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Does the Rotolight Neo 2 live up to the hype? This photographer doesn’t think so

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I wrote about the announcement of the new Rotolight Neo 2 a couple of days ago. Looking at the specs, I wasn’t really all that impressed for my own needs. I have Spekular and Aputure lights for video, as well as Nikon & Godox lights for stills (all of which support HSS). So, for the cost, and limited power, the Neo 2 just isn’t worth it for me. So, I didn’t pay much more attention to it.

Photographer Rob Hall, though, has had a couple of days to really consider the specs of these lights and what they mean for photographers. Are they really the revolutionary product that the fancy marketing would lead us to believe? Or is it all (low powered) flash and no substance? Rob, at least, doesn’t seem particularly impressed, if this video is anything to go by.

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Rotolight’s teams up with Elinchrom to bring high speed sync to the world of LED lighting

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This was a bit of an unexpected announcement. At least, it was for me. Although, I admit that I haven’t really followed the world of LED lighting that closely since setting my sights on getting a set of Spekular lights. The LEDs I do tend to look at are generally more aimed toward video than stills. While LEDs can be great for certain photography applications, they’re not that useful for what I want to shoot.

The new Rotolight Neo2, though, designed in collaboration with Elinchrom, is squarely aimed at stills shooters. An industry-first, all in one, High Speed Sync flash and continuous on-camera LED light. The unit boasts compatibility up to 1/8000th of a second and 85,000 full power flashes on a set of AA batteries. It also feature a built in 2.4Ghz Elinchrom Skyport receiver.

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Here are the pros and cons of using LED panels for portraits

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Other than using continuous lighting for video, some photographers choose to use it for shooting still as well. Jay P. Morgan relies on LED panels for portrait photography from time to time, and in his latest video, he discusses the pros and cons of this approach. There are definitely certain advantages of using LED panels for portrait photography, but some disadvantages as well. In this video, you’ll hear both sides, and let’s see if you agree.

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Turn your Godox AD200 into a continuous video light with the new LED head

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The Godox AD200 flash has proven to be very popular since it was released a couple of months ago. A $299 200Ws flash with a similar form factor to a mid 90s cellphone, and interchangeable heads. Thus far, two different heads have been available for this unit, both of which come supplied. There’s the speedlight-style Fresnel head, and a strobe-like bare bulb, just like the AD360II.

At the moment, you can turn the Fresnel flash head continuous by enabling the modelling light. But now, Adorama have put up a new product for pre-order. A dedicated continuous LED head for the Godox AD200 (or eVOLV 200, as Adorama call it).

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How to build DIY color-changing LED wand light for $30

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Ice lights give nice and soft light for photography and video, but they can cost quite a lot and only come in one color. Their cheaper version called wand light changes colors, but there’s a catch. Out of 360 LEDs on the wand, only 40 of them can change to various colors. So, Jordan Thornsburg from Macroscope Pictures shows you how to bring cheap, versatile and powerful together in this great DIY project.

In this video, you’ll learn how to build your own DIY wand light, which gives out powerful lighting and changes colors as well. You can use it both in photography and video, as a light source or for special effects. I imagine light painting with this would be quite awesome, too. The components cost around $30 altogether, but you can make it extra fancy for 15 more bucks and add a Wi-Fi enabled LED controller so you can control the light with your phone.

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How you can use a tiny $7 LED light for photography and filmmaking

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A tiny LED light that fits into your palm doesn’t really sound helpful for photography and filmmaking. But is it really useless? Caleb Pike from DSLR Video Shooter tested one of these tiny lights to see for himself. In this video, he shares some advantages and disadvantages of this light and the ideas for using it. And it turns out that cheap little LED panel is more useful than you’d think.

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Ten tips to read before you buy LED lights for video

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Are you planning to buy LED light? Caleb Pike from DSLR Video Shooter shared some tips before you make the final decision. No matter if you’re buying LED light for the first time or you already own some of them, you may find these tips useful and choose the best model for your needs. And even though he aims at video shooters, most of these tips are also applicable to photographers.

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How to get great and consistent colour with different brands and qualities of light

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One of the biggest issues for those looking to expand their lighting setup is colour consistency. Even expensive ones can be very slightly out from each other. Even within a single brand, different models or generations of light can also be a little different to each other. But the problem is especially so with cheap LED lights, which often have huge colour shifts.

There are ways to work around this, though, and this video from Tony Reale over at Creative Edge shows us how. It does take some experimentation and work, though. But, once you’ve done it, you’ll know exactly how far out from each other each of your lights are. Then you’ll be able to quickly correct those colour shifts in the future before you’ve even turn the lights on.

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How to build a super-strong light for a phone that needs no batteries

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Raise your hand if you’ve been in this situation before. You are out at night. No camera, just a phone. You want to take a photo of something more than a meter away, and the light is just not there. Even if you turn on the tiny phone light. I know that phones are always improving with low light performance, but sometime you just need that extra kick.

Matt of DIY Perks has a great build for an Egg Light (well, a light) that needs no batteries and is extremely strong. And best of all, it’s called an Egg Light.

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How to build the world’s brightest, craziest, LED light serving 1800W

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Here is an entry that will probably go down  as a totally impractical build, but it is just so insane that I had to share it. I mean I can’t see anyone actually using such a bright light (especially with the low CRI they probably produce), but it can set the ground for some a groundbreaking cinema lights.

The build, made by EcProjects, is using 18 (yes eighteen) 100WATT LEDs, 2 one kg heatsinks and 2 6-cells 5200mHa LiPo batteries. There are also some peripherals: connectors, LED drivers, lenses, fans and high-amp wires. It is almost doubling our previous record holder, a 1,000W light.

This is by no means an easy project and it involves quite a bit of drilling and milling, as well as soldering and power management. Hit the jump to see the final sample footage which is blinding.

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