portable Jansjo

johan · Post by **johan** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 2:14 am

Just wanted to make people aware of a portable Jansjo type product that's currently under fundraising development, looking for support and might be of interest. Sam, the creator, has been mailing me for some time about it, and although it's not something I'd personally use, others might find it useful.

The product is called Adaptalux and it's a rechargeable LED lighting system that can sit on the hotshoe - similar to Jansjos or a fibre optic microscope light guide. It has a bunch of filters and adaptors and a background attachment that are all optional extras. I can't attest to its brightness, the diffusion isn't what I'd be looking for, it looks a bit pricey given similar products out there and in truth continuous lighting for outdoor macro has never really worked for me, but YMMV!

On the flipside though, the 5 arms can also be directly powered from USB via computer or mains, so for folk who use continuous lighting in the studio this might be an interesting supplementary off-camera lighting gadget given that you can adjust the brightnesses independently etc.

Adaptalux site - http://adaptalux.com/
On Kickstarter - Adaptalux kickstarter

ChrisR · Post by **ChrisR** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 5:35 am

There seems to be a lack of demonstration images?
Too much $$ for a punt on a new product likely to have weaknesses, etc.
It doesn't look anywhere near bright enough in any of the videos they show.
Arms look rather short, do they lock, do they stay where you put them?

What else is "out there" for portable macro though?

Rylee Isitt · Post by **Rylee Isitt** » Sat Mar 28, 2015 5:12 pm

I saw this on dpreview, I figured there would be a discussion about it here.

It looks like they are making this product mostly with video in mind, and it would seem be suited mostly just to use in the field as well. So for people who shoot macro video in the field, maybe it's just the thing they need. In that particular niche, it could be promising. But you are right, it doesn't seem very bright. It would be more useful to me, personally, if it were a xenon flash, making it a more compact alternative to Nikon and Canon's macro flash offerings. Or a hybrid unit that had LED modelling/video lights and a xenon flashbulb.

In the studio continuous lighting is very much an option, and it can be quite dim yet still work just fine. But given the number of lighting solutions already available... FO illuminators, traditional video lights, compact LED video lights, and cheap lamps from Ikea... there's not much room for a new competitor unless it is cheap, convenient, compact, well made, and highly usable. It literally has to ace all of those points before it can compete with existing products.

I think there could be a good niche for this product but it's too early to tell. Kickstarter products are a risk. I can't speak for anyone else, but I lack the business, accounting, and legal training to pick up on a lot of the red flags (or green flags) that might be obvious to professional venture capitalists. Kickstarter asks all of us to be venture capitalists, all all we get to see of the product or service is a carefully edited promo video... yikes.