First look at the Aputure Amaran 150C and 300C RGBWW LED lights

At NAB 2023, Aputure announced two new LED lights in their Amaran lineup. They’re the Amaran 150C (buy here) and Amaran 300C (buy here), both RGBWW lights inheriting some tech from Aputure’s higher-end LS600C (buy here), which was announced at last year’s NAB. As the names suggest, the two new lights offer full-colour 150W and 300W output – in both white and RGB colour schemes.

Designed for filmmakers and content creators, the Amaran 150C and 300C are compact, affordable LED lights with Bowens mounts for use with all your favourite modifiers. We visited the Aputure booth at the show this week to talk to Senior Product Marketing Manager, Brandon Le, to learn more about them.

Amaran 150C & 300C

Aputure says that the Amaran 150C and 300C RGBWW LED lights are in direct response to user feedback after the announcement of the Aputure Light Storm 600C last year. That feedback generally consisted of users saying that they wanted the RGBWW functionality of the LS600C without the $2,500 price tag it commands. It’s a justified price tag, which brings with it all of the power output and bells and whistles the LS600C has. But they’re bells and whistles that entry-level users simply don’t need.

Both lights offer a similar form factor and size, with an easy-to-use interface on the back of the unit, with a simple button press to switch between white and RGB colour modes. They offer a colour temperature range of 2,500K up to 7,500K with green/magenta adjustments. Because they’re compatible with Aputure’s Sidus Link app, they’re easy to remote control from your smartphone and will slot right into your lighting presets for more permanent studio-type setups with other Aputure or Amaran lights.

New Form Factor

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The two lights offer a new form factor for the company. It’s very different to everything they’ve released in the past. They’re a little bit bigger than the Amaran 100D and 200D to account for the extra electronics and power requirements – as well as the larger heatsink and fan – so they needed to be redesigned. This larger design, however, has its advantages. The larger fan means that it can spin more slowly to shift the same amount of air and keep the unit cool. And a slower fan means a quieter fan.

There are also dual handles on the back of the units. One on the left and one on the right. This allows for quick and easy adjustments no matter whether you’re left or right-handed or which direction the unit is facing when you approach it. It’s easy to grab and adjust with either hand, helping that efficient on-set workflow.

No DMX, but Wireless DMX coming soon

The Amaran 150C and 300C are able to be remotely controlled by the Sidus Link app on your smartphone or tablet, offering the full range of capability, including adding the lights to your preset arrays for use in permanent setups in a single location. There’s no native DMX control, which is common on lights at this price, but it will be compatible with Aputure’s upcoming Sidus DMX system.

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Aputure has yet to release, or even say a whole lot at all, about its Sidus DMX system, but it will allow you to use DMX to control Sidus Link-compatible units, that don’t natively support DMX. Essentially, it will act as a translator between the two systems to add that DMX remote control functionality where it didn’t exist before. This means it’ll work with the Amaran 150C and 300C, as well as previous Amaran lights, like the 60/100/200 D/X S models (buy here), the PT1C, PT2C, PT4C Pixel Tubes (buy here) and even the SM5c flexible LED strip (buy here).

Amaran 150C/300C Specs

Price and Availability

The Amaran 150C LED light is available to pre-order now for $359 and the Amaran 300C is available to pre-order now for $569. Both lights start shipping in the coming weeks.

DIYP’s coverage of NAB 2023 is sponsored by Sennheiser, Zhiyun, B&H, and SmallRig