I tested the Zhiyun Cinepeer C100 – and it might be the best RGB LED light for creators

The Cinepeer C100 is a portable LED fill light that can be used for both photography and video, and at 100W, it’s probably one of the brightest of this style of light out there.

As with the stick lights, it’s highly portable and versatile, but there isn’t the ergonomic design of a handle you see on some other lights of this type. However, what is nice is that there’s a ¼-inch thread at the top and bottom, so there are plenty of options for mounting this to supports, as well as tripods and lighting stands.

When it comes to the light itself, what is quite unusual is that the lighting stretches from the very bottom to the very top of the light, spanning 36cm. While this is not overly long for a 100W light, it does produce a good amount of illumination.

The light itself is fully adjustable, with full RGB, CCT, and plenty of effect modes.

One of the things that really makes this light stand out is the fact that there is full control through the Zhiyun app. This enables you to adjust the lamp remotely, adjusting colours, effects, and colour temperature. What’s more, if you have several of these lights, you can either group them so they all adjust together or control them individually to get the perfect lighting setup, whether for stills or video.

At 100W power, that does mean that whilst the internal battery has relatively decent capacity, supplying max power for around 54 minutes, additional power can be fed directly into the light through the DC or USB Type-C ports. This means that if you have a V-mount battery, you can utilise this to both charge and power the light albeit at 60% power, I’ll come on to that later in the review.

The Cinepeer C100 is a portable, professional stick light that offers full RGB colour, dual colour temperature, and plenty of effect modes that should appeal to both photographers and videographers as a constant lighting solution.

The Cinepeer C100 is a relatively compact, full RGB LED stick light that can be used in various locations, be that for stills or video, and offers you plenty of lighting options that are all easily accessible using the direct control buttons on the lamp or through the app for iOS or Android.
When it comes to size, it measures 36 x 5.8 x 7.2 cm and weighs 1,396g, or 1,706g with the light modifier front door attachment, slightly more than is listed in the official specifciations.

The build quality of the C100 is extremely high. When it arrives, it comes with those barn doors neatly attached. This not only enables you to manipulate the light in the way that you want but also acts as a nice way of protecting the diffuser when the light is not in use.

Alongside the light itself comes a really handy carry case with a DC power supply included, which will enable you to charge up the C100 from mains power. You also have the option to use the USB Type-C port as PD power or to give the battery a boost when in use, although when running on PD power you are limited to 60% power output.

Getting started with the light is relatively simple. First of all, check whether you want the barn doors on or off, and just open up the doors in the same way that you would with any light modifier of this type. You can then either mount the light on a tripod using one of the ¼-inch threads at the top or bottom, or, because both the top and bottom are nice and flat, you can just sit the light vertically on any flat surface, which is really handy.

The design enables the fitting of other light modifiers although at present there are no additional light modifiers available – but it’s great to see a design that enables future additions and development.

Once you select your light modifier, you’re set to go. A quick push then longer push of the power button boots up the Cinepeer C100. It takes about three seconds to power on. Above the power button is the mode button, which allows you to quickly cycle through each of the different modes, from lighting RGB to effects. There’s also a small LCD screen on the back of the light that highlights exactly what it’s doing. On the side of the light is the adjustment button, which enables you to quickly go through all of the settings, and below that is your select button, which allows you to flip from one option to the next. Both of these buttons also offer a second function when pushed. For example, pressing the adjust button will take you from whatever setting you’re on to a carousel of presets.

In use, the design of the light makes it relatively easy to handle, with the large metal section at the back providing a good handgrip. However, it is a little bit fiddly with your fingers close to the heatsink on the back, and it would probably be a good idea to attach some sort of handle into the ¼-inch thread on the base of the light. It’s also worth noting that this is heavier than some of the other Zhiyun lights, and whilst exceptionally well made, it is probably not all that drop-proof.

Another thing to consider is that, whilst there is a large heatsink on the back, there are also plenty of fans. While those fans do remain relatively quiet, they are just audible, so if you are recording video, this is something to be mindful of.

A quick run-through of the features really highlights exactly how feature-packed the Cinepeer C100 is. First and foremost, it offers full RGB lighting, along with all of the effects that are common with the current crop of LED lights. It’s also nice to see some of the more traditional features of LED lighting included, so you have full adjustment over the brightness and also over the colour temperature. If you need to match it with other lights or the ambient lighting, then this is nice and easy to do.

