Nanlite PavoTube II 15C Review

Nanlite is no stranger to making LED tube lights, and back in January, they announced their new Nanlite PavoTube II 15C/30C fixtures. These are follow-ups to the original PavoTube lights that were announced back in 2020.

The form factor of tubular sources and their ability to generate and create lots of different colors make them useful for discreet lighting effects and placement in confined or hard-to-reach places. Lots of lighting companies now have tube LED lights in their portfolio and that does make the choice of which one to get somewhat confusing.

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You can see Nanlite’s launch event above.

Design & Concept

Tube lights are not a new concept. Fluorescent tubes have been around for a very long time, and in recent years we have seen quite a lot of RGB options coming to market.

The inherent problem with a tube light is you have to think carefully about how you are going to mount and power it.

The light has been designed to be an all-in-one unit, so you can run the PavoTube II 15C II from its 14.8V/2200aAM lithium battery and the PavoTube II 30C from its 14.8V/4400mAH lithium battery. This all-in-one design makes it relatively quick to set up and use.

The other problem with long tube lights is when it comes to transportation and storage. Due to their length (this especially applies to the longer versions) they are an awkward item to transport. Even though they come in a soft bag, this is not something you would want to check in on a plane. You would need to buy some sort of harder case or bag that could fit a very long light.

According to Nanlite, the new PavoTube II 15C/30C feature new internals and a new outside casing. Nanlite listened to feedback from commercial production teams, film crews, and photographers over the past few years and used that feedback to create the PavoTubes. The LED chips on PavoTube II 15C/30C are surrounded by diffusion materials so they can offer better performance for shooting highly-reflective objects or when you use them as in-frame practical lights.

It is worth noting that the Nanlite PavoTube II 15C and 30C II are T12 sized tubes, which are the same as tubes from Astera, Digital Sputnik, and Qusar Science.

For this review, I will concentrate on the PavoTube II 15C. I have another review on the PavoTube II 30C that you can see here.

Build Quality

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The build quality is ok, but the casing doesn’t feel as feel solidly made as that of the PavoTube II 15/30/60X models which have a metal housing.

In saying that, most tube lights will not survive repeated drops. It is always good practice, at least in my opinion, to treat tube lights with care.

The buttons, dials, and switches all feel pretty tactile. The LCD display is pretty basic, but it gets the job done.

It is hard to judge just how robust these lights are and how they would hold up to extensive use. I wish I could be more specific than that, but I’m in no position to comment on longevity after only spending a few months with the lights.

I’m not a big fan of having branding all over lights and although the PavoTube 15C II doesn’t have any massive branding on the front, there is still a Nanlite logo on the bottom front section of the tube. The last thing a user wants is branding on the front of a fixture, especially since tube lights are often used as replacements for practicals.

Weight

The PavoTube II 15C tips the scales at 1.87 lb / 0.85 kg, and the larger 30C II weighs 3.09 lb / 1.4 kg. The power supplies weigh in at 0.44 lb / 0.2 kg.

While the fixture isn’t that heavy, you have to factor in the power supply, mounting brackets, and associated stands you also need to carry around to use them.

Controls & Menu System

The controls and menu system are very straightforward and the light is relatively easy to use. This is not a light you need to pull out an instruction manual with. Tubes should be quick and easy to operate and use, and that is certainly the case with the PavoTube II 15C.

I found making changes to be super simple and the light doesn’t have extensive menus that you get lost in. There is a free iOS and Android App available. If you want to directly control the light using the app you can only do it via Bluetooth. To do it via WiFi you need the buy the optional 2.4G Transfer Device that is sold separately. More on this later in the review.

The dials for making changes to things such as CCT and intensity are easy to use, and they are reasonably tactile. When you are adjusting the CCT you can only do it in increases or decreases of 100K. It would have been nice to be able to adjust the light more precisely.

On the tubes, one dial makes adjustments, while the other toggles through the options.

Operating Modes

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Depending on what operating mode you are in, the tubes can be configured to work in a variety of ways:

• CCT Mode
• HSI Mode
• Effects Mode

There is a normal CCT Mode where you can adjust the Kelvin color temperature between 2700K to 7500K. You also have the ability to make +/- Green adjustments.

