Best Pro Video Light (Amaran 300c Light Review)
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Best Pro Video Light (Amaran 300c Light Review) - In this video, Will reviews the Amaran 300c video light made by Aputure. This light features RGB, effects, controllable via the Sidus app, dimmable and is very bright. Overall, this is a fantastic video light made for cinematography and videography professionals.
🔴GET THE 300c LIGHT HERE: https://amzn.to/3VhiptF
🔴GET THE SMALLER VERSION: https://amzn.to/4ejdjpF
In this video, I'm going to be reviewing the Amaran 300C video light. I've had it for about 8 months now, and I've used it on commercial shoots. I'm going to talk about the features and why I think this is a fantastic video light.
If you're new here, we have over 200 videography-related videos on the channel, so lots of content for you to learn from. If you want to know the music or the equipment we use to make our videos, all links are in the description. Let's jump in.
So first off, why did I buy this light? Amaran or Aputure did not sponsor this video. They did not send us any products; we bought this ourselves, and we are just huge fans of these lights. The entire series, actually. We own the 300C, the 200x, the 100x, and two of the 60x lights.
Before I bought the 300C, I was looking for a brighter light. At the time, they had the 200x, which was their brightest light, and then you'd have to go to the significantly more expensive Aputure lights if you wanted something brighter. Then Amaran released the 300C, and I got interested in that, looked into it, and decided to buy it.
I've used it on numerous shoots so far, commercial paid work where I needed to rely on this light. The fact that it has RGB built right in, meaning I can literally select any color I want, and even the effects. When I say effects, I mean there are literally programmable presets for different lighting effects. I'll touch a bit on that later on in the video because they're actually really good.
Besides our YouTube channel, we've run a video production company for the last 10 plus years. We basically do close-up food product shots, and these commercial shots take a lot of prep. It can take like 3 or 4 hours just to hone in and get one single shot, and there's many other factors, including the lighting, which is obviously very important.
Prior to getting this light, we were using our other film lights like the Kinoflow Diva light. While that is a fantastic video light and is considered a very professional light, it was very expensive. It was like thousands of dollars. It's not all that convenient. Let's say you were going from daylight to tungsten style lighting. You'd literally have to take out the tubes that are daylight and replace them with your tungsten-like 3200K lights, and that adds some downtime to your shooting day. Besides that, it's a larger light, and you have to be more careful with it because it's literally tubes that are exposed. They can break, and it's kind of a pain and expensive to replace.
Whereas with this light, if you wanted to go from tungsten to daylight, you can literally just switch it very easily right on the back, or you can do it with the app, which we'll talk about later in the video. I also want to say that I wanted to wait and fully test this light on a dozen or so commercial paid client work projects and actually get an idea of how good this light is before I did a review.
I can honestly say if you're looking for an all-in-one professional video light, I can definitely recommend this one. This is the one I would get. If that's enough to convince you, I've left a link in the description for the exact one that we have.
Also, if you're a professional cinematographer, you probably care about the accuracy of the light. This 300C has a CRI of 95 plus, meaning it is up there with higher-end film lights that are industry standard. If you're not sure what CRI stands for, good luck! No, I'm just kidding. CRI stands for Color Rendering Index, and that basically is just a rating system for how accurate the light is. Basically, if you're using a light that has a CRI of, let's say, 90 or less, it's not going to be really considered professional, and it's going to be harder to color correct and work with skin tones and get your video to look good. Things are going to look a little bit wonky. Then if it has a CRI of 95 plus, like this one, then it's considered the best of the best.
I talked a bit earlier about the app that you can use with Amaran and Aputure lights. That app is called the Sidus Link app, and that's this here. I have to say they've done an amazing job with this app. You can literally change everything. You can change the Kelvin to whatever you want, all the way from 2500 to 7500 Kelvin, so like warm candlelight all the way to a cool sun. Beyond that, you can, through the app or on the back of the light, change the light to any color you want. That makes life so much easier on set, especially when you're running short on time but still want to stay creative.
