Nanlite Forza 60C

The Nanlite Forza 60C might be little, but it’s feature-rich and packs a punch with the available modifiers.

Table of Contents

• First Impressions
• What’s in the Bag
• Specfications
  • Brightness
    • Light only
    • Light with reflector
    • Light with Projection Attachment 19 degrees
    • Light with Projection Attachment 36 degrees
• Construction
• FM Mount
• Modifiers
  • Light Spill
• Navigation
• Nanlink App
• Use-Cases
  • Background Accent
  • Key Light
  • Fill Light
  • Coloured Accents
  • Product Photography
• Final Thoughts
• Gallery of Images

First Impressions

I had seen the Nanlite Forza 60C at ProFusion Expo before but somehow it didn’t seem as small at the time. When I first opened the box in my home though I was surprised at how small it was. This little light that weighs only 2.3lbs (without power adaptor) emits so much light—not to mention contains several different lighting options.

The light uses a smaller mount adaptor for modifiers: FM mount. However Nanlite provides several options with this mount—some of which I will include in this blog post. If you already have Bowens mount modifiers though, you’re in luck as the Nanlite Forza 60C also includes a Bowens mount adaptor so you can reuse your existing modifiers.

The power adaptor is separate from the body of the light which makes the light easier to handle. Just hang the power adaptor to your light stand with the provided loop and plug it into the wall. If you don’t have a wall plug nearby, the Nanlite Forza 60C is also capable of being powered by batteries: a standard V-mount battery or NP-F style batteries. The included NP-F battery holder lets you carry the Forza 60C in one hand as you handle the camera in your other hand. The V-Mount battery holder is available as a separate purchase.

What’s in the Bag

Nanlite Forza 60C Specifications

The Nanlite Forza 60C uses RGBLAC (Red, Green, Blue, Lime, Amber, Cyan) LEDs. The addition of the LAC means it’s able to produce a wider colour gamut compared to RGBWW (Red, Green, Blue, Warm White), which some other lighting manufacturers use.

Here’s a quick recap of the specifications of the light from Nanlite’s website:

Rated Power	88W
Input Voltage/Current	DC 15V/6A Max, AC 100-240V 50/60Hz
CCT	1800K-20000K (G/M±100)
CRI	Average 96
TLCI	Average 95
TM-30 Rf	Average 94
TM-30 Rg	Average 100
Dimming	0-100% continuous
Control	On-board, Remote Controller, NANLINK APP, DMX/RDM
Special Effects	HUE Loop, CCT Loop, INT Loop, Flash, Pulse, Storm, Police Car, TV, Paparazzi, Candle/Fire, Disco, Bad Bulb, Firework, Explosion, and Welding
Product Size	Light Fixture (without COB Protective Cap): 224 × 110 × 88mm / 8.82 x 4.33 x 3.46″ Power Adapter (with Holder Base): 141 × 82 × 50mm / 5.55 x 3.23 x 1.97″
Product Weight	Light Fixture: 1.08kg / 2.38lb Power Adapter: 0.47kg / 1.04lb (With Holder Base) Power Cable 3M: 0.12kg / 0.26lb Reflector: 0.08kg / 0.18lb

Brightness

Lux is a unit of illuminance equivalent to one lumen at 1m from the source.

Light Only

	1m	2m	3m
2700K	5656 lux	1402 lux	631 lux
3200K	5694 lux	1433 lux	648 lux
4300K	5861 lux	1462 lux	658 lux
5600K	5709 lux	1425 lux	646 lux
7500K	5567 lux	1388 lux	630 lux
R	1282 lux	317 lux	142 lux
G	3855 lux	953 lux	428 lux
B	520 lux	129 lux	59 lux

With Included Reflector

	1m	2m	3m
2700K	12470 lux	2839 lux	1238 lux
3200K	12750 lux	2939 lux	1278 lux
4300K	12970 lux	2958 lux	1301 lux
5600K	12810 lux	2946 lux	1283 lux
7500K	12460 lux	2866 lux	1254 lux
R	2866 lux	656 lux	290 lux
G	8792 lux	2016 lux	876 lux
B	1200 lux	275 lux	120 lux

With PJ-FMM-19 Projector Attachment (optional)

