The Nanlite Forza 60C is a full-color LED spotlight featuring an RGBLAC six-color system that is compact, lightweight, and battery-operated.
One of the 60C’s biggest draws is that it delivers consistent output across its wide Kelvin color temperature range, and is capable of outputting rich, saturated colors.
Versatile COB lights in this form factor are becoming increasingly popular for their Swiss Army Knife-style capabilities, which allow them to be used in a variety of lighting scenarios.That’s why we’ve seen so many introductions over the past few years.
The Nanlite Forza 60C looks interesting because of its feature set and capabilities.So, without further ado, let’s move on to the review.
The concept behind all these LED spotlights, whether they are daylight, bi-color or full-color, is to make a very flexible, fully functional light source that won’t empty someone’s wallet.The only problem with this concept is that a lot of lighting companies are doing the same thing, so how do you make your product stand out?What Nanlite did very interesting is that they went down the same path as ARRI and Prolychyt by using RGBLAC/RGBACL LEDs instead of traditional RGBWW, which can be found in most affordable spotlights.I’ll discuss RGBLAC further in the comments.The caveat with full-color fixtures is that they usually cost you more than daylight or two-color fixtures.The Nanlite 60C costs more than twice as much as the Nanlite 60D.
Nanlite also has a large selection of very affordable lighting modifiers such as the F-11 Fresnel and Forza 60 and 60B LED single light (19°) projector mounts.These affordable options certainly add to the Forza 60C’s versatility.
The build quality of the Nanlite 60C is decent.The case is fairly sturdy, and the yoke is screwed securely.
The power on/off button and other dials and buttons do feel a little cheap, at least in my opinion, especially with a light at this price point.
There is a DC power cord connected to the power supply.The cable isn’t very long, but it has a lanyard loop on it so you can attach it to the light stand.
Since there’s also a small v-mount on the power supply, you can use it to attach to the Forza 60/60B’s optional Nanlite V-mount battery handle ($29).
If you already own some V-lock batteries, I recommend buying them as it’s an easy way to power your lights for extended periods of time.What you obviously need to know about this accessory is that you need to use it with a V-lock battery with a D-tap.
The light comes with a 2-year limited warranty, which can be extended to 3 years by registering online.
Many LED lights on the market, including the Nanlite Forza 60C, use COB technology.COB stands for “Chip On Board”, where multiple LED chips are packaged together as a lighting module.The advantage of a COB LED in a multi-chip package is that the light emitting area of ​​a COB LED can contain many times as many light sources in the same area that a standard LED might occupy.This results in a huge increase in lumen output per square inch.
The Nanlite Forza 60C’s light engine is on the heatsink, while the LEDs are actually inside the specular reflector.This is different from how most COB LED lights are designed.The light is actually cast through a diffuse surface, not directly like most COB spotlights do.Why do you want to do this?Well, I’m glad you asked.The whole idea is to create a single light source and cast light through a diffusing surface, the Forza 60C works really well with the casting attachment, it’s really bright considering its size and power consumption.In fact, even though the 60C is a full-color light, it is brighter than the 60B two-color unit.
The caveat of casting a ray through a diffuse surface and getting a concentrated light source is that the beam angle on that ray won’t be too wide, even when using open surfaces.When using an open face, it’s certainly not as wide as most other COB lights, as they tend to be around 120 degrees.
The biggest problem with COB LED lights is that unless you diffuse them, they look very bright and are not suitable for direct lighting.
It only weighs 1.8 pounds / 800 grams.The controller is built into the light head, but there is a separate AC adapter.Weighs approximately 465 grams / 1.02 lbs.
The great thing about Nanlite is that you can use it with a relatively light and compact light stand.This is a great option for anyone who needs to travel with minimal gear.
We are now seeing a lot of lighting companies using RGBWW technology.RGBWW stands for red, green, blue, and warm white.However, there are other types of RGB such as RGBAW and RGBACL.
The Nanlite 60C uses RGBLAC, just like the ARRI Orbiter and Prolycht Orion 300 FS and 675 FS (they are listed as RGBACL, which are essentially the same).The Orion 300 FS/675 FS and Oribiter do not use any white LEDs, instead they mix all these different colored LEDs to produce white light.Hive Lighting has also been using a mix of 7 LED chips, instead of the traditional 3 colors, they use red, amber, lime, cyan, green, blue and sapphire.
The advantage of RGBACL/RGBLAC over RGBWW is that it gives you a larger CCT range and can produce some saturated colors with more output.RGBWW lights tend to have difficulty creating saturated colors like yellow, and they don’t always have as much output when producing saturated colors.At different CCT settings, their output also drops considerably, especially at Kelvin color temperatures like 2500K or 10,000K.
The RGBACL/RGBLAC light engine also has the additional capability of producing a larger color gamut.Due to the additional ACL emitter, the lamp is capable of producing a wider array of colors than RGBWW lamps.I think what you obviously need to know is that when creating a 5600K or 3200K source, for example, there is no huge difference between RGBWW and RGBACL/RGBLAC, although the marketing department would like you to believe.
