Adaptalux – the Perfect Macro Lighting System (Updated)

A new Kickstarter project called Adaptalux aims to bring an all around lighting solution for macro photographers.

Once in a while we run into a Kickstarter project so ambitious that we simply feel it need to succeed. Adaptalux is exactly this type of project. It includes everything that you can imagine in terms of lighting for macro photography both in a studio environment and outdoors. British designer and macro enthusiast Samuel Granger came up with the project and he was joined by 5 other members who worked on it for the past few months.

The Adaptalux – up to 5 different flexible LEDs 

Adaptalux-1Adaptalux includes the following components:

Control Pod – the hub of the modular design and the command center for all electronic aspects of the product including a 2.5 hour built in USB charged battery. The pod has a 1/4 20″ thread at the bottom.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKQil7nSwc8[/youtube]

Lighting Arms – up to 5 different 165 lumens LEDs can be connected to the hub – they come in different colors and have control over the beam (wide/narrow). The arms were engineered to dissipate heat from the LED throughout the Arm. According to Adaptalux, this means the LEDs are extremely stable with regards to color and brightness and ensures the LEDs have a long life.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGkYH5a6AjI[/youtube]

Adaptalux diffusers and color filters – pretty straightforward – just as with normal lights – they soften the light and you can change colors. There are 3 levels of diffusers and connect using a magnetic connector.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O-Ikhuz8zM[/youtube]

Adaptalux stage – provides an illuminated surface to place a subject. It can be snapped onto a Lighting Arm to provide an illuminated plane, removing all ground shadows around a subject. It uses a lighting arm for the light.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmo08Xblgwc[/youtube]

Adaptalux Backdrop – designed to provide the user with an easy way to change the backdrops to photos or videos (just like a regular full size backdrop but with color and option to switch panel designs for creating a different look).

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWcR_ENOrcY[/youtube]

Adaptalux Stabiliser – has been designed to remove unbalanced set-ups.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0YuuVq-Of4[/youtube]

The Adaptalux Kickstarter goal is set at £100k and you can help the Adaptalux team reach this number by getting your own kit starting at just a £100 on the project Kickstarter page.

Adaptalux--2

Update – 3/25/2015: Following this article we had a chance to do a quick follow up with Samuel Granger who answered a few of your questions about the project:

  1. Why only ~80 CRI and not more?
    We did look at some LEDs that were 90 CRI, but they were very expensive and one of our key goals was to make this product very affordable. The ones which were affordable did not go anywhere near as bright as the led we chose. As you can tell from our flickr photos, the colours come out very well still. Other factors we had to take into account: power consumption, brightness and color temp.
  2. Did you consider making a longer arm?
    We have plans to manufacture different lengths of Lighting Arms at a later date, it can easily be implemented. We just need to get the manufacturing train moving first, and that’s what Kickstarter is for. Adding to this point, we actually have a lot of new ideas already in conceptual development that will expand Adaptalux’s capabilities considerably.
  3. You have both arm colors and color filters – isn’t this redundant?
    The problem with gels is they diffuse the light to some extent. By having a direct coloured light source you can provide scenes with amazing highlighted colour tones. You can change the colour by applying our adaptalux diffusers and colour filters without switching the Lighting Arm. We wanted to provide the photographer with as many options as possible to how they can control their lighting environment. Therefore by having different colored lighting arms you can provide strong colored highlights to an image utilizing direct light, you can then add our diffusers to diffuse the light and finally you can use color filters with different Lighting Arms to achieve unique color tones. Our whole design philosophy is based around giving the photographer as many options as possible. 

Update 4/23/2015: with just over a week to go Adaptalux raised almost £80k and in order to encourage users to help the project reach it £100k goal they have revealed that “The Control Pod will now be ready for Bluetooth and Wifi compatibility via an adapter from launch”. What does it mean – well, according to Samuel Granger – “you will now be able to upload and download your lighting electronic settings wirelessly to and from the Control Pod with one click of a button on your phone or computer. It also allows for ‘live’ electronic adjustments for your Adaptalux lighting environment using the Adaptalux App. Furthermore, it will allow for firmware updates, so we can add new electronic features to your Adaptalux over the air or through USB”. In the future it will give you even more options like an RGB panel that will let you mix your own colors for your lighting (pretty cool concept).

You can read more about this new update on the Adaptalux kickstarter update page.

Mixing colors might be possible later on

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Iddo Genuth
Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.

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