ULANZI VL49 2000mAh LED Video Light w 3 Cold Shoe, Rechargeable Soft Light Panel, Portable Photography Lighting for DJI OSMO Sony DSLR Canon Camera GoPro VloggingClimatePartner certified

I really like this light—it's quickly become one of my favorite gear additions. The build quality is excellent, especially for the price. It feels sturdy and well-made, not flimsy or cheap like some other portable lights.Where this really shines (literally) is in its portability. It’s super lightweight and compact, making it easy to throw in a camera bag or even a jacket pocket for quick shoots or travel. Perfect for creators on the go.The brightness settings are incredibly versatile. From soft ambient light to ultra-bright fill, it gives you full control over your lighting. The bi-color temperature adjustment (2500K–6500K) is a fantastic touch, making it easy to match different environments or moods without needing gels or filters.Setup is a breeze—very easy to use right out of the box. Controls are intuitive and the display is clear, so adjusting mid-shoot is quick and smooth.I’ve used it with both my DSLR and action cam, and it really improves photography and video quality, especially in low-light or indoor conditions. Skin tones look natural and shadows are nicely filled without being harsh.If you're looking for an ultra-bright, compact, rechargeable light that delivers high-quality results for photo and video work, this is absolutely worth picking up. Great value, great performance!

Which is nothing but goodness! :)I have to admit, I really had my doubts about this light, even after reading all of the positive REVIEWS.Now, after trying it out, I am REALLY loving this thing!Of course, I can't give a long term use REVIEW, but my first impressions were that of something that I would definitely give recommendations for it. As inexpensive as it is, it gives one pause, thinking that, well, it's so cheap, it can't be that good, but, really, I think that it is.(I bought this myself, so, nobody is paying me for this)***The Light***For my purposes, I wanted it for my 'product style' photography, and I tried it out, and not only gives out good light, it gives you a really nice shadow too. Some things you wouldn't want a shadow, but on a lot of my stuff, I want one. The shadows are soft, not really soft, but definitely on the softer side, than harsh.As an experiment, I added some bubble wrap around it to soften the shadows more, it works perfectly!The more that you add, of course, the less light, but it's definitely easy to modify.***The Brightness***I read where one reviewer in his video saying, it's so bright, I won't shine it on my face to show you.I thought, well, typical reviewer being all dramatic, but, I was wrong!This light is literally too bright to look into, I am not exaggerating at all, it's really big time bright!Dialing it down gives it anywhere from almost moonlight, but if the moon was closer! :)***The Kelvin Rating***The white light is really a great white light, I need that most of the time, but, if you want a lower Kelvin rating, just dial it back, it goes to a REALLY yellow color, I mean, REALLY YELLOW!I have not ever even used a light that had that capability, I don't really think I need that, but, I sure might, I may have to invent new ways of using it.It's very good on both settings!***The Weight***It's not heavy at all, I don't know the weight, but to give you an idea, it's maybe equivalent to FOUR AA batteries, if that.***Camera Mounting***This is actually, really and truly camera mountable, I mean, yeah, we know that, but, it makes sense to use it as a back-up light that you can use mounted or remove and hand-hold it if you need to.Since it's so lightweight, it won't weigh your camera down hardly at all.As it's said, you can use this for selfies and also YouTube videos.***Macro***I used to do quite a bit of macro and close-up stuff, I don't much anymore, but I know a good light for that when I do see it.This is that light!They make so many brackets that can attach to your camera that for best results, you would use that to attach this light, the reason is, you don't (usually) want your macro light right directly centered above your camera, it's not what macro users like.I am definitely going to try it out, and maybe I'll get back into macro, you never know.***Other Uses***I can sure see this as a camping light, or a car/truck light back-up, this will be perfect for the glove compartment or a tent.In a tent, I am not saying leaving it on all of the time, but when camping, we all need THAT light that will help us find the stuff that we forgot where we packed it. Also its ability to DIM, we can adjust the light to fit the need.Of course too, in any vehicle, we all know the advantages of having a good light for emergencies or when you drop something in-between your seats, or when you're getting a ticket.***Suggestions***It already has a LOT of good uses, but to help that even more, you may want to consider ways of attaching it.I would say, Velcro is a really good way to attach it to almost any surface, well, one that you can attach the sticky side to the inner part of your vehicle door, glove compartment, visor, etc.If you are camping, you can have it stuck to an area of the tent so when you need it, it's in that same spot, when you unpack at home, remove it and place it in a place to recharge it, then on your next trip, you'll know where to put it.It might sound crazy, but, for a small job stick a small Velcro strip to the underside of your cap, if you are needing light, place the light onto the strip, and you are set, remove it after your 'job'.***One more thing, if you are more for magnets, use the magnet strips to keep it where you want it on your tool chest, car, etc.If you go and check here on Amazon there are a LOT of magnet choices, my preferences lean towards the really small, but REALLY strong, search for, "rare earth magnets", there are a good thing to have around anyway, this is just for the light.Also, they sell the magnets that are adhesive on one side, search for, "adhesive magnets".***One more idea, say that you like the light being attached to your cap's bill underneath, but you don't want to leave it there. There are two options.The first is, using the adhesive style, leave the adhesive covered, as in, not yet used on the magnet, then when you need it, all you have to do is to peel off the protective wrapper and place it on your desired spot/object.***If you like magnets, keep a few of the smaller rare earth magnets in a spot in your glove compartment or wherever you need to, when you need to use it, place one (or possibly TWO) atop of your cap, then place the light underneath your cap's bill.This method would make you have to have glued one or two of the magnets onto your light's back. That area should not ever be in your way and it won't really look that tacky, if that would bother you._____________________________________________________________________________________That's about it, I am REALLY excited to put this to use, and if things go south on the light, I will make it a point to come back and say so.For now though, I have a lot of lights for photography, this is MY FAVORITE as of right now.I also have a lot of flashlights, I mean, a lot, and while this does a REALLY good job of illuminating, the size somewhat prohibits placing it into your jeans, but would fit in a purse.I'm not saying it won't work, but it may not be as easy to carry on your person.That's my two cups of coffee's worth! : )Anyway, here's to hoping it's as good as what I wrote!

