A company called Pergear sent me an LED light for review. For its size and user experience, this light is impressive.
It’s called the LAOFAS Rainbow Fresh RGB LED Video Light. It’s made from metal and it’s very compact. It’s got an array of 28 alternate LED bulb beads that can change the color and tone depending on what you are shooting.
The light is made from a premium quality material with an aluminum outer shell. With regards to weight, size, and quality, it feels similar to holding an iPhone 5 with aluminum back.
What Can You Do With It?
It’s bright. With it as part of your toolkit, there is really no reason for you to not have it with you all the time, so it can be for run-and-gun shooting, but also for planned productions. It’s not to light the scene for the day. It’s more for the effects that you require. You can emulate police lights, a party, the tv, and the light you can imagine coming from a party. And within each of these modes, you can change the parameters and speed of color-changing to have the right mood you want to portray in your video.
User Experience
It has five buttons, one of which is the on/off switch. And I must say that the way the four remaining buttons are programmed makes it an intuitive experience. It’s easy to use for whatever you are shooting and for changing it for different lighting setups. It has a small screen at the back that indicates settings with clear indications of where you are in the menu.
What I Liked
- It's so small. It slides into a pocket in my camera bag without taking up any space.
- It's easy to use and get to the mode and setting I need. Within minutes, I'm ready to go.
- It's versatile, and I was able to get some great effects at a very affordable cost.
- It's made from solid metal, and it feels like a well-made product that can take some knocks.
What I Think Needs Improvement
- It’s not possible to use it while charging. This is really not ideal.
- Battery Life Indication: It shows you how many minutes it has remaining and is supposed to be a live feed to give you the exact time you have before you need to recharge it. But what I’ve experienced is that the minutes count down like seconds when at 100% power range, so the indication of time isn’t realistic.
- The light's not very strong and should be used for the effects it has and not to light something up. You won't be able to use it during the day or in a brightly lit space and see a difference with it on.
You can get it here.
They all have cop lights now. Since Aputure it seems China and other places are just throwing out knock offs. I did a review on another brand small light and was impressed and then dropped it once and the buttons never worked the same. Cheap price usually means cheap build. Now I have 4 Aputure mcs and love them. The app is awesome, they are light and magnetic and pretty damn bright. They are around $100 each which seems crazy when others can do half price but I wonder which ones survive a drop test.
Looks great with affordable price.