Rotolight & mirrorless
rotolight’s innovative Led lights are the perfect partners for mirrorless cameras, whether for stills or video. Angela Nicholson, who uses them a lot, tells us more a light and versatile combination
One thing that has become clear in the past couple of years is that mirrorless cameras are here to stay. They’ve evolved into well-rounded, capable cameras and their combination of small size and superb image quality means they are now used for high-end video and photography. This means more photographers are discovering the benefit of their ‘shoot what you see’ electronic viewfinders. Being able to see the effect of exposure, white balance and colour settings makes creative photography easier, quicker and more enjoyable. Rotolight’s range of LED lighting complements mirrorless cameras perfectly. A NEO 2 kit for example, is the ultimate lightweight, portable and powerful lighting solution. It produces nice soft light so you can carry a whole studio on your back with no need for bulky modifiers. What’s more, because the NEO 2 can produce continuous light, you can see its effect in the viewfinder or on screen. The simple and intuitive controls also allow you to adjust the colour temperature and brightness of the output – which makes getting the lighting right a doddle.
Continuous and flash
Like Rotolight’s Anova PRO 2 and AEOS lights, the NEO 2 combines the convenience of continuous lighting with the power of High Speed Sync (HSS) flash. Also, the NEO 2’s output increases by up to 500% in flash mode (250% with battery power), and in HSS mode it can sync at shutter speeds up to 1/8000sec. That’s the top shutter speed available with the mechanical shutter on high- end cameras like the Canon EOS R, Fujifilm X-T3, Nikon Z 6 and Z 7, Olympus OM- D E- M1 II, Panasonic Lumix G9 and Sony A7 III. It means you can capture action that takes place in the blink of an eye – such as corks popping, water splashing and balloons bursting – as well as wideaperture portraits. And you don’t need to worry about shooting at fast rates because Rotolight LEDs have no recycle time; they’re ready when you are, even if you’re shooting at 20fps with the likes of the Panasonic G9 or Sony A9.
You need a remote trigger to shoot in HSS flash mode and the Rotolight HSS Transmitter by Elinchrom is perfect because the NEO 2, AEOS and Anova PRO 2 have an Elinchrom Skyport HSS wireless flash receiver built in. Helpfully, that remote doesn’t just trigger the NEO 2 to fire when you press the shutter release, but you can also use it to adjust the light power and colour temperature of up to 10 lights. So whether you’re shooting with continuous light or flash, you can assess the exposure in your camera’s viewfinder or on the screen and make an adjustment to the light without moving away from the camera. That’s especially handy with multiple light set- ups or when the lights are tucked in hard-toaccess areas.