Nanlite Forza 300B 300W Bi-Color Led COB Light- Lab-Review

Nanlite Forza 300B – Technical Analysis

The Nanlite Forza 300B is a bi-colour COB monolight with a range from 2700K to 6500K. Measurements were taken at a distance of 1 m without modifiers, plus one measurement with the standard reflector, across a total of 9 individual measurements.

Scores and lab report based on the current version of our evaluation (October 2026). The power score refers to the output with the standard reflector (38,428 lux).

🔍 Key Measurements (White Light, 100%, 1 m)

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🔎 Performance Analysis

💡 Light Output

Unmodified, the Forza 300B reaches its highest output at 6500K with 9,064 lux at a distance of 1 m (EV 11.8). Output decreases steadily towards the warm end: 7,889 lux at 5500K (about 13% less), 6,454 lux at 3200K and 6,309 lux at 2700K (both about 30% less). In multi-light setups with different colour temperatures, this has to be compensated via the dimmer.

With the standard reflector, the light reaches 38,428 lux at 5500K (EV 13.9), about 4.9 times the bare output.

Dimming is practically perfectly linear:

At 5500K, the colour temperature stays almost constant across the dimming range (under 1 MK-1). At 3200K, it rises from 3,177 K to 3,238 K, a moderate drift of about 6 MK-1.

Standout Features:

• ✅ High output: up to 9,064 lux bare, 38,428 lux with reflector
• ✅ Practically perfect dimming linearity: 10% power ≈ 10% light, 50% ≈ 50%
• ✅ Colour-stable dimming at 5500K: under 1 MK-1
• ⚠️ Large output differences between CCTs: 2700K and 3200K about 30% below 6500K

🎨 Colour Rendering (White Light)

CRI (Ra) sits between 95.4 and 96.9, R9 between 91 and 94. At 10%, red rendering drops somewhat: at 3200K, R9 falls to 82 (Ra 93.4), at 5500K to 84. TLCI (for information) reaches 97 to 98.

TM-30 Rf lies between 92 and 94, with Rg between 98 and 102. 2700K is slightly muted at Rg 98, the other settings slightly saturated.

The SSI is 88 at 2700K and 82 at 3200K, a good result for the warm settings. Towards daylight, it drops to 71 at 5500K and 68 at 6500K.

Standout Features:

• ✅ High colour fidelity at full output: Ra 95.4–96.9, R9 91–94
• ✅ Good SSI at warm CCTs: 88 at 2700K, 82 at 3200K
• ⚠️ R9 drops at low dimming levels: 82 at 3200K and 10%
• ⚠️ Daylight SSI moderate: 71 at 5500K, 68 at 6500K

🧪 TM-30 in Detail

TM-30 divides colours into 16 hue bins. The local chroma shift (Rcs) shows whether a hue is rendered more or less saturated than under the reference light, the local fidelity (Rf,h) how accurately it is rendered overall. Shifts of a few percent are barely visible; from around 10%, the affected hues look noticeably more intense or duller.

At 2700K, the Forza 300B slightly desaturates the yellow range (yellow-orange and yellow -6%), and local fidelity drops to 89 in yellow-orange. Warm golden tones therefore look a little duller, but the effect is moderate. At 3200K, all hue bins stay within ±5%, with blue and cyan-blue slightly emphasised.

At 5500K and especially 6500K, the typical daylight pattern of phosphor-converted LEDs appears: purple (+10%) and violet (+12%) become clearly more saturated, while fidelity in cyan to cyan-blue drops to 84–86. Cyan tones also shift in hue (up to 0.09 at 6500K). At 6500K, 22 of the 99 colour samples fall below Rf 90.

Skin tones in the orange-red and orange bins (2 and 3) stay within ±1% saturation at every colour temperature and reach Rf,h 94 to 97.

The spectrum peaks at 634–636 nm in the warm settings and at 450–451 nm (blue pump) in the daylight settings.

