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REVIEWED
REVIEWED: Cameo Drop B1
Those of you who know LED Factory and the name Avtar will automatically think of venue décor, event production, LED furniture, LED centrepieces – rarely will you think of me as a DJ. But that’s how I started, and I still do the occasional session behind the decks, even now!
In September, I visited the famous PLASA show in Kensington Olympia, London, to check out what’s new. To be honest, it’s all big boys’ toys… stuff we won’t really see in the mobile DJ market for another four of five years. That said, it was awesome to catch up with industry friends following the pandemic. I’ve found that although shows are back in force, the new kit just isn’t there yet; a consequence of the worldwide pandemic, which caused issues across the industry by affecting the supply of electronic parts and thereby delaying product launches.
But if you look hard enough, you’ll find exceptions, one of which I happened to see from Cameo brand, on the Adam Hall stand. There I spotted a tiny lighting fixture that’s battery-powered, IP-rated and equipped with wireless DMX control: the Cameo Drop B1. I realised that these are ideal for me, as I have a huge gap in my inventory for an IP product that can be used in conjunction with vases of water and dry ice to create stunning table centrepieces.
Further conversations with both Cameo and Pro Mobile lead to me writing an in-depth review for this issue. And it wasn’t long before Pro Mobile’s Steven Honeyball arrived at my warehouse with six white Drop B1 units, all housed in a sleek flight case on wheels (think trolley-dolly).
The first thing to note about this product is that the flight case doubles as a charging case. There are generally two types of charging case. I refer to the one type as ‘drop and charge’, where you power directly into the case and it has individual leads for each light. But Cameo’s flight case is the other type, where the case comes with a charging block and a low-voltage split connector that you need to connect each light to.
Of course, this means that you don’t actually need the case for charging and depending on your needs, you could use a different, bigger case. But this should be fine for mobile DJs, as six or 12 units will be more than enough for most venues. The exterior is well finished, but the inside has exposed plywood edges that could be neater. Anyway, enough of the constructive feedback on the case…
The Cameo Drop B1 looks sleek; I can’t see a single screw on the cases, so they have a very nice finish. Made of a solid metal housing and weighing in at around 1kg each, they measure 16cm(w) x 17.5cm (h) x 12cm (d) and feature an easy-to-use OLED display.
Each unit comes with a hood and two diffusers (more on those later). Inside the unit is a 15W RGBWA+UV LED and built-in 2.4 GHz wireless DMX (W-DMX protocol). Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to test the wireless function, as that requires a W-DMX transmitter, but W-DMX is a standard protocol with good wireless range. In terms of controlling the unit, there’s a menu with the usual up, down and enter buttons that you’d expect, but as the Drop B1 is IP65-rated for outdoor use, the buttons are touch sensitive.
The menu takes you through DMX address with 3-, 4-, 6- and 7-channel modes available. DMX Delay allows you to set up groups – a simple way to create a running light effect with many spotlights. The standalone modes include static colour, built-in macros, set user colours, and auto programs, of which there are six. You can also control both dimming and speed.
There is also a settings sub-menu, which includes wireless settings, power mode, calibration, dimmer curve, auto lock, and factory reset. Finally, the ‘system info’ option shows the firmware version, temperature, battery power and operation hours.
Cameo provides an IR remote control, should you not want to control the fixtures via wireless DMX. Although I would find this difficult to use, as you’d need a direct line of sight – not so easily achieved with the plastic top of a mirror cube in the way, or when the units are mounted inside bar furniture!
The lights come with a removeable bracket for mounting. Alternatively, you can sit them on their rubber feet, which is my preferred option, as we use this type of lighting for centrepieces and they fit nicely inside our 20cm mirror cubes. You do also have the option to mount the Drop B1 using the built-in magnetic holder, which I found allowed for innovative downlighting within our centrepieces.
As I mentioned already, two diffusers are supplied with the spotlight, each with a different beam angle (11° and 27°). You can therefore set the beam angle at 9° (without diffuser), 11° or 27°. The four magnets in the diffusers, the half-dome filter and the lens hood, as well as the four opposing magnets set into the spotlight housing, are directly over each other and this ensures everything is securely held in place. Because magnets are set into all four accessories, they can be combined with each other, whereby the half-dome filter and then the lens hood must be placed on top. The lens hood can be attached in four different positions.
The 9° beam angle is very narrow and creates a hotspot that’s great for uplighting and pin-spotting – once you add the diffusers too, say hello to the next level of centrepiece light. The colours from the HEX LED are something else - putting them up against the fixtures I currently use, the Drop B1’s output is so much more vivid and brighter than its competitors.
In terms of battery life, the lights have two modes: standard and eco. In standard mode, after fully charging, running the lights with full-on manual control and all LEDS on gave me just over two hours, whilst running on a single colour will give you 10. Using the same settings but in eco mode gave me four hours and 15 hours, respectively. Very few events require full colour range, so this is not a concern.
We tested our set of Drop B1s at the ARTA awards in London, alongside 83 other fixtures, where they held their own and were brighter and more vivid that the other centrepiece lights we used. The IP65 rating should give you extra confidence when placing them outside, using them in centrepieces with water, or when adding dry ice to vases to create a smoking effect.
So, what’s the verdict? I love them, they fit my market extremely well, and LED Factory will be adding some to their inventory shortly. The Cameo Drop B1 is well made and an awesome fixture from a brand that I wouldn’t normally consider. All of this because I spotted a random product at a trade show. It just shows that attending these events, networking and seeing what is out there really can improve your business!
