This £50 SmallRig RF 10C video light unlocked new creative lighting effects for me

The SmallRig RF 10C is a portable, zoomable LED video light that features four coloured LEDs—white, sunset orange, blue, and red—and has a 10W power output.

The beam itself is adjustable from 10° to 60°, giving you plenty of flexibility over the coverage, depending on the distance you are from your subject or the background you’re projecting onto.

What really separates this video light from others is its torchlight design and the fact that with the rubber fitting attachment you can fit in creative filters. Each of these filters acts like a gobo, enabling you to project a silhouette image onto whatever surface you’re pointing it at, essentially creating some really stunning lighting effects.

The light features a 7500mAh battery, which provides up to three hours of continuous use, and the aluminium design is both good and robust. It is easy to transport, can be mounted using the three-quarter-inch mounting thread, or clamped onto a variety of rigs and other equipment.

While the light is sold as a video light, I have to say it is equally suitable for photography when coupled with other constant lamps. However, you do have to keep in mind that this is a 10W unit, and while its illumination is bright on its own, it isn’t that bright when used alongside other lights, so some of the effects of those creative filters might be slightly lost. But still, it’s all good fun.

First and foremost, whilst this is a relatively cheap video light—just over £50/$50—it’s actually extremely well made, and as soon as you pick it up, it feels just like a slightly oversized torch. It is made from aluminium alloy as well as ABS, both extremely strong and lightweight materials.

The handle itself is 4.3cm in diameter, which makes it really comfortable in the hand, and all of the control is done through a single functional dial on the top of the unit. A quick push highlights a green LED around the light, then a quick half rotation switches on the light. As you push down onto that dial, the colour of the light changes, and if you want to adjust the brightness, you just rotate the dial in either direction to reduce or increase the brightness.

What is quite odd here, when you’re so used to the smooth progression of light to make things brighter or darker, is that the light actually flashes two or three times as the power is increased or decreased to brighten or darken the illumination. It’s also worth pointing out that although it has coloured LEDs, these are not RGB—they are just red, orange, blue, and white. So, you can only get each individual colour and not a mix, meaning the colour array is very limited.

Likewise, one of the first things you try to do when you have the torch is to focus the beam. Whilst you can zoom the beam in and out, there is no actual way of focusing.

Alongside the lamp comes a rubber snood that is designed to fit over the end of the light and enables you to attach one of the 20 included filter effects. These are essentially silhouettes that enable you to project their shapes onto a surface.

This simply pushes in and pulls out of the rubber snood, and what I really like is that it is very easy to silhouette cut or laser cut your own samples to pop inside. So, if you want to project a company logo or something similar, you can laser cut that into a template, pop it into the snood, and project your logo in light onto a background.

The filter effects themselves are really nicely designed, and you’ve got outlines of windows, hearts, letterboxes, and various other shapes, which, when the light shines through, cast shadows onto the surface. It’s a very traditional effect, something that we used to use gobos for in the studio in the past. Whilst they had fallen out of favour, the return of a lamp like the RF 10C shows that there is a slight resurgence, just as there has been in retro photography and other areas.

One thing about the build and handling I would say is that 10W is relatively low power. Whilst that gives you around three hours of continual use, which is more than enough, that power will limit how this light can be used.

One last feature is worth a mention is the internal battery, and the USB Type-C port on the side that is used to charge. Unfortunately, there’s no battery level indicator on the lamp, so there’s no way of actually gauging how much power you have left.

Overall, when it comes to the build and handling, it is extremely simple, easy to use, very easy to mount, and durable—made from full aluminium alloy. Ultimately, it can be used by anyone, as there is very little to understand, and, above all, it’s great fun.

Taking a quick look at the features of this lamp, it is actually very simple. Ultimately, it looks like a slightly oversized torch and includes four coloured LEDs—white, sunset orange, blue, and red. It also has a high colour accuracy for the white light, with a CRI of 96 and a TLCI of 98.

The beam is adjustable from 10° to 60° by pushing or pulling the front bezel. However, whilst you can zoom, there is no ability to actually focus the beam. So, when you use most of the filter effects, they will have slightly blurred edges, which is actually what you really want.

In the box alongside the lamp, you will also get a rubber snood and 20 creative filters. These enable you to create a huge range of effects, and they simply pop in or pull out of the rubber snood as needed.

When it comes to brightness adjustment, you can just use the main dial to increase or decrease the brightness, with the flash indicating when the brightness is increased or decreased. Again, there is no smooth progression of brightness, so if you are filming something and need to brighten or darken the scene gradually, then this isn’t the light for you. This is more for projecting effects onto surfaces rather than being used for main illumination.

Inside is a 7500mAh battery that provides up to three hours of continuous use. Because of the full aluminium build, it seems to dissipate heat really well, and after having the light on max power for around an hour, it coped well with that level of use through both video and still shoots.

