Colbor CineFlare CF5 review: the foggiest handheld fog machine that I’ve encountered!

Before reviewing photography gear for Digital Camera World, I’d not used a fog machine. I was aware that my favourite film director - Ridley Scott - had a penchant for pumping his locations with fog to add an extra layer of volumetric depth and atmosphere, but it never occurred to me that I could use the same technique to enhance my own photography and videography!

To date, I’ve tested several fog machines for Digital Camera World, including the Telesin C40 and the Lensgo Smoke S Mini, and I enjoyed using both devices. The fog that they generated filled the location’s empty space and caught and spread the colour of the LED lights that illuminated my models. It’s fair to say that a fog machine is now an essential accessory in my camera backpack - and the Colbor CineFlare CF5 is the leader of the portable fog machine pack (at the time of writing).

Colbor is a company that focuses on lighting. Their products include portable fill lights for mobile photography as well as COB (Chip On Board) lights for professional lighting setups. The Colbor CineFlare CF5 may appear to be a departure from their brand, but it’s not, as the fog that it produces complements and enhances the light produced by its LED devices. The Colbor CineFlare CF5 also ships with an RGB LED attachment that you can clip to its tip to turn the grey fog into a light flare of many colours!

Colbor CineFlare CF5: Specifications

Colbor CineFlare CF5: Price

The Colbor CineFlare CF5 retails for $129 / £119 / AU$249. This is a fair bit cheaper than the £155.99 cost of the Telesin C40 (which also got 5 stars from me after its test). On balance, I’d say that the Colbor device can produce more smoke than the Telesin, which makes the Colbor CineFlare CF5 very good value for money. The Lensgo Smoke S Mini is a cheaper entry-level fog machine, and this is reflected in its lower price of £89. However, in the case of the Colbor CineFlare CF5, it’s not the most expensive portable fog machine that I’ve tested, but it is the most effective, so it’s well worth the asking price.

Colbor CineFlare CF5: Design & Handling

The Colbor CineFlare CF5 doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to fog machine design, but it does add a design twist, as I’ll explain. Like the Telesin C40 and the Lensgo Smoke S Mini, you need to attach an oil chamber to the shaft of the main body of the device and fill the chamber with an organic glycerin-based oil (which ships with the kit). This oil is non-toxic, so it is safe to use with models, and it doesn’t appear to set off smoke alarms, even with the amount of fog churned out by the Colbor CineFlare CF5. More on that in the Performance section!

The Colbor CF5’s design twist is that the top third of the CF5 can be rotated (after pressing a button) through 60º, turning the straight shaft of the handheld fog machine into a more directional device. This enables you to hold the base of the unit as if you were holding a pistol or revolver, so that you can aim the fog being emitted from the twisted section at your subject. To be honest, I think the twist design is fun, but it’s just a gimmick to make the CF5 stand out from the conventional cylindrical shapes of its rivals. Once fog starts flowing from the tip of any fog machine, it goes in whatever direction the wind will take it! But the CF5 does look cool when deployed in its rotated head orientation.

Another design feature that helps the Colbor CineFlare CF5 stand out from the smoke machine crowd is its attachable RGB LED. You can tap its buttons to dial in a wide range of colours and this ‘dyes’ the fog nearest the LED with a vibrant colour. For example, when set to orange, the CF5 looks like a handheld flare, with a fiery orange flow graduating to a plume of smoke. This looks very dramatic when the unit is waved about by a model, so it’s an effective accessory for adding eye-catching colours to fashion shoots or pop videos! The LED is there to light the smoke, but it’s not really strong enough to be a fill light on a model.

Colbor CineFlare CF5: Performance

To test the Colbor CineFlare CF5, I took it to London’s Barbican Centre, accompaniedby my friend Tim. I chose the location due to its warren of corridors that added depth and perspective to my portrait photography. As a bonus, the corridors were open to the air, which I hoped would let the fog dissipate rather than setting off any smoke alarms and curtailing our shoot.

The Colbor CineFlare CF5 has a remote control unit that you can press to trigger a plume of smoke from a distance, but having ‘fog wrangling’ colleague Tim trigger the output of the CF5 while I snapped some shots was very useful. Tim helpfully wafted the fog machine in the direction of our model, Olga (Insta @Olagasolomodel), while I focused on performing tracking shots with my iPhone 16 Pro mounted on a Hohem iSteady M7 gimbal.

The Colbor CineFlare CF5 enables you to modify the fog that it produces using two techniques. One setting controls the volume of the fog - from a trickle to a gush. The other setting controls the strength of the built-in fan that adjusts the flow of the fog. A low setting on both (plus a foam modifier), and create a downward flow of ground-hugging dry ice that is perfect for product shots. Technically, the machine offers a 25-level adjustment for smoke density, but to fill the capacious corridors of the Barbican, we set it to ‘full steam ahead!’. The CF5’s 40W output soon filled the location with an impressive wall of fog. As I tracked backwards with the iPhone mounted on the M7 gimbal, Tim held the CF5 by my side and walked backwards too. This enabled us to capture cinematic slow-motion footage of Olga as she strode towards us through the smoke. Her movement caused the smoke to billow. By placing RGB LEDs behind the model, we were able to capture and spread their colour through the fog.

As you’ll see from our supporting video, the results look suitably cinematic, and the Colbor CineFlare CF5 added texture and colour to my clips and stills. However it was so effective in creating smoke that I got to the stage where I became anxious that A) the smoke alarm would go off or B) the Barbican’s security people would come and chase us out (I had been asked to move along on a precious shoot, and that was without filling their corridors with fog!). I decided that we had enough assets to showcase what the Colbor CineFlare CF5 could do, so we left under the cover of the fog!

Colbor CineFlare CF5: Verdict

If you’re looking for a portable fog machine that won’t break the bank and can quickly fill an area with smoke, then the Colbor CineFlare CF5 is a great choice. I loved how the fog caught the light and colour from my RGB LEDs, adding a more cinematic look to my photos. The fog filled in empty spaces in the corridor location, added texture, and made an amazing backdrop for my model portrait shoot.

The Colbor CineFlare CF5 was also perfect for enhancing my video shoot. The fog parted to reveal our model during a tracking shot, and then billowed around her in an eye-catching way as she walked down a corridor. The handgun shape made the Colbor CineFlare CF5 comfortable to hold and distinctive to look at, and the remote control unit will be useful for solo shooters. All in all, this is a highly recommended fog machine that deserves a place in your camera kitbag. And unlike the other fog machines that I’ve tested, it impressed my wife, which cements its 5-star award!

Alternatives

Telesin C40 portable smoke machine
The Telesin C40’s display screen enables you to take control over the volume and type of smoke/fog/steam that the device produces. The control panel can be detached to function as a remote, so you can set the machine running from up to 10 meters away and start shooting your subject straight away. It’s pricier than the Colbor CF5, but its remote gives you more control than the Colbor’s does.

Lensgo Smoke S Mini Fog machine
As its name suggests, this is a small smoke machine and as a result it produces less smoke than the more expensive Colbor CF5. It may be more suitable for product photographers as its foam accessory does agree great job of producing dry ice. It also ships with a handy remote control unit so you can trigger smoke from up to 10 meters from the machine.