GVM Pro SD300C RGB LED Monolight Review – How Does It Compare to the amaran 300c?

by Graham SheldonYesterday

GVM was founded in 2013 and is primarily an LED lighting manufacturer with a variety of flexible and tube monolights and pocket lights. The company also makes camera sliders, microphones, and even teleprompters, but in this review, we are focused on their new GVM Pro SD300C LED Monolight. Interested in learning more and finding out how the light performs compared to the amaran 300c? Let’s dive in!

I’ve been aware of GVM (Great Video Maker) as an affordable lighting manufacturer for a while now, but this is my first chance to review one of their products. I’ve said this before, but we are in the midst of an LED lighting golden age, and the rapid pace of product launches from year to year means that sometimes things fall through the cracks!

There are many 300-watt Bowens mount options out there these days, but when we talk about 300-watt color-capable lighting, the field narrows quite a bit. Even so, the $549 GVM Pro SD300C does stand out on paper. Competitors include amaran and NANLITE — notably considered to be the more “pro-sumer” oriented brands of Aputure and NANLUX, respectively. In this segment, the pricing generally sits between $549 and $569.

GVM has made the SD300C part of their “Pro” lineup. What makes a lighting instrument “pro” or “not pro” is nebulous these days, but generally, the use of DMX has created some separation in LED lighting product categories. Notably, the SD300C has wired 512-DMX in and out.

Initial impressions

The GVM Pro SD300C arrives in a 17-lb semi-rigid soft case, and the first thing I noticed when removing the fixture was the use of aluminum in the lamp head. Usually, with this price point, I’m expecting something with a bit more plastic, so the aluminum was a surprise.

When you first power on the SD300C, the logo lights up. Look, I’m a sucker for this, and you can tell me in the comments how this doesn’t matter, etc., etc., but this glowing logo looks undeniably cool. The lamp head itself is primarily red, and when you pair that with a glowing logo, there is an argument to be made that this fixture is less, uh, invisible on a set when compared to a matte black lighting instrument. That argument doesn’t mean we can’t have cool things, though. Moving on.

The SD300C kit includes:

• Lamp Head (Bowens Mount)
• Reflector
• Power Adapter
• Power Cable
• Limited 1-Year Warranty

I wish the power cable was locking, but it does fit firmly into the power adapter.

The yoke for the lamp head locks on both sides. I’m not sure if this was an engineering requirement given the weight of the lamp head, but it does take a few more seconds to lock and unlock both sides of the yoke to tilt the lamp compared with a yoke that only has one lock.

Overall, the case is great, and enough padding suggests it could survive many trips in an owner/operator vehicle. Still, I don’t see this case checking on an airplane safely or being thrown into a rental vehicle surrounded by a bunch of heavy Pelican-style hard cases.

The kit doesn’t include a battery plate option, and you’ll have to source a $79 battery plate for V-mount if you need that functionality. HERE is the correct battery plate from B&H.

Glowing logo aside — this being my first time reviewing a GVM product, I am pleasantly surprised with the exterior build quality, the wired DMX, and the included case (given the price point).

Perfect user for the SD300C?

With a $549 price point, the Pro SD300C has a wide potential user base, and it is worth a quick note to know who might be the perfect user for this fixture.

A few quick specs:

• 2000K – 10000K in CCT Mode / RGB
• 300W / Bowens Mount
• +/- Green & Magenta Control
• 16 Lighting Effects
• 12 Matching Light Sources
• App Control
• Several Fan Modes
• Four Dimming Curves (Linear, Exponential, Log, S-Curve)

The ability to use color with a light like this without adding a gel is helpful. For me, the wide Kelvin range in CCT mode is the reason I’ll use the Pro SD300C.

We’ll dive into the testing specs in a moment, but the output here is enough for interior interviews or scene work and usage outside at night. This light won’t compete directly with the sun at noon, however.

The ability to match with 12 existing light sources is useful when you are in a location where you don’t have complete control of swapping out all the existing fixtures in the given shot.

Professional users will need the wired DMX functionality and will find the price point accessible enough to fill out large scenes. Journalists and content creators will also find much to like here, as will independent filmmakers.

Head to head with the amaran 300c

Let’s compare the GVM Pro SD300C directly with the amaran 300c, given the similar price points of $569 for the amaran 300C and $549 for the GVM Pro SD300C. Both also use a Bowens mount to add accessories.