In comparison, if you're using a non-RGB light, you'd have to rig up an assortment of different colored gels in front of the lens. You have to make sure they weren't too close to the front so that they don't burn. Then you'd obviously need some sort of other stand and a rigging system to hold those up. The fact that it's done all within the light now is a huge plus.
Beyond that, some of the effects they have are you can do a lightning effect. It's kind of hard to wait for a lightning storm to happen to film your video. You could set this light up outside your window, turn the lightning effect on, and then it would simulate a thunderstorm with lightning. There are a whole bunch of other presets like you have a police car, there's partying, you have a campfire, and you have fireworks. The fact that it has these effects built in and through the app, I can actually control them and change them how I want. It's a fantastic bonus that I wasn't expecting, but I'm happy it is included.
These lights come with Bluetooth, and that's how it connects to the Sidus Link app. Once it's connected, you can actually set up different scenes for every light, and you can see every single light you have in the app, which also includes turning them off and on. For example, this has happened to me numerous times where I've been on set, of course, running a bit behind. You don't want to spend all this time behind every light manually changing the settings, running back to where the product is, noticing that it needs a change again, going back to the light. Using the Sidus Link app, you can be where the product is, where your camera is, and you can make changes on the fly without going back and manually changing anything on any of the lights, which of course saves you a lot of time. It is way more convenient, and I've even had clients comment on how cool it is that I could control the lights wirelessly.
Let's talk about another feature that this light has, which is the front mount. It is a Bowen mount, and that means it's compatible with all the industry-standard soft boxes. Now, this light is very bright. I tend to use it around 50 to 60% intensity when we're doing our food product shots. It's so bright because it's using a very high-quality LED light, but I will say even though it is an LED light, it still can get hot at the front. If you keep the plastic protective lens case over the front and you turn the light on, it would start to burn the plastic. Anything that's within a few inches, be very careful because it actually is a very, very intense LED light.
I was trying to think of cons for this light. The only thing I could think of was the little plastic buttons on the back, the handle, and the mount. Those are made of plastic, and they feel like they may break over time. Again, I've been using this for many months now, and so far, so good. It's not really a con, but it's something I am thinking about. For making this light a little easier on your bank account, I can justify why they went with plastic.
So, who is this light for, and would I recommend it? I would say this light is for any working professional, someone who actually has paid clients. They're doing several projects a year at least, and they're looking for a high-quality, very bright, highly controllable light. This is the one I think you should get. I would say this is not for anyone who is just sort of dabbling in video work or they're just starting a YouTube channel. We're going to be putting out another review on one of Amaran's other lights, the 60x. That is something I would recommend for YouTubers.
So yeah, those are my thoughts on the Amaran 300C light. I'm a huge fan of this lighting series, and I hope they continue to expand them because they make excellent products. If you like this video, give it a thumbs up and subscribe to see more videos from us in the future. We have over 200 videography-related videos on the channel, lots of content for you to learn from. If you want to know any of the music or equipment we use to make our videos, all links are in the description, including the link for this light here. Thanks so much for watching, and we'll see you next time.
🔴GET THE 300c LIGHT HERE: https://amzn.to/3VhiptF
🔴GET THE SMALLER VERSION: https://amzn.to/4ejdjpF
SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE FOR MORE! (200+ FILMMAKING TUTORIALS):
➜ https://youtube.com/alliandwill
🎵MUSIC & SOUND FX WE USE IN OUR VIDEOS🎵
➜ https://bit.ly/2NPCjd7
👉GET 50% OFF OUR PRODUCTS:
➜ https://alliandwill.com/featuredproducts
👉VISIT OUR AMAZON STOREFRONTS:
➜FOR VIDEO EDITING: https://amzn.to/3XSlIHj
➜FOR FILMING: https://amzn.to/3EB8DuZ
OUR VIDEOS ARE EDITED IN ADOBE PREMIERE PRO. GET IT HERE:
➜ https://adobe.prf.hn/click/camref:1101lr4SX