Smoke and haze have long been a tool of trade. But beware of huge smoke generators and fog generators. This pocket nebulizer deserves the name Smoke Genie.
So, by now, I’m sure you’ve all seen the whole thing like smoking in a can, right? That, don’t get me wrong, they can work very well. But my problem is that the boxes are quite large and they always seem to be empty at the right time. This made it so I ended up needing two boxes, which took up even more room. Even then, these cans are not the safest to inhale. With things like propane and butane in them, I know I don’t want to breathe that stuff, so I never want my clients exposed to that stuff. the whole thing. Thankfully, when using these boxes before, before I knew what was in them, I never really had any major problems. But I have a friend of mine who had a client who had a cough from the spray and couldn’t continue shooting.
So enter smoke god. This is a battery powered smoke generator that runs on rechargeable batteries and has a refillable tank. The smoke comes from a glycerine-based liquid and has been tested 56 times by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. These tests include toxicity as well as skin and eye irritation. While you definitely shouldn’t inhale the smoke directly from the machine, the smoke it produces is much safer than the smoke produced by most traditional machines and is even food safe and odorless.
The unit has a nice LCD display that will let you know the battery level as well as the smoke and fan settings. You can then use the selector paired with the up and down buttons to set the machine to the desired level. You can have low smoke and high fan or high smoke and low fan. Plus any settings in between. For both fan and smoke, you have 5 levels of adjustment, but if you need to get really particular with these settings, you can press and hold the power button to switch to “Pro Mode,” which offers different levels of control. Adjust 1-10 for both. fan and smoke. This pro mode also gives you additional output from the device.
The other buttons on the device are the power button, which uses three-button press to prevent the device from accidentally turning on in your pocket. And you use the same three-button press action to turn the device off. Then on the back, there’s a dedicated button to actually activate the smoke.
Now when it comes to the smoky liquid, it comes in this little transparent jar. The best part, though, is that the veil is designed to have an air-tight gasket. That means no liquid leaks into your bag. I actually used a much cheaper pocket-style smoker in the past and found with difficulty that not everyone paid attention to these practical usage details. This resulted in me having a camera bag full of slimy liquid. So I enjoyed the higher quality found on Smoke Genie.
Another rather interesting feature of this air-tight gasket is that the rubber is actually heat sensitive. So when the vial heats up, the rubber will change color. This way, you know when you’ve refilled the liquid or removed the tank for some reason, giving you a visual indication of whether it’s too hot to touch. The vial is also transparent, so don’t get your hopes up and assume you have enough liquid in the vial before going for the scan. You can visually see how full the vial is and refill it if needed. And the liquid really lasts a long time. When I refill a jar, I can usually use multiple sessions without refilling the jar. And the latest version of this device has an upgraded jar that can be hammered without breaking. So no need to worry about things getting smashed in the camera bag.
From here, the machine has a nice little cage cap to protect the vial from being touched or bumped, and the lid is held in place by friction combined with a magnet so you don’t have to fiddle around with tools to turn it on or off. turn off. . On the back, the battery door has similar magnets to keep the door closed, and they even put a nice little QR code inside the door in case you need to quickly refer to the manual while out. The device even has a USB-C port that can be used to charge the battery as well as for any possible future firmware updates.
It’s all about equipment, basically, so you’ll think we’re done. However, one of the most interesting parts of this machine lies in the accessories that you can use to control the smoke. As for me, I tend to just use genies, but if you’re a product photographer or if you want to try out some cool smoke effects on your portrait subjects, you’ll definitely love them. interested in all the little tools that you can use with this device. device. The Smoke Genie even has this little remote so you can mount the smoke generator over the ¼-20 and activate everything remotely. While these quick examples might give you an idea, I won’t pretend to know all the details about these tools and their various uses as I tend to only use the machine and possibly the fan. But if you want more examples, I recommend you check out the PMI website as well as their dedicated Facebook group.
Talking about fans, PMI Gear has just released a new updated model of Smoke Genie that really helps users when using fans. This new model comes with an additional head cage that allows you to attach the fan to the machine. Previously, you had to hold the device with one hand and the fan in the other. This makes it difficult to do anything else during activation as well as making it difficult for any kind of remote triggering. But now with this new head, it’s easy to dim the room even using the remote trigger option
What I like
- Small and light
- Refillable airtight chamber
- rechargeable
- Powerful and adjustable
What I don’t like
- Priced at $595 for starter kit, It’s a bit expensive compared to other services.
- If you carry both the movement and the accessories, it can be a cumbersome item to pack. Especially with the case, great as it should be.
At the end of the day, this item is as good as it is good. If a fog machine or fog generator isn’t something you need on a regular basis, this may not be right for you. But if you find yourself using the mist in the box or the machine plugged into the wall, this item can lighten your pocket or give you a huge boost in versatility.
