I bought two of these for a paid session shooting wine bottles. I had these running with the upgraded light-boxes fitted on at full power for about 4 hours each session. No problem with the heat at all. Great value. My clients were happy with the results.
Ok lets get real. It's $755 for the Apertrure 120D on Amazon. The GVM is $139. So -IF- I had a heat cut-off issue (fwiw - I've never had mine shut off in several months of use at 80+ % power - higher than the Aperture produces it seems) I could potentially buy FIVE (or certainly two or three) of these for less than the cost of ONE Aperture and rotate them as needed. Again - never had mine shut off but I use a soft box, not the reflector, so I'm not sure how much of an issue that will be for others. Bottom line - for my taste there are far better uses for $600 than an Aperture name badge.
It’s funny, because my mind thinks like you, but then I think, what a frikkin hassle (if you’re lighting a project where other people are waiting on you, can you afford the downtime?). That said, you can minimize the interruption by having the replacement units ready to swap, set up at the same height and angle. I think I’d also dim the light between takes. Still, these workarounds are embarrassing and unprofessional. Is there anything else we can try? Yes! I think I might buy or salvage heat sinks from computer internals to mount on the hot ring, making sure they won’t interfere with the Bowens mount. You’d need to make sure the heat sink fits the radius of the ring for good contact. You’ll need to sand those contact patches. That just off the top of my head. There’s three ways I can think of to get good heatsink contact: bending, shaping (with a file or Dremel sanding drum), or just cutting up a heat sink into segments so there’s more (albeit smaller) contact patches. Drill holes. Break away heat sink fins if needed. This mod would look ugly as hell, but it might work. Extra material might cost under $20 + whatever your time is worth (time you’re spending now, and not while you’re fxxking around swapping lights during production). If someone wants to send me a unit, I’ll take a shot at modding it in this manner. Otherwise, the shortcomings on this unit are going to get old fast. It’s too bad, because I would love to have a cheap reliable light like this.
One thing you can't really know until you have run a few hundred hours is how "hard" the LEDs are being pushed. Over push them and they risk burning out or losing intensity relatively quickly. The more expensive units often source "better" LED chips, take more care with thermal path and may run the fan harder to keep the LED internal temps lower. But it is not something you can see in the field immediately or by testing for a few hours. This also applies to the capacitors in the power supply. Use cheaper electrolytic capacitors and they'll dry out and fail long before the LEDs do. You should get someone like Big Clive to disassemble and assess a lamp - he can measure currents and temps and will examine the caps used - he's been doing that for LED lamps for years.
mine in UK didn't shut down after full 1 hour test, it gets hot but nothing as much as my 150w led, one thing is to not turn it off when you're done , but to keep on minimum power for 5minutes, this will keep the fan on to cool down the circuit board and gives a gradual cool down rather than turning it off with a very hot board. the reflector helps absorb some of the heat too. I really love this light for its price and super small lightweight size perfect for tiny corners, outdoors, I have mined hooked up to a lithium battery for exterior use.
GVM’s LED light panels have the same issue where they go from a subtle brightness to super bright with barely any turn of the knob. Might be an issue in how they wire their lights.
Very interested that yours turned off after 10 minutes and got very hot. I bought three and have used them on location, running full power for easily two hours, maybe three. None of them turned off, none got particularly hot. (Though I have been using 650w tungstens up until now, and of course LEDs won't get anywhere as hot as those...) I'm pretty happy with them.
Thanks for the info! that's good to know, perhaps mine just isn't as well heat sinked! I've been able to use it at almost full power for a few product shoots recently and it's held out just fine so maybe it's just an issue of being at absolute full power on my unit?
I have two of these and have run them full power for over an hour on a number of shoots, and haven’t had them shut down yet. I really like these lights for the price. My main complaint is the plastic joint that allows you to adjust the tilt of the light. With a large dome soft box, it seems to be under a lot of torque, and it seems like it is very susceptible to breaking. Also with two lights, I am picking up a little fan noise with my mics.
Thanks for the informative review I almost ordered 2 lights before watching your video because of a current GVM BOGO sale, but I simply cannot risk a potential fire hazzard.
That was no focus fail, you just wanted the viewer to concentrate on the product not you AND had decided this subconsciously - I do this all the time 🤣
Assuming that you are using Sony cameras, put in on airplane mode and face track works in 4k. Even with external monitors. Just make sure the check the settings. Give it a shot.