HSI Mode lets you adjust the hue, saturation, and intensity of the light. In this mode, you can create a multitude of different colors and looks.

The Effects Mode as its name suggests, lets you create effects such as Hue Loop, CCT Loop, INT Loop, CCT Flash, HUE Flash, CCT Pulse, Hue Pulse, Storm Auto, Storm Manual, Police Car, TV, Paparazzi, Candle/Fire, Disco, Bad Bulb, Fireworks, Explosion, and Welding.

Power Draw

The PavoTube II 15C II draws 30W of power. The PavoTube II 30C draws 55W. As I mentioned earlier, PavoTube II 15C has a 14.8V/2200aAM lithium battery and the PavoTube II 30C has a 14.8V/4400mAH lithium battery

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The light comes with an AC power supply and cable.

You can also run it from mains power via a 15V DC 4A input.

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You can also use the USB-C input to either charge the tube light or to power it. Above you can see I am using a V-mount battery that has a USB-C output.

Now here is where there is a slight issue. Tube lights are great as practical replacements, but if they are going to be visible in shot, a lot of times you will want to run them via the in-built battery.

Below you can see the claimed run times when using the light at various levels of brightness:

• 100% brightness:~ 2hour 13min
• 75% brightness:~ 3hour 19min
• 50% brightness:~ 3hour 7min
• 10% brightness:~11hour 45min
• 1% brightness:~ 29 hour

Tube lights are great as practical replacements, but if they are going to be visible in shot, there may be times when you will want to run them by using an external power source and not via the in-built battery.

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The biggest issue I have when it comes to mounting is that there are no mounting points directly on the bottom or the top of the tubes so you can’t stand them up vertically. At least the power cable is angled and protected so it doesn’t stick out of the top of the light as it does with the PavoTube 15/30/60X II fixtures.

Silent Operation

The PavoTube II 15C doesn’t feature any type of fan and they are passively cooled. While this does prevent any unwanted noise, it does mean that the tubes get quite hot. The other downside of not using any type of fan is that the output is going to be limited.

Mounting

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Mounting tube lights is always a little tricky. With the PavoTube II 15C, you don’t have any 1/4-20″ mounting points on the ends of the fixture as I previously mentioned. In fact, there are zero 1/4-20″ mounting points on the lights.

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On the PavoTube II 15/30X that I previously reviewed, they not only have 1/4-20″ mounting points on the ends of the fixtures, but also two other 1/4-20″ mounting points on the back of the fixture at opposite ends.

The PavoTube II 15C does have holes on both ends if you wanted to suspend them using a cable.

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The PavoTube II 15C tubes only come with two mounting brackets which are very similar to what you will find being used by other manufacturers of tube lights. These brackets are made out of hard plastic and they are easy and quick to mount to the tube.

On the back of the brackets, there are two 1/4-20″ mounting points.

What I missed about not having any 1/4-20″ mounting point on the bottom of the fixtures is that I couldn’t easily just attach a small stand to place it vertically.

To be fair to Nanlite they do sell a range of mounting accessories, including a floor stand. While this is fine, I would have preferred to have seen a floor stand included

WiFi & Bluetooth Control

The PavoTube II 15C/30C can be controlled via Bluetooth using the Nanlink app or via WiFi.

The NANLINK iOS and Android app only works directly if you use Bluetooth. For WiFi control you need the optional transfer device.

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Now, here is what I am not a big fan of. You need to register with Nanlite to be able to use the app, you then also have to log in using an email address and password every time you open the app. You should have the option to use an app without having to submit personal details.

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While I could get the app to see my fixture, I couldn’t control it. All I got when I tried to access the light was a spinning circle.

Photometrics

So now let’s get to the photometric results. I always test lights in this way so that I get a reference to how they compare to other fixtures. Results only tell part of the story and should never be used alone to judge a light. I have found from extensive testing over the years that certain lights that have good photometric results don’t always look good, and lights that have worse photometric scores can sometimes look better than their results indicate.

You need to look at all of the photometric results to get an accurate assessment of a light, looking at just one set of results is like reading one chapter in a book and skipping the rest.

Different lights can also look different depending on what camera you happen to be using.

