Rotolight Aeos 2
Now in full colour and with a touchscreen
The Rotolight Aeos 2 bucks a recent trend. LED panels aren’t exactly ten a penny these days, but there are plenty of ultra-cheap options on the market. They’re universally good rather than great, with typically basic features and mediocre build quality. The Aeos 2 takes an opposite path, packing a range of advanced features plus high-speed sync flash into a compact and lightweight, yet fully pro-grade build. The original Aeos was a favourite of many enthusiasts, professional photographers and videographers, but the second edition takes everything to a new level.
Key features
Gone are the bi-colour LEDs of the original Aeos, replaced by a bank of top-end RGBWW (Red Green Blue White Warm white) lamps. This makes a 16.7 million colour range available in the Aeos 2, for both constant lighting and flash output, the latter boosting the impressive maximum power output by more than 50 per cent. There’s a built-in RF receiver making wireless HSS triggering available via an Elinchrom/Rotolight HSS trigger, sold in Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm and Olympus/Panasonic dedicated options.
Extending the colour capabilities, the Aeos 2 adds 2,500 digital filters, including the emulation of favourites from the likes of Lee Filters and Rosco. The range of cinematic effects is extended from the original Aeos, and includes the likes of fade, lightning, strobe, cycle, fire, police, TV, gunshot and film. F-stop dimming and the ‘designer fade mode’ are also inherited, as in the similarly uprated but smaller Rotolight Neo 3.
The Aeos 2 also adds built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, so you can control its functions from the companion iOS and Android app, as well as managing multiple units in groups. Another smart new feature is that you can store user-defined presets, making the wealth of lighting options available at the press of a virtual button.
Performance
For an LED lamp with a 295mm diameter and slim 25mm or 1-inch depth, the maximum power output of 11,500 Lux at three feet is impressive. This increases to 17,500 in flash mode. Performance is superb in terms of colour accuracy, the TLCI (Television Lighting Consistency Index) rating increasing to 99/100, compared with an already good 91 in the original Aeos. In regular CCT constant white lighting mode, the colour temperature range is increased to 3000-10,000 Kelvin, compared with 3150-6200 Kelvin in the original Aeos. HSI mode with easily adjustable hue, saturation and intensity was naturally off the menu in the previous model, as were the digital gel filters.
In flash mode, our tests gave a maximum output of Gn 7.1 (ISO 100, metres), less than from a ‘proper’ flashgun. On the plus side, the lamp is relatively large, giving softer lighting, and you get a full range of colour options. Also, recycling is instantaneous after even a full-power flash, so there’s no waiting for your flashgun to recharge during continuous shooting.