Mitch Gross always a pleasure to see the expert !! He should have done a bit of the talking, that man is really gifted in his ability to share the knowledge !!
Biggest deal breaker is not having properly sized ballast for all units. 2x4 at 400w amazing. But the 4x4 having to lug a 1600w ballast, deal breaker. I love the option you guys are creating by being able to power multiple units off one ballast. BUT don’t also take away the standard option we are used to and require for most standard use cases Working out of a lighting truck. Bring a 200w and an 800w. 800w being the biggest priority I think, then you have a winning line that will be all over this year 👌🏻
I would go a step further. the 400w ballast is way over engineered for what 90% of owner/ops and rental companies need. It could easily have been 50-60% of the current size. Aputure needs to do the following: Sell the lights and the ballasts separately. and make Two types of ballasts, the over engineered giant (400w and 1600w) ones, and then several appropriately sized regular IP rated and CRMX ones for the sizes up to 4x4. almost no one is going to need the super advanced dimming you've put into these huge ballasts. You have put two power supplies in these ballasts. These mats were awesome except for the ballasts. The ballasts make them a real let down.
Dang Mitch is just the greatest company nomad I've ever seen. OG Convergent Design guy I already loved back in the day. Always happy to see him appearing somewhere new. Love you Mitch. Love your work since 2014. (when I learned about you)
My primary question is the quality of the light. On majority of sets that I gaff in, we use 8x8 with double diffusion or a book light for primary key. Usually a 600D with another 300w point source on fresnels. Looks like power draw on the 8x8 infinimats are close to 2000W. There's no photometrics, but I'm sure it's plenty bright enough. The quality of the light though is more important to me. All the brightness in the world wouldn't do anything if it can't match the softness of a book light with a 8x8 butterfly. And that's what the clients are asking for
It can be as soft as you want it to be. You'll be able to purchase the 8x8 with a clear front so you can choose the level of diffusion that you want. It will also be very easy to use a double ear set up to set up a second 8x8 frame to break it even further if that is what you want. If the diffusion is thick enough to create a homogenous source without specular highlights (you can't see the source when you look at the diffusion head on) then it should match the softness/wrappyness of any 8x8 booklight or bounce.
Brilliant eco system, I am a big fan of Aputure. An updated version of the B7c's perhaps a "Pro" version in a similar upgrade to the MC Pro plus a "candle style" bulb for discreet practicals would be nice. Also when is the Aputure LS 300c and LS 60C or similar due?
I kinda wonder about 4x4 and 8x8 prices. Will this compete with book light setups with 600W CoB? Seems like much easier to setup. Book light with dedicated frame and stand is like 2500$. You can go cheaper, but would be much longer to setup.
Output looks great. The size of the ballasts for the 4x4 and the cases they come in rule this out for even 1T-3T trucks without a lift gate. Really unfortunate.
These are great lights and I look forward to using them however, the only downside I see in and that others do as well is the size of the ballast and carrying case for the smaller units. The ability to expand and connect multiple units to one ballast in definitely a nice feature but having to travel around with a big case for smaller units (like sizes 2x4 or smaller) makes it tougher to justify purchasing some units. At least for smaller filmmakers still having to make the most out of the space in their cars or whatever they travel with. Perhaps smaller single unit ballasts and cases as an option on some of the smaller lights (smaller than 4x4)?
These look cool! I have seen big overhead inflatable lights before, but can anyone explain the use case for them? Especially in a smaller form, how do they compare to soft boxes or the way the Amaran ones are? Are they an in-between a Chinese lantern and softbox? Thanks!!
These look amazing but I hope they are reasonably affordable. I know these are really geared more towards the professional/industry market but I can see a LOT of indie filmmakers getting a ton of use out of these in everything from a 1x2 up to and 8x8 size. I think that the Amaran F22c and F21c are already priced a little high compared to the competitors (and yes, I know quality and Sidus link play a part in that) but if these are significantly more than those lights already cost, I think it will start to quickly get out of the range of what indie filmmakers and higher end content creators that are still below the level of "industry" in terms of budget will be able to afford.
it will definitely be significantly more expensive than the Amarans. To start with, their new ballasts are designed with two internal power supplies, which add cost. The materials are much more robust, which adds cost. These seem to come with snap-grid style egg crates, which adds cost. Everything about this product screams "out of reach" for the customer base that built aputure. Aputure itself is moving in upper level pro direction, and Amaran is the brand for the youtubers and "studios - but not really". But if you look at all of Aputures new lights, they are leaving the middle of the range professionals completely to the wayside. Don't get me wrong. I love aputure, and love to see them doing great. I just will now be looking more seriously at other brands. For example godox has a good 4x4 mat, and they teased their 4x4 rgb mat at NAB that I am looking forward to.
Depends on what you're looking for! The INFINIMATs produce a softer light than the Nova P300c/P600c, but sometimes it is faster to setup a Nova on a stand and bounce some light on nearby surfaces compared to an INFINIMAT.