Output & Color Temperature Accuracy

I tested the PavoTube II 15C at a variety of CCT settings with a Sekonic C-800 Spectrometer to find out how much output the lights have and how accurate their color temperature reproduction was. All readings are taken at a distance of 1m (3.28ft) in a controlled environment.

5600K

PavoTube II 15C 5600K

Above you can see the PavoTube II 15C recorded an output of 386 lx (35.9 fc) when set at 5600K. This is a reasonable amount of output for a single tube light of this size.

The fixture produced a CCT reading of 5552K which was a good result.

3200K

PavoTube II 15C 3200K

Above you can see the light’s output when it was set at 3200K. It produced 354 lx (32.8 fc), which was just 8.29% less than the 386 lx it produced at 5600K.

As far as CCT accuracy goes, it recorded a pretty accurate reading of 3166K.

PavoTube II 15C

CCT SETTING	LUX	CCT READING
2700K	337 lx	2702K
3200K	354 lx	3171K
4500K	378 lx	4445K
5600K	386 lx	5552K
6500K	398 lx	6483K
7500K	393 lx	7443K

These results tell me that the light retains very good CCT accuracy from 2700K to 7500K.

The output of the light is very consistent regardless of what CCT you set. The output only varies by 16.6% from the highest to lowest scores that I recorded.

Color Rendering

So now that we have seen how much output the PavoTube II 15C produces, how does it perform when it comes to replicating accurate colors.? Well, let’s find out.

5600K

PavoTube II 15C 5600K

Above you can see that when the light was set at 5600K it recorded an average CRI (R1-R8) of 96.5 and an extended CRI (R1-R15) of 94.79. For replicating accurate skin tones it recorded 91.3 for R9 (red), 95.0 for R13 (closest to caucasian skin tones), and 94.7 for R15 (closest to Asian skin tones). These results were good for a tube light. Only R11 and R12 were under 90.

The light when set at 5600K also recorded an almost perfect TLCI score of 99.

3200K

PavoTube II 15C 3200K

Above you can see the scores for when the light was used at 3200K. It recorded an average CRI (R1-R8) of 97.3 and an extended CRI (R1-R15) of 96.28. For replicating accurate skin tones it recorded 98.3 for R9 (red), 96.6 for R13 (closest to caucasian skin tones), and 97.4 for R15 (closest to Asian skin tones).

Just like at 5600K, these were excellent results. Only R12 was below 90.

The light, when set at 3200K, recorded a TLCI score of 98.

CC Index & ⊿uv

The CC Index displays the CC correction value and whether any magenta or green need to be added or subtracted. 1 CC corresponds to 035 Kodak CC values or 1/8 Rosco filter values. Any reading less than +1.00 or -1.00 and you’re probably not going to need to make any kind of adjustment. The ⊿uv is the value to show how much this light is away from being an ideal light source (black body radiation = incandescent lamp). As with the CC Index you want this number to theoretically be zero. Kelvin is not a linear value, so we need to convert from Kelvin to MK-1 to compare the values of color temperature. To calculate from Kelvin to Mired is MK-1= 1*1000000/Kelvin. While this may sound confusing, it is the only way of measuring if the Kelvin shift is significant enough to warrant having to use a filter for correction.

Kelvin Vs MK-1

PavoTube II 15C

	Kelvin	Difference in K	MK-1	Difference in MK-1
SET VALUE	2700K	0	370.37	0
ACTUAL READING	2702K	2	370.09	0.28 MK-1
SET VALUE	3200K	0	312.5	0
ACTUAL READING	3171K	29	315.35	-2.85 MK-1
SET VALUE	4500K	0	222.22	0
ACTUAL READING	4445K	55	224.97	-2.75 MK-1
SET VALUE	5600K	0	178.57	0
ACTUAL READING	5552K	48	180.11	-1.54 MK-1
SET VALUE	6500K	0	153.84	0
ACTUAL READING	6483K	17	154.29	-0.45 MK-1
SET VALUE	7500K	0	133.33	0
ACTUAL READING	7443K	57	134.35	-1.02 MK-1

These figures might look confusing, but what it tells me is that the light is exceptionally accurate across its CCT range. Any MK-1 score that is under -9/9 means you wouldn’t have to use any color correction gels. These were some of the best MK-1 scores i have seen from a light.

