Rotolight AlphaNova + Magic Eye

Rotolight’s new AlphaNova series of energy-efficient flood lights has a unique colour matching ability that will allow users set its colour via an iPhone and match the colour temperature seen by the phone’s camera. This would be useful where DoPs need to match the light on a character shot in a greenscreen studio to the light on location.

The Magic Eye app also provides remote control over all three ANova variants, including the £999 ANova One 5600K and 3200K lights, but the colour matching works with the £1,145 bi-colour (2800K to 6900K) ANova Two.

Using the iPhone (or iPad) camera, it takes the ambient light colour and level “and transmits that via WiFi to the light, which accurately replicates that colour of sampled light,” said Rotolight’s International Sales Director, Rod Aaron Gammons (pictured above). It also allows instant recall of previous settings.

The 38W lights are claimed to be the equivalent of 1kW Tungsten. They output no heat, run from a V-Lock camera battery for two days on full power, and can be linked together to form one large array.

Although not available until the end of the year, Rotolight took orders for 100 units in the first three days of IBC (having only finished the lights a few days before), with the potential of another 1,000 in the pipeline. Unlike most LED lights, the ANova range won't be manufactured in the Far East, but are being built at Pinewood (where Rotolight is based).

Related post: Rotolight's Stealth approach to lights

By David Fox