January/February 2017
With 720 LEDs and a 3150-6300K colour range, the Rotolight Anova Pro offers more power and control than its predecessor and could well turn out to be the most versatile light we've ever seen
They May have once been seen as a poor relation of the lighting family, but LED have come a long way and the Rotolight Anova Pro may just be the pinnacle of the technology. The Anova Pro's circular face is packed with 720 LED lights, split with a 50/50 mix of warm and cool LEDs. This means the colour output can be set anywhere between 3150K and 6300K, allowing the Anova Pro to be used with other light sources.
Before we get into the light's features it's worth talking about pricing and builds quality. The cost of a basic fixed-colour Anova Pro is £1,367.99/$1,499.99, while the more flexible bicolour 50 is £1199.99/$1,575.00, and impressively this is actually significantly cheaper than its less well-specified predecessor.
As standard, the Anova Pro comes with a yoke for mounting to a stand, while the optional Masters Kit (£368.99/$399.99) we were sent also includes a sturdy flight case, as well as a hexagonal set of barn doors. On its own, the Anova Pro weighs 2.47kg/5.41b, but once set up with the yoke and barn doors, this weight increases to a healthy 4.78kg/10.51b. Add in the weight of the case itself, filters, the power supply unit, power cord and any additional batteries, and the package nears the 10kg/22lb mark. Whilst for location lighting it's still relatively portable, it's worth noting that this is not a lightweight polycarbonate product aimed at the lower end of the market. Rather, it's a solid and extremely well-built light that feels like it's been designed for heavy use.
It's possible to power the ANOVA with a V-Lock battery meaning it's fully portable and just as at home on location as it is in the studio. Helpfully Rotolight produces its own 95Wh battery that can power the light for up to two hours at 100% power, an impressive performance that owes much to the very low power consumption of the Anova Pro, which draws just 48W at 100% power. The Rotolight battery plus a travel charger costs £307.80/$335.00
Overall, this light is portable, flicker-free, colour adjustable and powerful, but these aren't the only features offered. In use, The Rotolight Anova Pro's features are controlled via two dials on the rear of the light. The machined aluminium dials are big, chunky and turn easily, even if you happen to be outside and wearing gloves. The dial on the left controls power output, with a full range of settings from 0-100%, whilst the right-hand dial adjusts the colour from 3150K to 6300K, in 50K increments.
With regard to the colour rendering, Rotolight's own tests have measured the Anova Pro as offering 91% on the CRI scale, with a 96% score for R16, which is the closest colour to Asian' skin tone. I found that the light produced a nice skin tone for Caucasian' skin tones (R13), and with the diffusion gels and circular shape of the light it produced flattering portraits and attractive highlights in the eyes that would be great for interviews and documentary features.
The dials on the rear of the Anova act as a button and this is where the fun starts. Push both buttons in and you can access the SFX menu. Some might consider the idea of built-in lighting special effects to be slightly gimmicky, but having tried them out I believe they could be very useful to many filmmakers, particularly those shooting things such as music videos on a tight budget. Without needing to be programmed, the Anova Pro can replicate a number of different light sources, including lightning, a strobe light, a welding arc, a fire and even flashing police lights. More simple effects include the ability for the light to fade in or out, which again could prove useful, particularly if this isn't a facility you have on your camera.
It can take a little time to get your head around using just two dials, two buttons and a segmented, calculator-style LED screen to select and adjust all the effects. However, once you've got it all worked out, using the effects is simple. The lightning effect, for example, creates quick flashes of light with an adjustable frequency.
The effect can be triggered via a standard photographic flash sync cable and release, which can be plugged into the sync socket on the rear of the light. Using a standard PC sync socket also ups the possibility of triggering effects wirelessly. Rotolight will be releasing Wi-Fi compatible versions of the Anova Pro light in the near future. These will connect via Wi-Fi to a smartphone and the Magic Eye app, which will allow control of the light as though you were sitting at a virtual lighting desk.
For effects that require more colour than the Anova Pro can provide, five gels (216 Full Diffuser, 250 Medium Diffuser, 184 Cosmetic Peach, 279 1/8 Minus Green, 248 1/2 Minus Green) are included, with additional ten coloured gel also available. These need to be cut to the circular shape of the Anova Pro and can be quickly and easily clipped to the front. When you want to recreate the flicker from a fire, clip the Rust' coloured gel in place and set the effect to Fire' on the back of the Anova Pro.
Similarly, use the Bedford Blue' gel and the police effect to replicate the swirling of police lights. For a filmmaker on a budget, the light is a one-stop shop of lighting tricks. If you already own a similar LED light, then you can use the Anova Pro's DMX Control mode to act as a DMX Master controller. This allows the Anova Pro to replicate the power, colour and some of the effects on a second, compatible, light. In total, up to 512 lights can be daisy-chained together and controlled from the Anova Pro, which is one of the reasons the lights are now used b
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January/February 2017
