There are all kinds of ways to remotely trigger a flash, inclusing radio frequency, optical sensors, and even a plain old long cord. You can even control flash power remotely with things like the Pocket Wizard Flex system. Changing the direction of your flash from afar, however, is trickier and often requires walking over to your flash (or making your assistant do it). The Panlight, however, makes it a lot simpler.
The flash sits on a rotating base that’s controlled remotely with a radio remote. It has a range of up to 100 feet and can swivel the flash left and right or tilt it up and down. It moves at a nice consistent pace, so it’s not crazy conspicuous if you happen to be using it at a wedding or in some other quiet situation.
You can also add an adapter to the Panlight and attach a camera to it. It’s likely too loud to shoot with video if you’re using audio from the camera, but if you’re going to be cutting the audio track anyway, it seems like it could be a great way to pan and tilt.
It’s currently in Kickstarter mode and if you pledge roughly $163, you can get one of your own.
It seems like a pretty nifty invention, but it has some real funding momentum to build if it wants to meet its goal.