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Review on Selection Ringlight Photography Streaming IPad 3242 by Brian Page

Revainrating 5 out of 5

The best portable beauty light on the market.

A year of working from home has made it pretty clear that most of us have pretty bad lighting in our makeshift zoom studios. Personally, my wife and I move between the home office and the kitchen table depending on the day and workload. The office has large north-facing windows, but the lighting in the kitchen leaves a lot to be desired. Enter L10. Smallrig L10 is slim and portable. This is very different from the usual industrial camera gear I usually use. When folded, it is approximately 6 inches in diameter and 2 inches in height. It has a clamshell type that opens up and allows a telescoping stand to extend the top of the lightbar up to 22 inches. The panel itself consists of a series of side-lit LEDs that soften the light quite a bit despite the relatively small surface area. The panel can be rotated 180 degrees for easy positioning. The six-part telescopic stand is made of aluminum and feels very solid. It's a little tight when unfolding and folding, so be careful how you push and pull it. There is a lock on the underside of the stand where it meets the base. I don't find locking to be essential as there is significant friction to hold the stand at any angle from 0 to 90 degrees. All of that carries a lot of weight. When fully extended, the base has enough weight to prevent the whole thing from tipping over. The base features simple five-button touch controls, battery level indicator and USB-C 5V charging port for internal 3600mAh battery. The lamp has 5 brightness levels and 3 color temperature settings: 3000K, 4000K and 5500K. The 3000K setting most closely resembles warm standard incandescent bulbs, while the 5500K setting most closely resembles daylight. The 4000K setting falls right in the middle as a good combination of lights commonly found in your home. The battery life is very good - I would say around 4 hours depending on the brightness level. Of course, you can also leave the flashlight connected to a power source during use. The base is also lined with soft foam to protect the surfaces you place it on. The included mount is very versatile. It attaches anywhere on the stand with a screw clamp, and also has a ball joint for easy positioning. There are two device holders with spring-loaded fold-out arms to hold your devices. Depending on your setup, you can use one or both to hold your smartphone or tablet horizontally or vertically, or even hold two smartphones. Of course, you can also simply install a light behind your laptop's webcam for comfortable lighting in Zoom or Teams meetings. To me, this light is an amazing advancement in the mobile, consumer-friendly lighting market. Large, bulky LED ring lights with bulky poles and equally bulky power supplies seem to be the norm these days. Stands are often too tall to stand on a table and must be placed on the floor instead. The controls for these lights are almost always on the back, making them difficult to control. And as far as I know, none of them have internal batteries. In comparison, the Smallrig L10 is a super compact, versatile flashlight that offers the flexibility I need at a great price.

Pros
  • Macro and ring light flashes
Cons
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