Today we are taking a look at a new, updated series of tube lights from CameTV with some interesting features and a robust metal build – the CameTV Andromeda MK II RGB tube lights.
Andromeda MK II RGB Tube Lights
CameTV offers different solutions for video lighting and camera support, as well as grip and wireless audio. We’ve reviewed some CameTV lights in the past and also their V-mount batteries and power station.
Concept
The Adromeda tube light that we’re looking at today is actually the upgraded unit. It comes in 2, 3 and 4- foot versions. Long tube lights like these are very useful in set design and can be used as practicals.
The Andromeda 4-light kit can also be set up as an array that works like a panel and provides nice soft light. In this configuration, it can be used as a key light with plenty of battery runtime that’s also easy to transport.
4 light kit
In the box
CameTV ships the 4-light kit in a carrying bag. The set comes with the 4 light tubes, 4 chargers, 2 array brackets, 1 stand grip, 4 sets of barndoors, 8 (4 in the 2ft kit) magnetic holders, and a wireless multi-light commander.
Design and build
The tube lights come in a sturdy metallic frame with integrated rails for the included metal barn doors. These come with quick-install guides that slide into the rails. There’s no lock though, and you have to install tiny nuts and bolts to keep the barn doors in place. With a high chance of losing these pieces, we would’ve preferred some integrated locks on the fixture.
The front is covered with matte white plastic. On the back of the light, there is a small menu screen and 6 buttons.
There are two metal mounting points on the back of the fixture (the 2 ft version has one mount on the back) and one on each end.
Also on the back, there is an AC charging port and a D-tap port. There are two small magnets on the ends, but they are not as strong as the removable magnetic holders that come in the kit.
CameTV promises over 2.5-hour runtime on the 7000mAh (3500mAh in the 2ft version) internal battery.
The buttons and monitor on the back of the light
Features
The Andromeda is an RGB tube light with 25 RGB effects and a color temperature range of 2000K to 10000K.
The menu allows the user to set multiple lights to the same channel, which will activate linked control to affect settings on all lights at the same time. It works fine, but with a small delay.
There is also wireless control through the Boltzen app or with the wireless commander that’s included in the kit.
A useful controller
In use
The integrated controls are a bit clumsy. The power button also functions as a sleep button. You do have to make sure the light is off, because the small screen will drain the battery when in sleep mode.
Following the power button, there are 3 buttons to navigate the menu. These take some getting used to. The effects controls are part of the menu. There are parameters that you can customize with the “Set” button.
The next RGBDT button toggles between HSI and bicolor mode. Multiple clicks on this button skip to different presets. To set the color temperature (or the HSI values) manually, use the set button.
The button on the end is to access the wireless settings menu to set the unit’s channel and group.
The barn doors are an interesting addition to the light. Here’s a demonstration of how they modify the light beam. For practicals, they give a really neat streak of light.
The included brackets allow to group the 4 lights into an array. The brackets and the included adjustable angle stand holder are really simple, but they do the job. The array with the barn doors installed works like a panel and gives a nice soft light.
The Boltzen app that CameTV provides to control these light tubes is probably the weakest point of this system. It’s not very intuitive, and we had trouble connecting to the lights. [In our February 2021 review of CameTv lights, we also had the same troubles with this app. ]
Thankfully, CameTV provided the wireless commander. The unit doesn’t feel very premium with its plastic cover and 3 AAA batteries, but it worked seamlessly. We did notice that the lights do not respond uniformly. Different units seemed to have different reaction times.
One feature that the commander doesn’t offer (or we didn’t figure out) is a way to turn all lights off at the same time. It does have a quick dim feature that you can’t do with the onboard buttons.
Output testing
We tested the light tubes’ output at 3200K and 5600K, and here are the results that we got using our Sekonic C800:
Results for the CameTV Andromeda MK II RGB Tube Light @1m (set to 3200K):
- Color temperature: 3170K.
- Output: 536 Lux.
- CRI: 97.9 (R9 – 93.6; R12 – 88.5).
- TLCI: 98.
- TM-30 RF: 95; TM-30 Rg – 102.
- SSI: 85.
Results for the CameTV Andromeda MK II RGB Tube Light @1m (set to 5600K):
- Color temperature: 5741K.
- Output: 513 Lux.
- CRI: 96.7 (R9 – 91.6; R12 – 82.1).
- TLCI: 99.
- TM-30 RF: 94; TM-30 Rg – 100.
- SSI: 74.
Conclusion
In conclusion, these units are built tough and produce quality light. It’s important to understand that they are a specialty product, though. Like with most technology, once you know the limitations that you need to work around, you can figure out what the product is good for.
And the Andromeda MKII tube lights are very good for a number of lighting scenarios, especially for accent lighting and practicals. The linked control option and the wireless commander allow for easy color settings configuration. And the powerful internal batteries make these units even more versatile.
Pricing
As for pricing, the 2ft kit sells for $1100, and the 3ft kit is $1500 (see prices for the different kits/lengths on B&H).
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