Need to Find the Right Speed Ring or an LED Lightbank? There's an App for That! [Tech Tuesday]

April 12, 2016

By Laura Brauer

Lights, modifiers and speed rings are sometimes a mix-and-match conundrum. As any photographer and lighting tech knows, there’s no easy, universal solution or one-design-fits-all softbox to light attachment (or if there is, I’ve never seen one).

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But Chimera Lighting recently launched an app (it’s called Chimera Lighting) that, with nothing more than a few taps on your iOS or Android device, matches components between lights from dozens of manufacturers with the appropriate Chimera speed ring or, for LEDs, the compatible Chimera lightbanks. Segmented by category for Film (continuous), Still (strobe) and LEDs, specific manufacturers are listed alphabetically (with a sub-listing of specific lights) or can be searched.

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The Chimera Lighting app, which can be downloaded for free from the Apple App Store or Google Play, is intuitive and easy to use. Better yet, there’s a shopping cart for purchasing products directly. Or, if you’d rather visit your local dealer, the app provides a location service to direct you to the nearest dealer or rental house.

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Other options built into the app include a chatroom, forums and email/phone contact for Chimera. As Chimera suggests, this is the perfect app for photographers and techs responsible for loading out a truck for a big location production or simply making a shopping list for future gear needs. The app is intuitive and offers lots of information and links that make it a valuable addition to your mobile device.