If you are a portrait photographer and want to use a compact high-speed fan for both indoor and outdoor shoots, Nitcore has an interesting new offer for you – the NiteCore CineWind. A portable battery-powered high-speed fan that promises to bring your portraits to the next level. We took it for a spin (no pun intended) and returned with some interesting insights.
Today we are taking a look at a new product by Nitecore which has been developing an extensive line of photography accessories including several types of compact blowers that we reviewed here on LensVid. The new Cine Wind is the latest and by far the most capable blower and in practice it works as a very powerful, yet very compact portable model hair fan.
The Nitecore Cine Wind
Design and build
The Cine wind is surprisingly small for its astonishing airspeed of 46km/h (28.6mp/h) and the amount of air it pushes (officially 400 cubic meters per hour). It measures only 190mm x 105mm x 126mm (/ 7.48″ x 4.13″ x 4.96″) and weighs in at 680g / 23.99 oz (without its two L batteries).
It is surprisingly well built from a combination of ABS and aluminum with a nice cheese plate on the top part for connecting the unit itself or other accessories to the fan. It has removable fan covers which can be detached for cleaning (and have a protection mechanism that shuts the fan automatically).
On the front, there are two power indicators and two release buttons for the L batteries the unit uses (at the moment there is no official way of powering the unit from AC). Please note that the unit will not work with only a single of those batteries.
On the back, there is a yellow knob with 10 steps for the fan speed. A fast click followed by a long click will turn the unit on at level one and you can turn the knob to increase the speed up to level 10 which is very loud and exceptionally powerful. To shut the unit down fast click again and long-click until the fan shuts down. We would prefer and normal on/off switch in this case (or having the knob itself turn the unit off like those knobs on old radios).
Working with the Cine Wind
We had the Cine Wind for a short time before it was officially announced and decided to include it in a jewelry shoot that we recently produced. Initially, we used the tried-and-true foam board method. Then we switched to the Cine Wind and tried a few speeds to see what will work with our model and at what distance.
For our setup and model, level 3 or so was as high as we could go without upsetting the model’s eyes too much from about half a meter away. You also need to remember that having lots of cool air blowing in your face for a long time can cause the skin to show goosebumps which are not something you typically want.
The CineWind behind the scenes
All of these issues can be resolved if the Cine Wind could produce a fast burst of air on command, preferably using a remote, instead of only constant breeze. We are not sure how feasible this is for the current model but this is certainly something that we suggested to Nitecore for a future model.
Our model’s shoot was done indoors but, in all honesty, ever since we got the unit a couple of weeks ago, we had no need to recharge the two L batteries which is certainly a good sign for anybody who wishes to use this unit on a production outdoors. If you are shooting outdoors just bring another spare set of L batteries and you can probably go all day (the official run time at level 10 is between 2.5-3.5 hours which is really exceptional).
A few images from our shoot taken with the help of the Cine Wind
Conclusion
The Cine Wind is a well-made compact and remarkably strong portable fan. It does exactly what Nitecore is promising that it will do and while you can stick to using an inexpensive foam board, especially if you have an assistant, having a fan allows you to work alone or have your assistant more focused on the accuracy rather than the output of the air stream.
The Cine Wind has some drawbacks of course like any other product. For one a constant stream of air at high power will likely cause your model’s eyes to dry and produce tears very quickly, especially at higher speeds (this happens with all high-speed fans). A burst mode and remote would have been extremely useful in this case.
As we mentioned, we are not huge fans of the on/off method the Cine Wind uses and it would be great if there was some simple accessory with a tilt function and a baby pin (5/8″ female connector) for mounting the unit on a light stand and adjusting the angle.
Finally, there is the price, which might be cheaper compared to some of the high-end photography fans but might still be more than some photographers be willing to splurge on a fan.
Compact and powerful
Pricing
Talking about pricing, the Cine Wind (no batteries) currently sells for just under $130 (or $180 / $200 with NPF750 / NPF970 batteries).
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Iddo Genuth 
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