Aputure MT Pro review

Lighting is a huge business for filmmakers. It is arguably the most important part of shooting a scene, so it isn’t surprising to find a huge array of lights, of all types, shapes, and sizes, ranging from the cheapest Amazon specials to the eye-wateringly expensive. Luckily that means there is a middle ground that suits the majority of filmmakers and it’s fair to say that only a few companies have pushed the boundaries in this area, with Aputure being one of the most popular, at least if YouTube and the many freelance kits I've seen are anything to go by. I won’t go into the different types of lighting here, concentrating on Tube lights, as that is what the MT pro is.

Tube lights used to be just that; a simple tube, often fluorescent that could be used in tight spaces for a fairly soft light. In days gone these were often fragile, a little unpredictable, and inconsistent but that is all behind us. The strengths of LEDs have meant that tubes are now controllable, predictable, and far more robust, making them ideal for many uses and they can be found at different lengths and specifications (as well as price points). Aputure has built a reputation as a manufacturer of high-quality filmmaking lights that have garnered a lot of enthusiastic respect in the last few years. The question here is should you buy the MR Pro for your tube light needs?

Aputure MT Pro: Specifications

Aputure MT Pro: Price

At $199 / £199 the MR pro is affordable for most serious shooters and enthusiastic hobbyists. Extra value is had when you consider the kit comes cased, with extras.

Aputure MT Pro: Design & Handling

The MT Pro comes in a semi-hard shell case, the kind with a touch fabric outer and a zip closure. I’m a big fan of these cases, at least the Aputure ones. They are robust and high quality but they also don’t slide around as much as hard cases. A small but useful attribute.

Inside the case, you get the MT Pro itself, a USB-C charging cable, a small table top tripod, and a grid for directional control of the light.

Everything is well built, made of high-quality materials, and feels sturdy, even the tripod, which has a simple rotating collar to lock the ball head, although I’m not convinced it will get much use. Still, nice to have and it supports the light well, attaching to the ¼” mounting points, one on the end and one in the middle bottom edge of the light.

The MT pro is made from metal, with plastic end caps and lens. It is a rugged little bit of kit that can probably take a few knocks. In the case I’m sure it could be dropped without any issues.

The rear of the MT Pro has a magnet at each end, for attaching to any suitable surface and these magnets are pretty strong, making this a good method for rigging in unusual places. You can see in the photo below that I stuck it under the metal bracket of a shelf. A location that would have taken time to fit had it not been for the magnets. A nice addition and one that I appreciate in other Aputure fixtures like the MC lights.

Tube lights tend to be soft with a wide spread, which is great if that’s what you want but there are times when light needs controlling, making the addition of a grid a welcome one. It’s a simple fabric grid, with an elastic loop that hooks over each end of the light. This is fast to set up but does partially cover the magnets, which is a shame. They still work but not to their full strength, so care is needed if mounting that way. When using other rigging methods it isn’t a problem and the grid does an excellent job of directing the light.

Aputure MT Pro: Performance

Power

An internal lithium battery gives around two hours of use at maximum intensity, which isn’t bad and drastically increases at lower brightness levels. I tested it at 60% and got nearly five hours out of it. It charges via USB-C and can be used whilst being charged, so you could connect to a power bank or an outlet if you need extended, uninterrupted use.

Performance

7.5 watts output this light is never going to flood a large volume but as a method for adding interest, a little fill or for some interesting effects it is quite a useful tool to have, especially in a wider setup of lightning and that is the key to the MT Pro. It is great for fitting in small spaces or places that are tricky to rig.

The biggest boon is replacing practicals with a very controllable and accurate fixture. Say you are shooting a bar scene, where the house lights flicker, or vary in colour rendition. Switching them off but having these in their place makes your shot simpler and this is for two reasons. First is the rendition of the output. The MT Pro offers 2k to 10k temperatures with green/magenta offset control and covers 90% of the rec.2020 colour space and can be set using HSI or CCT, so switching from controlled colour temperature to more stylised output is easy. CRI is 95% and other measures of colour rendition are high too, including TLCI of 98% making this good for TV work too.

Many lights now ship with a number of preset effects, from things like police car lights to fireworks or broken bulbs and the MT Pro is no different. It has the usual suspects but also a second set of FX presets that utilise the pixels differently. Take fire. Many lights have this but if you switch to the Pixel FX fire you gain much more control and realism, from the frequency of the flickering, to the direction along the light from which the flames are simulated. All of this is very configurable and makes these previously uninspiring effects actually useful. There are many of these built in, alongside slots for your own custom effects. Controls include the size of the pixel area, speed of movement, RGB colour choices, direction of travel and more.

I’ve seen a light with an app based colour picker before but the Pixel FX allows you to take this a step further. You can move your phone across objects, picking a range of colours via video, which the MT Pro will then replicate. Sure, this isn’t going to be used daily but it is another tool to take advantage of.

I didn’t expect to get much out of these but they are actually really good fun and open up some interesting possibilities that have certainly sparked my imagination for some interesting uses.

Control

It doesn’t matter how accurate a light is, or how many useful effects it can produce. If it’s difficult to control it’s all too easy to look elsewhere and this is where the MT Pro and Aputure generally, has nailed it. Not only is the onboard control system good but there are other ways to access settings, so that on set you can make changes on the fly, or set up scenes to recall later.

The main way people will do this is via the Sidus Link app, Aputure’s bluetooth app for iPhone and Android. This is a great app, with every control you could ever need, without being overly complex. The interface is intuitive, so no instructions are needed. The best part is that, as well as individual fixture control, you can also set up a scene that can control a number of lights, which I appreciate when switching angles back and forth.

The app is where you can access additional features, not found on the light itself, for obvious reasons. Colour picking and colour wheels can be found here for HSI or RGB selections and while the wheel on the light is good, I prefer to set things up using the app, which also means it can be left in place on set.

For integration on larger productions or those with a board, the MT Pro has support for DMX and CRMX, with an optional USB-C to XLR adapter available.

Aputure MT Pro: Verdict

All in all the MT Pro is a very capable small tube light, with a feature set that covers the full gamut of requirements. It can be mounted just about anywhere, has excellent control, as well as the accuracy of color rendition and some fabulous effects thanks to its Pixel FX system. The Sidus Link app is robust and intuitive too, making it easy to add this light to an existing set of lights, creating scenes and providing innovative ways to animate your light’s output. It may not be the best choice for a first light purchase but I would highly recommend it as part of a kit.

Alternatives

Neewer’s RGB168 comes in for less money and has barn doors, a handle, and an innovative touch bar for color selection but only a soft pouch to carry everything.

The Godox TL30 is much cheaper and has app control and magnets for mounting but weighs twice as much as the MT Pro, with a much smaller CCT range.