One thing I really liked was that it features a standard USB Type-C port. This enables really easy USB Type-C charging and allows you to connect other power supplies to give it a top-up between shoots. Throughout the day’s shoot where this light was utilised, there was never a need to recharge, with the light used at around 50% power to achieve the desired effect. During any downtime, I simply ensured it was topped up by plugging in USB Type-C power.

One of the other features that I really liked—and something I wish more lights of this type had—was the anti-misoperation feature. Essentially, when you push down the button, the light switches on and the green LED illuminates, but then you have to give the button or dial a full half rotation before the light fully switches on. This prevents accidental activation, so you don’t arrive on location to find that your lamp has run out of power before you’ve even used it.

Another feature that shows the thought that has gone into how this lamp will be used is the three-quarter-inch mounting threads, with one on the base and two on either side of the lamp, giving you plenty of flexibility. I also found it was easy enough to clamp using one of the larger Manfrotto Mighty Clamps, so there are all sorts of ways to mount this into an existing rig.

Ultimately, whilst this is sold as a video light, it is a perfect solution for backlighting as well as background light. Used in a couple of photography projects, it was really good for creating shadow effects in backgrounds just to add a little bit more texture and interest. Likewise, in video, you can project window frames and other shapes into the background to add a little atmosphere with great effect.

Getting started with the SmallRig RF 10C is easy enough. Essentially, plug it into USB power and wait for it to charge. Once it had a full charge, it was ready and set to go. Switching on, as I’ve already mentioned, involves pushing down the button and then giving it a half rotation. To flick through each of the colour options, just a quick push of the dial will switch instantly between each of those colours. To adjust the brightness, you just rotate the dial, and it will flash a couple of times as the illumination dims or brightens.

Used as a standard video light, everything is very easy. You can adjust the beam by simply pushing or pulling the front bezel backwards or forwards, essentially increasing or decreasing the spread of the light from 10° to 60°. This gives you plenty of flexibility and acts as a great option for creating some interesting background effects using a constant light for both video and stills.

However, using this as a straight video light, even with those four lighting colour options, is just the start of it. Where this lamp really comes into its own is once you add the snood with the creative filters on top. They simply click in, and they project a series of silhouetted gobos onto a surface.

It’s been a long time since I’ve used gobos, as they really have fallen out of fashion. However, with the emergence of the RF 10C, it would appear that there is some call for their use once again, and to be honest, they are great fun.

What I really liked is just how quick and easy it is to use. Compared to the last time I used gobos, which were made of aluminium and could get quite hot, the lightweight material and ease of use of the RF 10C made it very quick and easy to switch between different gobos just to see how they would look.

There’s also the ability to quickly adjust the colour, and flicking through the four different colour options created some really great effects. The only thing I don’t understand is why they chose red, orange, blue, and white over the more standard red, green, blue, and white, which I feel would have been a better option. However, that said, there are still some great effects, and you can always pop in a gel if you want to try some other colours alongside the white.

The only thing I would say is that, while 10W is relatively powerful, it isn’t the strongest light in the world. If you are illuminating a subject and thinking about coupling this with flash, then the flash is absolutely going to drown out the light from the RF 10C. Likewise, if you’re using it alongside other constant lights, just be mindful of the brightness to ensure it doesn’t get overpowered.

Overall, when it comes to its use, mounting options, and the effects created by those creative filters, this makes for an absolutely great option for any studio. It adds another element of creativity to your photo and video shoots.

I haven’t used gobos for years, but when I worked in studios, I knew photographers who were absolutely obsessed with them, spending hours creating lighting effects in the background to achieve all manner of atmospheric styles. Whilst at the time I couldn’t really see the visual benefit of using these gobo silhouettes in lighting, over time I have come to appreciate the subtle yet striking effect they have on images.

These days, the most common place for these silhouette effects is in light shows during the winter. When I went to one recently in Wisley Gardens, I was impressed with how the light fell, and it actually made me search through the stockpile of old gobos we had in the stockroom.

It wasn’t long after that the RF 10C was launched, so I thought it was a good time to take a look. I have to say, I’ve had some great fun with it. Okay, so it’s not as powerful as the gobos we attached to our studio flashes, but for demonstrations, small video productions, and photo shoots, this small device can add a great deal to pictures.

Take food photography, for instance—having the food laid out with nice lighting will create a certain appeal, but it can sometimes look a little flat. Adding this light with a gobo attached, casting the shadow of a window frame over the fruit, really adds an extra element to the image.

Likewise, if you’re shooting a portrait and want to have a bit of fun, you can position the letterbox gobo over the eyes to really focus attention on the subject, or project a massive window frame or halo in the background to add a creative touch.

With 20 filter effects in the box to choose from and the four different colour options this small light offers—all for £50—it’s an awful lot of fun for not a great deal of money. So, whilst it might not be the most powerful video or still light on the market, with the snood and those creative effects filters (Gobos), it is one of those photographic tools that is well worth owning just for those times when it will come in handy.