Aputure has announced a new Bowens-mount LED spot light. It’s the Aputure Storm 1200x, which you’d expect to be an RGB light due to the “x” moniker, but it’s not. It’s basically the next generation of bicolour technology, using a new “BLAIR” LED setup.
BLAIR stands for Blue, Lime, Amber, Indigo, and Red. Aputure says this provides more accurate white light with greater adjustability. It offers a white balance range from 2,500-10,000K and green/magenta colour correction with a more complete “white” spectrum.
BLAIR – The new bicolour?
Aputure says that the new BLAIR LED setup allows the light to produce a more complete colour spectrum output. This means it doesn’t have as many of the gaps in its output. Gaps that often make certain colours feel a little dull or even a different colour entirely.
It has a CRI and TLCI of 95+, with +/- 100% green adjustment to fix any green/magenta shift. This helps to make the 1200x blend into lighting setups more easily. You’re able to more accurately match natural white light from the sun or clouds, as well as other artificial lights.
Bicolour lights have been around for quite a few years at this point. But there’s very little to distinguish one from the next. Sure, some might have a slightly higher or lower CRI/TLCI than others. Their form factor may be different, or maybe they’re panels instead of Bowens-mount, but the limitations of the underlying technology are still there.
The limitations have been reduced since to the early days of LED lighting, but they’re still there. The BLAIR setup hopes to overcome this in the same way RGBLAC is overcoming the limitations of more traditional RGB LED lights.
IP65 rated, Locking Bowens Mount, flicker-free output
The Aputure Storm 1200x sports a locking Bowens mount. Sure, the Bowens mount natively “locks” anyway, thanks to its little latch. But the Storm 1200x goes above and beyond with a more solid locking mount. So, you can use it with large modifiers without worrying about anything falling off.
With the supplied “hyper reflector”, the Aputure Storm 1200x puts out 24,000 Lux at 3 metres @ 5600K. That’s a significant amount of light – about 7% more light than the Aputure LS1200D Pro. The addition of the indigo LED also helps to provide an enhanced and more accurate representation of fluorescent materials.
It’s flicker-free, all the way down to its lowest power setting. At minimum power, that means 60 lux @ 1 metre, 5600K. There are 4 different dimming curves (linear, exponential, logarithmic, and S-shaped), with 9 light effects (Paparazzi, Fireworks, FLickering Bulb, Cannon, Lightning, TV, Pulse, Flash, Explosion and Flame) and 10 savable presets.
It’s IP65 rated for use outdoors or in other dusty or humid environments. But it’s not just targeted towards high-end cinematographers. Aputure says that videographers and YouTubers will also benefit from its efficient output-to-power-draw ratio.
It will be interesting to see how it compares to other 1200W-ish LED lights, such as the original Aputure Light Storm 1200D Pro ($3,390), the Nanlux Evoke 1200B ($3,895) and the Godox Knowled M1200Bi ($2,690).
Price and Availability
The Aputure Storm 1200x is available to pre-order now for $$$$. Shipping is scheduled to begin in late October or early November, depending on where you are in the world.
