aNewDomain.net — From the Olde Continent comes the highly sexy BALLED Pro. It’s a cylindrical photo light made of aluminum and a high-grade glass lens.
The device has a diameter of 40mm and is 30mm high. The bottom plate of the BALLED Pro is a strong magnet and holds the mini-USB interface and a 1/4 inch thread to mount the light directly on a tripod — or a QR-plate.
The luminous flux the BALLED Pro produces is fixed at 125 lumen, but using filters and your imagination, you can dim the light output and shape the light circle at will. The lights on their own have a colour temperature of 6500K. Each BALLED Pro has a maximum power consumption of 350mA. The middle section of the alu cylinder holds the electronics. The top is the lens holder. The lens glass (crystal, actually) is extremely clear and has been cut so that the light circle extends to 70 degrees.
BALLED Pro kits come in two versions: a single kit that costs 239.00 EUR and a double kit that goes over the counter for 349.00 EUR. They’re Made in Germany and they ooze quality.
Except for two lamps, the double-kit case holds two ReVolt USB interfaced battery packs, two mini USB cables, two steel plates with a 1/4 inch thread so you can mount these permanently and then ‘click’ the BALLED Pro lamps onto it. The lights run on four AA batteries each, but better and more eco-friendly is to use a Powermonkey Extreme or another solar panel chargeable battery pack.
The BALLED Pro was more or less invented for object photography. It’s used by photographers from all across Europe and Australia. There are no US distributors that I know of yet, but there is international shipping.
One of the most famous advocates of the BALLED Pro has been Joris Luyten, a photographer from Antwerp. He is a Qualified European Professional Photographer who has won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award 2007, exhibited at the Pingyao International Photography Festival 2008 in China and is an associate of the Royal Photographic Society. Impressive.
Luyten uses the BALLED Pros for food photography. On the BALLED Pro website you can view a recorded workshop during which he demonstrates the BALLED Pros in tandem with mirrors, diffusion panels and by themselves.
Except for food, most subjects are ripe for this system. You’re even able to use the BALLED Pro system lights for portraits. Use them mainly as fill lights, though. The lamps by themselves are a bit too small to evenly lighten up a model or subjects — unless imperfect lighting is the effect you’re after.
Finally, I find the BALLED Pro Led system ideal for use as an ultra-portable video light kit. For example, imagine having to shoot an interview with dim natural light. In this case, the BALLED Pro lighting system delivers just enough juice to make noise a non-issue.
For aNewDomain.net, I’m Eric Vlietinck.
Its good to know nice information about the lamps by themselves are a bit too small to evenly lighten up a model or subjects – unless imperfect lighting is the effect you’re after.