The heat vs. softboxes thing could be overcome by using traditional Chimera of Photoflex video boxes. You can also just run an LED friendly dimmer in-line to get control of light levels.
Hello DOD, Which softboxes did you use while filming this video? Very interested in pairing a softbox with this GVM light. Thank you in advance for the info. :-)
What's the point of going on about CRI when you're shooting through a soft box. It's like you don't think the fabric the light is passing through will effect the light quality. OK if you're pointing the light directly at the talent without any diffusion or modification whatsoever but usually that isn't the case. Even when bouncing the light it will take on characteristics of whatever it is being bounced off. A wall. A diffuser. a green screen. etc etc etc. I think CRi is one of the biggest cons in the game. You pay a premium to get these high CRi values only to lose those gains as soon as you modify the light in any way.
A low CRI light is going to have the exact same problem as a high CRI light though, shooting from a non-neutral softbox - in fact, it's just going to be that much Worse.
'Been looking for a constant light to do outdoor portraits with, so I'm glad I watched this...I'd definitely be using modifiers and the heat issue wasn't mentioned in any of the customer reviews on Amazon...(I don't usually buy my gear from Amazon, I trust professional photography outlets much more, B&H, etc.)...also, 'am looking for something battery operated: Do you have a recommendation for me? I'm nearly 80, live upstairs, need lightweight gear for loading the car, want battery operated as a good option, am open to LED if reviewed positively, want 5600K, and I have a budget under $400; also, I'm into one subject to be lit for headshots/upper body, rarely vertical full-lengths or group images. Any gear advice on this would be awesome. Thank you!
Hi Patti, if you're doing outdoor work I wouldn't worry too much about the heat sink, since you'll have better airflow outdoors to keep it cooler. It seems from the vast majority of comments on this video that I was the receiver of a faulty unit... no one else seems to have the shutting off issue. I think you could set this up with a V-Lock battery that has a D-TAP to DC cable output, but you'd need to know what you're doing with V-Locks and they're quite expensive and add additional weight to the bundle... Alternatively I know that Aputure are releasing a similar light which runs off Sony NP-F style batteries which are much cheaper and lighter... Worth checking them out.
Mine works wonderfully and the issues you described about heat, turn off, and flicker are not my experience. Sorry to hear about your unit, but I think you might have gotten a bad one.
It's nice that the light itself is in focus - but you are are way out of focus - consider closing down your aperture a bit and get a reasonable focus on you as you talk. If you cropped in on the product - it may not be as noticeable, but find it a little distracting unless I ignore you and look only at the light.
GVM has a buy-one-get-one-free sale with this light.. I was like heck yeah buy-one-get-one-free let me get this light but then I saw this video and I was like nahhh you save me money lol....
The weird part of this review was the 9 min shut off due to over heating. I have the same model and grabbed 2 because it was BOGO. I use them to light me and my cohost for my podcast (which is normally an hour long) ive had these on for 4 hours straight and havent had them over heat...
I didn't, but another user commented on this video saying they bought 3 units that run at full power no problem, so it could just be the heat sink is not as well connected on mine so it conks out at max power while others won't. 🤔
Thanks so much for reply. I was looking to buy this light since I currently have 2 GVM 480 LS that are not giving me that bright clean soft look I see in your video. I have a Sony A6100 and video looks like old VHS quality.
You must have missed it. It's right at the beginning. 0:09 I find CRI ratings to be a bit misleading since every COB chip will have a slightly different rating at manufacture. So even if the product advertises as a 97+ CRI, you can't guarantee that your specific unit will have that exact rating.
Having taken lots of photos of my boy when he was newborn, I'd actually suggest a flash is better. Unless you're really not going to have this bright. Otherwise baby will stare at a continuous bright light like a moth instead of looking where you want to guide them to look 🤣
@@dodmedia yeah i was thinking the same but where i work they need that i use continous light, i all ready ordered and recived the lamp its very good i just used them in a product shoot
You can touch lava with bare hands. Albeit it would light your hand in fire. 😄 But yep, it's not that hot if you can touch it without actually burning your fingers.
I've had the overheating issue actually. I got one of these GVM P80S lights a while ago, and I have had it overheat and shut off once or twice during testing at 100%. But it hasn't happened too often, and I got two more P80S lights with the intention of using them mostly as fill or supplemental lights below full power. Also, the potentiometer at what would appear to be around 80% is only a fractional amount dimmer than at full blast, so I usually keep the potentiometer around there and expose/adjust accordingly.
