Lupo Movielight 300 PRO and Dual Color PRO Announced

Lighting News

by Andrew ThibaultOctober 1^st, 2021

Italian light manufacturer Lupo is set to launch the Movielight 300 PRO and Movielight 300 Dual Color Pro in 2022. Are these the lights you’ve been waiting for or has the industry already moved on to RGB and beyond? Let’s take a closer look!

In case you’ve missed it – we’ve reviewed a number of Lupo lights in the past, our latest one being on the Lupo Dayled 1000 and the Lupo Kickasspanel LED Light.

Sia la luce!

Let there be light, or perhaps more appropriately, let there be lots of light! Much like does your amp go to eleven, the first question to ask about any light is how bright is it? If brighter isn’t better, then why do you suppose Lupo dubbed their two new 200-watt fixtures the Movielight 300 Pro and Movielight 300 Dual Color Pro respectively? Marketing aside, these two new COB fixtures seem to pack a punch, promising 12.500 lux at 1 meter. Amid the ever-escalating wattage race Nanlux and Aputure appear to be dominating at the moment, Lupo are also teasing a future Movielight 600 PRO.

Lupo Movielight 300 PRO and Movielight 300 Dual Color PRO – Spread

A corollary to how bright is your light is how wide is its beam angle. The more light you can concentrate on to a smaller area, the higher the output reading is likely to be. Sans modifier, the Movielight 300 PRO has a spread of 85 degrees. With the included parabolic reflector, the beam angle narrows to 55 degrees. These fixtures won’t be suitable for a wall wash or lighting a green screen, but they should come in handy for a key, a kicker, or accents.

Color temperatures

Obviously, we’re talking Kelvin here, not Celsius or Fahrenheit. But the latter two, if you’ll pardon the brief distraction, do beg questions about active cooling and fan noise, neither of which are mentioned in the information about the lights available so far. Back to Kelvin, the Movielight 300 PRO is rated at 5.600K, while the Movielight 300 Dual Color Pro ranges from 2.800K to 6.500K. With the Movielight 300 Dual Color Pro you should be okay simulating tungsten, daylight, or golden hour. Blue hour may be a bit of a stretch with the bi-color fixture; and with no RGB, you’ll likely still need to carry gels regardless of which model you pick.

Are Lupo a day late and a dollar short, chasing after the Aputure’s years old 300d and 300X? Full-spectrum point source lights seem more the rage, with the likes of Hive and Prolycht setting the bar to beat, when maximum output is not paramount.

Color quality

Output and Kelvin range won’t do you much good if your light does not render skin tones and other colors accurately. In this area, the Movielight 300 PRO and Movielight 300 Dual Color PRO should not disappoint, with Lupo reporting 96 CRI and 98 TLCI for their new fixtures.

Bluetooth and app control

One of the turnoffs of Lupo among one-person bands for years has been their lack of wireless control. Most owner-operators don’t have the clams to shell out for a DMX console, or CRMX transmitters and receivers; let alone time to waste fiddling with DMX addresses and the like. That’s all about to change with Lupo’s inclusion of app control via a Bluetooth module in the Movielight 300 PRO and Movielight 300 Dual Color PRO. When you’re alone operating two cameras and audio simultaneously, nothing beats being able to dial in the perfect brightness at your fingertips, without moving around and while keeping your eyes on the monitors. Now, if Lupo would add these features to their Superpanels, that would be even more awesome!

Lupo Movielight 300 PRO and Movielight 300 Dual Color PRO – Effects

With no RGB, cop car and color chase are off the table. But the Lupo Movielight 300 PRO and Movielight 300 Dual Color PRO have some decent special effects built-in, including television, strobe, paparazzi, and lightning.

Look Ma, no ballast

How many times have you tripped over a power brick while shooting in a tight space? And how much time have you wasted trying to MacGyver your power brick to a C-Stand, so as not to trip over it? With the Movielight 300 PRO and Movielight 300 Dual Color PRO that won’t be a problem anymore. Lupo have built the ballast into these new fixtures, so you only need to run a cable from the mains. It seems so simple yet it’s a design stroke of genius that saves time on set, makes filming safer, and protects your investment. I once had a gaffer pull down a light, stand and all, tripping over a power brick.

Mount and modifiers

Both lights have a Bowens mount, so chances are modifiers you already own will work just fine. A Lupo Dome PRO will also be made available as an option.

DMX and dimming curves

The Lupo Movielight 300 PRO and Movielight 300 Dual Color PRO support both 8 and 16-bit DMX protocols via 5-pin XLR connectors, allowing control of dimming and color temperature (on the bi-color unit). The fixtures also offer linear, exponential, and logarithmic dimming curve options.

DC power option

If you’re shooting outdoors or simply want to eliminate long cables, the Lupo Movielight 300 PRO and Movielight 300 Dual Color PRO will run on DC power. Lupo will also be selling a V-mount clamp, as well as a D-Tap to XLR cable. Whereas many manufacturers are going with 26V batteries, Lupo are sticking with 14.8V to give your wallet a break.

Pricing and availability

As mentioned above, Lupo plan to release the Lupo Movielight 300 PRO and Movielight 300 Dual Color PRO in 2022. The pricing will be as follows:

• Movielight 300 Pro €798
• Movielight 300 Dual Color PRO €898
• Movielight 300 Pro Kit (backpack, V-mount clamp, D-Tap cable) €889
• Movielight 300 Dual Color Pro Kit (backpack, V-mount clamp, D-Tap cable) €998

So what do you think about the Lupo Movielight 300 PRO and Movielight 300 Dual Color PRO? Are these the lights you’ve been waiting for? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.