Nanlite Forza 720B Review – Newsshooter

Here you can choose between CCT Mode, Effect Mode, and Preset.

You can also choose to turn the fan on or off or change the address of the fixture.

Operating Modes

The light only has two operating modes that you can choose from:

CCT Mode

This is the mode most people are going to use. In the CCT Mode you can adjust the Kelvin color temperature from 2700K to 6500K.

The fixture doesn’t feature any continuously variable (full minus green to full plus green) correction. This would have been nice if Nanlite had included this.

Effects Mode

The FX mode lets you recreate a few lighting effects that can be handy for certain scenarios. The effects include:

• CCT Loop
• INT Loop
• Flash
• StorPaparazzi
• Bab Bulb
• Explosion
• Pulse
• TV
• Candle/Fire
• Firework
• Welding

All the effects modes can be individually adjusted which allows for a lot of creative freedom.

How does the Nanlite Forza 720B compare to the Aputure LS 600x Pro?

As you can see, at least on paper, both the Nanlite and the Aputure are very, very similar.

Photometrics

So now let’s get to the photometric results. I always test lights in this way so that I get a reference to how they compare to other fixtures. Results only tell part of the story and should never be used alone to judge a light. I have found from extensive testing over the years that certain lights that have good photometric results don’t always look good, and lights that have worse photometric scores can sometimes look better than their results indicate.

You need to look at all of the photometric results to get an accurate assessment of a light. Looking at just one set of results is like reading one chapter in a book and skipping the rest.

Different lights can also look different depending on what camera you happen to be using.

Output & Color Temperature Accuracy

I tested the Nanlite 720B using a Sekonic C-800 Spectrometer to find out how much output the light had and how accurate the Kelvin color temperature reproduction was. All readings are taken at a distance of 1m (3.28ft) in a controlled environment. In the case of readings that were done with the reflector being used, these measurements were taken from the edge of the reflector and not from the COB.

What you clearly need to know upfront is that when you use the reflector there is no big hot spot in the middle like you see with some other COB spotlights. The output figures when using the reflector represent an accurate indication of what you will actually get. I have reviewed some high-powered spotlights where the output figures are very deceiving because the lights had a massive hotspot when using a reflector. This is a problem with the Hyper Reflector that comes with the Aputure LS 600x/600d Pro.

The Forza 720B has two output modes, High Output and Constant Output.

5600K High Output (55° Reflector)

Above you can see that the Forza 720B recorded an output of 73,000 lx (6,780 fc) when the reflector was used.

The light recorded a Kelvin color temperature reading of 5397K which was more than 200K off being a 5600K source light.

3200K High Output (55° Reflector)

Above you can see that the Forza 720B recorded an output of 58,900 lx (5470 fc) when the reflector was used and the light was set at 3200K. This was 19.3% less than what it output at 5600K.

The light recorded a Kelvin color temperature reading of 3148K which was very good for a 3200K source light.

So how does this compare to the Aputure LS 600x Pro? Well, below you can see:

5600K (55° Reflector)

3200K (55° Reflector)

What you clearly need to remember is that the Nanlite draws 80W more than the Aputure, so you would expect it to be brighter. The Forza 720B is only 6.3% brighter than the Aputure when used at 5600K and 15.8% brighter at 3200K. In saying that, the Hyper Reflector that comes with the Aputure LS 600x Pro has a very noticeable hotspot, so the readings will appear higher than they actually are.

Interestingly enough, the Nanlite and the Aputure had the exact same Kelvin color temperature reading at 5600K, however, the Nanlite had a better reading at 3200K.

5600K Constant Output (55° Reflector)

Above you can see how much output the light provided if I set the Forza 720B to Constant Output instead of High Output. The light recorded an output of 52,000lx (4,840 fc). This was 28.76% less than when you set the light to High Output.

As far as Kelvin color temperature accuracy goes, it recorded a reading of 5408K which was very similar to what it recorded when set in the High Output mode. This clearly tells me that the light isn’t getting any more Kelvin color temperature accurate when used in the Constant Output mode.

3200K Constant Output (55° Reflector)

Above you can see how much output the light provided if I set the Forza 720B to Constant Output instead of High Output. The light recorded an output of 51,000lx (4,840 fc). This was 1.96% less than when you set the light to High Output.

As far as Kelvin color temperature accuracy goes, it recorded a reading of 3159K which was very similar to what it recorded when set in the High Output mode. This clearly tells me that the light isn’t getting any more Kelvin color temperature accurate when used in the Constant Output mode.

5600K High Output Open Face

Above you can see the lights output when used open face was 22,500 lx (2,090 fc). This was 69.17% less than when the light is used with its reflector.

As far as Kelvin color temperature accuracy goes, it recorded a pretty accurate reading of 5674K. This was better than the 5397K it recorded when you use the reflector. This also tells me that the reflector is actually altering the Kelvin color temperature of the light.

