Aputure’s been coming pretty thick and fast on the announcements lately, and now they’ve announced their new Light Storm 60D daylight and 60X bi-colour adjustable focusing LED lights. As the name suggests, these are 60 Watt LEDs, and everything is built inside the head, meaning there’s no external control unit to have to deal with. So far, they’ve only been announced, not released, and both lights may be subject to some changes before the final products are released. The price of the new units is also not set yet. A release is expected at some point in Q3, although presumably, we’ll find out a final price before then.
There are two versions of the Aputure Light Storm 60. There’s the LS-60D, which is a daylight-balanced LED light and there’s the LS-60X, which is the bicolour variant. Both lights can be powered via AC power, a DC battery input (including from a D-Tap) or using a dual Sony NP-F battery plate adapter. Both lights are all-inclusive, which means there’s no external control unit. The power, colour temperature and other features are all available using controls on the back of the head itself, along with a dial that lets you focus the light, going from a spot to a wide-angle beam.
Both units claim an IP54 rating, which is quite interesting. This means that… Given the obvious vents on the units to assist with cooling (it has a fan), that “water splashing against the enclosure from any direction” sounds like a neat trick. Presumably, it means that the electronics inside are protected, even if some water does enter the unit. IPX4 – Water splashing against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effect. The lights feature a new Mini Mount, that locks onto the barn doors, but there’s also a Bowens Mount adapter, that allows you to keep using all of the modifiers you already own. There’s also a new Spotlight Mini Zoom modifier (that’s the big long thing in the photo near the top) to help you focus your lights even further, as well as utilise gobos. Again, there’s no word on price yet for either the LS-60D, the LS-60X or the new Spotlight Mini Zoom, but they’re expected to be released at some point during Q3. We’ll keep you posted as we hear more.