I purchased this light mainly as a portable adjustable light for longer nighttime photos to highlight objects while photographing stars. I will also sometimes be using it for its intended built purpose … a portable video light. I have and have used other LED lights much like this one, but decided to give this one a try for the based on the price. This LED panel is very well described in the seller’s documentation already, but I briefly wanted say what I found to be the pros and cons of this light compared to others.
Cons:
• There aren’t really any other than I would have liked the light to be able to adjust between 10% and 0%. I can work around this and it won’t be a major factor for most using this light.
• I would like a small cloth sheath of some sort to carry the supplied filters around with.
Pros:
• The build quality of this light appears to be more robust than I would have figured for something in this price range. Even the cold shoe adapter seems is built pretty sturdy. The solid metal cold shoe fits perfectly on my Sony cameras and the plastic part connecting that to the lamp is substantial and solid feeling. I am thinking it wont break off. The lamp is fairly lightweight and handled well on even my smaller mirrorless camera. Even the filters are good quality.
• Doesn’t get very hot: I ran the light at full power for about 20 minutes and the center LEDs did get warm, but not what I would consider hot.
• Good amount and quality of light output.
• Comes with a battery and very handy charger: One of the things I was actually excited about this lamp was it coming with a USB powered battery charger for the NP-550 type Sony batteries. I have been trying to get to the point that all of my camera and lights charging systems are based on the USB power supplies. This way when traveling especially internationally I can just bring a few multi-output USB power supplies and the chargers. Reduces the number of outlets I need. I can also recharge on the go in a car or off USB battery banks.
Overall it’s a good light especially for its intended “Video Light” purpose.
As I mentioned earlier, I'm using YN-300 AIR for my video blogging. Comparing these two, I can say that light output of the reviewed item is much stronger, I'd say, 2x stronger, and having metal body might be beneficial for those, who use it outdoors and do rough handling. I also checked color rendering quality, cheap items with low CRI have bad reproduction of orange and yellow tones. As you can see on the attached pictures, this item has no problems with color reproduction at either color temperature setting, one was taken at 3200k, and another one - on 5600k. In my personal taste, I'd like to have dials for adjusting power and color temperature, instead of buttons, but this is purely personal feeling, and has nothing to do with unit performance.
This light has been flawless so far. I create a lot of videos to market my brand and business, and having a light like this has been super helpful in making my videos look more professional! Seriously for the price I got everything I need, and am going to pick up two more. This led light is so much more cost and space efficient compared to more traditional forms of lighting.
Check out the video on it, I did a quick unboxing (yes, I'm the guy that boxes everything back just the way it originally came after every shoot), and a quick demo of just how much light this thing is able to put out.
I have not had a need to play with the different tints, and the clear one has always stayed in place for me. Also some have mentioned about the charger not working. I've had about 10-15 cycles on the battery and charger so far and no issues. Will update review if I come across an issue too.
Overall great compact tool to have any any videographer's setup.
If you are a beginner, this is a must have. I recently started making YouTube makeup videos abd blogging. and I figured I need a light. However, I know nothing about photography or filming, the great thing is this light is very compact, I can take it with me when I travel. It really makes a difference. For a price like this, this light really captures the minutia difference between different eyeshadow glitter/lip gloss, foundation cakey or not. It really makes a huge difference if you are like me, who only uses phone and go pro for pictures and video. Especially for the thumbnail pictures, it has to be eye-catching. This does a wonderful job. Anyways, if you are a beginner like me, looking to get into photography or up notch your social media presence, this convenient light is the key. Huge difference for a small price.
