Ring Light Review

In our Ring Light review, we focus on lighting, which is the most important part of video content production.

Whether you’re looking to broadcast or attend meetings and training sessions, video recording and live video streaming is in greater demand than ever before. It enables you to design different products for different workspaces that produce special products for Twitch and YouTube publishers.

Whether you’re using a large or small camera or phone, a shot in a well-lit environment looks much better. However, placing and using a large number of lights is both costly and space-consuming. That’s why most users are looking for an easy solution without going into the details of this job.

What Does Ring Light Do?

Circular lights are also preferred for shooting with a single light. Because it spreads all over your face, not one side is left in the dark. Especially in the field of beauty, the most preferred type of light in YouTube video channels and Instagram accounts is circular lights called Ring Light.

Ring Light is not one of the cheap circular LED lights on the market. High quality OSRAM LEDs are used inside. While all circular lights look similar in online stores, ERL is a pretty big product. Thanks to its LEDs and design, it offers a soft and evenly distributed light.

So what is hard light? What is soft light? Hard light also makes shadows harder, while soft and even light makes them look beautiful. The main difference between an amateur-looking video and a professional or beautiful-looking video is the lighting rather than the camera. Light quality is the reason for such a big aesthetic difference as the difference between bad make-up and good make-up. LED quality and the quality and structure of the diffuser of the light on the LEDs determine the level of this beauty.

General Design Features

In ERL, the lights come in the circle diffused and reflected from the edge, which provides the desired softness in the light. It weighs 1070 grams and has an outer diameter of 43.2 cm and an inner diameter of 31 cm. So big and good for this size purpose.

The electronic controller also determines whether the light will flicker or not. Inexpensive LEDs and controllers quickly lose their color and power and create a yellow, dark and flickering appearance on the camera. This is a somewhat depressing image and the vast majority do not want it in presentations.

Another advantage is that it offers shades of white or yellow, that is, sunlight, which is a feature found in most Bi-Color lights. But LEDs are not of the same power, so the white and yellow power, brightness, tones of some lights may not give the desired effect. ERL can provide amber and blue-shifted white light between 2900-7000 Kelvin. With a CRI of over 94 percent, this is well suited to professional lighting requirements.

The power consumption can go up to 45 Watts, not less, but much lower than the old lights. Also, it doesn’t make you sweat like a spot and melt you.

Power of Light

According to official data, the Elgato Ring Light can deliver a really high brightness level of up to 2500 lumens. It can be dimmed from mobile phone and desktop computer application. It can be controlled via the Elgato Stream Deck, which broadcasters love so much. However, in the Control Center mobile application, the warmest tone is 2900 Kelvin.

As you get Elgato Stream Deck and more Elgato products, controlling them all together gives you the opportunity to make quick changes without losing the viewer’s interest, especially during live broadcasts. You can also give voice commands with Siri via Stream Deck Mobile. It establishes a wireless connection in a/b/g/n standards from 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channels. Connection WPA2 +AES, WPA + TKIP/AES protected.

You can adjust the brightness immediately with the plus and minus keys on it without reaching for the application.

Ergonomics

Another nice thing about these LED lights is that you put the camera in the middle because of their structure, your eyes can look at the camera more easily. In addition, there is a rotating head attached to a quarter inch screw on which you can place your camera, thanks to this head, you can adjust the angle of your camera.

Since it is attached to the table, you can install your table without moving it too far from the wall. It comes with a six padded C stand. You can attach this foot from the side and clamp it on table surfaces up to 60 mm thick. The dimensions of this compression piece are 205x205x18 mm.

Sold separately as Master Mount S, this stand comes with Elgato Ring Light. However, if you have a table that does not allow you to clamp it on the table, or if you want to put it directly on the table surface, you need to buy a separate stand.

It can be adjusted between 44 cm and 74 cm height with its own foot. This minimum height may be a bit too high for very tall desks, but it was designed with the height of the monitors used and the positioning behind the monitor in mind.

Different Uses

If you want to illuminate the table from top to bottom at a right angle, you can purchase a Multi Mount and place it obliquely. It also offers the opportunity to mount one or two Solid Arms on its own pole and place microphones or additional tools on the pole. Additionally, Elgato sells a phone holder, Docking Station for computers that don’t have many ports, such as MacBooks or next-generation Windows Ultrabooks, external and internal recorders for transferring gameplay from the console, microphone for sound recording, and many more products and accessories.

The product is suitable for attaching almost all types of DSLRs except cinema cameras. Webcams are already so light, you don’t even have to think about it. Video cameras will likewise fit if it is a handheld camera. However, it is not suitable for stacking professional models and kilos of equipment priced at 10,000 USD or more. There is an official weight limit of 2 Kilograms, which should handle most cameras comfortably, but it’s important to calculate the overall weight correctly. You need to make a safe adjustment in the overall weight with lenses that are heavier than the camera, microphone and similar additional tools.

Meanwhile, the camera screw and carrier body are extremely robust. However, the Ball Head, the tripod head, is not at the professional level. Using a high quality head and quick-fit accessories on more professional equipment will make your life easier. It is very useful to get these adapters called Quick Release Plate instead of screwing the camera every time.

Windows 10, macOS 10.14, Android 6.0, iOS 12.1 and later versions are required as the operating system, you can install it from PC, Mac, iOS or Android over Wi-Fi.

Results Evaluation

For a beginner broadcaster with no budget, the cheapest LED lights are a solution they should experience at the start. So, you can buy the unbranded cheapest so-called Ring Light LEDs, and then when you want more, you can get a Ring Light for a nicer look and an easier broadcast. Because when you do this, you clearly experience why one is so cheap and the other is so expensive.

If you want a high-quality entry instead of going through difficult experiences from the start, you won’t regret the money you spend on the light. Cameras change, but the light still works. Ring Light is not cheap at all, but it is a very high quality product. It allows you to get the most efficiency with the least space for a stable live broadcast and video recording set where you don’t spend time with the installation.