With the right accessories, light can be manipulated into different shapes and colors to design creative photo and video effects — but Colorspike aims to do all of that with a single piece of hardware and an app. Designed by the Brooklyn, New York-based Bitbanger Labs, the company behind the light painting Pixelstick, Colorspike is a customizable photo and video light designed for creating a variety of lighting effects in both stills and video.
Colorspike is a set of LED lights arranged along a long body and enclosed in a separate magnesium alloy body. What sets the Colorspike apart, however, is the ability to dial in a variety of different effects through the app control system without using accessories like grids and gels. Inside the app, users can change the color of the light and adjust shape by altering which part of the Colorspike is lit. Developers say the Colorspike’s brightness, custom colors and patterns, and app control is what sets the light apart from other light wands.
Along with working as a continuous light source, for video, the Colorspike can also create custom lighting patterns by adjusting and even randomizing when the light turns on. With that feature, the light can be used to mimic the effects of the lights from a police car, from a disco ball, a campfire, a flickering light bulb, and other custom effects.
Inside the app, users can design and then save different lighting patterns to use later. The iOS and Android app also allows for multi-light set-ups, with the ability to control multiple Colorspikes individually or all at once by connecting through Bluetooth. The company also built app-free control into the system. After syncing the light with the mobile device, a small screen on the back of the light allows users to choose from their saved lighting patterns, and to adjust speed, brightness, and color.
The Colorspike sports a light range of about 1,640 lux to 420, with a refresh rate under 4,000Hz to prevent unwanted flickers. The light weighs about 1.2 pounds.
Like the Pixelstick, Bitbanger Labs is launching the Colorspike on Kickstarter. The campaign is already less than $8,000 shy of its $120,000 goal, and is only a few days in. The campaign continues until November 17. If the funding and manufacturing is successful, backers can pick up a Colorspike for pledges starting at $299, with shipping expected in March 2018.