Feature Product
- 176-LED Ultra High Power lights for optimum illumination and diffuser. If you encounter any problem or need support, please feel free to contact us through following E-mail support@esddis.com or Amazon directly. We offer free replacement service for anytime and any reason if the battery is defective
- Rotate switch for on/off and brightness adjustment from 100% down to 10%
- Including 4 color filters ,a NP-F550 type battery and charger with micro-USB charging cable
- Portable video light mini but strong light ,for anything from portrait to nature or night time photography
- Cold shoe adapter with 1/4"-20 threaded hole makes the light compatible with all DSLR cameras, camcorders, tripods and light stands
Description
Compact Daylight On-Camera Light
The very nature of the LED panels creates a large, soft light much like softboxes, and that’s good for interviews in which the light source is close to the subject. The fact that they can be placed close to the subjects makes them very versatile, and not only in the studio. As they are extremely portable, you can use them outdoors, for anything from portraiture to nature photography. LEDs are instant on and instant off and require a small electronic circuit to operate, so they lend themselves well to battery power and stay cool.
Features:
►Slim, Lightweight, and Portable Design
►100-10% Flicker Free Brightness Dimmer
►Up to 1320 Lux Brightness at 3 ft
►Accepts Sony L-Series Batteries
►Also Can be Powered via DC
►NP-F550 Type Battery & Charger Included
►5600K Color Temperature Output
►2 Hours Run-Time on Full Charge
►Cold Shoe Adapter Included
►4 Color Diffusion Filters (diffusion&orange&magenta&blue filters)
►45° Flood Beam Angle
►LED Life Expectancy: 50,000hours
►Power Consumption: Approximately 11W(max)
►Power Input: DC6.5-17V (NOTE: DC power cable is not included)
►Distance shots : The light is bright enough to light up an area about 20 feet away for distance shots.
First, if you're just starting out in photography (especially portraiture) this type of light (continuous light, as opposed to flash) is a fantastic tool for learning how to use lighting, learning where to place it in regard to your subject, and easily seeing how the light affects your subject.
If you're scared to work with flash, try this first. It allows you to immediately see exactly what the light is doing for you.
Don't let the size of this little LED light fool you. It is extremely bright, for its size, and works pretty well as either a key light, or fill.
I use this strictly for portrait photography and it provides plenty of light for shooting indoors. I also use it for early morning & evening/nighttime shots, outdoors.
Will it overpower the sun? No, certainly not.
Will it provide decent light at sunset or for night shoots? Yes, absolutely.
Again, I use this for portraits, so keep in mind that I typically set this as close to my subject as possible (within 3 feet), and never more than about 6 feet from them, to get the best results.
PROS:
- Adjustable light output from 10% to 99% power
- Adjustable color temp. - 3200k-5600k
- Build quality feels solid
- Very compact and lightweight - Easy to move around on a stand, or can be handheld for an entire shoot, without strain
- Battery-powered - throw it in your gear bag and be able to take good photos ANYWHERE
- Includes rechargeable battery and charger - battery is typical Panasonic style, so extra batteries are easy to purchase
- Can also be run on 110v (power cable not included)
- Run time is pretty decent - one battery will last me an entire 2 hour shoot, @ 50%-60% light output (about 1 hour @ 99% power output)
- The 1/4-20 thread, and included hot shoe mount make it easy to mount on a camera, a tripod, or a light stand
- VERY inexpensive
CONS:
- Even with the built-in diffuser, the light is still a bit harsh - a small softbox will help correct this
- Really not many/any choices of light modifiers to use with it, but what do you expect?
For the money, this seems to be a decent investment.
If you're expecting this to compare to a Rotolight NEO2, or something much larger...forget it. If you're looking to learn light placement, or just want a simple, compact, easy to use key/fill light to use on small shoots where you're shooting close to your subject, this works very well.
The included photos were all shot using ONLY this one, little ESDDI LED light. They were taken outdoors, well after sunset, and no other light, reflector, or modifier was used.