I bought two of these for a paid session shooting wine bottles. I had these running with the upgraded light-boxes fitted on at full power for about 4 hours each session. No problem with the heat at all. Great value. My clients were happy with the results.
How's the noise from the fans? I little bit worried because I read they are loud. Thanks.
@@ajrc1987 noticeable but not terrible
Can I see some of your work
Ok lets get real. It's $755 for the Apertrure 120D on Amazon. The GVM is $139. So -IF- I had a heat cut-off issue (fwiw - I've never had mine shut off in several months of use at 80+ % power - higher than the Aperture produces it seems) I could potentially buy FIVE (or certainly two or three) of these for less than the cost of ONE Aperture and rotate them as needed.
Again - never had mine shut off but I use a soft box, not the reflector, so I'm not sure how much of an issue that will be for others.
Bottom line - for my taste there are far better uses for $600 than an Aperture name badge.
It’s funny, because my mind thinks like you, but then I think, what a frikkin hassle (if you’re lighting a project where other people are waiting on you, can you afford the downtime?). That said, you can minimize the interruption by having the replacement units ready to swap, set up at the same height and angle. I think I’d also dim the light between takes.
Still, these workarounds are embarrassing and unprofessional. Is there anything else we can try? Yes! I think I might buy or salvage heat sinks from computer internals to mount on the hot ring, making sure they won’t interfere with the Bowens mount. You’d need to make sure the heat sink fits the radius of the ring for good contact. You’ll need to sand those contact patches.
That just off the top of my head. There’s three ways I can think of to get good heatsink contact: bending, shaping (with a file or Dremel sanding drum), or just cutting up a heat sink into segments so there’s more (albeit smaller) contact patches. Drill holes. Break away heat sink fins if needed.
This mod would look ugly as hell, but it might work. Extra material might cost under $20 + whatever your time is worth (time you’re spending now, and not while you’re fxxking around swapping lights during production).
If someone wants to send me a unit, I’ll take a shot at modding it in this manner.
Otherwise, the shortcomings on this unit are going to get old fast. It’s too bad, because I would love to have a cheap reliable light like this.
One thing you can't really know until you have run a few hundred hours is how "hard" the LEDs are being pushed. Over push them and they risk burning out or losing intensity relatively quickly. The more expensive units often source "better" LED chips, take more care with thermal path and may run the fan harder to keep the LED internal temps lower. But it is not something you can see in the field immediately or by testing for a few hours.
This also applies to the capacitors in the power supply. Use cheaper electrolytic capacitors and they'll dry out and fail long before the LEDs do. You should get someone like Big Clive to disassemble and assess a lamp - he can measure currents and temps and will examine the caps used - he's been doing that for LED lamps for years.
They’ve been great lights. I have several and I’ve used them with the godox soft boxes at full power for hours without any issues.
I'm starting to think I got a defective prepoduction model..
@@dodmedia Reading through the comments here and I was starting to think the same thing
mine in UK didn't shut down after full 1 hour test, it gets hot but nothing as much as my 150w led, one thing is to not turn it off when you're done , but to keep on minimum power for 5minutes, this will keep the fan on to cool down the circuit board and gives a gradual cool down rather than turning it off with a very hot board. the reflector helps absorb some of the heat too. I really love this light for its price and super small lightweight size perfect for tiny corners, outdoors, I have mined hooked up to a lithium battery for exterior use.
Perhaps it was just the one they sent me then. It still behaves that way if I go anywhere above 50%.
This is such a fantastic review! Super detailed and it's definitely changed my perspective on the product.
GVM’s LED light panels have the same issue where they go from a subtle brightness to super bright with barely any turn of the knob. Might be an issue in how they wire their lights.
Very interested that yours turned off after 10 minutes and got very hot. I bought three and have used them on location, running full power for easily two hours, maybe three. None of them turned off, none got particularly hot. (Though I have been using 650w tungstens up until now, and of course LEDs won't get anywhere as hot as those...) I'm pretty happy with them.
Thanks for the info! that's good to know, perhaps mine just isn't as well heat sinked! I've been able to use it at almost full power for a few product shoots recently and it's held out just fine so maybe it's just an issue of being at absolute full power on my unit?
are you using battery power for this, or is it only plugin? I need some location lights, but need battery power.
@@scotthayesproductions5715 It's not battery powered.