There is a lot of debate and debate about what is better.Apture will tell you that RGBWW is better, and Prolycht will tell you that RGBACL is better.As I said before, I don’t have any horses for this race, so I’m not affected by what the lighting company says.All my reviews are based on data and facts, and no matter who makes it or how much it costs, every light gets the same fair treatment.No manufacturer has any say in the content published on this website.If you’re wondering why some companies’ products are never reviewed on the site, there’s a reason.
The beam angle of the fixture, when using the open face, is 56.5°.45° if you use it with the included reflector.The beauty of the Forza 60C is that it produces very sharp shadows when using open faces or reflectors.
This relatively narrow beam angle does mean that the lamp is not suitable for some lighting applications.I personally think this light is a great accent and background light.I probably wouldn’t use it as a main light, but if you combine the light with Nanlite’s own softbox designed for the Forza 60 series, you can get decent results.
TheNanlite Forza 60C is equipped with a single-sided yoke.Since the lights are relatively small and not heavy, a single-sided yoke will do the job.There’s enough clearance that you can point the light straight up or down if needed without anything hitting the yoke.
The Forza 60C draws 88W of power, which means it can be powered in a number of different ways.
In the kit you will get an AC power supply and a battery handle with dual brackets for NP-F type batteries.
This battery handle can also be attached directly to the light stand.It also has some adjustable feet on it so you can place it directly on a flat surface.
The Nanlite also features optional Forza 60 and 60B V-Mount battery grips ($29.99) with a standard 5/8″ receiver bracket that mounts directly to any standard light stand.This will require a full size or mini V-lock battery.
The ability to power lights in multiple ways cannot be overlooked.If you travel a lot or need to use your lights in remote areas, being able to power them with batteries is a big deal.It also helps if you need to hide lights in the background and can’t run the mains.
The power cord that connects to the light is just a standard barrel type, it would be nice to see a locking mechanism.While I haven’t had any cable issues, at least in my opinion it would be best to have a locking power connector on the light.
Unlike most COB spotlights, the Nanlite Forza 60C does not use a Bowens mount, but a proprietary FM mount.A native Bowens mount was too large for this fixture, so what Nanlite did was include a Bowens mount adapter.This allows you to use off-the-shelf lighting modifiers and accessories that you probably already have.
The rear LCD screen on the lamp looks similar to what you see on most Nanlite products.While it’s fairly basic, it does show you key information about the lamp’s operating mode, brightness, CCT, and more.
With good lighting, you don’t have to read the manual to learn how to operate it.You should be able to open it and use it right away.The Forza 60C is just that, it’s easy to operate.
In the menu, you can adjust many settings, such as DMX, fans, etc.The menu may not be the most intuitive, but it’s still easy to change item tweaks you may rarely need.
In addition to being able to adjust certain parameters and modes of the light itself, you can also use the NANLINK Bluetooth app.Additionally, 2.4GHz provides control via the separately supplied WS-TB-1 transmitter box for finer settings, or using a hardware remote like the NANLINK WS-RC-C2.Advanced users also support DMX/RDM control.
There are some additional modes, but they are only accessible through the app.These modes are:
In CCT mode, you can make Kelvin color temperature adjustment between 1800-20,000K.That’s a huge range, and it’s one of the advantages you get when using RGBLAC instead of RGBWW.
Being able to dial in more or reduce the amount of green from the light source can make a huge difference.Different camera companies use different sensors in their cameras, and they respond differently to light.Some camera sensors may lean towards magenta, while others lean more towards green.By making CCT adjustments, you can adjust the light to look better in whatever camera system you use.CCT adjustment can also help when you are trying to match lights from different manufacturers.
HSI mode lets you create almost any color you can think of.It gives you full hue and saturation control as well as intensity.By controlling hue and saturation, you can create some really interesting colors that can really add some creativity depending on the project you’re working on.I really like using this mode to create a lot of color separation between the foreground and background, or to recreate an image that looks cool or warm.
My only complaint is that if you adjust the HSI on the actual light itself, you’ll only see the HUE listed as 0-360 degrees.Most other full-color lights these days have a visual indicator to make it easier to see what type of color you’re creating.
EFFECTS mode allows you to recreate various lighting effects suitable for certain scenes.Effects include:
All effect modes are individually adjustable, you can change hue, saturation, speed and period.Again, this is easier to do on the app than on the back of the lamp.
It’s a little odd that since the Nanlite has so many different lights that you can use it in the same app it’s not really custom made to work with the 60C.For example, there is still a mode called RGBW, although this light is RGBLAC.If you enter this mode, you can only adjust the RGBW value.You cannot adjust individual values ​​of LAC.This is a problem because if you use the app, it only seems to allow you to generate colors well below that of RGBLAC lights.This is presumably because no one has bothered to change the app and hasn’t set it up for RGBLAC lights.
The same problem occurs if you try to use the XY COORDINATE schema.If you look at where you can move the XY coordinates, they are constrained to a small spatial extent.
The devil is in the details, and while Nanlite makes some really good lights, little things like this often upset customers.
Those complaints aside, the app is straightforward and fairly easy to use, however, they don’t make it as intuitive or visually appealing as some other companies’ lighting control apps.This is what I’d like to see work on with Nanlite.
The only other downside when using the app is that when you make changes, they don’t happen right away, there’s a slight delay.
COB lights can get very hot, and keeping them cool is no easy task.As I mentioned in my review earlier, the Forza 60C does use a fan.