Rotolight NEO II On-camera LED Light EXPIRED

Hopefully this isn't considered TC but I thought I'd repost what I wrote about this product on a similar deal from Adorama yesterday.

The fast popularity is suspicious. As to the product itself, it has some appeal (easy color temp adjustment of flash) but otherwise I would go for a regular video light from a more established maker like Aputure and a separate flash from Godox/Neewer with some gels.

Rotolight Neo II price: $140, CRI: 96 (R9:91 R12:83 R15:98) TLCI: 91, 1414 lux @ 1m.
Aputure Al-F7 price: $98, CRI: 98 (R9:99 R12:80 R15:96) TLCI: 95+, 1500lux @ 1m.

The Aputure has generally better color quality and is slightly brighter although this may be due to its narrower beam angle of 45 degrees versus 50 on the Rotolight. However, power draw is a generally good proxy for overall light output and the Aputure is 15W versus 12W on the Rotolight.

Rotolight Neo II: guide number: 11.9m @ 39mm coverage @ ISO 100**
Neewer TT560: $30, guide number: 38m @ 35mm coverage @ ISO 100

Like just about every LED flash, it is pretty weak. Much weaker than the TT560. The Rotolight does have HSS but you need a separate transmitter and HSS on a weak flash is near useless.

* Rotolight specifies 2000 lux @ 1m but with a separate power supply and states it is one stop lower on battery power so I divided by square root of two to get the new lux figure. For studio type situations, the 2000 lux would be an advantage but there are definitely far more powerful lights like the Godox SL-60 (60W) for cheaper for that purpose.

** Rotolight specifies a guide number of 16.8 @ ISO 200. This becomes 11.9 @ ISO 100 (dividing by the square root of 2). The Rotolight even has a slight advantage of a narrower beam angle.

Hmmmmmm just saying lol

Love how one person said that the $160 was a great deal and now the same deal is $20 cheaper.

https://slickdeals.net/f/13952651-rotolight-neo-ii-on-camera-led-light-159-free-s-h?v=1

I was one of the folks that said 160 is a great deal in the other thread. And it is looking at historical proxies. If you are still looking for a Neo 2, this is an even better deal of course. Lol.

So the Adorama deal is on backorder now.

What I find interesting (and somewhat surprising) is the back to back and heavily discounted sale of this light at two different sellers. Makes me wonder what is going on with or at Rotolight... 🤷🤷 ♀️

Quote from il29 : I was one of the folks that said 160 is a great deal in the other thread. And it is looking at historical proxies. If you are still looking for a Neo 2, this is an even better deal of course. Lol. So the Adorama deal is on backorder now. What I find interesting (and somewhat surprising) is the back to back and heavily discounted sale of this light at two different sellers. Makes me wonder what is going on with or at Rotolight... 🤷🤷 ♀️

More people are using zoom and need the light.

Time to become Tik Tok famous!

Quote from Ltak : Hopefully this isn't considered TC but I thought I'd repost what I wrote about this product on a similar deal from Adorama yesterday. The fast popularity is suspicious. As to the product itself, it has some appeal (easy color temp adjustment of flash) but otherwise I would go for a regular video light from a more established maker like Aputure and a separate flash from Godox/Neewer with some gels. Rotolight Neo II price: $140, CRI: 96 (R9:91 R12:83 R15:98) TLCI: 91, 1414 lux @ 1m. Aputure Al-F7 price: $98, CRI: 98 (R9:99 R12:80 R15:96) TLCI: 95+, 1500lux @ 1m. The Aputure has generally better color quality and is slightly brighter although this may be due to its narrower beam angle of 45 degrees versus 50 on the Rotolight. However, power draw is a generally good proxy for overall light output and the Aputure is 15W versus 12W on the Rotolight. Rotolight Neo II: guide number: 11.9m @ 39mm coverage @ ISO 100** Neewer TT560: $30, guide number: 38m @ 35mm coverage @ ISO 100 Like just about every LED flash, it is pretty weak. Much weaker than the TT560. The Rotolight does have HSS but you need a separate transmitter and HSS on a weak flash is near useless. * Rotolight specifies 2000 lux @ 1m but with a separate power supply and states it is one stop lower on battery power so I divided by square root of two to get the new lux figure. For studio type situations, the 2000 lux would be an advantage but there are definitely far more powerful lights like the Godox SL-60 (60W) for cheaper for that purpose. ** Rotolight specifies a guide number of 16.8 @ ISO 200. This becomes 11.9 @ ISO 100 (dividing by the square root of 2). The Rotolight even has a slight advantage of a narrower beam angle.

I'm not sure why you think it's suspicious. I've considered purchasing one of these for years, but at $300 couldn't justify it. At $140 I think it's a great deal and will probably pick one up.

Aputure maybe more established in that they sell a ton of relatively affordable products in the historically very expensive markets of Pro video and photography. They are an LED company based in Shenzhen China (the LED capital of the world). While Rotolight is a British company that is positioned itself as more of a high end specialty light. They also only have a couple YouTube 'Influencers' while Aputure seems to have sent product samples to everyone with a video channel with 100k subscribers.

It may not be as bright as a speedlight and is slightly dimmer and less accurate than the Aputure, but it's versatility and features gives it the edge in my book.

Quote from il29 : I was one of the folks that said 160 is a great deal in the other thread. And it is looking at historical proxies. If you are still looking for a Neo 2, this is an even better deal of course. Lol. So the Adorama deal is on backorder now. What I find interesting (and somewhat surprising) is the back to back and heavily discounted sale of this light at two different sellers. Makes me wonder what is going on with or at Rotolight... 🤷🤷 ♀️

It's important to note these two sellers are very unique. Adorama and B&H are the two biggest AV sellers in the US, and they are located literally a block away from each other in Manhattan. Also pretty sure both are run by orthodox Jewish leadership as they are always both closed on the Jewish holidays.

They always price match each others promos and compete against each other.

Both fantastic companies with incredible customer service.