One of the fun features that we’ve seen in some of the other Zhiyun lights is the music-reactive light mode. Essentially, you enable this mode, play your music, and the light reacts to it. It can be good fun, and if you’re shooting a music video or something similar and don’t have a lighting engineer to orchestrate the lighting, you can let this light handle it for you—with great effect.

The Bluetooth mesh networking, which essentially means that you can connect two, three, or more of these lights, wirelessly and then take control of them through the app. One of the most useful functions here is not only the ability to control every aspect of the light remotely through the app but also that if you have two or more of these lights set up for a portrait rig, you can go in and individually adjust the brightness of each light to match the situation without needing to go behind and adjust them manually.

Getting started with the Cinepeer C100 instantly highlights just how good this light is. I’m a big fan of the FiveRay stick lights and have been using those for projects over the last year. The C100 takes the ability of the FiveRay stick lights up another level, and the overall build quality is much higher. However, I have to say from the outset that it’s a little bit trickier to handle. That said, I found that screwing a mini tripod into the base—just as you would with any gimbal—was the perfect option.

Using the light was straightforward enough, and there’s plenty of adjustment for both the brightness and colour temperature, enabling me to match it with other Zhiyun lights that I’ve been using to illuminate my subjects. The adjustment is nice and easy, and compared to the FiveRay stick lights, the fact that you’ve got these large silver dials on the side just gives you a little bit more control than the back dial that appears on the FiveRay.

To be honest, it’s a huge improvement. Likewise, flicking through the modes and having a separate select and adjust button also makes usability much easier. Navigating through each of the modes and settings is really simple.

When it comes to shooting stills, everything with this light is as you would expect. But switch over to video, and what’s really nice is that the dimming is smooth—something that isn’t always guaranteed with LED lights. So if you want to dim or brighten the scene with a smooth transition, you can utilise this light and actually set all of that through the app, which is a really nice touch.

Likewise, when it comes to effects, there are plenty in the mode section, and a quick tap of the mode button will take you through each of the options. You can choose between lighting effects or video effects, so if you like light painting, you’ve got plenty of options to experiment with. Similarly, if you’re doing a shoot and need to mimic lighting from a television, this light can be used for those types of effects as well.

Now, at 100W, there is the concern that the battery will drain quickly. However, having used these stick lights for some time, I am well aware that they don’t last for a huge amount of time before needing a recharge, so I have become more careful about leaving them on when not needed. During a full-day shoot, I found that the battery lasted about two hours, using the light at a variety of brightness levels. I found that between 25% and 40% usually offered the right amount of illumination for what I needed. On some larger setups, I did max it out to 100W, then plugged in a USB Type-C connection to extend battery life.

One thing to note is that if you are using PD power rather than the internal battery or DC, then you will only get 60% power—however, 60% is still incredibly impressive. It’s also worth noting that if you are running this at full 60% power for any length of time, the fans will kick in. While running it at 30–40% brightness will keep the fan noise to an absolute minimum, making it suitable for video, as you increase the brightness, the fans will become audible—so that’s something to take note of.

When it comes to performance, the fact that this stick light has a full RGB array from top to bottom, 100W of brightness when using the internal battery, and support for both PD and DC power makes it an exceptionally useful light. As ever with stick lights, the one limitation is their size—at 36cm in length, while it is bright and relatively powerful, you do feel that you need two or three of these lights to properly illuminate a subject. At the current cost, you’re looking at close to £1,000/$1,000 for a high-quality lighting system.

I really like the Cinepeer C100—it’s one of the best constant LED lights that I have ever used. The fact that the shaped dome diffuser on the front does such a good job at diffusing that 100W light, and that the light produced is of high quality, makes it a perfect go-anywhere tool.

Okay, at 100W, the power is limited to 54 minutes, but to be honest, as long as you’re careful with how you utilise the power and lighting, you should be able to get through most shoots. If you have one of those small V-mount batteries, you can always plug in and get PD power, keeping it relatively lightweight. However, you do have to take into consideration that you’ll only get 60% power rather than the full 100%.

Whilst it is relatively expensive, it is still cheap compared with pro-level LED lighting, yet it shares many of the same characteristics and features. The fact that you can take full app control and also use multiple C100s in a mesh network system makes it an extremely versatile system for any production or photo studio. And whilst in this review I did mention that it’s relatively expensive, in the grand scheme of things, the fact that you can buy three of these for less than £1,000/$1,000 is exceptional value for money.

So if you’re looking for a really strong contender as a very flexible LED light that suits both photography and video, offers plenty of lighting options, including full RGB, adjustable colour temperature, and different lighting modes, then the C100, for my money, is the best choice on the market at the moment—and I cannot recommend it enough.