If you seek an affordable lighting solution for your photography or videography, look no further. The new Neewer HB 80C RGB Light offers excellent videography effects and is bright and versatile enough for portraiture and creative work.
My photographic work is quite varied. I live in a low-population area of the UK, and although there are plenty of wedding photographers, other services are few and far between.
Consequently, apart from the training I deliver, which accounts for a large portion of my business, I enjoy using different photography skills, from portraits to products. I also do some videography for those who need it.
Strangely, requests for certain types of photography seem to cluster. I’ll get a bunch of people asking for holiday cottage photography one week, portraits the next, and then vehicles the following week. As every professional photographer knows, all shoots have their quirks. So, although there are similarities between all portrait shoots, there are differences too. Recently, I was asked to do an outdoor head-and-shoulders shot. However, for medical reasons, I could not use a flash.
This time, I needed a portable light, and I took the Neewer HB 80C with me. Small, light, and bright, it did what I wanted and ensured I had a catchlight in the subject’s eye.
Replacing a flash isn’t the Neewer HB 80C’s primary function. It is a mini COB LED video light. A COB light (chip-on-board light) has multiple small LED chips tightly packed on a substrate, creating a single, large light source. This design offers several advantages, including high brightness and uniformity, making them ideal for applications like photography and filmmaking. The dense packing of LED chips also allows for a smaller footprint compared to traditional LED lights. They are energy-efficient too, providing high-quality light for their maximum power output of 80 watts.
The HB 80C has a built-in 14.4V, 5,000mAh (72Wh) battery that, at maximum power, allows the light to run for 1 hour 10 minutes in Regular Mode and 1 hour 30 minutes in Mute Mode.
Delivering up to 12,300 lux at 0.5 meters with a bare light and 43,000 lux with its included Bowens-mounted reflector, this small unit can pack a punch.
A ¼” threaded socket in its base allows the light to be attached to either a tripod or a lighting stand using the stand adapter included in the light’s strong, semi-solid carrying case.
As with most of Neewer’s lights, it has Bluetooth connectivity. Therefore, the light’s intensity and colors can be controlled by Neewer’s phone app, which I find reliable and easy to use. It also opens up extra functionality.
Either through the app or using the controls on the back of the light, one can also apply any of the 18 special lighting effects, including lightning, welding, squad car, candlelight, TV, and party. It will also pulse and flash in time with music.
There are seven different ways of controlling the light colors. The CCT mode changes the white balance from 2,500K up to 7,500K. The HSI tone (one assumes hue, saturation, and intensity) mode gives a 360° tone angle, while the RBGCW/XY mode affects the red, green, and blue output, as well as adjusting the output of the cold and warm light.
One of the app’s settings is a color picker. Using your smartphone camera, the app matches the light’s color output to a sample you take. Furthermore, you can match the color output to Lee filters via the app or on the lamp’s menu.
The light also has four preset dimming curves.
In Use
I found the light intuitive, so it should not be daunting for novice photographers or videographers. It took a little under two hours to charge, and I could run it continuously for over an hour on its battery.
Apart from the Bowens mount, a screw-in diffuser gives a pleasant lighting effect, especially when combined with the included reflector.
It’s light, and I was able to hold it in my left hand while operating my camera with my right.
I struggled to get it hot enough for the fan to run, but when it finally did, it ran silently.
It’s impossible to exactly match the white balance with that of a camera because any surface I could measure from isn’t pure white, but the test shots I took were within a gnat’s whisker of what I had set the light to.
There’s one thing I am not a fan of on cameras, and that is dials that can be pressed in as buttons. I know I am not the only one who finds it difficult to rotate a dial without accidentally pressing it in. However, this light has a scroll knob that can be pressed, but it requires a significant amount of pressure to do so, and I didn’t find myself inadvertently pushing it in at all.
I would recommend controlling it with the app, as otherwise, there is a lot of scrolling to do with that knob.
It is much lighter than many other, less powerful video lamps. Without the diffuser or other accessories, it weighs 2.37 lb (1,077 g).
Worth mentioning in this review is the additional tabletop tripod that increases the versatility of the light. That also doubles as a handle for hand-holding the light.
Samples
Here are a few selfies shot. All were using ISO 200 and f/3.5. The shutter speed changed each time.
Specifications
- Model: HB80C
- Item Type: RGB COB LED Video Light
- Compatibility: Bowens Mount Accessories
- Application: Photography/Video
- Main Features: App/2.4G Control
- Mounting Points: Bowens Mount
- Maximum Power: 80 W
- Battery Parameters: 14.4V/5,000mAh/72Wh
- Battery Life: 1h 10min (Regular Mode); 1h 34min (Mute Mode)
- Charging Time: 2 hours
- Input: PD3.0: 5V 3A/9V 3A/12V 3A/15V 3A/20V 3.25A/20V 5A
- Output: PD3.0: 5V 3A/9V 3A/12V 3A/15V 3A/20V 3.25A
- Maximum Illuminance: 10,400 lux/m 4,400K with reflector
- Color Temperature: 2,500K-7,500K (Duv ±0.0003)
- Lighting Mode: CCT/HSI/RGBCW/XY/GEL/Source Match/FX
- Special Scene Effects: 18
- CRI/TLCI: 95+/97+
- SSI (D56): 74
- SSI (D32): 85
- TM-30 Rf: 93
- TM-30 Rg: 102
- COB
- App Wireless Control
- 2.4G Wireless Control
What I Liked and What Could Be Improved Next Time
What I Liked
- Bright.
- Multiple adjustments available to hue, saturation, and intensity.
- Lightweight.
- Easy to use.
- Relatively affordable.
- Good tripod, reflector, diffuser, and carrying case.
What Could Be Improved Next Time
- Neewer makes some better light stand adapters. Although good enough, it was not as easy to tilt and felt a bit flimsy compared to others.
In Conclusion
This is a nifty entry- to mid-level continuous light. It’s bright. Even in broad daylight, I could see its effect on a wall four meters from me, and it filled in shadows on my client’s face. I can see people buying this as an alternative to a flash, as well as videographers wanting to experiment with lighting and special lighting effects. That tabletop tripod even makes it suitable for streaming, too, although the power needs to be turned down for that.
At just under $200, the Neewer HB 80C is more affordable than many other lighting solutions, and it also punches above its weight.
