Pete Askew
Admin
At last, filming can start and the crew are already setting up (socially distance of course)!
Quite some time back I supported a project on Kickstarter called Relio. It is a dedicated and colour corrected, modular lighting system for macro and technical photography. It appeared very well thought through and worthy of support: and of course I fancied getting my hands on one. I have lighting setups for Macro, but have long been looking for a professional system that used smaller heads. Dedo systems seemed to be the closest. but I kept hesitating as they run very hot and the cabling system leaves a lot to be desired. Relio seemed to have addressed all of that and had better colour accuracy even when dimmed. So I pre-ordered a fairly extensive selection to try. The gentleman who set the company up and makes the equipment is based in N Italy and so early this year everything ground to a halt. However, a few months in and he had managed to get supplies and was locked in machining and assembling. A few weeks back, the system arrived in the UK and a colleague shipped it over to me here in Potsdam to try it out. I've only had the most preliminary of attempts so far, but it appears to be everything I could have hoped for.
The system is described on the Relio website (https://www.relio.it), but basically comprises cubical heads containing a very accurate LED source and electronics powered by a magnetically attached USB lead (I am running mine off a desktop hub, but it comes with its own hubs). The heads are Bluetooth enabled allowing one to control brightness etc via an app on an iPhone, iPad etc and there are a whole load of light modifier options, again magnetically attached to the heads. There is also a cross-polarisation kit.
I ordered 5 x 4000K heads (that will be my main source) plus 3 x 2700K heads (I look the look of good, old-fashioned photofloods for certain things) as well as 2 x UV heads, 2 x IR heads and 2 x 5600 K heads (for technical work - I will almost certainly order at least one more of each). As you can see from the pictures I have attached coloured labels so I know which head is which as they are otherwise identical (I will suggest that to the manufacturer as it would be useful for people like me that use different frequencies). I also ordered a bunch of extra modifiers and spare lenses, etc: The mini stands are much better than I was expected and so I will order more of those too I think.
Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can try them properly and maybe provide a better photographed review shots than the ones above: my main work table is covered in components for something I'm building at present and so I made do with the desk and the Sony RX100.
Quite some time back I supported a project on Kickstarter called Relio. It is a dedicated and colour corrected, modular lighting system for macro and technical photography. It appeared very well thought through and worthy of support: and of course I fancied getting my hands on one. I have lighting setups for Macro, but have long been looking for a professional system that used smaller heads. Dedo systems seemed to be the closest. but I kept hesitating as they run very hot and the cabling system leaves a lot to be desired. Relio seemed to have addressed all of that and had better colour accuracy even when dimmed. So I pre-ordered a fairly extensive selection to try. The gentleman who set the company up and makes the equipment is based in N Italy and so early this year everything ground to a halt. However, a few months in and he had managed to get supplies and was locked in machining and assembling. A few weeks back, the system arrived in the UK and a colleague shipped it over to me here in Potsdam to try it out. I've only had the most preliminary of attempts so far, but it appears to be everything I could have hoped for.
The system is described on the Relio website (https://www.relio.it), but basically comprises cubical heads containing a very accurate LED source and electronics powered by a magnetically attached USB lead (I am running mine off a desktop hub, but it comes with its own hubs). The heads are Bluetooth enabled allowing one to control brightness etc via an app on an iPhone, iPad etc and there are a whole load of light modifier options, again magnetically attached to the heads. There is also a cross-polarisation kit.
I ordered 5 x 4000K heads (that will be my main source) plus 3 x 2700K heads (I look the look of good, old-fashioned photofloods for certain things) as well as 2 x UV heads, 2 x IR heads and 2 x 5600 K heads (for technical work - I will almost certainly order at least one more of each). As you can see from the pictures I have attached coloured labels so I know which head is which as they are otherwise identical (I will suggest that to the manufacturer as it would be useful for people like me that use different frequencies). I also ordered a bunch of extra modifiers and spare lenses, etc: The mini stands are much better than I was expected and so I will order more of those too I think.
Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can try them properly and maybe provide a better photographed review shots than the ones above: my main work table is covered in components for something I'm building at present and so I made do with the desk and the Sony RX100.
