Review: Photoolex Pro 12W Portable Photography Spotlight Set
- Stephen Knight
- 6 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 23 hours ago
The Photoolex Pro 12W Portable Photography Spotlight, also known as the Portable Zoomlight Pro, is a next generation portable spotlight with focusable gobo projection, and zoomable soft, hard, and color lenses, adjustable CCT, plus RGB colour mixing.
Disclaimer
The Photoolex Pro 12W Portable Photography Spotlight was purchased with my own funds.
The product link is non-affiliate.
Design and Construction
The first generation of portable photography/videography spotlights had a hard edge zoom lens, 4 colours (White, Warm White/Orange, Red, Blue), and zoomable, but non-focusable gobo projections. The Photoolex Pro 12W Portable Photography Spotlight is one of the first of the second generation of spotlights, with focusable gobo projection, zoomable soft, hard, and colour lens, adjustable CCT, plus RGB colour mixing. These are essentially flashlights that are designed for portable use cases by photographers, videographers, and creators using the internal battery, and will thus have design compromises compared to less portable mains powered studio spotlights.
Specifications:
Output: 12W.
Battery capacity: 9000mAh / 150mins.
Charging: USB-C 5V/3A 15W.
Brightness: 900 lumen (CCT unspecified).
Gobos: 20 (advertised as 10) each tight and wide.
Lens/modifiers: Soft, Hard, Color, Focusable Gobo Spotlight, Dome diffuser.
Weight: 470g.
Size: 175.8 x 52.0mm.
The Photoolex Pro 12W Portable Photography Spotlight / Portable Zoomlight Pro arrived in a branded and padded box, with the light, instructions, USB-A to C cable, bag, lens accessories with protective pouches, and gobo slides.
The light is a similar size to the previous generation of 10W portable zoomlights/spotlights (flashlight/torch) from a range of manufacturers (Photoolex, Sidande, SmallRig, Neewer, Ulanzi, etc, likely all made the same OEM). The head can be moved from flood to zoom, and the front lens can be changed by screwing the lens into the bezel. The spotlight module (best used with the light at flood end of the zoom) allows the gobos to be inserted via a magnetic slide. Each slide has a large and small version of the same pattern. The slide does not lock into place, which means the slot has to be at the top of the light otherwise it falls out. This limits the direction of some of the gobos, unlike the 10W models where the gobo can be turned 360 degrees. The gobos projections are also very narrow - more on that later.
The light has USB-C charging, and appears to have 2 internal 21700 Li-ion batteries which are non-user replaceable. To maximise lifespan, try to avoid leaving the battery around full charge or discharged for long periods of time. The light can also run continuously via USB-C power supply. There is also a 1/4"-20 tripod thread for mounting on a tripod.
Due to the large head size, this light is not compatible with any light painting tools. It is however potentially useful for the illumination side of light painting photography. The main use case is of course for portrait photography.
This light was priced at US$119 at the time of writing. A Sidande branded version is available at a lower price with just a single lens and spotlight.
User Interface
The Photoolex Pro 12W Portable Photography Spotlight has both Bluetooth app control, and on-board control using a side button and rotary tail switch.
On-board control:
Long press side button (2secs) - on/off.
Short press side button - select mode.
Rotation and press of rotary switch - adjust setting.
Double click side button - switches direction of display.
There are 3 on-board modes:
PRO Mode - adjust RGB Hue and Brightness / CCT and Brightness.
EFF Mode - adjusts Effect mode (12 options) and Brightness.
MY Mode - save and recall up to 6 modes.
The effects modes are flash, flash fast, TV screen, candle, flame 1, flame 2, warning 1, warning 2, warning 3, strobe lights 1, strobe lights 2, and strobe lights 3.
The user interface is fairly easy to use. The 2 second hold for on/off is designed to prevent accidental activation, but makes it harder to use for fine control in light painting photography scenarios. Strangely, I couldn't see any reference the Bluetooth app in the manual, and the app hasn't yet been tested. I'll update the review when I've tested the app.
The light can be zoomed using push/pull of the lights head. This mechanism is quite stiff to prevent accidental zooming.
Optics, Beam, and Output
The Photoolex Pro 12W Portable Photography Spotlight has 4 LEDs - White, Red, Green, and Blue. These work together to adjust CCT or adjust RGB colour Hue (with fixed saturation).
Correlated colour temperature (CCT) range is 3500K (warmish white) to 7000K (cool white). This is good but I would prefer to see 2700K warm white and 3200K tungsten in the range. RGB colour mixing has an adjustable Hue, but saturation is fixed. The manual states that the saturation is fixed at 100%, but it appears that the white LED is active during RGB colour mixing. The saturation was compared to an Aputure MC Pro, and matched around 85-90% saturation depending on the Hue. This is actually better for portraits as 100% saturation is not flattering for models. Despite this limitation, there are far more CCT and colour options than the 10W version.
