GEAR
LITTLE LEDS
THE MAGIC ROTOLIGHT
British firm Rotolight loves to do its own thing and bring unique features to the lights it makes. And that’s certainly true with the Neo 3 Pro, which puts out continuous light in all colours and has a high-speed sync flash in RGBWW colours. You just dial them in, giving you a flash in any one of 16.7 million colours or with 2500 digital filters, with virtually zero recycle time. The Neo 3 Pro is the brightest on-camera LED light ever, around 25% more powerful than the standard Neo 3 that sells alongside it. To look at, the key difference from the old version is that the Neo 3 Pro has solid aluminium dials replacing the plastic ones. There are also quick-access Kelvin presets in CCT mode. Instead of scrolling through all the options, these give instant access to popular settings such as 5600K daylight, 3200K tungsten and a 4600K midpoint. There are also four additional special FX settings including fireworks, candle, “The Neo 3 Pro has a full-colour, two-inch touchscreen or you can navigate by the dials on the rear panel” disco and throb, plus the new Masters of Light preset packs. These feature over 100 built-in effects, gels and HSI colour settings. Select these from the light’s colour touchscreen or via the Rotolight app, which gives an on-screen preview. For use with flash for stills, there’s compatibility with Godox, Profoto, Elinchrom and Pixapro flash kit. The Neo 3 Pro has a full-colour, two- inch touchscreen – or you can navigate by the dials on the rear panel. The touch panel is easy to use with a sensible menu structure, or use the app which mirrors the touchscreen. The Neo 3 Pro is a relatively compact on-camera light measuring 145x50mm/5.7inx2in (wxd) and weighing just 354g/0.78lb. That makes it bigger than all the other lights we tested, but does give softer results. It works on a camera but is more at home on a stand, where it can be powered by the included mains adapter or using a Sony NP-F fit battery. You can buy NP-F batteries in lots of different sizes, so this will keep it running for a good while. Or, if you have V-Mount batteries, it’s possible to buy a D-Tap to NP-F adapter and run the Neo 3 Pro through that for a long, long time.
Output is a seriously powerful 6802 lux at 3ft. This is very bright for such a small LED. The output is dimmable 0-100% and controllable in colour temperature across 3000-10,000K. In high-speed sync mode for shutter speeds up to 1/8000sec, the LEDs flash and give double the output. That’s rather useful for hybrid shooters who might want to light the scene once, but shoot it twice – one for video and one for stills. The £649/$749 Neo 3 Pro Imagemaker Kit comes with the light, battery, carry case, ball head, coldshoe and a diffuser dome. And to modify the light even more, Rotolight offers an optional Bowens speed ring adapter so you can use a huge range of modifiers like softboxes. rotolight.com
FLASH JOB The Rotolight is not only ideal for video but also stills, as it has built-in flash functionality compatible with most popular systems
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PRO MOVIEMAKER
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