Rotalight Neo 2 experience

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jono2002

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Does anyone have any experience using the Rotalight Neo 2?

I have been looking online but most of the coverage is from one person & I can see a lot of confusion around them which is making it hard for me to see the wood for the trees.
 
jono2002 said:
Does anyone have any experience using the Rotalight Neo 2?

I have been looking online but most of the coverage is from one person & I can see a lot of confusion around them which is making it hard for me to see the wood for the trees.
Click to expand...

For stills stuff.. nearly everyone on here would prefer conventional or IGBT flash. It's vastly more powerful and has evolved a vast range of modifiers and accessories.

Jason Lanier, on the other hand, has superb marketing skills.
 
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What Simon said.
If what you want to do is shoot shallow DoF work in exceedingly dark conditions, then the rotolight is perfect.

Is it a ton of money to spend for such a niche? Only you can decide.

But for the same money you could buy portable flash kit that’ll work brilliantly in all circumstances, why would you bother.

Your money, your choice.
 
Traditionally, snake oil used to be sold in little glass bottles, it now seems to be sold in plastic lights:(
As the others have said, you can do so much more with flash, for far less money, and without increasing the ISO setting to a ridiculous level.
 
juggler said:
For stills stuff.. nearly everyone on here would prefer conventional or IGBT flash. It's vastly more powerful and has evolved a vast range of modifiers and accessories.

Jason Lanier, on the other hand, has superb marketing skills.
Click to expand...
Most of what I find online is Jason Lanier promoting these lights, I like his photos but would prefer if there was more than just him marketing them.

Agree they just can't match the power of a conventional flash, the things with these that peak my interest is that they are just different & the larger circular output area compared to a normal flash.
 
Garry Edwards said:
Traditionally, snake oil used to be sold in little glass bottles, it now seems to be sold in plastic lights:(
As the others have said, you can do so much more with flash, for far less money, and without increasing the ISO setting to a ridiculous level.
Click to expand...
These lights have caused some strong reactions, they are still stronger in the area of motion picture and I can see how they get a negative reaction from stills folks. However these could potentially give an interesting light different from the norm and could potentially be even brighter in the future with further development.
 
simonbarker said:
What did you plan to use it for?
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I'm interested in them for portraits, the fact I like the surface area light is admitted from. A priority is also they peaked my interest in being not the norm.
Less need for a large soft box. I am completely happy to use conventional flash and have plenty of experience using them.
 
jono2002 said:
Most of what I find online is Jason Lanier promoting these lights, I like his photos but would prefer if there was more than just him marketing them.

Agree they just can't match the power of a conventional flash, the things with these that peak my interest is that they are just different & the larger circular output area compared to a normal flash.
Click to expand...
Solved by putting a small diffuser or softbox over a flash, and nowhere near large enough to produce the "Beautiful soft light" claimed for it, at any normal distance.
jono2002 said:
These lights have caused some strong reactions, they are still stronger in the area of motion picture and I can see how they get a negative reaction from stills folks. However these could potentially give an interesting light different from the norm and could potentially be even brighter in the future with further development.
Click to expand...
Be realistic, it's an expensive, tiny light with only 200 lux output, and it has a CRI rating of just 96 (claimed). If you want it, buy it, but be aware that the "Strong reactions" exist for a reason.
 
jono2002 said:
I'm interested in them for portraits, the fact I like the surface area light is admitted from. A priority is also they peaked my interest in being not the norm.
Less need for a large soft box. I am completely happy to use conventional flash and have plenty of experience using them.
Click to expand...
As Garry says, they’re not really large enough to produce soft light, looking for an easy to carry softbox makes miles more sense.
Frankly the Bessel round diffuser would do the same job for a fraction of the cost and pack up smaller.
 
jono2002 said:
the things with these that peak my interest is ... the larger circular output area compared to a normal flash.
Click to expand...

It's large compared to an unmodified flash but it's still tiny.

A good starting point for soft light is that a modifier 1 ft across will light a 1 ft subject well from a distance of 1 foot.

Then you might start to understand why folk sometimes use 5 foot softboxes from 1 foot away.

Phil's use case sounds exactly right: 'shallow DoF work in exceedingly dark conditions.'
I could imagine using one as an accent light if I were ever to shoot moody hotel room glamour/boudoir stuff.

.. but even then I wouldn't 'cos I've got cheap flashguns.
 
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