Pro Moviemaker July-August 2021 - Web

BUYERS’ GUIDE

3. LITRA RANGE From£99/$90 litra.com

Litra stock an array of small LED camera-top lights that are well-built and give powerful, quality lighting – two of the range are comfortably within our maximum budget. The smallest is the £99/$90 LitraTorch 2.0 – a 16-LED light, with maximum 800 lumens output at 5700K. Its build is impressive, with a solid aluminium body and waterproofing common to Litra. Push the on/off button and the light comes on at 100 lumens output. The next push gets this to 450 lumens. A third gives you full power, with the final push activating strobe mode. There’s no Bluetooth, though – the only other features are a rubber gasket-covered micro USB charging port and two 1/4in fittings. The £229/$170 LitraPro is still a pocket-sized unit, with an output of up to 1200 lumens – adjusted with the dial, or via Bluetooth and the free app. Charge it with the micro USB port under a spring-loaded trap door on the unit’s side. It has a rubber seal on the door’s underside and the unit is waterproof to 30m. Controls are on the top

2. ROTOLIGHT NEO 2 £200/$249 rotolight.com

Rotolight’s LED panels are creative and packed with unique features. The whole range is versatile – from the large Titan X2 to the Neo 2, which can be used on-camera. There is a built-in flash facility, so hybrid stills andmovie shooters can create images without switching between two types of light. Using an Elinchrom-made Skyport transmitter, they can be used as super-fast flash units, with virtually instantaneous recycling, synching at high speed. For pure movie use, try SFX lights such as fire flicker, flashing police or even a fake gunshot burst. And there can be auto-fade up or down for professional interviews. Every camera in the set does far more than just being stable and flicker-free, which is why they are so popular with both filmmakers and photographers. The £200/$249 Neo 2 is ideal for both on- and off-camera use. It works as a multi- adjustable light panel using bi-colour LEDs. There are two sets of LEDs – one daylight balanced and one tungsten – so you can dial in the colour temperature as you like. Light output is 2000 lux at around a metre – without risk of screen flicker –which is great both indoors and out, when conditions are gloomy. With a CRI rating of 96+, don’t worry about getting inaccurate colours. The Neo 2 has three 1/4in threaded sockets around its circumference, so it can be attached to video rigs and have magic arms or barn doors fixed to it. It runs on AA batteries, but can be powered by D-Tap or mains. With a diameter of 145mm/5.7in, it’s a relatively soft light source in close, while the quality of the beam is directional and crisp. Tomodify further, Rotolight offers optional extras like barn doors and a softbox. The unit comes with full andmedium diffusers, cosmetic peach skin tone, and 1/8 magenta and coloured gels for further tweaks. On the back of the panel is a large, bright LED display with control knobs, letting you adjust the intensity and colour temperature of the light from 3150-6300K – pushing these allows access to settings such as flash duration. It’s a bit of kit every filmmaker should have in their bag.

plate and an LCD keeps you informed. The K + and - buttons control colour temperature within a 3000-6000K range in 100K increments. Output is controlled by the other two buttons; the 0-100% range can be adjusted in 5% steps.

4. APUTURE AL-MC RGBWW £96/$90 aputure.com This small light panel has the vlogging world talking – it seems every YouTube content creator is raving about it, and for good reason. The Aputure AL-MC RGBWWLED features RGB, as well as both tungsten- and daylight- balanced LEDs to create a full hue- controllable light that emits up to 95%of the BT.2020 colour gamut. This is a compact fixture, mounted using the built-in 1/4in-20 threadedmounting hole, or attached tometal items via built-inmagnets. It’s controlled by an integrated OLED display screen and control wheel. Full compatibility with the Aputure Sidus Link app enables remote control from a mobile, and it supports Sidus Mesh technology, for managingmany fixtures. It’s dimmable from 100 to 0% brightness, has 360° of hue control, and 100 levels of colour saturation

adjustment. It features a CRI rating of 96+, a TLCI rating of 97+, and a colour temperature range of 3200-6500K – adjustable in 100° increments. In addition to the HSI and CCT settings, there are nine built-in FX settings. The integrated battery runs the light for two hours at maximumbrightness. The fixture supports both USB Type-C PD quick- charging, and Qi wireless charging protocol, making it compatible with most wireless chargers. A great bit of kit at a very reasonable price.

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