Categories
Podcasts

The Backerjack Podcast, Episode 12: Remixed tablets, light hydras, and motivation in a jar

In Episode 12 of The Backerjack Podcast, Steve and Ross check out four of the latest products seeking funds and preorders.

  • Remix, a tablet/laptop hybrid that stuffs the soul of Android into the body of a Microsoft Surface
  • kSafe, a pre-commitment jar in which you can place rewards that are unlocked only if certain activity or time goals are met
  • Adaptalux, a cool set of camera-mounted colored light arms that mount to the top of a camera for intense macro photography effects
  • Zhor, a chunky integrated dashboard touchscreen that integrates many different features.

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Categories
Imaging

Adaptalux offers a hydra of color to light up macro photography

editors-choiceMacro photography can produce some startling images. However, unlike, say, portraiture that is often done in a studio, it’s difficult to have fin control over the kind of lighting and color in an image.

Adaptalux is a lighting add-on that attaches to the hot shoe of a digital SLR camera. The main unit hosts up to five flexible hose-like LED lights in five different hues that can be used with diffusers or gels to produce striking lighting effects for pictures of small objects such as leaves or bugs. The company also offers a miniature platform for staging such spectacles. Adaptalux Ltd. seeks £100,000 (about $150,000) by May 2nd. Prices range from about £100 (about $150) for a starter pack that includes two lighting arms) to £300 (about $445) for the complete set of lighting arms, diffusers and filters. All rewards are expected to ship in November.

Adaptalux dramatically expands the color options available to macro photographers in the studio or the field and the flexibility of the lights allow for a great deal of creative control. While the product has a companion app, it would be great to see it control the brightness of the various lights directly rather than merely offering advice, a feature that’s likely on the roadmap.