Reviews |Best ring light for photos and video in 2022

Best ring light for photos and video in 2022

Nissin MF18 Macro Flash
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Choosing the best ring light will enable you to capture evenly lit subjects and give you content a more professional look, no matter what level of your ability. Once largely found in the camera bags of professionals, the pandemic has made ring lights a must-have item for their ability to brighten up a Zoom call or any video-based content that relies on a talking head. The rise of video conferencing and video-based content has made ring lights one of the best camera accessories you can buy, whether you’re a photographer, videographer or content creator.

What is a ring light?

A ring light can be the most important accessory in your kit bag if you shoot video or portrait and macro photography. These are subjects where you typically need even lighting with no shadows. A ring flash is ideal in these situations.

Because a ring light completely encircles the lens, it fires light at your subject from both sides, limiting shadows.

Most modern ring lights now also offer dials for adjusting the intensity of the light, as well as the colour temperature.

Ring flash vs ring light

There are different types of ring lights. A ring flash is often used by macro photographers and consists of a control unit that mounts to your camera’s hotshoe.

This unit then connects to dual flash units that sit on either side of your lens via an adapter that screws into your lens’s filter thread.

A ring flash will tend to have a low guide number when compared to the traditional flashgun you’ve probably used. Don’t let this deter you. Because ring flashes are used primarily when shooting up close, you don’t want too much light bleaching out your scene.

Some ring flashes also let you adjust the power of the flashguns separately so that you can experiment with different lighting effects.

LED ring lights tend to be used more for videography, where constant illumination is needed.

The circular ring lights are also good for portraiture and creating catchlights in your subject’s eyes.

Which ring light size is best?

An 18-inch ring light is around the biggest on the market in terms of size. If you can afford a ring light this size, 18 inches should not only evenly light your subject but throw some light on your background as well. An 18-inch ring light can illuminate a small room and add a nice amount of light to a medium-size space. In essence, the larger you can go, the more flexibility you will have in the subjects you can shoot.

Which is better, ring light or LED light?

An LED panel is better for filming larger scenes in a video or for shooting full-body studio portraits at wider angles. A ring light is best if you’re shooting macro or close-up photography, portraiture or vlogging and other talking head videos.

Is there something better than a ring light?

Ring lights are very good for shooting stills and video, but if you want even more natural-looking lighting, you might try a softbox. These dampen the lighting to smooth it out and create more natural skin tones. They are, however, more expensive and more cumbersome to use.

What is the best ring light?

Neewer Dimmable 18-inch LED ring light

Neewer Dimmable 18-inch LED ring light

Neewer’s budget kit is a best-seller for a reason: it’s well built and you get quite a bit for your money. The kit includes an 18-inch fluorescent flash light with a 59-inch (150cm) light stand, plus a soft tube, white and orange filter set and a hotshoe adapter.

The Neewer unit offers 75W power (equivalent to 600W on an incandescent one) and a colour temperature of 5500K. There’s also a flexible arm for adjusting the angle.

We quite like the magnesium alloy build quality at this price, as well as some of the design touches like the extra long cord and thumb screws for quick adjustments.

 

 

Sigma EM-140 DG NA-ITTL Macro Flash

Sigma EM-140 DG NA-ITTL Macro Flash

The Sigma EM-140 DG NA-ITTL is an electronic macro flash designed for close-up photography. One of it’s best features is that it boasts twin flash tubes which you can either fire simultaneously or independently.

You control the EM-140 via a commander unit that sits in your hotshoe, and it’s loaded with features. You’ve got wireless TTL flash control, an AF-assist lamp, as well as high-speed sync capability. Recycle times are also very speedy.

Available for Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sigma cameras, the EM-140 DG NA-ITTL comes supplied with 55mm and 62mm adapter rings, while 52mm, 62mm,67mm,72mm and 77mm adapter rings can be purchased separately.

 

 

NanGuang CNR-480C LED Ring Light

NanGuang CNR-480C LED Ring Light

NanGuang’s LED is a workhorse that promises an LED life of 50,000 hours with soft, shadow-free lighting. There’s a steeples dimmer along with a stepless colour temperature control ranging from 3200-5600K.

The NanGuang CNR-480C comes with a smartphone clam and mirror, as well as a fabric diffuser. It’s aimed at product photographers as well as vloggers who need soft, uniform lighting for live streaming video. But, really, the NanGuang CNR-480C is versatile enough it can serve any of your endeavours

 

 

Nissin MF18 Macro Flash

Nissin MF18 Macro Flash

The Nissin MF18 supports both Canon and Nikon cameras, offering a guide number of 14 (ISO 100). What’s really interesting about the Nissin MF18 is its expandable head design, which can increase wide enough to mount lenses with diameters of up to 82mm.

Nissin also allows you to independently adjust the left and right flash tubes in 1/6EV steps from 1/128 to 1/1024.

Other features include an illuminated LCD, flash exposure compensation, wireless of-camera control, flash exposure bracketing and a slave function. You can also update the Nissin’s firmware via USB.

Included with the MF18 flash unit are lens adapter rings in 77mm, 52mm, 62mm, 72mm and 58mm.

 

 

Metz Mecablitz 15 MS-1 Wireless Macro Flash

Metz Mecablitz 15 MS-1 Wireless Macro Flash

The Metz Mecablitz 15 MS-1 offers wireless TTL operation in a compact, lightweight, one-piece design. This means it has no commander unit, so interestingly the Metz Mecablitz uses your camera’s pop-up flash to transmit its TTL metering signals.

If your camera isn’t capable of doing this, you can also trigger the flash using a sync cable, which is included in the kit. You also get lens adapters in 53mm, 55mm, 62mm, 67mm and 72mm, plus a diffuser panel and carrying case.

Like other ring flashes on this list, the Metz MS-1 has individually variable reflectors for more precise light distribution. It also offers a guide number of 15.

It’s compatible with Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony and Pentax cameras, making it perhaps the most versatile on this best ring lights list.

 

 

F&V HDR-300 SE LED Ring Light

F&V HDR-300 SE LED Ring Light

F&V makes a solid, but reasonably priced, range of ring lights that offer incredible versatility and quality. Like the Neewer unit at the top of our best ring lights list, the F&V HDR-300 is a continuous light with 300 daylight (5600K) balanced LEDs and a brightness of 2205 lux at a distance of 1 metre.

It also boasts a knob at the back allowing you to adjust the intensity from 0 to 100%.

What we like about the F&V ring light is its versatility. You can mount it around your lens, as an off-camera light, even to a gimbal.

Inside the kit are three lens adapters covering 67-82mm, 72-82mm and 77-82mm, as well as a diffuser filter and Tungsten filter.

 

 

Kaiser KR90 Ringlight review

Kaiser KR90 Ringlight

The Kaiser KR90 is a constant light with 30 LEDs beneath its perspex diffuser. It’s powered by internal rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that provide enough charge for 2 hours of full-power use. A knob on the back allows the output to be reduced if necessary.

The ring is made from metal and has a 77mm diameter thread, but it comes supplied with 52, 55, 58, 62, 67, and 72mm adapter rings to mount it on a lens.

It’s easy to use and is best suited to macro photography. At very close quarters it increases the exposure by up to around 6Ev.

 

Check the price of the Kaiser KR90 Ringlight at Amazon UK, Amazon.com, Adorama, BH Photo Video.