Need a better flash for your iPhone camera? Here’s a thin wireless one

by Nirmal Singh

credit: Nova

SUMMARY:

If the True Tone flash on your iPhone doesn’t quite cut it for you in every lighting situation, this $60 wireless accessory might help. The Nova Flash has 40 LEDs, an app to control the lighting and a Bluetooth radio to work with your camera.

The True Tone flash on newer iPhones is good for many situations, adding the right color and amount of light to your photos. Sometimes you need a bit more oomph, though, particularly when you want to have more control over your scene. Enter theNova Bluetooth Flash for iPhones, which is available directly through the Apple Store.

Nova is relatively small and just 6.3 millimeters thin. It has a built-in rechargeable battery to power the 40 LED bulbs — each capable of providing 65 lumens of light — inside it. The device has a built-in diffuser, can fire up to 150 times per charge and, like Apple‘s True Tone flash does automatically, can be manually adjusted for various light levels and color ranges. What it doesn’t have is a wire.

Instead, the Nova uses a Bluetooth connection from your iPhone, which tells it when to fire from up to 20 feet away. That’s handy because you can position the flash anywhere to help compose your photo. Here’s an example image from the company to illustrate:

A companion app for the Nova is available as a free download, and it’s in the software that you can change the flash settings; there are four presets for various lighting situations or you can customize the flash.

The Nova Bluetooth Flash actually began as a Kickstarter project last year, raising more than three times its $25,000 funding goal. Early birds paid less than $50 to back the project and get a Nova, but now the device will cost you $59 online. Nova will appear in select Apple stores in the U.S. and Canada soon, so you can get a better look at the product before buying.

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