Unboxing – Pixapro EF-Mount Optical snoot

Westcott recently launched the Optical Spot by Lindsay Adler which I was interested in getting so that I could create seriously hard cuts in my lights. What put me off from getting it was the high price. So it was nice to see a cheaper alternative of the Pixapro EF-Mount Optical snoot.

What is this device you ask? Well, it is piece of equipment that attaches to the front of your light in which you can add gobos and the lens focuses the light. So a longer lens gives a narrow beam and a wider lens gives more spread. By changing the focus of the lens changes how sharp the image of the gobo is projected. Basically it turns your light into a mini projector.

One of the other reasons why I did not fancy getting the Westcott Optical Spot is that I don’t own any EF lenses and I think that the lens that comes with it is a bit too long. Seeing that Pixapro sell a Nikon convertor it was an easy choice to make. However the convertor I ordered is on back order with an estimated delivery of 8 to 10 weeks.

Luckily I have access to a Canon 35mm f1.4 that I have borrowed for the night from the office. I just wanted to see how well a lens will balance on my Profoto lights.

I do feel that attaching it to my Profoto B10 Plus makes it a bit uncomfortable. The centre of gravity doesn’t feel like it is over the stand I used. But with the higher power it might be a better choice. It is something I will have to test once I get the lens convertor. Using the smaller B10 feels a lot safer.

Opening the boxes there are no instructions so I had to guess that I had to change the mount that was attached to the Optical snoot for the Profoto one by taking out the three screws.

I also got the adjustable framing shutter blades and you do have to be careful with them. Out of the box a couple of the blades had slipped out of their slots making them not open fully. Getting them back in soon solved the problem but was confusing for me at first as I was disappointed with the limited shapes it was only making.

I’m looking forward to getting the Nikon convertor so I can really see what this piece of kit can really do.