Update, less than what 2 weeks? The charger's USB connection literally just went straight through the hole and the body of the charger is all molded, so I'll have to break through some glue to get to it. It's a pain in the butt they couldn't give us a decent charger. However the flash itself is quality and the chargers are easily replaceable, something a lot of you would have done either way, haha. So I have to knock a star off for the charger falling apart with no physical damage not even one scratch on the surface of the plastic housing or around the cut outs for the I/O jacks. It's just where the Micro-SD charger port should be, now is just a black hole (it broke off completely). I work with electronics and have a background in both IT Hardware and Electrical Engineering, I know how to plug in a USB cable, haha. I could do VGA and DVI before age 10! It's just shotty construction to save cost, too much saving for them if you ask me.
For the price this is one heck of a flash/light for upgrading over your stock lighting. You have full control over the brightness and the color temp all from the rear of the flash. The boot is well designed with a secondary tightening system to keep it snug. It really is hard to compete with this full kit when you consider the macro ring flashes run $100+ and usually only have a fraction of this number of LEDs. I'd recommend this to anyone looking to get a better lightening system for their camera or phone (if you can mount it). Battery life is beyond 2.5 hours @ 60% brightness from my usage. Be sure to charge the battery fully when you receive it before use.
I am an amateur so when I bought this light and used it outdoors for the first time, in the direct sunlight, very bright and sunny day, to get some light in my face, because I was wearing a hat. and that midday sun was casting that shadow downwards in my face.
I said this isn't making a difference to my video and it seemed that way to me until I went home and started to edit and saw the difference.
Its like magic the light is on it doesn't hurt your eyes, you don't notice it, but the proof is in the eating of the pudding. As for indoors, it is super bright, completely adjustable, very cool. I love it. I will be using this until I save up enough money to get the professional outdoor portable, rechargeable light that cost about $700. this one is only $30 something so it's well worth it
I have a very small studio space where I do tutorial videos and presentations. I wanted to find something that was compact but would give me enough lighting coverage so I tried this LED panel light.
PRESENTATION:
When I first received it I was very pleased with the packaging and presentation as it felt very nice and gave a good first impression. You have the light, battery, charger with cable and mounting hardware.
OVERALL BUILD QUALITY:
Again I was impressed by the quality of the build of the light itself. Using aluminum instead of a plastic casing for the light felt very secure and gave you a sense that this light will last for a long time under various circumstances. It did not feel cheaply made which gave me a lot of confidence.
LIGHT OUTPUT:
This is a very BRIGHT light for its size. You also have the ability to adjust the level of brightness as well.
A VERY GOOD SOFTBOX LIKE SOLUTION:
There are other lighting kits that use larger "soft boxes' around the light in order to diffuse it for a softer look and to provide more coverage. I found that the diffusing lens on the front of this light really does work to achieve a very nice soft and diffused effect for the light itself. Again you can adjust the output and temperature so the light can be very nice as you adjust it to your situation.
I actually tried putting a small soft box around the light which actually dimmed the light considerably and did not add anything to what the existing diffusion lens was already accomplishing.
COLOR TEMPERATURE ADJUSTMENT:
This feature really impressed me with ESDDI's approach. Having the ability to dynamically adjust the color temperature of the light really increases the versatility of it and allows you to use it in many different environments and settings.
WORK LIGHT:
Not only is this a great light for video and photography I actually have been using it for a "work" light when working on my computer tower. The coverage and brightness of the light really helps when you are working on replacing expansion boards and working in tight spaces.
BATTERY POWER:
This sort of concerned me at first but having a battery option is great for portability as well as being able to move the light around without having a power cord to get in the way. I am considering trying out one of the 7volt power adapters I have seen mentioned in some of the comments. 4 Stars on Battery Life is I am just not sure of the exact durability and would not want to get into a situation where I would run out of power.
CONCLUSIONS
I enjoyed using this light so much that I actually purchased another one and am so glad I did. Now I can have even better coverage in my studio space without taking up a lot of space. I have been very pleased with this light and I would also highly recommend ESDDI as a great solution for your lighting needs. My contacts with customer service have been very good as they seemed very helpful in answering my questions and concerns regarding my experience.