong and relatively portable light, I think the 1200d is the way to go. In our cases, the 600d was mostly bright enough to light up the scene. Sadly, there’s no way to buy the 1200d reflectors separately because they’re pretty good at amplifying the power of the 600d, but if we have to choose between two 600d or one 1200d, we’d rather grab two 600d.