REVIEW: Angler Bi-Color Ring Light Kit with Light Stand (18")

Angler Bi-Color Ring Light Kit with Light Stand (18")

Hey friends, long-time no blog! :)

I’m writing today because I had a need for an affordable ring light for use with my iPhone and I wanted to tell you what I thought about it.

In my world these days it’s becoming increasingly rare for me to need to use my DSLR, so like a lot of people I frequently use my phone camera for internal use only product shots and education videos. That said, for amazing as modern smartphones are for creating phenomenally good HDR images and pulling off amazing results in low light, sometimes you just need more light to get your desired results.

In my case, I found myself wanting something that would allow me to interact and record a tutorial video or review of something I was interacting with, but I still wanted to see my cell phone while I was doing it. I also wanted the light to be very good – you know, like pretty much every YouTuber these days!

When I started looking for options, the prices were more than I wanted and some of the purchases I made from Amazon were pretty bad. As a result, I reached out to my friends at B&H to leverage their expertise to find something that worked well but also didn’t break the bank.

My key criteria were:

1. Affordable
2. Diffused light
3. Ability to control the temp
4. Big enough to use for products as well as face lighting
5. Ability to see my phone screen while recording, so this meant a phone mount as well as a pivot arm design.
6. Easily portable for many use cases.

I’m happy to report that the Angler Bi-Color Ring Light Kit checked off all of the boxes and was almost perfect.

This shot was taken using JPEG only (doh) and mixed light (ambient light was tungsten with sources in front and behind the subject and edited heavily in Lightroom to make it suck less:

Kai with his dog Teddy using Canon 1DX II JPG and low brightness

Kai was struggling with the brightness, so I cranked it down low enough for him to tolerate it. If it wasn’t a quick and dirty shot (and a bit of luck with the dog), I probably would have taken a bit more time to make it much better. That said, that is what I like about this light – it allows me to do a lot better than my cell phone with very little effort. It makes experimentation much easier than traditional lighting methods thanks to the lightweight portable stand and battery powered light with adjustable temp and brightness!

A Closer Look

Here’s a closer look at the ring light itself:

Excellent diffusion panel on the front

Plenty of hot shoe mounting points for the camera adapter

Notice the inside and outside hot shoes all over things thing. It’s also shown with the batteries installed (included on some bundles), but it also includes the ability to just plug it into an outlet which saves weight.

Camera adapter could easily fit my iPhone 13 Pro with extra space left over

The camera adapter can be placed in any of the hot shoe mounts, but I elected to put it in the 6 O’clock spot. One side is spring loaded, so it supports many phones. My unit had a pretty strong spring, so I could only get it to open to just under 3 inches in width.

The hot shoe phone adapter could easily be moved to where I needed it

I used a Impact C-Stand  along with a grip head and extension arm
for added flexibility and reach for this scenario

With this setup, I could peek through and interact with the lens
on the table while monitoring the video
Notice how the captured content has drifted off the table!

Remember, my goal here was to test the ability to record where I was both interacting with and viewing the video of with an object on a table using my iPhone. I hate video editing, so I’ll spare you that boredom and just show a shot that I did with the iPhone 13 Pro and enhanced with Topaz AI:

iPhone 13 Pro static image taken using the ring light configured as shown previously

As a lighting tool, it did great. Where it failed miserably (as you can see if you look carefully in the prior image is that the ring light would drift and often overshoot the table. This seems to be due to the lack of any sort of teeth or serrations on the adjustment knob, so I really grew frustrated at this problem. While it might be fixed by adding a rubber washer or something, know that going in won’t “just work” for this scenario, It’s fine when upright vs this extreme angle with the weight of the camera on it, so if your goal is to do a podcast or more practical angles, then it will be great.

Testing in Complete Darkness

I wanted to test with a real camera in a normal scenario where the camera isn’t hanging from the hot shoe. For that scenario, it did great.

Light makes up for the lack of shutter speed, so I decided to push things to the limit, and this time using RAW, to see what I could do. Here were my light settings:

61% brightness in total darkness at 5400k

Even though the room was lit (by the ring light) for the shot, it was done at night with no ambient light beyond the Christmas tree for this shot.

For fun, I decided to use the Passport ColorChecker to make sure the foreground color was as accurate as I could get it, but for those who are new to the complexities of lighting – that only impacts the subject (Kai) and has zero impact on the ambient light on the background.