I think about getting this one, the Sokani X60 V2 or the Godox sl60w
Light
4:30 120D
5:01 GVM
5:56 Full blast GVM
I have two of these and have run them full power for over an hour on a number of shoots, and haven’t had them shut down yet. I really like these lights for the price. My main complaint is the plastic joint that allows you to adjust the tilt of the light. With a large dome soft box, it seems to be under a lot of torque, and it seems like it is very susceptible to breaking. Also with two lights, I am picking up a little fan noise with my mics.
Thanks for the informative review I almost ordered 2 lights before watching your video because of a current GVM BOGO sale, but I simply cannot risk a potential fire hazzard.
Great review; thanks for sharing!
I just bought two! Thanks for the review!
Manual Focus for the win.
For my use this is perfect. cheap + bright
*What lights do YOU use??*
Also talk about an autofocus fail. My fault though. Filming in 4K internally so no face tracking.
Sun
That was no focus fail, you just wanted the viewer to concentrate on the product not you AND had decided this subconsciously - I do this all the time 🤣
David, you get me! 🤣🤣
Assuming that you are using Sony cameras, put in on airplane mode and face track works in 4k. Even with external monitors. Just make sure the check the settings. Give it a shot.
Don’t worry about focus…I look for information on your channel…ignore the naysayers ❤
The heat vs. softboxes thing could be overcome by using traditional Chimera of Photoflex video boxes. You can also just run an LED friendly dimmer in-line to get control of light levels.
Hello DOD,
Which softboxes did you use while filming this video? Very interested in pairing a softbox with this GVM light. Thank you in advance for the info. :-)
Great job! that point about the heat is truly something to consider...
What's the point of going on about CRI when you're shooting through a soft box. It's like you don't think the fabric the light is passing through will effect the light quality. OK if you're pointing the light directly at the talent without any diffusion or modification whatsoever but usually that isn't the case. Even when bouncing the light it will take on characteristics of whatever it is being bounced off. A wall. A diffuser. a green screen. etc etc etc. I think CRi is one of the biggest cons in the game. You pay a premium to get these high CRi values only to lose those gains as soon as you modify the light in any way.
Well said.
I agree to an extent, but that's why you spend decent money on neutral modifiers that diffuse without tinting or with minimal tinting.
A low CRI light is going to have the exact same problem as a high CRI light though, shooting from a non-neutral softbox - in fact, it's just going to be that much Worse.
The fan sounded like background music.
That's definitely a nice light indeed 👍
thanks for sharing man. That is amazing video. Is this thing battery powered?
'Been looking for a constant light to do outdoor portraits with, so I'm glad I watched this...I'd definitely be using modifiers and the heat issue wasn't mentioned in any of the customer reviews on Amazon...(I don't usually buy my gear from Amazon, I trust professional photography outlets much more, B&H, etc.)...also, 'am looking for something battery operated: Do you have a recommendation for me? I'm nearly 80, live upstairs, need lightweight gear for loading the car, want battery operated as a good option, am open to LED if reviewed positively, want 5600K, and I have a budget under $400; also, I'm into one subject to be lit for headshots/upper body, rarely vertical full-lengths or group images. Any gear advice on this would be awesome. Thank you!
Hi Patti, if you're doing outdoor work I wouldn't worry too much about the heat sink, since you'll have better airflow outdoors to keep it cooler. It seems from the vast majority of comments on this video that I was the receiver of a faulty unit... no one else seems to have the shutting off issue. I think you could set this up with a V-Lock battery that has a D-TAP to DC cable output, but you'd need to know what you're doing with V-Locks and they're quite expensive and add additional weight to the bundle... Alternatively I know that Aputure are releasing a similar light which runs off Sony NP-F style batteries which are much cheaper and lighter... Worth checking them out.
Mine works wonderfully and the issues you described about heat, turn off, and flicker are not my experience. Sorry to hear about your unit, but I think you might have gotten a bad one.
It's nice that the light itself is in focus - but you are are way out of focus - consider closing down your aperture a bit and get a reasonable focus on you as you talk. If you cropped in on the product - it may not be as noticeable, but find it a little distracting unless I ignore you and look only at the light.
GVM has a buy-one-get-one-free sale with this light.. I was like heck yeah buy-one-get-one-free let me get this light but then I saw this video and I was like nahhh you save me money lol....
Great review, super helpful.