Again, we don’t want to judge a light based on one set of scores.

CC INDEX & ⊿uv

PavoTube II 15C

	CC INDEX	⊿uv
2700K	0	0.0009
3200K	0.1M	0.0007
4500K	0	-0.0001
5600K	0.1G	-0.0001
6500K	0.2G	0.0001
7500K	0.4G	0.0006

The ⊿uv scores were excellent for this light and certainly some of the best I have seen. It has a very slight green push at 5600K and above, but this is very, very minor and nothing you need to be concerned about.

TM-30

TM-30 is a relatively new color rendering standard that was developed to deal with the limitations of CRI. TM-30 looks at 99 individual colors. These 99 colors are categorized into seven groups: nature, skin color, textiles, paints, plastics, printed material, and color systems.

TM-30 scores go from 0 – 100. The higher the score, the more accurate a light is at producing colors. Any TM-30 Rf score in the ’90s is considered to be good. What is interesting and something that you need to be very aware of is that two separate light sources with the exact same CRI scores can render colors very differently. A light with a high CRI rating could have a low TM-30 score. Conversely, a light with a good TM-30 score could have a bad CRI score.

Now, there are two measurements associated with TM-30, Rf and Rg.

Rf (Color Fidelity)
Rg (Color Gamut)

With Rf value, ideally, you want a score in the 90’s.

With Rg value, a score below 100 indicates that the light source renders colors with less saturation than the reference source. So ideally you want this score to be above 100.

PavoTube II 15C

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Above you can see the scores for the PavoTube II 15C at various CCT settings. Below I have listed the figures as well.

	Rf	Rg
2700K	92	98
3200K	93	100
4500K	95	102
5600K	95	103
6500K	95	102
7500K	94	101

The Rf and Rg scores are very consistent for the light.

SSI

SSI (Spectral Similarity Index) was developed by the Sci-Tech Council of the Academy. SSI gives me the ability to set any light as a standard, or use predefined standards (such as CIE D55), and then give other lights an SSI score based upon how well they will match standards such as CIE D55 measure spectral response and compare it directly against an ideal light source.

3200K

In this graph, the red bars indicate a perfect 3200K Tungsten source. The Red bars indicate a Planck 3200K source. This lets us compare how close to a perfect 3200K lighting source the Nanlite PavoTube II 15C is. A score in the mid ’80s is very good for a LED light trying to replicate a 3200K source.

5600K

In the graph above, the red bars indicate a perfect CIE D 5600K source. The Red bars indicate a perfect CIE D55 source. This lets us compare how close to a perfect 5600K lighting source the PavoTube II 15C is.

Most LED lights only record SSI scores in the 70s when they are used at 5600K.

The main reason we want to record SSI scores is so we can see how well they match with other lights. As an example, let’s see how well the Nanlite matches the ARRI Orbiter and Nanlite’s own PavoTube II 30C when used at 5600K. As you can see, the PavoTube II 15C is a better match with the PavoTube II 30C than with the ARRI. This is to be expected. In a perfect world, you would want the lights you are using to have a score of 100 if they were all being used in the same CCT setting. That is rarely ever going to be the case unless you are using the exact same lights from the same manufacturer, however, any score in the 90s should in theory provide a very decent match.

Just as another comparison, above you can see how all of those same lights match when used at 3200K. As you can see, the PavoTube II 15C is an almost perfect match to Nanlite’s own PavoTube II 30C.

Spectral Distribution

Above you can see the spectral distribution of the PavoTube II 15C when it is set at 5600K. The spectral distribution is not overly full, but it doesn’t have any large bumps or spikes where I wouldn’t expect to see them.

Above you can see the spectral distribution of the PavoTube II 15C when it is set at 3200K. The spectral distribution is pretty good for a LED light being used at 3200K.

Real-World Performance & Quality of Light

I might sound like a broken record, but as I always say in lighting reviews, photometric scores only tell you part of the story. LED lighting technology has gotten to a point where almost all of the lights that are being released score well in photometric tests. What you should be focussing on, and this goes for just about any product, is usability. How will this product fit into the way I like to work.