Standout Features:

• ✅ Balanced at 3200K: all hue bins within ±5%, Rf,h ≥ 92
• ✅ Skin tones stable: bins 2/3 at Rf,h 94–97
• ⚠️ Strong daylight pattern at 6500K: violet +12%, cyan-blue Rf,h 84

🌡️ CCT Accuracy

The deviation in Mired (MK-1) is more meaningful than the raw Kelvin difference, since the Kelvin scale is not linear:

All colour temperatures stay below the threshold of around 10 MK-1 at which a shift becomes perceptible. 2700K is practically spot-on at 0.27 MK-1, and 3200K is very precise at 3.67 MK-1. The daylight settings measure slightly cooler than set (7.02 and 6.74 MK-1).

The tint is neutral at 2700K and 6500K. At 3200K, Duv of -0.0043 shows a slight magenta tendency, which increases to -0.0053 at 10%.

Standout Features:

• ✅ Spot-on at 2700K: 2,698 K, 0.27 MK-1
• ✅ Very precise at 3200K: 3.67 MK-1
• ⚠️ Daylight slightly cool: 5,721 K and 6,798 K
• ⚠️ Slight magenta tendency at 3200K: Duv -0.0043

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✅ Strengths

1. Excellent CCT accuracy in the warm range → 0.27 MK-1 at 2700K, 3.67 MK-1 at 3200K, all CCTs below 10 MK-1
2. High output → Up to 9,064 lux bare, 38,428 lux with the standard reflector
3. Practically perfect dimming linearity → 10% power ≈ 10% light, colour-stable at 5500K
4. Good warm white → SSI 88 at 2700K and 82 at 3200K, balanced TM-30 at 3200K
5. Stable skin tones → Bins 2/3 at Rf,h 94–97 at every CCT

⚠️ Weaknesses

1. Large output differences between CCTs → 6,309 lux at 2700K vs. 9,064 lux at 6500K
2. Limited daylight spectrum → SSI 71 and 68, violet +12% and cyan-blue Rf,h 84 at 6500K
3. R9 drops at low dimming levels → 82 at 3200K and 10%, 84 at 5500K and 10%
4. Slight magenta tendency at 3200K → Duv -0.0043, -0.0053 at 10%

📉 Practical Applications

Ideal for: → Tungsten-balanced work at 2700K and 3200K: precise CCT, good SSI → Interviews and narrative work: stable skin tones, linear dimming → High-output studio lighting: strong output, especially at 6500K

Use with caution: → Spectrally sensitive daylight work: SSI 68–71 → Products in purple, violet or turquoise at daylight CCTs: clear saturation and fidelity deviations → Multi-light setups with mixed CCTs: up to about 30% output difference → Very low dimming levels: R9 drops to 82–84

📌 Conclusion

The Nanlite Forza 300B is a high-output bi-colour monolight with outstanding CCT accuracy in the warm range (2700K practically spot-on, 3200K at 3.67 MK-1) and practically perfect dimming linearity. Skin tones stay stable at every colour temperature.

The detailed analysis shows the compromises: at daylight CCTs, the SSI drops to 71 and 68, violet and purple become clearly oversaturated and cyan loses fidelity. Output also varies by up to 30% between colour temperatures. For warm, tungsten-balanced work and interviews, the 300B is a very good tool; for spectrally demanding daylight work, its limits show.

Data Overview

📥 PDF herunterladen

TM-30-18

TM-30 Multi Report

TM-30 Comparison

Multiple Measurements in Direct Comparison

Report selection by CCT

All loaded reports are sorted by CCT automatically. The slider snaps to the nearest report.

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Color Vector Graphic

Reference and test as closed 16-bin curves.

Click a CES cell to view vector and detail values.

Normalized Spectral Power Distribution

TM-30 Dashboard

Local shifts and radial visualization as in the standard report.

Local Chroma Shift (Rcs,hj)

Local Hue Shift (Rhs,hj)

Local Color Fidelity (Rf,hj)

Click one of the three local titles to see a short explanation of meaning and visual impact.

Color Sample Fidelity (Rf,CESi)

Direct overview of all 99 CES samples with fidelity values.

Measure Comparisons

Additional comparison view analogous to the TM-30 reference representation.

Color Evaluation Samples

Highlighted skin-tone areas provide practical orientation for portrait colors. Click to zoom.

Click a CES cell to view the comparison in the popup.

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