3200K High Output Open Face

Above you can see the lights output when used open face was 18,700 lx (1,740 fc). This was 68.25% less than when the light is used with its reflector.

As far as Kelvin color temperature accuracy goes, it recorded a very accurate reading of 3163K. This was very similar to the 3148K it recorded when you use the reflector.

So how does this compare to the Aputure LS 600x Pro? Well, below you can see:

5600K (Open Face)

3200K (Open Face)

The Forza 720B has 17.33% more output than the Aputure at 5600K and 28.34% more output at 3200K.

Kelvin color consistency & linear output when dimming the light

Now, what you should always do when testing lights is to see if the Kelvin color temperature remains consistent when dimming the light. Just because you set a light at say 5600K, that doesn’t mean that the Kelvin color temperature will remain stable as you start dimming the fixture down. I also wanted to see how linear the dimming curve was.

I decided to do a series of tests at 100%/75%/50%/25%10% to see if the Kelvin color temperature being recorded changed. This was done at a distance of 1m using a Sekonic C-800. These tests were done at 5600K with the reflector and the light set in the High Output mode.

Nanlite Forza 720B

The Nanlite Forza 720B is able to maintain very good Kelvin color consistency as you start dimming the fixture. My testing showed that the Kelvin color temperature only varied by 78K. These are good results and it shows me that you can dim this fixture down without having to worry about big changes in Kelvin color temperature.

As far as how linear the output is when you start dimming the light, at 50% output it had 54.1% less output than when used at 100%. At 25% it had 76.9% less output than when used at 100%. At 10% output it had 90.46% less output than when used at 100%. This shows me that the light’s dimming curve is very linear.

Color Rendering

5600K Reflector (High Output)

So now that we have seen how much output the Nanlite Forza 720B produces, how does it perform when it comes to replicating accurate colors? Above you can see that when the light was set at 5600K using the standard reflector it recorded an average CRI (R1-R8) of 98.6 and an extended CRI (R1-R15) of 97.04. For replicating accurate skin tones it recorded for R9 92.7 (red), 99.3 for R13 (closest to caucasian skin tones), and 97.2 for R15 (closest to Asian skin tones). These are excellent results and some of the best I have seen from any light I have tested. R12 (Blue) was the only score under 90.

The light recorded a TLCI score of 99.

So how do these results for the Nanlite Forza 720B compare against the Aputure LS 600x Pro? Below you can see:

As you can see the Nanlite had more accurate color rendering scores when used at 5600K.

3200K Reflector (High Output)

Above you can see that when the light was set at 3200K using the standard reflector it recorded an average CRI (R1-R8) of 96.5 and an extended CRI (R1-R15) of 96.22. For replicating accurate skin tones it recorded for R9 97.4 (red), 95.6 for R13 (closest to caucasian skin tones), and 97.4 for R15 (closest to Asian skin tones). These are all excellent results. Again, Blue (R12) was the only score under 90.

The consistency of this color rendering at both 3200K and 5600K is impressive.

The light recorded a TLCI score of 98.

So how do these results for the Nanlite Forza 720B compare against the Aputure LS 600x Pro? Below you can see:

As you can see the scores are basically identical., with the Aputure having a slight edge.

I was also curious to see if the Constant Output mode produced better color rendering scores than the High Output mode. So did they?

5600K Reflector (Constant Output)

Above you can see that when the light was set at 5600K using the standard reflector and set to Constant Output it recorded an average CRI (R1-R8) of 98.4 and an extended CRI (R1-R15) of 97.08. For replicating accurate skin tones it recorded for R9 92.7 (red), 98.9 for R13 (closest to caucasian skin tones), and 97.1 for R15 (closest to Asian skin tones).

These scores were very, very similar to when using the High Output mode and it shows me that the High Output mode does not affect color rendering accuracy.

CC Index & ⊿uv

The CC Index displays the CC correction value and whether any magenta or green need to be added or subtracted. 1 CC corresponds to 035 Kodak CC values or 1/8 Rosco filter values. Any reading less than +1.00 or -1.00 and you’re probably not going to need to make any kind of adjustment. The ⊿uv is the value to show how much this light is away from being an ideal light source (black body radiation = incandescent lamp). As with the CC Index you want this number to theoretically be zero. Kelvin is not a linear value, so we need to convert from Kelvin to MK-1 to compare the values of color temperature. To calculate from Kelvin to Mired is MK-1= 1*1000000/Kelvin. While this may sound confusing, it is the only way of measuring if the Kelvin shift is significant enough to warrant having to use a filter for correction. Below are the results for the Nanlite Forza 720B:

Kelvin Vs MK-1

These figures might look confusing, but what it tells me is that the light is pretty Kelvin color accurate at most temperatures. Any MK-1 score that is under -9/9 means you wouldn’t have to use any color correction gels. The MK-1 scores for this light were pretty decent at all Kelvin color temperature settings.

