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PRICE: £109.99 KENRO.CO.UK Nanlite Pavotube II 6C Easy to use and portable, this continous light tube has potential for portrait and close-up work and it has controllable colour temperature, 360 RGB colours plus a range of special effect modes
The Nanlite family offers a choice of panel, monolight and tube lighting solutions for still and movie photographers. The Pavotube collection currently comprises the 15C and 30C, which are high-spec, versatile studio tube lights (imagine a fluorescent light tube or Star Wars lightsabre) that can be mains- or battery-powered and cost around £288 and £432 respectively. The lighting family is getting a new arrival in the form of the Pavotube II 6C, and we got an early sample for a quick preview. The Pavotube II 6C is very compact, measuring just 25cm long and 4cm in diameter, so it is easily portable. It is battery-powered, charged via its USB C socket, and it
can be charged from a power bank. It can also be used while being charged from the mains, too. Like its bigger relations, the Pavotube II 6C has a host of modes and set-up options. If you want a continuous light with adjustable colour temperature and output, you have that. If you want coloured light with adjustable output, you have that. And for video shooters, if you want to simulate a lightning storm, candlelight or a flickering bulb, you have that, too. The unit has 2.4GHz wireless built in, so there’s also the potential of wireless control. Three magnetic plates come with the light. Add some Velcro fastening and you can hang or locate the light in small recesses, and there are
SPECS › Price £109.99 › In the box Light, USB-C to USB-Acable, threemetal mount plates, wrist strap, bag › Colour temperature range 2700-7500K › Colour mode Full RGB tuning › Output range 0-100% › CRI rating 95 › Effects 15 programmed including police car, bad bulb and welding › Remote operation Yes, proprietary wireless 2.4GHz › Power Internal, rechargeable battery with 65minutes runtime. Charging time 2.5 hours. Can be charged via a powerbank › Lumens 520 (at 5600K) 183 lux at 1m, 5600K › Fittings 2x 1/4in screw › Dimensions 25.4x3.8x3.8cm › Weight 272g › Contact kenro.co.uk
“If youwant to get funky, you can set one of 360 colours using the light’s RGBmode. Each colour can thenbe fine-tuned for saturation”
Verdict Priced at £110, the Pavotube II 6C is a really capable and compact device that has great potential for still life, portrait and nature photography and comes at a price that’s really attractive.The Pavotube II 6C is available in the summer, but definitelyworth putting on your shopping list now. PROS Compact, great price, usability, versatile, USB-C charging, no flickering CONS Backlit buttons would be nice
¼in-20 screw threads at both ends for tripod fixing. I used it on a mini tripod, which also proved to be a very useful handle and meant I wasn't losing any output with my hand shielding the tube. Push the On button for a few seconds and the light starts up. Pushing the Mode button scrolls through the various options, then you can use the Switch and the +/- buttons to scroll through the options. The LCD panel is small, but legibility is fine, although I would have liked the luxury of backlit buttons, but finding your way by touch is not an issue at all. The light’s output can be adjusted from 0% to 100%. At full power and 5700K, using a separate light meter, at one metre away, the Pavotube II 6C gave a reading of 1/60sec at f/2.8 and ISO 200, which is very usable for adding a bit of ambient fill or as
a main light for portrait, nature and tabletop shooting. Continuous white light output can be varied between 2700K and 7500K, and there is further cyan/magenta correction, too, so matching it to existing light is easily done. But if you want to get funky, you can set one of 360 colours using the light’s RGB mode – setting 001 is red, 120 green and 240 blue. Each colour can then be fine-tuned for saturation, so no lack of options. There’s great flexibility in its Effects modes as well. So, for Candlelight, warmth and intensity can be adjusted. In Storm, the amount of ‘lightning’ can be varied, and in Fireworks, you can vary the colour bursts. From full charge, I ran the light at 100% output and it lasted for 57 minutes, with the level of output constant during that time. WC
LEFT The dandelion seed was shot using light from the Nanlite Pavotube II 6C. The unit's small size makes it ideal for this sort of work, and it offers a very useful level of output, too
28 Photography News | Issue 77
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