Best Lighting – under $1,500

With its chassis-integrated diffusion, the Litepanels Astra Soft Bi-Color is like having a softbox built into the slim Litepanels Astra profile.

The diffusion is designed to all but eliminate the multi-source shadow effect and lend a soft wraparound aesthetic to your subject while covering a larger, less concentrated area of illumination. The Soft Bi-Color is designed and built for professional production, with 25% higher output than the previous version and high color fidelity in its full 3200 to 5600K temperature range. Color and brightness adjustments are stepless throughout their range, and the output is flicker-free at all settings.

Adopting a popular, easy-to-use form factor, the Forza 500 LED Monolight from NanLite has a daylight color temperature of 5600K with a high CRI/TLCI of 98/95, indicating accuracy in color rendition.

The 12 x 8 x 5.6" fixture weighs just 5.5 lb, making it a welcome addition to your kit, while its 55-degree reflector allows it to output 29,440 lumens. The Forza 500 is cooled by a quiet fan and is dimmable from 0 to 100%. One of the light's benefits is its AC/DC power options. The light is ready for worldwide use thanks to its 110 to 240 VAC power supply, but it can also run on optional V-mount batteries when mains current is unavailable. Run time is approximately one hour at full power. The Forza 500 ships with a yoke and 5/8" receiver that accepts industry-standard light stands.

The PavoTube II series is a worthy update to the previous generation. It also feels like a leap ahead in terms of additional features for the entire PavoTube product line. A solid Bluetooth app mixed with multiple controllable pixels and additional mounting points along with a bump in output makes the price increase justified, in my opinion.

We would like to see further improvements to the 1st party accessories and finding a compatible USB thumb drive for firmware updating is still a bit tricky, but there is much to like here. We give the PavoTube II series four controllable pixels out of five.

Boasting 25% more brightness than its predecessor, DMX control, and a redesigned handbrake-locking yoke, the Light Storm LS C120D II Daylight LED Light from Aputure is a chip-on-board (COB) fixture with a 5500K color temperature.

It consumes a negligible 180W of power while outputting 135,000 lux, equivalent to a 1000W hot light at a distance of 1.6' with an optional Fresnel. In addition to power efficiency, the fixture also features a high CRI/TLCI rating of 96/97, an indicator of precise rendering of color.

Built on the foundation of the popular LS C300d, Aputure's Light Storm LS C300d Mark II LED Light Kit with V-Mount Battery Plate is an enhanced version with 20% more power, refined features, and advanced connectivity.

Aputure uses Chip on Board (COB) technology to produce a 5500K color temperature, with power consumption of just 350W, while outputting 3500 lux of light with an efficient reflector at a distance of 9.8'. In addition to power efficiency, this fixture also has a CRI/TLCI rating of 96, indicating accuracy in color rendering. The fixture's ballast/controller employs 0 to 100% Linear, Logarithmic, Exponential, and S-Curve dimming and is separated from the body of the fixture, making it lighter and reducing its size. A mounting base is included for use with an optional clamp, allowing attachment to a light stand to distribute the weight.

If you’re in the market for a dual-color light that is bright and can be used as hard light or soft light depending on the modifiers used, and that has a Bowens Mount, you might want to check out this new movie light.

First, it does not have an external ballast or cables to deal with. This means there is less gear to lug around and it is just a cleaner faster workflow.

Second, it is brighter than its competitors. In my measurements, it is a little over 1 stop brighter than Aputure’s 300X. I’ll take an extra stop of brightness any day!

Third, it’s lighter than its competitors but it maintains an excellent build quality. It comes in at 11 lbs. versus the 25 lbs. of the Aputure 300X. Fourth, the Movielight 300 Dual Color Pro uses the latest COB chip technology, which produces very clean lines when it is cut with barn doors or flags.

The Light Storm LS300X LED Light Kit from Aputure is the first Aputure light to go beyond traditional bi-color lighting by utilizing the expanded vari-white CCT range of 2700-6500K, providing warmer tungsten tones and cooler than daylight whites.

The light can be dimmed from a potent main light to a subtle, nuanced fill light, flicker free across the dimming range.The Controller Box attached to the LS300X head with a 9.8-foot head extension cable, so adjusting settings is effortless regardless of where the light is set. The self-regulating , multi-voltage controller also operates using single or dual V-mount batteries, suitable for lighting in remote locations.

The amaran line, with the 300c, is getting better and better. So much better that we wonder whether it might take a bit of the sheen away from comparable Aputure products.