The light has multiple beam shaping options:
Original (Frosted) Lens - this aspheric frosted lens creates a soft edge beam (softer as the light is zoomed).
Hard Light Lens - this aspheric lens created a hard edge beam.
Color Lens - this aspheric lens has a green to purple spectrum.
Spotlight Tube (Gobo Projection) - focusable (but not zoomable) gobo projector.
Dome Diffuser - spreads light out 360 degrees.
Top L to R - Hard Light Lens Flood, Hard LIght Lens Zoom, Original Lens Flood.
Bottom L to R - Original Lens Zoom, Color Lens Flood, Color Lens Zoom.
Illuminance (lux/distance) is the most optimal photometric for photography and videography lighting as it measures how brightly an object is illuminated at a specified distance. These tests were at 100% output, 5600K CCT, and tested with an Opple Light Master 3.
Hard Light Lens Flood: 592 lux/1m
Hard Light Lens Zoom: 3640 lux/1m
Original (Frosted) Lens Flood: 468 lux/1m
Original (Frosted) Lens Zoom: 592 lux/1m
Spotlight Tube (Flood): 796 lux/1m
Dome Diffuser Flood: 120 lux/1m
Comparison with a 10W portable spotlight:
SmallRig RF 10C 5600K 100% flood - 250 lux/1m
SmallRig RF 10C 5600K 100% zoomed - 464 lux/1m
The 12W Photoolex Pro 12W Portable Photography Spotlight / Portable Zoomlight Pro is considerably brighter than the 10W generation of portable zoomlights/spotlights from a range of companies (which appear to have identical optics). The illuminance is higher than most pocket LED panel lights, but with a less flattering hard light source. It is nowhere near as bright as most 60-100W COB video lights.
The 12W spotlight has an impressive increase in brightness, focusable gobo projections, and less beam artifact compared to the 10W spotlights. However, there is one major issue - the gobo projections are very narrow compared to the 10W spotlights. The below photos show the difference between the 12W version and the 10W version. The spotlight beam is so narrow, that the projections are only useful for illuminating a models face and/or upper body. The 10W versions allowed a projection to be used for head to toe illumination in a studio space. Whilst in a large space, the 12W version could be moved further back to increase the size of the projection, the resulting illuminance is considerably lower at matching gobo projection sizes.
Due to the use of colour mixing (i.e. more than 1 LED active) the large gobos from the 10W versions do not work well with the 12W version.
L to R - 12W small gobo vs 10W flood, 12W large gobo vs 12W zoomed, brightness comparison with matching gobo projection sizes (12W much further away from the wall).
CCT/CRI/Tint at 100% output, 5600K CCT.
Hard Light Lens Flood: CCT 6111K; CRI 99.0 Ra, Tint -0.0112
Hard Light Lens Zoom: CCT 6893K; CRI 99.0 Ra; Tint -0.0120
Original (Frosted) Lens Flood: CCT 5716K; CRI 99.9 Ra, Tint -0.0083
Spotlight Tube (Flood): CCT 5912K; CRI 98.6 Ra; Tint -0.0119
The correlated colour temperature (CCT) appears to be higher than specified at 5600K. The CCT increased as the light is zoomed, and decreases with the original frosted lens. Colour rendering index is very good at around 99 Ra. There is a noticeable magenta tint with a negative DUV. This is better than a positive green tint, but I would prefer a more neutral tint at the highest and most used brightness settings.
Lumens are total luminous flux, and were measured at:
Hard Light Lens Flood: 690lm
Hard Light Lens Zoom: 318lm
As with all aspheric lens zooms, less lumens are output when the light is zoomed, however the illuminance is considerably increased when the light is zoomed. The tested runtime (5600K, 100% output) was 172 minutes, which was longer than specified. The brightness with within -10% of the starting brightness throughout the entire runtime, which is very good. Whilst the light became quite warm, the exterior of the light never became too hot to touch during the runtime.
Conclusion
Positives:
Much brighter than the 10W versions (but not at same gobo projection size).
Brightness sustained throughout the runtime.
Adjustable colour Hue.
Adjustable CCT (though I would like to see a warmer end to the range).
Gobos can be focused.
Easy to use.
1/4"-20 Tripod thread.
Well packaged (bag and protective pouches for lenses).
Negatives:
Gobo projections are very narrow.
Gobo projections can't be zoomed.
Gobo slide does not clip into place - limitations on gobo rotation.
No RGB saturation adjustment (fixed around 85-90%).
Magenta tint, and no Green/Magenta tint adjustment.
Battery isn't user replaceable.
No information about the app in the instructions.
The Photoolex Pro 12W Portable Photography Spotlight / Portable Zoomlight Pro is much brighter than the 10W generation of spotlights/zoomlights, and has many creative beam shaping options. I like the ability to focus the gobos. However, the gobo projections are very narrow, and only suitable for illuminating a models head and upper body. If you need to illuminate a model from head to toe with the gobo projections, I would consider looking at one of the older 10W versions of portable spotlights/zoomlights instead.