Even though it's been on a tear lately with a wider variety of lights than it has ever launched before (tube lights and flex lights being the most recent drop), Aputure still made its bones around being among the first on the scene to get punchy, efficient LED units to market. Initially, with the 300d we got a sense of its plans. Then with the LS 600d Pro, we really started to see the roadmap for LED lights that were lightweight, power-efficient, and flexible.
The LS 600d Non-Pro
Ahead of this year's NAB, Aputure has announced a new version of the LS 600, the plain old LS 600d (no "Pro" addition to the name), which gives you more or less the same lighting unit without some of the Pro features.
With the fresnel accessory, you can still get up to 1000 footcandles or so at 15 feet. You still get Aputure Sidus Link and DMX control. You still get a CRI of 96+. The biggest thing you see removed is the support for wireless DMX via CRMX, in addition to some of the weatherproofing.
These kinds of "basic" units actually have a huge appeal for a lot of situations.
If you are building a studio setup, the extra expense and weight that goes into weatherproofing isn't always necessary, and if you are going to be using wired DMX or simply the Sidus Link app to control the unit, you aren't going to get any benefit at all out of that CRMX support.
If you know what 80-90% of your use will be, and that will be inside out of the weather, saving money on the simpler unit could be well worth it, especially since you can always cover it with a rain fly for a light rain in an outdoor shoot.
Wireless CRMX for DMX is a great feature when you are working on the sorts of shoots running DMX setups, but that frankly isn't every production. If you are an indie filmmaker going through two or three locations in a day, you aren't going to always have the time for a full DMX rig, and you are going to end up quite often simply controlling these units with the app or with the physical knobs on the ballast.
It's always a balancing act for manufacturers to determine what features are worth having and what are worth leaving out since piling in every single available feature will always lead to price increases. For the vast majority of users who just want a punchy unit that you can plug into a wall and put on a baby stand, the new LS 600d is going to fill the need nicely.
The Aputure LS 600d will be available soon for an MSRP of $1,390.
If you're at NAB, come check out the Aputure booth for more info or tune in for No Film School's NAB 2022 coverage on our YouTube channel.
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