	1m	2m	3m
2700K	40690 lux	7673 lux	3164 lux
3200K	41920 lux	7899 lux	3259 lux
4300K	43550 lux	8140 lux	3331 lux
5600K	42700 lux	8045 lux	3313 lux
7500K	41500 lux	7825 lux	3231 lux
R	9950 lux	1870 lux	767 lux
G	28310 lux	5272 lux	2144 lux
B	5330 lux	680 lux	280 lux

With PJ-FMM-36 Projector Attachment (optional)

	1m	2m	3m
2700K	16130 lux	3135 lux	1300 lux
3200K	16610 lux	3269 lux	1358 lux
4300K	18090 lux	3544 lux	1457 lux
5600K	17500 lux	3468 lux	1440 lux
7500K	17140 lux	3379 lux	1400 lux
R	4160 lux	812 lux	338 lux
G	11800 lux	2284 lux	943 lux
B	1540 lux	310 lux	126 lux

Construction

The Nanlite Forza 60C is solidly built. The housing itself is made with a combination of hard plastic and metal top and bottom grates. The heat sink which is visible from the top grate is placed near the front, and the fan which is visible from the bottom grate is placed underneath the heat sink.

The buttons and dial on the back panel feel the same as those on the Nanlite FS-300B, except they are a little smaller to fit the size of the Nanlite Forza 60C.

As for the display, the fonts used are Serif fonts, which makes it a little harder to read on smaller screens. I had this same issue on the FS-300B. If I recall though, their newer line of lights, Nanlite FC-300 and FC-500, has all Sans-Serif fonts which makes for much easier reading of the menu system.

The power cable is a simple non-locking connection which I think can be improved with a twist lock to prevent unplugging itself from accidental tugs on the cable.

The FM Mount

FM Mount Modifiers

Nanlite provides several different types of modifiers you can use directly on the FM Mount. If you want more, you can always use the provided FM Mount to Bowens Mount adaptor.

Softbox and Grid: The SB-FMM-60 (60cm) soft box comes with two diffusion panels allowing you to adjust the amount of light diffusion. If you need more control, just add the grid (eggcrate, as Nanlite calls it) to further shape the light toward the subject.

Fresnel Lens: The Nanlite FL-11 comes with barn doors so you can really control the light with this attachment. A Fresnel lens offers the ability to focus the light beam onto the subject—but not as focused as the projection attachment. When you add the barn doors to the Fresnel lens, you can shape the edges of the light to your liking and to reduce light spill.

Projection Attachment: The Nanlite PJ-FMM-19 and PJ-FMM-36 is a projection attachment that allows you to focus the light down to a smaller diameter. The 19 and 36 defines the angle of spread for the light. If you’re working in a smaller room, I would recommend the 36 degree since the light will most likely be closer to you yet it will provide a large enough diameter to work with. In this example the light is roughly 2m away from the wall and provides ample diameter to cover the field of view for a video.

The projection attachment offers the ability to add a GOBO (Go Between Optics) for creative freedom. I love this feature as it lets you add accents to background photos and videos. The included 4-GOBO set provides a good start to the variety of GOBOs available. Nanlite further offers two different sets to add even more creative freedom to your shoots. GOBO set 1 adds 10 additional patterns, windows, and grills. GOBO set 2 adds 10 additional trees and nature patterns.

Light Spill

Here’s a comparison of the light spill with the different modifiers. In all cases these were the following settings:

• Front of the Nanlite Forza 60C or its attachment was always approximately 20in. away from the wall.
• The Forza 60C was set to 12% at 5600K
• The Nikon Z 8 WB was set to 5600K standing roughly 2m from the back of the Forza 60C

Navigation

The display of the Nanlite Forza 60C is standard, has all the key information you need, but can be a little confusing at first if you don’t know which knob to press or turn to navigate through the menu.

Intuitively to change options one might think to depress the same button as you used to select the menu item. However, on the Nanlite Forza 60C and I believe most of Nanlite’s other units, you select the menu with one dial, and use the other dial to change the options for the selected menu. This requires two-hands to efficiently change settings—or if using one hand like I like to do, I find myself reaching back and forth between the two dials.

The shortcut to automatically dim the light to 0% by pressing the left dial once is a great idea though. Press it a second time to go back to the original setting.

Pressing the Mode button will cycle through four options:

1. Mode
2. CCT
3. HSI
4. Effect

Mode

The Mode item will give you options to change the channel, Fan, DMX settings, and update the firmware. A note about updating the firmware. It took me a couple tries to make this work but apparently some USB keys are not recognized by the unit, and the USB key needs to be formatted in the right OS (FAT/FAT32).