The Nanlite PavoTube II 15C is quick to set up and you could use the light for lots of different applications. Tube lights such as this are fairly versatile and can be used as accent lights, interview lights, replacements for practicals, etc, etc.

Yes, I would have liked to have seen a slightly longer run time when using the built-in battery, but on the other hand, you get a product that you can just pull out and turn on. I don’t like separate battery systems, but I do want the option to be able to use one if need be so it is nice that you can do that with the PavoTube II 15C.

As far as output is concerned, the light isn’t overly bright, but for a lot of scenarios where it will be used as a practical or placed in shot on purpose, it doesn’t need to be too bright. If you wanted to use this tube light as a key light in an interview you could, but you do have to be mindful that it will only probably work well in controlled environments.

Now, Nanlite states that the LED chips on PavoTube II 15C/30C are surrounded by diffusion materials so they can offer better performance for shooting highly-reflective objects or when you use them as in-frame practical lights.

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Above you can see a couple of quick shots I took using a single PavoTube II 15C to light a highly reflective globe just so you can see the type of reflections you get.

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Above you can see a couple of example frames where I am just using the Nanlite PavoTube II 15C to create a couple of very simple looks. Having a light like this with a built-in battery makes setting up simple shots like this really quick.

While tube lights are reasonably versatile, the physical size and difficulty of transportation may outweigh their benefits depending on the type of work you do.

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I also like to place a couple of tubes inside something like a Caligri AirTube to create a nice soft source.

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Above you can see what two of the tubes in a Caligri AirTube look like.

If you are shooting music videos or other content where you need a light to be able to create colors or effects that can be discreetly placed in a scene then tube lights make a lot of sense.

Price & Availability

The PavoTube II 30C and 15C are now available to purchase.

• Nanlite PavoTube II 30C $319 USD
• Nanlite PavoTube II 15C $219 USD

This makes them very competitively priced when you compare them to their competition.

You can also buy the lights in kits:

• Nanlite PavoTube II 15C RGB LED Tube Light (2′, 2-Light Kit) $389 USD
• Nanlite PavoTube II 15C RGB LED Tube Light (2′, 4-Light Kit) $769 USD
• Nanlite PavoTube II 30C RGB LED Tube Light (4′, 2-Light Kit) $599 USD
• Nanlite PavoTube II 30C RGB LED Tube Light (4′, 4-Light Kit) $1,189 USD

The new tubes are actually more affordable than their predecessors. As a reference, the PavoTube 30C 4′ RGBW LED Tube with Internal Battery was $329 USD, but that fixture has now been discontinued.

Above you can see some of the accessories that are available.

Competition

The main competition comes for the Nanlite PavoTube Ii 15C comes in the form of RGBW tube lights such as:

• Digital Sputnik Voyager (2′) $435 USD
• Astera TitanTube Basic Kit $625 USD
• CAME-TV Boltzen Andromeda MKII RGB LED Tube Light (2′) $298 USD
• Vibesta Peragos 60C Pixel $449 USD
• amaran T4C RGB LED Tube Light (2′) $199 USD
• Godox TL120 RGB LED Tube Light (2.5′) $191 USD
• Godox TP4R Pixel RGB LED Tube Light (2′) $399 USD
• Nanlite PavoTube II 30X RGB LED Pixel Tube Light (2′) $311.20 USD

The Astera Titan Tubes are perhaps the most well-known and widely used. They have a host of features and the ability to be run off internal batteries for up to 20 hours.

Conclusion

There is no such thing as a perfect light, and tube lights, in general, are filled with compromises that you need to be willing to accept. While you could use them for a whole range of different applications, they are often more suited to certain lighting requirements than others.

The Nanlite PavoTube II 15C has exceptionally good CCT accuracy, a decent enough range of features and capabilities, and it is reasonably well made. My only complaint is that the internal battery run time could perhaps be longer. My only real issue is that, just like the PavoTube II 30C, it doesn’t offer anything new or original that we haven’t seen before. In saying that it is very affordably priced compared to a lot of its competition.

The Nanlite PavoTube II 15C is a well-priced, solid offering in a very crowded RGBW tube market.