As a comparison, the Aputure LS 600x Pro recorded an MK-1 score of -13.87 when used at 3200K and -6.71 when used at 5600K. -13.87 MK-1 is not a good score and you would need to use a color correction gel with the Aputure when it is set at 3200K.

In saying that, these are all just technical scores and technical data doesn’t always reflect real-world performance.

CC INDEX & ⊿uv

The ⊿uv scores were ok and the light doesn’t have any real significant push towards green or magenta at any Kelvin color temperature.

TM-30

TM-30 is a relatively new color rendering standard that was developed to deal with the limitations of CRI. TM-30 looks at 99 individual colors. These 99 colors are categorized into seven groups: nature, skin color, textiles, paints, plastics, printed material, and color systems.

TM-30 scores go from 0 – 100. The higher the score, the more accurate a light is at producing colors. Any TM-30 Rf score in the ’90s is considered to be good. What is interesting and something that you need to be very aware of is that two separate light sources with the exact same CRI scores can render colors very differently. A light with a high CRI rating could have a low TM-30 score. Conversely, a light with a good TM-30 score could have a bad CRI score.

Now, there are two measurements associated with TM-30, Rf and Rg.

• Rf (Color Fidelity)
• Rg (Color Gamut)

With Rf value, ideally, you want a score in the 90’s.

With Rg value, a score below 100 indicates that the light source renders colors with less saturation than the reference source. So ideally you want this score to be above 100.

Above you can see the scores for the Nanlite Forza 720B at various Kelvin color temperatures. Below I have listed the figures as well.

	Rf	Rg
2700K	96	100
3200K	95	102
4500K	94	101
5600K	95	100
6500K	93	98

The TM-30 scores are all really good and it shows me that the light is pretty consistent at replicating accurate colors with full saturation. Only at 6500K was it unable to achieve full saturation.　

SSI

SSI (Spectral Similarity Index) was developed by the Sci-Tech Council of the Academy. SSI gives me the ability to set any light as a standard, or use predefined standards (such as CIE D55), and then give other lights an SSI score based upon how well they will match standards such as CIE D55. This way I can measure spectral response and compare it directly against an ideal light source. This is actually a much better test than recording CRI scores.

Nanlite Forza 720B 5600K

In the graph above the gold bars indicate a perfect CIE D55 source. The red bars indicate a perfect CIE D 5600K source. This lets us compare how close to a perfect 5600K lighting source the Nanlite is. A score in the low 70’s is typical for a 5600K LED source. A score in the mid 70’s is very good.

The main reason we want to record SSI scores is so we can see how well they match with other lights. As an example, I wanted to see how well the Forza 720B matched the ARRI Orbiter and Godox LA150D. Below you can see the results.

As you can see the Forza 720B is a pretty reasonable match with both the ARRI and the Godox.

Nanlite Forza 720B 3200K

In this graph, the red bars indicate a perfect 3200K Tungsten source. The Red bars indicate a Planck 3200K source. This lets us compare how close to a perfect 3200K lighting source the Forza 720B is. A score in the low to mid-’80s is very good for a LED light trying to replicate a 3200K source.

As an example, I wanted to see how well the Forza 720B matched the ARRI Orbiter and Luxli Timpani 2. Below you can see the results.

As you can see the Forza 720B is a pretty reasonable match with both the ARRI and the Luxli, however, it more closely matches the Luxli. The Orbiter and Luxli Timpani are outstanding lights at re-producing an accurate 3200K source.

SSI tests are a great way of telling you what lights you own or use will work well together.

Spectral Distribution

5600K

Above you can see the spectral distribution of the Nanlite Forza 720B. The spectral distribution is really good and there aren’t any spikes where there shouldn’t be.

As a comparison, above you can see the spectral distribution of the Aputure LS 600x Pro when used at 5600K. As you can see the Aputure has less information in the color spectrum than the Nanlite.

3200K

Above you can see the spectral distribution of the Nanlite Forza 720B. The spectral distribution is really good and there aren’t any spikes where there shouldn’t be.

As a comparison, above you can see the spectral distribution of the Aputure LS 600x Pro when used at 5600K. As you can see the Aputure has less information in the color spectrum than the Nanlite, but they are fairly similar.

Accessories

As the Nanlite 720B uses a Bowens mount you can attach a large range of affordable accessories and modifiers. If you own multiple lights that utilize a Bowens mount you can swap and switch around accessories.

It is this versatility that has made COB lights like this that use a Bowens mount so popular.