The amaran 300c comes in two colors: gray or white. White is a fun choice if the light is going to appear on camera. When you compare the amaran 300c and the GVM Pro SD300C yokes, I prefer the amaran single-locking yoke for speed. The benefit of the GVM exterior build quality is that it uses more metal (which makes it slightly heavier) and, therefore, is more likely to survive an unexpected impact.

Unfortunately, the amaran 300c ships in a foam container that is not as easy to work with as the semi-rigid hard case for the SD300C. The foam container is less forgiving. You have to line up all the pieces, or the case won’t close. Any bump to the exterior of the foam is also permanent.

The amaran 300c CCT range of 2500K-7500K is also not as wide as the 2000K-1000K range out of the GVM fixture.

Overall, amaran as a brand has more accessories available versus GVM, although GVM seems to be rapidly rolling out additional compatible accessory options like a softbox, lantern, and spotlight.

Now, let’s turn to a quick head-to-head test using the C700-U Spectrometer with the amaran 300c versus the GVM Pro SD300C, starting with a 5600K target at 3ft. The columns on the left contain the SD300C data, and on the right is the amaran 300C test. Both fixtures were set to 100% output.

Keep in mind that the beam angle for the amaran 300C kit reflector is 65 degrees, and 45 degrees for the GVM Pro SD300C kit reflector.

The SD300C reads 5438K, and the amaran 300c reads 5354K—a slight edge to the SD300C here with resting in CCT mode. The GVM fixture shows a significant output number (27000 lx) compared with the amaran 300c (20900 lx). Based purely on numbers, the GVM SD300C is significantly brighter.

Finally, here is a test with a target of 3200K.

CCT accuracy is a bit closer here (3220K versus 3149K), but the GVM SD300C is significantly brighter overall when you compare a lx reading of 26700 from GVM’s fixture to the 17200 from amaran.

Control

Controlling the light over Bluetooth is done with the GVM LED II app (for iOS on iPhone 15, in my case, but also available on Android). App control has been a tricky area for lighting manufacturers in terms of the app’s design, but the GVM app connects quickly, and there is no delay between issuing a command and the light responding.

Green/Magenta can be changed using the four physical knobs on the back of the fixture itself or are easily accessible in the app itself. Intensity is dimmable down to 0.1% increments using the app or the rear control dials.

The app gives you easy control over CCT, HSI, and RGB settings, and dialing everything in is quick. You have access to a variety of effects we have become used to at this point, such as Cop Car and Lightning.

I did find that the GVM LED II app “held on” to previously connected fixtures well. Opening the app, finding the light again, and clicking “manage” to hop back into the light settings is easy and fast.

I don’t love the addition of banner ads for other GVM products in the app, and hopefully, those could be removed in future updates. When I’m working on a job, controlling lighting without distraction is the goal.

Generally, though, the app works, and the core functionality is all there — not always the case when it comes to lighting apps I’ve tried.

Additional testing

I again grabbed a few measurements on my Sekonic C-700U Spectrometer (now updated with the C-800U) to see how accurately the GVM Pro SD300C handles color temp measured in Kelvin and output (lx) from a distance of 3 ft. Here are my readings, this time with a target of 4700K (56K and 32K target results are above) and output set to 100%. This test was completed with the 45-degree kit reflector attached, and I measured at the center of the beam. The beam angle without the reflector attached is 180-degrees.

A result of 4644K with a target of 4700K is excellent. Now, let’s take a look at how accurate this fixture is at replicating colors with the light set back again to 5600K.

These are excellent CRI scores, and they continue through into the extended CRI range. All these results are very good and sit in the high 90’s, with a dip below 90 CRI only for R12 Blue.

Conclusion

GVM is now firmly on my radar. A solid exterior build, wired DMX, and an affordable price point should make the Pro SD300C a real purchase consideration for content creators and professionals alike. The test scores are also excellent, with impressive output for a 300-watt fixture.

I’d like to test some of the GVM accessories in a future review (obviously an important part of the equation). Hopefully, I’ll be able to update this post with some thoughts on those accessories, but for now, the Pro SD300C fixture itself is impressive.

Do you have any experience working with GVM fixtures? Will you be adding the GVM Pro SD300C to your kit? Let us know in the comments below!