The very first lighting kit I purchased was a set of hot Tungsten fixtures from Lowel over a decade ago. Even then, these lights departed from the typical Fresnel style grain most often used in Tungsten lights. Today, Lowel continues to exhibit this independent spirit with their two unique LED lights – the Blender XL and the Ego LED. Let’s go in alphabetical order (why not!) and start with the Blender XL first and move on to the Ego LED. You may have heard the name Lowel Blender before, but it used to be simply called Blender without the XL in the name. The original and now discontinued Lowel Blender has been replaced by the newer $379.00 Blender XL. Is the new Blender deserving of the “XL” title? Let’s find out. Blender XL – first impressions Image Credit: Graham Sheldon / CineD The Blender XL aluminum and steel design feels like it was intended for news gathering on-camera ENG-style applications. The elongated boxy exterior certainly speaks to that use. Compared with modern cinema cameras (for example, the Canon C-series or Sony F-series), the Blender XL seems a little large to live on-camera. However, a traditional broadcast-news ENG camera would take the weight just fine and wouldn’t feel off-balance. The fact the Blender XL ships with a D-Tap power cable also lends credence to the idea that on-camera was a use case Lowel had in mind. Image Credit: Graham Sheldon / CineD Lowel also markets the Blender XL for interviews and...
Published By: CineD - Monday, 6 September, 2021