In September, I visited the famous PLASA show in Kensington Olympia, London, to check out what’s new. To be honest, it’s all big boys’ toys… stuff we won’t really see in the mobile DJ market for another four of five years. That said, it was awesome to catch up with industry friends following the pandemic. I’ve found that although shows are back in force, the new kit just isn’t there yet; a consequence of the worldwide pandemic, which caused issues across the industry by affecting the supply of electronic parts and thereby delaying product launches.
But if you look hard enough, you’ll find exceptions, one of which I happened to see from Cameo brand, on the Adam Hall stand. There I spotted a tiny lighting fixture that’s battery-powered, IP-rated and equipped with wireless DMX control: the Cameo Drop B1. I realised that these are ideal for me, as I have a huge gap in my inventory for an IP product that can be used in conjunction with vases of water and dry ice to create stunning table centrepieces.
Further conversations with both Cameo and Pro Mobile lead to me writing an in-depth review for this issue. And it wasn’t long before Pro Mobile’s Steven Honeyball arrived at my warehouse with six white Drop B1 units, all housed in a sleek flight case on wheels (think trolley-dolly).
The first thing to note about this product is that the flight case doubles as a charging case. There are generally two types of charging case. I refer to the one type as ‘drop and charge’, where you power directly into the case and it has individual leads for each light. But Cameo’s flight case is the other type, where the case comes with a charging block and a low-voltage split connector that you need to connect each light to.
Of course, this means that you don’t actually need the case for charging and depending on your needs, you could use a different, bigger case. But this should be fine for mobile DJs, as six or 12 units will be more than enough for most venues. The exterior is well finished, but the inside has exposed plywood edges that could be neater. Anyway, enough of the constructive feedback on the case…
The Cameo Drop B1 looks sleek; I can’t see a single screw on the cases, so they have a very nice finish. Made of a solid metal housing and weighing in at around 1kg each, they measure 16cm(w) x 17.5cm (h) x 12cm (d) and feature an easy-to-use OLED display.
Each unit comes with a hood and two diffusers (more on those later). Inside the unit is a 15W RGBWA+UV LED and built-in 2.4 GHz wireless DMX (W-DMX protocol). Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to test the wireless function, as that requires a W-DMX transmitter, but W-DMX is a standard protocol with good wireless range. In terms of controlling the unit, there’s a menu with the usual up, down and enter buttons that you’d expect, but as the Drop B1 is IP65-rated for outdoor use, the buttons are touch sensitive.
The menu takes you through DMX address with 3-, 4-, 6- and 7-channel modes available. DMX Delay allows you to set up groups – a simple way to create a running light effect with many spotlights. The standalone modes include static colour, built-in macros, set user colours, and auto programs, of which there are six. You can also control both dimming and speed.
There is also a settings sub-menu, which includes wireless settings, power mode, calibration, dimmer curve, auto lock, and factory reset. Finally, the ‘system info’ option shows the firmware version, temperature, battery power and operation hours.
Cameo provides an IR remote control, should you not want to control the fixtures via wireless DMX. Although I would find this difficult to use, as you’d need a direct line of sight – not so easily achieved with the plastic top of a mirror cube in the way, or when the units are mounted inside bar furniture!
The lights come with a removeable bracket for mounting. Alternatively, you can sit them on their rubber feet, which is my preferred option, as we use this type of lighting for centrepieces and they fit nicely inside our 20cm mirror cubes. You do also have the option to mount the Drop B1 using the built-in magnetic holder, which I found allowed for innovative downlighting within our centrepieces.
As I mentioned already, two diffusers are supplied with the spotlight, each with a different beam angle (11° and 27°). You can therefore set the beam angle at 9° (without diffuser), 11° or 27°. The four magnets in the diffusers, the half-dome filter and the lens hood, as well as the four opposing magnets set into the spotlight housing, are directly over each other and this ensures everything is securely held in place. Because magnets are set into all four accessories, they can be combined with each other, whereby the half-dome filter and then the lens hood must be placed on top. The lens hood can be attached in four different positions.
The 9° beam angle is very narrow and creates a hotspot that’s great for uplighting and pin-spotting – once you add the diffusers too, say hello to the next level of centrepiece light. The colours from the HEX LED are something else - putting them up against the fixtures I currently use, the Drop B1’s output is so much more vivid and brighter than its competitors.
In terms of battery life, the lights have two modes: standard and eco. In standard mode, after fully charging, running the lights with full-on manual control and all LEDS on gave me just over two hours, whilst running on a single colour will give you 10. Using the same settings but in eco mode gave me four hours and 15 hours, respectively. Very few events require full colour range, so this is not a concern.
We tested our set of Drop B1s at the ARTA awards in London, alongside 83 other fixtures, where they held their own and were brighter and more vivid that the other centrepiece lights we used. The IP65 rating should give you extra confidence when placing them outside, using them in centrepieces with water, or when adding dry ice to vases to create a smoking effect.
So, what’s the verdict? I love them, they fit my market extremely well, and LED Factory will be adding some to their inventory shortly. The Cameo Drop B1 is well made and an awesome fixture from a brand that I wouldn’t normally consider. All of this because I spotted a random product at a trade show. It just shows that attending these events, networking and seeing what is out there really can improve your business!
The full review can be found in Pro Mobile Issue 116, Pages 84-85.