This tiny light is almost perfect. The newer model's diffuser layer produces a very smooth medium-wide wash of white light with good CRI (I haven't confirmed the spectrum, but it seems to render color well so far). The little cold shoe attaches easily and locks / unlocks with one finger. The buttons that control brightness and display battery level are an unusual design, but easy to figure out after a few minutes experimenting with them -- and they make good use of three widely spaced buttons that are workable with gloves on. [UPDATE: The CRI or color accuracy of this white light is surprisingly good. Much purer white than a lot of LED light bulbs and LED tube lights.]Run-time on one charge isn't really under the control of Ulanzi -- that much light from that many LEDs with that size Lithium battery is more or less predefined by the components, but the battery certainly has enough capacity to shoot for a length of time that fits well with the GoPro's own shooting time. The highest settings run for hours. With other cameras, of course, one might need to run the light with an external power source, and the unit does operate when plugged in. (I haven't confirmed whether it charges at the same time.)There's a cold shoe on the other 3 sides of the unit, so you can chain them together, but there's no coordination between them. I suppose a cool enhancement would be a daisy-chain USB-C cable and firmware that would allow any one unit to control the settings on the others, but I'm not even sure I'd use such a thing. There's a 1/4" x 20 tpi metal tripod socket inside the cold shoe, which is extremely handy for clamping and tripod mounts when you don't want the light on the camera, but this light is a perfect match for the GoPro, and is almost exactly the same size.The only downside is that the built-in battery must, of course, be charged after 2-4 hours of use, which could be a problem. But the alternative -- replaceable batteries -- would significantly increase the cost, and the very low price of this light, compared to most of the competition, is one of its main selling points. I'm very impressed, and it's becoming clear that Ulanzi is positioning itself to be a leader in clever, affordable, quality photo accessories. They even have a replacement flip-down GoPro replacement mount for the Hero9 that incorporates a threaded tripod mount between the two flip-down GoPro mounts.UPDATE:Since writing this review, I've used the ULANZI VL49 quite a bit. The run-time is rather amazing -- several hours at less than full brightness, and using it for Zoom lighting I never need anything close to full brightness, so it's going 4-5 hours without running out. But the main thing I want to point out is that the brightness settings are a little too coarse for my needs. As great as this light is for general use with GoPros and webcams, in my Zoom setup I wish I could dial it down to be LESS bright than level 1.Interestingly, the solution to this is the OTHER version of this -- the ULANZI VL49 RGB, which I also bought and reviewed. The RGB version is just as bright, but adjusts in 1% increments, so I can dial in much dimmer settings, or anything up to (at 3 feet) blindingly bright. Of course the RGB version is also a color unit, with 2 modes -- color temperature, from warm white to mid-day sunlight, and RGB, with many combinations of R, G, and B in varying proportions. This gives a wide range of colored light, but the available color mixes are not smoothly continuous from R through G to B -- there are steps. So you get lots of color choices, but not a full color spectrum of intermediate colors. Since RGB mode is generally for weirdness, or very subtle color washes, that's not really a problem, especially in such an inexpensive unit. The ULANZI VL49 RGB is just under $10 more expensive, but still seems like a terrific value. I've ordered a second one for Zooming, and the monochrome will make a nice green-screen illuminator.

great price and super convenient. pocketable and light. it’s great that it charges with USB C and u can have it plugged in while it’s on. i wish it got a little bit brighter but for 20 bucks i can’t really complain