Aputure's LS 600d Is Its Most Powerful Fixture Yet

First revealed at IBC last September, Aputure has finalized the specifications and shipping date, but still no price, for its most powerful unit, the LS 600d. Doubling the power of its most powerful light, the LS 300d, the LS 600d is one of the first units in the newly competitive space of LEDs that competes with traditional HMIs, like the popular Joker 800. 

Key Features 

• 600W COB LED
• Dimming without any color shift
• Full Sidus Link App Control
• 48V DC Input for Block Batteries
• New LCD Screen interface
• Dual Voltage Battery Plates (14.4V and 28.8V) on the control box
• Dual Junior Baby Pin
• Built-in Wireless Control: 2.4G Remote, Bluetooth App, Wireless DMX
• IP54 Weatherproof 

It features a large ballast that allows it to be run off battery power, which requires 4 batteries to do it. With 2 batteries, it will operate in half-power mode. That ballast can also work as a charger for the batteries, which is a nice feature. This means you can shoot with it all day, and then charge your batteries at night with the same piece, making for a smaller footprint. 

The most fascinating features are the inclusion of Aputure's own control system Sidus.link, and fully integrated wireless DMX support. Wireless DMX, if you don't know it, is the wireless lighting protocol used on higher-end productions when they go wireless, and the vast majority of lights require an adapter to join a wireless DMX network.

This separate adapter, which can run between $200-500 and up, usually plugs into the DMX port on a unit and connects to the wireless DMX base station for wireless control. Integrating it directly into the LS 600d is a bold choice by Aputure since it's a type of feature not everyone will put to use. It says a lot about the company's ambitions for seeing this production on a wide variety of sets.

Aputure refers to the unit as "approaching" a 1.2K HMI in power, or a Joker 800, which seems like a fair comparison for its output. Of course, you can only plug a single 1.2K HMI into a typical 20 amp home circuit, whereas you could plug 3, or potentially 3 of LS 600d units into a single household circuit.

The promise of LED lighting has always been high output with not much power draw, and it's exciting that more units of this size are coming to market. The potential to light a scene with 2 of these and an Aputure LS 300d, or another unit, all of a single circuit, will be very interesting to small crews that don't have the budget for a generator.

Of course, a more powerful unit is going to need more cooling to not overheat, and Aputure has added a larger fan. But by making the unit shorter and wider, they've been able to boost the fan power without increasing the noise. Aputure also has rolled out a new F10 Fresnel lens design, barndoors to complement the unit, and a redesigned yoke for better strength. Since the unit itself is heavier, and this is a unit that will frequently have a softbox rigged to the front, a stronger yoke will absolutely be appreciated.

Pricing & Availability 

No pricing is available yet, but since the LS 300d sells for $599, there is some hope that the LS 600d will come in at under $1500. However, anything under $2,000 should still be very competitive as 1.2K HMI's run between $5000-10,000 for a quality unit. Expect the LS 600d to arrive this fall.