The Iris is Hobolite's pocket light that looks like a vintage point-and-shoot camera, and the resemblance is the whole idea: an aluminium body wrapped in brown leatherette, with a knurled control dial and a small LCD, made to be a considered object as much as a tool. It is a five-watt bi-colour LED, adjustable from warm to cool, but its distinguishing feature is optical rather than electronic: an adjustable lens focuses the beam from a tight spot to a wide flood, and an aperture ring and gel filters let you shape and colour the light the way a lens shapes an image. The IP54 body resists dust and splashes. It suits the creator or portrait shooter who wants a beautiful, expressive small light with real optical control, and accepts modest raw output and a two-hour runtime at full power.
Design intent
- +The defining decision is optical control on a pocket light: an adjustable focusing lens, an aperture ring and gel filters let the beam be shaped from spot to flood and coloured deliberately, giving a small LED the expressive range of a proper fixture rather than a flat panel's single wash.
- +Design is treated as a feature, not decoration: the retro-camera form, aluminium body and leatherette trim make it an object a creator wants on show and in hand, and its IP54 rating means the styling does not come at the expense of weather resistance.
Trade-offs
- -At five watts its raw output is modest next to purely functional pocket lights that push far more power, so it is chosen for quality and control of light rather than sheer brightness.
- -The expressive optical accessories and premium build carry a price and, at full brightness, a two-hour runtime, so it is a considered creative tool rather than a high-output workhorse.
