Recreating convincing sunlight on a stage has traditionally meant either bringing in large HMIs or accepting compromises in punch and shadow quality. Aputure’s new NOVA 9° 2×1 targets that gap with a 650W-output lensed LED panel and a tight 9° native beam designed for long-throw, directional output. Alongside it, Aputure also introduced the NOVA II 1×1, a 500W full-color panel that brings the company’s BLAIR-CG engine into a compact 1×1 format. Let’s take a closer look at what these new panels bring to the NOVA lineup. We took a look at Aputure’s NOVA II 2×1 panel back at IBC 2025, just as they’d debuted the new Blair-CG engine. With these additions, Aputure is pushing panels into even more specialized territory. One fixture moves toward hard-source behavior, while the other refines the high-output 1×1 format. The NOVA 9° 2×1: a lensed panel behaving like a hard source At the core of the NOVA 9° 2×1 is its optical design. Unlike typical LED panels with wide native beam spreads, this unit uses a lensed system to achieve a 9° native beam angle. Output reflects that intent. The 9° produces up to 28,090 lux at 5 meters (16.4 ft) at 3200K without modifiers. At 10 meters (32.8 ft), it delivers 7,660 lux at 3200K, and at 20 meters (65.6 ft), it maintains over 2,000 lux. Those figures place it closer to traditional hard sources than to soft panels, particularly when working at longer throws. 2×1 lensed panel. Image credit: Aputure The engine inside...
Published By: CineD - Today