How Do You Get an Aputure 4800d? You Strap Four 1200ds Together

Sometimes you don't have the budget for a generator, but you still want a lot of punch. The new frame from Aputure for the 1200d offers indie creatives an option.

The Aputure 1200d has been one of the biggest "hit" indie lights over the last few years. It packs a pretty hefty output, especially considering that you can wall-plug it and still have room to have a few other small things on the same circuit. It's got a whole host of accessories for modifying it, to boot. And it all packs up in a handy rolling case. They do all that and still come in considerably cheaper than the HMI competition and with a better color spectrum.

But now the company is adding a new tool for creatives that will allow them to compete with the bigger and more powerful HMI—the Aputure Four-Light Bracket for the 1200d.

What to Do If You Need More Output

Of course, sometimes you need more output than the 1200d could give. Maybe you want something for a day exterior fill that has consistency. Or you want to light up an alley for a night exterior from a rooftop. The 1200d has the punch but not enough to cover a long alley run.

Generally, you'd want to get out a generator and bump up to a 4K HMI.

However, if you don't have the budget, the permit, or the insurance for a generator, Aputure has a solution for you with their new Four-Light Bracket for mounting four individual 1200d units into a single "unified" light source. Sure, you could take four 1200ds and mount them on stands, but they aren't going to pan and tilt together, you'll have trouble getting them close together, and you'll need a lot more rigging.

With this frame, all the units go together, can be mounted to a single stand, and pan and tilt together just like they should. Having yoked control of the unit here is really the key. Nobody wants to have to individually move four separate units when the DP asks you to pan left slightly. With the frame, it acts like one light.

By getting the light units so close, if you leave them unmodified, you, of course, are going to get weird shadows. But set up a 4x4 or a 6x6 diffusion in front of the light to fill that diffuser up, and you'll get a nice, powerful unit with some punch and real output, with the edge taken off.

Genny Who?

The best part of that, of course, is that you don't need a generator. You can run each of those 1200d units to their own 20-amp 120v circuit (or get 2 LS 1200d units in a 220v 20-amp circuit if you are in a 220V country).

If you are working in a relatively modern location you should be able to track down enough circuits to support that, or you might need to run an extension cable for one of the lights to a neighbor. But you'll get a big, punchy unit without a generator.

Which is pretty darn slick. Hopefully, Aputure will also roll out a 4x4 diffusion holder mount for the Four-light Bracket LS1200d setup in the future as well.

Is This Something You Need?

This is a big fat "maybe." A handy grip could probably throw something like this together in an afternoon. But if you have one of those on your crew, you're probably already running HMI. Aputure has gone and done the work for you. Sure, for $2,400 a pop, it's an investment. But when you have four 1200ds bracketed together, you'd want to trust the rig. With Aputure, that trust has been building for over a decade.

The Aputure Four-Light Bracket is another accessory for its line of lights that increases efficiency on set. It certainly fits a very specific niche, so it might not be the tool for everyone. But if you're running a lot of Aputure lights already, it's a great tool to get your lighting team to give you more options. 

What do you think of this new accessory from Aputure? Let us know in the comments!