Adaptalux Wants to Make Macro Lighting Easy

Adaptalux has announced a fresh addition to its macro lighting system, the Pod Mini 2.0.

Adaptalux has come a long way since its founding over a decade ago. Photographer Samuel Granger explained why and how he founded the company in a PetaPixel story in 2015, and it remains an insightful look into product design and how photographers can design commercially successful solutions to problems they face every day.

The company’s latest product, the Pod Mini 2.0, is the “little brother” to its larger Control Pod. These pods form the heart of the Adaptalux Complete Macro Lighting System.

The versatile system includes interchangeable LEDs, Xenon flash, and ultraviolet options, making it work well for a wide range of photo and video scenarios. The wireless lighting system also supports remote control of each light, letting users quickly tweak the brightness and settings of any light in a system.

The pods are the controllers that users plug their macro lights into. The Control Pod 3.0 has Bluetooth control and five ports, while the new Bluetooth-equipped Pod Mini 2.0 has just a single port, plus on-device brightness and power controls.

Like the Control Pod 3.0, the Pod Mini 2.0 has a built-in rechargeable battery that charges via USB-C. It has up to eight hours of battery life per charge and can be used while charging. It is compatible with LED and Xenon Flash Lighting Arms, which can be controlled manually from the device or via Adaptalux’s updated smartphone app.

A potential advantage of the Pod Mini 2.0 versus the Control Pod 3.0 is that it lets photographers create multi-light setups more economically. Two Pod Mini 2.0 units offer more creative flexibility regarding lighting positions than a single Control Pod 3.0 with two lights installed, for example.

The company has just refreshed its app, adding multi-pod connectivity to it. This means photographers can remotely control a complex system with multiple pods, which can have dozens of individual lights of different types and colors. With complete wireless control over macro lights via Bluetooth, photographers can quickly achieve very high-end, multi-light macro setups.

Each pod can be attached directly to a camera, tripod, or other mounting accessory via its 1/4-20 metal thread. The Pod Mini 2.0 is $102.30. Lighting Arms are sold separately, although customers can build out a macro lighting kit and save up to 15 percent. A beginner’s pack with the Pod Mini 2.0 and a flexible LED Lighting Arm is $150.25, for example.

Image creditsAdaptalux