Real-World Performance & Quality of Light

As I always say, photometric scores only tell you part of the story. So let’s find out if the scores from the Nanlite Forza 720B translate into good real-world performance.

The photometric data can only give me scientific data and it is much more important for me to see how the light looks and performs.

Unfortunately, it is very hard at the moment with the Coronavirus for me to showcase the strengths of the light. I live in Japan in an apartment so there isn’t a lot of space to do much testing. I apologize that I can’t do more!

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Above you can get a sense of how much output the light has. There are two photos with the exact same settings being used with the light on and the light off. The light was placed outside and punched through a sheer curtain.

The Forza 720B has a ton of output. It is always better to have more output than not enough. I would rather dim a light down than have to move it closer to a subject.

Above you can see more examples of the fixture being used to replicate a light source coming from outside.

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For these examples, the Forza 720B was using its Reflector and I was punching the light through a sheer curtain.

Above you can see an example of the light being punched directly into the ceiling.

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Above you can see examples of the light being aimed straight down and punched into the table.

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Above you can see an example of the light being punched indirectly into a wall.

It is very easy to create a soft, flattering light source using the Forza 720B by using modifiers like a softbox. The light when used open face easily fills up a large-sized softbox without any issues. Because the light has so much output, even when it is heavily diffused you can still get a very bright source.

The light also works well if you use it with its reflectors and punch it into some polyboard or other reflective material. Again, because it has so much output, it is capable of producing a nice amount of brightness even when used indirectly.

I also tried the Forza 720B with both a Prolycht Orion 300 FS 2x Fresnel Lens as well as the Aputure F10 Fresnel Attachment for LS 600d LED Light to see if they worked.

Even though Prolycht Orion 300 FS 2x Fresnel Lens worked reasonably well on the Forza 720B I don’t recommend you use it. The Fresnel got so hot after just a few minutes of being on the light it would burn your hand if you tried to touch it.

The Aputure F10 Fresnel Attachment for LS 600d LED Light provided much better results and it works well on the Forza 720B.

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Who is the 720B aimed at?

You could use this light for lots of different applications, but the light is certainly being aimed at professional users who want a good quality, high-powered, flexible COB fixture.

It is priced to appeal to professional owner-operators who are looking for a jack-of-all-trades lighting solution. The fixture has the ability to be a hard light source or a soft source and with a Bowens mount, you have the ability to run a plethora of affordable lighting modifiers. There is a reason that COB lights such as this have become very popular with shooters and that is because of their versatility.

The Nanite is likely to appeal to the same audience that is looking at the Aputure LS 600x Pro.

Price & Availability

The Nanlite Forza 720 retails for $1,649 USD and the Forza 720B retails for $1,849 USD.

Here is what you get with the Forza 720B:

• Nanlite Forza 720B Bi-Color LED Monolight
• Forza 720B Bi-Color LED Monolight Head
• Control Unit
• AC Power Cable (14.76′)
• Connecting Cable (16.4′)
• Quick-Release Clamp
• Reflector
• Protective COB Cap
• Carrying Bag
• Limited 2-Year Warranty, Extends to 3-Year with Online Registration

Below you can see how the price compares to the Aputure 600d and 600x:

As you can see the prices are fairly similar, with the Nanlite offerings undercutting their Aputure LS Pro counterparts by around $150 USD. Aputure did recently announce the more affordable Aputure LS 600d, but there is no Bi-color version of that light available.

Conclusion

The Godox LA150D and LA200D are solid fixtures that offer very good value for money. They are versatile, have a good amount of output, and produce a nice quality of light.

As the great Rasheed Wallace once said, “Ball don’t lie”. You may have opinions or misconceptions about lights made by certain companies, but the facts are this, the Nanlite Forza 720B is a very solid, well-made, color accurate fixture with a ton of output. It has better color rendering scores at 5600K than the Aputure LS 600x Pro, more output (but it does draw slightly more power), and it is slightly more affordable. These aren’t marketing claims, these are facts. I don’t have any horse in the race, nor do I have favoritism. Every light I review regardless of who it comes from or how much it costs gets the same in-depth treatment.

The interface and operating system are straightforward and easy to use, as is the app. By utilizing a Bowens Mount you can utilize a large array of lighting modifiers without having to spend a ton of money.

This is a solid workhorse meat and potatoes light with a nice side of gravy that has been designed to get the job done.

With a lot of modern LED lights, the quality of the LEDs being used is very similar, even across the price spectrum. What often separates the lights comes down to build quality, features, and usability.

It is a real pity that in our industry certain products get more attention than others solely because of marketing and hype that gets created around them. I have tested hundreds of lights over the last decade or so, and there are always lights that consumers don’t look twice at because they didn’t come from a cool brand.

The Nanlite Forza 720B is a good high-powered COB spotlight that really deserves a good hard look if you are in the market for a light like this.

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