Thank you for saving me from buying it since i need a constant light running for up to 8 hrs... what would you recommend?
Same.
@@chaplinesque111 there doesn't seem to be an overheating issue with these lights, i own 2 and they run fine for hours, maybe his was just a bad unit
@@JimmyBlanco I got one today, unfortunately mine has this same overheating issue. Returning it.
Cheap is cheap, but I like your review!
How does it compare to the Godox sl60?
The weird part of this review was the 9 min shut off due to over heating. I have the same model and grabbed 2 because it was BOGO. I use them to light me and my cohost for my podcast (which is normally an hour long) ive had these on for 4 hours straight and havent had them over heat...
It could well be because it's a pre production unit they used cheaper/smaller parts. It seems like most people's don't shut down so that's good!
Thank you for the video dude. I got the same ;)
Did you get update from GVM if 100% power is a real issue with this LED light.
I didn't, but another user commented on this video saying they bought 3 units that run at full power no problem, so it could just be the heat sink is not as well connected on mine so it conks out at max power while others won't. 🤔
Thanks so much for reply. I was looking to buy this light since I currently have 2 GVM 480 LS that are not giving me that bright clean soft look I see in your video. I have a Sony A6100 and video looks like old VHS quality.
I don't know if you have used them...but if I had to choose between the GVM g100W and the new Aputure 100X?
Not used them but having used many other aputure lights I know and trust their quality so I'd go with them for sure
One of the most important things you forgot to mention is the CRI Rating.
You must have missed it. It's right at the beginning. 0:09
I find CRI ratings to be a bit misleading since every COB chip will have a slightly different rating at manufacture. So even if the product advertises as a 97+ CRI, you can't guarantee that your specific unit will have that exact rating.
Also mention it again at 5:32. One of the most important things you forgot to do was pay attention :-)
@@dodmedia Yes I did miss it, my bad, thanks
I installed a fan next to it and it never over heat
Is 1 light enough for making guitar tutorial video for youtube? Plz help
If you put it through a large modifier then I'd say yes
What did you mean soft boxes are meant for flash photography? Why are they used in video and film then?
Who told soft boxes are meant for flash photography only?
It's used for video too with LED lights, because they are too strong sometimes.
Do you recomend it for newborn photography? i will no get the lights turned on for a lot of time, i will shoot and turn it off
Having taken lots of photos of my boy when he was newborn, I'd actually suggest a flash is better. Unless you're really not going to have this bright. Otherwise baby will stare at a continuous bright light like a moth instead of looking where you want to guide them to look 🤣
@@dodmedia yeah i was thinking the same but where i work they need that i use continous light, i all ready ordered and recived the lamp its very good i just used them in a product shoot
helpful video
Glad you think so!
great video thank you so much . i am not going to buy after your video this light lol
if you can touch it bare handed its not hot. have you ever used tungsten lights?
You can touch lava with bare hands. Albeit it would light your hand in fire. 😄 But yep, it's not that hot if you can touch it without actually burning your fingers.
Angel, would you honestly put a redhead in a softbox?
DOD Media I use one of my arri 650s with a softbox and it hasn’t caught on fire, many softboxes are rated for high temperatures
Looks like your camera is not focusing your face
Dude, it’s like comparing a toe with the entire leg price-wise. You repeated several times this light is cheap, but not 5 fold.
They recommend not running this at full power
@ 0:40 out of focus bro
I know bro. Not much I can do now though eh
I hope you exchanged your defective unit. Absolutely no one else is having the overheating issue
I know 😩😩😩 pretty bad of them to send me a defective unit to review TBH!
@@dodmedia still, great video from you tho!
Cheers Ramon!
I've had the overheating issue actually. I got one of these GVM P80S lights a while ago, and I have had it overheat and shut off once or twice during testing at 100%. But it hasn't happened too often, and I got two more P80S lights with the intention of using them mostly as fill or supplemental lights below full power. Also, the potentiometer at what would appear to be around 80% is only a fractional amount dimmer than at full blast, so I usually keep the potentiometer around there and expose/adjust accordingly.
Couldv savwd a lot of time if u shared the flaw at first.
Atproduction we need the lights on for hours.
9 minuts is nothing
Amaran 100d kills this and many other value models.
Sure but that didn't exist when this was made 😂
Up your depth of field. It's distracting having the thing in motion (you) out-of-focus
Ok I'll jump in my time machine! 🙃
first rule.....get your focus in order chump