We're ready for a few new hard light releases from Aputure that feature color to complement the excellent Light Storm 600C. We hope amaran engineers stick with this design for the buttons and the lamp head exterior and handles.

If you are primarily looking at cost saving and don’t need color in your shots, then you might be best served by previous Bi-Color amaran products like the amaran 200X S. On the other hand, the 300c is a more versatile light that will serve you well as your career progresses, particularly as physical color gels become increasingly scarce.

Keep in mind that the 300c doesn’t quite have the punch necessary to compete outside on a sunny day, and it won’t take many impacts like its pricier Aputure cousins that rely on metal construction. Still, it will be excellent in an interior where ambient light can be controlled.

There’s much to like here. Robust exterior build mixed with excellent color, solid price point, and accurate kelvin handling overcome a relative lack of currently available accessories and packaging that splits the power supply from the lamp head.

We also don’t want to discount the fact that the ZOLAR line of lights is coming from the well-established Z-Cam manufacturer. That should give us some piece of mind that these fixtures are here to stay and that servicing options will be available well into the future.

Building on the strong foundation of the popular P360, the P360 Pro Plus LED Light from Fiilex has a variable color temperature of 2800-6500K and a high CRI (Color Rendering Index) rating of >95.

The P360 Pro Plus employs a Dense Matrix LED array that could fit on a dime and renders a bright flicker-free output with a native beam angle of 65 degrees. Optional Fresnel lenses are available to tighten the beam angle. At only 1.85 lb with a 4.8" diameter, the P360 Pro Plus is an ideal location light that can be powered by the included 100-240 VAC power adapter or by optional 12-28 VDC batteries. Whatever way you power it, you'll appreciate the low power draw which translates to low running costs and long running times. Besides the AC/DC adapter, the P360 Pro Plus ships with a set of four-way barndoors to further control the beam spread.

The VL200 LED Video Light from Godox is a lightweight and compact LED monolite-style light source suitable for portrait, still life, and location photography, and also for video-based applications.

The daylight-balanced COB LED features a CRI rating of 96 and TLCI rating of 95, producing highly accurate color renditions and rendering extremely realistic flesh tones. The VL200 light body is operated and powered from an external controller, keeping it compact and lightweight. It features a whisper-quiet fan and an integrated Bowens-style reflector mount, making it compatible with a wide array of light modifiers. The controller box contains dual V-mount battery plates, and an LCD display with intuitive controls and command dial for making adjustments to the light body locally. Setting can also be adjusted wirelessly using the included radio remote, or by using Bluetooth-enabled portable devices with the GodoxPhoto app, available as a free download for iOS and Android devices.

Putting criticism over the app aside, the light itself is quite good. The case, accessories, lamp head, and ballast are all well executed. The Godox M300Bi deserves serious consideration if you’re in the market for an LED COB bi-color light.

This fixture competes with brands like Aputure and Nanlite, although those brands have a more fleshed-out accessory ecosystem and arguably better Bluetooth apps.

With the M300Bi, Godox has shown it can compete in the big leagues of the COB LED market, and we're very excited for their upcoming higher wattage fixtures like the MG1200Bi.

Adopting the familiar, intuitive monolight form factor, the Zoom RGB LED Video Light from Godox has a variable beam spread of 20 to 65 degrees to suit your subject or effect you're going for.

It has variable color too from 2800 to 6500K with a high CRI/TLCI rating that's your assurance of advanced accuracy in color rendering. The light dims from 0 to 100% as well, and while you can make these changes locally on the fixture, you can also make them wirelessly at distances of 164' with an optional remote control. The light has 32 channels and 16 groups to insure interference-free shooting. It also has a silent fan for sound-sensitive situations.

We are always asking what works for what purpose, considering we all have a minimal amount of storage. Towards that end, if you’re starting to build a set of Nanlite Forza 60C’s, you’ll want to consider a set or trio at the minimum for your work.

The size and weight (even with the projector attachment) made this light easy to throw into the mix on shoots, along with its larger cousins – and the addition of color just makes it that much more flexible.

We are very excited for even the possibility of a Nanlite Forza 300C, 500C, and 1200C perhaps coming to the market at some point. We have no inside knowledge in this regard, we're just trying to manifest a few more stellar lighting fixtures with a “C” at the end of their name. In the meantime, we’ll have to live with my small, affordable, and ever-versatile Forza 60C.