CCT

This mode lets you change the intensity (DIM) and colour temperature (CCT) in addition to tuning the Magenta/Green channels to match existing lights in a multi-light production setting.

HSI

You can change the Hue, Saturation, and Intensity of the light in this mode.

Effect

There are 15 pre-set effects to choose from, with the ability to fine-tune each effect to your liking.

Nanlink App

Curiously, if you use the Nanlink app, there are additional options to choose from:

1. CCT
2. HSI
3. RGBW
4. XY Coordinates
5. Effect
6. Preset

Lost Connections

I’ve had a few instances where I was unable to connect to my lighting device with the Nanlink App on iPhone. When this happened I deleted the device and re-added it into the app. This seemed to have fixed any issues with devices on different channels and whatnot. Another option that I found to work was to reset the Bluetooth setting on the device itself. This however requires you to go to each unit and reset the Bluetooth setting in the menu.

The Nanlink app is a little inconsistent in my experience and I hope this gets fixed in future iterations.

DMX

DMX stands for Digital Multiplex. It’s a control system that allows multiple lighting devices to be controlled by a single main console. With the addition of a DMX adaptor cable (available from Nanlite or other manufacturers), you can connect the Forza 60C to your other lights and have them controlled by a central console. It’s a great way to add programmed lighting to your set as well. I did not test the DMX capabilities as I only had this one unit in operation at the time of testing.

Use-Cases

The Nanlite Forza 60C is a powerful point-source light that is capable of many uses. Here are a few ideas on how you can use your Nanlite Forza 60C. Feel free to let me know in the comments if you have other uses for it!

Background Accent Light

Probably one of the more popular uses for the light would be to use it as an accent in your background for your video. The light is powerful enough to light the background while not over-powering the subject. With the addition of the Projector Attachment, you’re able to further shape the light to something more creative; adding a GOBO (right image) allows you to add different shapes to the background to add another level of interest to your videos.

Key Light

The Nanlite Forza 60C offers an impressive 88 watts of output. In a darker ambiance, you could use this light as your key light—main source of light. With the use of a soft box and/or grid to further shape the light, this helps to wrap the light around the subject, providing less harsh shadows.

The following photos have the Nanlite Forza 60C on camera left, standing approximately 1m away from me with the 60cm soft box. These are unedited image.

60cm Soft Box With 1-Stop Diffusion

60cm Soft Box With 2-Stop Diffusion

Fill Light

If you already have a more powerful key light, you can make use of the Nanlite Forza 60C as a fill light to help open up the shadows. You can see the difference a fill light makes with the following photos. The FS-300B (camera right) has a 80cm Lantern soft box on it while the Forza 60C (camera left) had a 1-stop diffused 60cm soft box on it.

Coloured Accents

One of the best features of the Forza 60C is its colour capabilities. With the Nanlite Forza 60C, you can add colour to portraits in creative ways. If you bring in the PJ-FMM projection attachment, you can go a step further by adjusting the cutters to your liking.

Product Photography

I think the Nanlite Forza 60C is great for small product photography. It provides enough power and creative accessories to be able to enhance the product you’re photographing. Just set up your background and bottom of your choice, set the Nanlite Fora 60C to either on top of the product or in front, and fire away.

You can even get creative with the Projection Attachment by using additional colours or using the cutters to shape the light.

Final Thoughts

The Nanlite Forza 60C is a small light but packs a punch. I love the colour capabilities of the light in addition to its small size lending itself well for decent portability. There are plenty of FM-mount modifiers available to further extend the benefits of the Forza 60C.

The Projection Attachment has to be one of the more creative modifiers that I think is a must for anyone wanting to further their creative capabilities with the Forza 60C. The ability to cut the light and add on GOBOs increases the use of the Forza 60C.

While there may be minor improvements that can be made, such as the readability of the display, better locking knob on the Bowens mount adaptor, and a locking nut on the power cable, the benefits of the unit far outweigh these negatives.

If you’re looking for a small yet powerful constant light for your creative needs, I would highly recommend looking into the Nanlite Forza 60C as a viable option. If you go to your local camera store, they may even have one on the floor for you to see in person.

Gallery of Images

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