ZHIYUN FIVERAY FR100C Review

The FIVERAY FR100C is a constant stick light that will help you create ultra-modern lighting effects in your videos and stills. The stick-like shape creates a different look to your images than the more traditional round or square lights.

As well as giving a different visual style to the illumination, the FIVERAY FR100C is also 100% portable using a powerful internal battery to supply the light with power. This makes it far more versatile than AC-powered lighting. Being stick-like in shape and having that internal battery, this lamp is easily handheld, making it a great solution for portrait photography and video productions.

As well as kicking out 100W of powerful illumination the lamp’s colour temperature can be adjusted from 2800-6200k meaning that it’s easy to match the FR100C with the ambient light.

Being a next-generation light, there’s also the ability to adjust the RGB values of the lamp using the dial on the grip. This enables you to change the light from blue to red to green without gels.

Colour accuracy is an important feature of any lamp used for photography or video, and with a CRI of 96 and TLCI of 97, you can be sure that the light produced by the FIVERAY FR100C will be accurate. This is especially important for fashion and product shoots where colours must be spot on.

The dimensions of the light also make it easy to use; being 502x46x47mm, this stick light design means that it can fit into corners or neatly tuck into places where it’s usually difficult to mount more traditional styled lighting.

With a weight of 930g, the light isn’t too weighty for someone to hold for extended periods. It also means that it will easily be held in place if attached to a midsized friction arm.

The FIVERAY FR100C is a versatile go-anywhere, portable constant light that enables you to get lighting into place that would usually be problematic. The full-colour RGB and colour temperature adjustment make this light suitable for all lighting solutions.

The lamp performs well, emitting a powerful light that can easily be adjusted to match the ambient light. Used for product photography, the shape of the light makes it easier to get light right into the positions you want without too much issue.

However, for video, the wide spread of the illumination from the FIVERAY FR100C is where this lamp’s real flexibility and value rest.

Used in an interview, the lamp raised and angled towards the subject and the wide spread of light helped softly illuminate the subject. While the lamp does the job, adding other lighting units helps to create more lighting interest. The ability to adjust the colour temperature helps to match it with other lamps.

In static situations, the lamp works incredibly well. Its versatility is one up on most other lights, and the ability to hand hold or mount is a huge benefit.

I was also impressed by the quality of the diffusion panel built into the light; this does a good job of softening the illumination projection.

The one area I did have a few issues with was the dial. While it’s clearly laid out and seemingly simple, it took a while for the exact process to swap and change settings to sink in.

The power button in the middle switches the lamp on, and then rotating the dial increases or decreases the settings, be that brightness, colour, temperature etc. The dial offers a huge amount of flexibility when it comes to controlling, and it’s because of this that it takes a while to learn how it all works. After a while, however, the click directions and ability to read the details on the screen become obvious. Really, it’s just a case of becoming familiar with the interface.

When it came to brightness, the lamp packs in an incredible amount of power, taking it to 100%, and you have around an hour of usage, which isn’t at all bad. An interesting feature of the light is the Max brightness setting which is like a power boost. Activate this, and the lamp becomes incredibly bright, brighter than standard room lighting. There is a sacrifice, and the lamp only runs for 20 minutes.

A more real-world scenario sees the lamp used at around 50%, which gave a running time of just over 2 hours.

The FIVERAY performed incredibly well; considering the price, this is a relatively cheap and extremely versatile lighting solution.

The FIVERAY FR100C is an outstanding light packed with potential. The stick form and volume of flexibility over the lighting style enable huge versatility when it comes to illuminating your projects both for video and stills.

The actual illumination is superb, and the quality of light provided through the review was excellent. What surprised me was the spread of light produced with the beam being far wider than I imagined, and a set of barn doors would have been a great addition.

Of the stick lights I have used, this one has the most potential. I would have liked to have seen App, lighting effects and possibly some accessories such as those clip-on barn doors, but ultimately, this is an exceptional light for the price.

In the real world use, the ultra-modern lighting style makes it suitable for Adverts, vlogging, music and short films. The fact that the light can be squeezed and positioned into places that few other lights can make the potential for the FIVERAY FR100C huge.