Canon 1DX Mark II f/2.8 @ 70mm for 1/10 sec at ISO 100 from RAW

Here’s a behind the scenes look but I didn’t make any effort to get accurate colors or light for this shot:

The camera was on its own tripod for this series and just shooting through

Conclusion

For the price of about 1 to 2 tanks of gas these days (at the time this was written), I think this ring light offers a lot of bang for the buck. Its ease of use, portability and overall quality of light were way more than I was expecting.

Will it keep up with my studio lighting? No, but it’s great for on the go video that is all to common these days with social media influencers who need professional looking light when on the camera as well as when interacting with products.

The Impact Air-Cushioned Light Stand (Black, 8') included in this review was perfect for cost effective portability, but I wouldn’t recommend it for the product review scenario I mentioned. For that, you’ll definitely want to invest in a C-Stand or even better, a base with wheels  along with a grip head and extension arm. While you are at it, don’t forget a saddle bag (bring your own sand).

Where to Buy?

CLICK HERE to learn more or buy today. Don’t forget that you can apply for the Payboo card and get special financing to make it easier to purchase in these difficult times.

Enjoy more classic reviews on the Reviews tab.

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

REVIEW: Slik 700dx–A durable tripod for < $100!

Slik 700DX – a great tripod for beginners
Shown with a Really Right Stuff BH-55 ball head

Good tripods are usually pretty expensive, and cheap tripods are frequently crap that are about as stable as putting your camera on your friends back while you shoot. This is why when I did my research on tripods I was surprised to hear of so many people singing the praises of the SLIK Pro 700 DX tripod legs. The ratings on B&H were out of this world and my contacts at B&H assured me that it was a pretty decent product that wasn’t too heavy thanks to its use of aluminum. This makes it much lighter than most tripods at this price point, but it’s not featherweight like the carbon fiber tripods I’ll review later.

Slik 700DX in collapsed minimum height configuration
shown with the extension portion of the center column removed

I’ll admit I was skeptical as I’ve never been impressed with cheap tripods, and this one comes in at just under $100 (as of the time of this writing from B&H). However, when I got it I quickly understood why so many people loved it. It feels solid and is very stable, yet it’s only 5.88 pounds (2.67kg) which isn’t too bad considering its size.

I’m 6’1” and this tripod extends almost
to the top of my head

I was able to extend this tripod to 70” (178cm), yet get it down to a low 10.8” (27.7cm). The leg clips worked well and the head was made of metal to avoid cracking as my plastic Bogen Manfrotto 3021 tripod had done. The clips will certainly be a vulnerability point while traveling, so I wouldn’t advise checking this tripod unless it is very secure in something that can avoid stress on the legs. 

Head Mount is aluminum rather than the cheap plastic
found on my Bogen Manfrotto 3021 that broke while traveling

The clips shown below for locking and unlocking the legs into various positions work well and are easy to open and close. Mouse in and out of the image below to see how it works:

Leg Lock Open (mouse out) and Closed (mouse over)

As well as this tripod worked for me, it is still a cheap tripod. The paint began to chip away within minutes of its arrival and the foam on the legs won’t last for years. With that said, it’s still a great value for those who are just getting started in the expensive world of DSLR photography!

This tripod looks great new, but it won’t stay that way for long
Paint began chipping off within the first minutes of use

Conclusion

To be clear, I’m not saying this is the only tripod you’ll ever need and that this is “just as good” as the expensive ones. What I’m saying is that if you are tight on cash and need a reasonably price tripod solution, then this is what I recommend. If you can afford better, your money is better spent getting the good stuff first, but if you can’t then this is a great alternative.

I like this tripod – it works well for the price and it is very stable. It lacks a hook on the bottom of the center column mount for added stability and it won’t look like new for very long, but it will save you some money so you can invest in something that is more important – a great ball head like the Really Right Stuff BH-55.

To be clear, for DSLR purposes I do NOT recommend the Slik heads shown on their web site. At this time I recommend the Really Right Stuff BH-55 for general purpose use, but I’m sure plenty others found here (with 4.5 star or greater ratings from at least 10 people) will work well also. I also think this tripod would support a gimbal head very well.

You can learn more about this tripod on Slik’s website, as well as B&H. You can also check out my  tripod recommendations article as well.

Support this blog by buying your Slik 700DX using this link.

Disclaimer

B&H was kind enough to loan me this tripod for this review. I was not given one to keep and I have never been contacted by Slik. I requested this tripod from B&H based on my research and I may get a commission if you buy one using the links provided. I appreciate your support by returning here and using my links if you choose to by one.

I have no relationship with Really Right Stuff and will not get a commission if you purchase their heads, yet I still recommend them.