Ring Lights: What you need to know [Best Ring Lights for all Budgets]
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I like to think of myself as a ring light enthusiast.
- What is a ring light?
- Why use a ring light?
- What to look for in a ring light
- What is the best ring light? (Skip down here if you just want to know what to buy)
What is a ring light?
A ring light is a circular device that is generally illuminated by either a single round tube or several small bulbs inside. This shape allows it to cast an even light across a subject. Ring lights come in many sizes - from handheld to over 17 inches in diameter. They are often powered by an AC adapter, but some have rechargeable batteries to improve their portability.
Types of ring lights
There are two main types of ring lights: on-camera ring lights and off-camera ring lights. On-camera ring lights can be attached directly to the lens of a camera. These are more commonly referred to as ring flashes. They can be connected to the hot shoe mount of a camera to be controlled by the camera itself or have a continuous lighting mode. They are useful for macro photography and dental work since the camera lens and body may block out other light sources.
When people say “ring light” they most commonly are referring to the off-camera variant. These often come with their own stands and many of them can be attached to separate tripods. This article will focus on off-camera ring lights.
Mounting the Elgato Ring Light to a tripod.
Ring flash connected onto a camera’s lens and hot shoe mount.
Photo 50536582 © Sonyavraykova | Dreamstime.com
Why use a ring light?
Ring lights are very versatile and are used in home offices and professional photography settings. The two main benefits to using a ring light over other types of lights such as LED panel lights are:
- ring lights cast even, “soft” light on a subject.
- ring lights are easier to look at for longer periods of time compared to more concentrated LED panels.
These two attributes make them very popular for makeup artists on YouTube, TikTok creators, Zoom meetings, and Twitch streamers.
Even lighting reduces shadows to make wrinkles less apparent, and long photo shoots and streaming sessions with bright lights can be very hard on the eyes without ring lights. To combat harsh lighting and eye strain, two LED panels used at an angle may be required. However, you can brighten up an entire shot with just one ring light set to 12 o’clock.
With just one light and a phone, you can produce professional looking content.
Photo 191726340 © Olena Yakobchuk | Dreamstime.com
Large ring lights allow you to place a DSLR in the middle with a ball mount.
Photo 143217485 © Vera Volkova | Dreamstime.com
In the following two images, the light on the right is clearly brighter, but it’s a harsh, concentrated light from a small rectangular panel. The image on the left was taken with the Elgato Ring Light (Amazon) which softens creases while still maintaining good detail. It also brightens up more of the background, eliminating the shadow behind me completely.
Elgato Ring Light.
Neewer CN-160 LED light.
When NOT to use a ring light
Ring Lights are very versatile and suitable for a wide audience, but there are certain instances where a ring light is not ideal.
Sometimes you want to purposely create harsh shadows or uneven lighting. This can be for dramatic or cinematic effect. Bodybuilders perform under bright stage lights pointed downward in a way that casts their muscles in the most flattering light. Without the intense contrast from the uneven bright light, muscles look deflated and lack definition.
Ring lights also create a distinct “catchlight” in the subject’s eye. All light sources will be reflected by our eyes, but the distinct shape of a ring light makes it much more noticeable. If this isn’t your thing, you can either opt for a different type of light or use two smaller ring lights off to the side. For glasses wearers like myself, I suggest placing the light higher than eye level to avoid a direct glare if you don’t want to buy two lights.
A ring-shaped catch light reflected in this model’s eyes.
Photo 141921236 © Andrey Arkusha | Dreamstime.com
What to consider when buying a ring light
- Brightness
- Size
- Color temperature
- Diffusion
- Stand
- Features
Brightness
Brightness is hard to quantify when you’re searching for ring lights. Some lights have their brightness listed in lumens, some in lux, and most don’t have it listed at all! The only way to really judge a light’s brightness vs another is to see actual footage taken with it as the primary light source. In the next section I include a video with a direct comparison of 6 different lights in the same setting so you can see their real world performance.
Size
In general, the bigger the ring, the brighter the light and the softer the light. This isn’t a hard rule, but with an 18” diameter ring light, the manufacturer can fit way more small LEDs inside the light. In addition, with light spread out across a larger surface area, the light is much softer. Small lights like this 8” ring light from Ubeesize (Amazon) shoot at you more like a beam and doesn’t smooth out shadows as well.
Product pages often display the outer diameter prominently. So an “8 inch ring light” has an outer diameter of 8 inches even though the inner diameter is necessarily smaller.
Color Temperature
Color temperature determines if a light appears more orange or blue. On an overcast day at noon, the light from the sun is a “cooler” more blueish white compared to the orange and pink of a sunset. Being able to adjust the color temperature of a ring light lets you match daylight at any time of day to avoid clashing colors.
Color temperature from 1,000 Kelvin to 10,000 Kelvin.
Photo 68138522 © Suriya Kankliang | Dreamstime.com
Diffusion
Diffusion is how evenly a light is spread out. Elgato excels in this department as their ring light has LEDs that shoot from the inner circle onto a reflective back panel before being softened again by the front of the ring. The result is a light that is very soft and easier to look at over long periods of time. Some other ring lights have the lights inside blasting straight from the back to the front of the light which is one less layer of diffusion.
Many older ring lights use diffusion panels that you have to manually attach to the light to change the softness and color temperature of the light. The following picture is NOT a ring light, but it shows a bunch of small bulbs and the optional diffusion/color temperature plates.
Lights like this are pretty hard on the eyes. Not very soft.
Stand
How are you going to set up your light? Will you be using it mostly at a desk for Zoom calls or are you running around the room making TikToks? If it’s for video conferencing, something you can put on your desk would be most convenient. For Tiktoks, a ring light that comes with a phone grip is a must.
Most ring lights can be attached to large (or small) tripods to on or behind your desk, but you’ll have to check the sizes of each light individually. The Elgato Ring Light is the only one I’ve used that is specifically designed to clamp to your desk.
Bulky but typical light stand.
Photo 18749349 © Nikola Radovic | Dreamstime.com
Features
Wireless control and adjustable color temperature and brightness are some of the main feature considerations of ring lights. Most budget ring lights do not come with any sort of wireless support, so you have to keep reaching over to change their settings. The Neewer and Elgato ring lights that I demonstrate below both have wireless options to control both settings.
What is the best Ring Light?
With the above criteria in mind, I bought and tested 7 of the most popular ring lights on Amazon from Elgato, Neewer, Ubeesize, Mactrem, Sensyne, and Mpow. The video below shows footage of all of them in action. Here are the winners:
Best Ring Light
Elgato Ring Light
Neewer 18” Advanced Ring Light (model SRP18-2.4G)
Neewer 18” Ring Light (model: 10088612)
Best budget ring rght
Sensyne 10” Ring Light.
Best overall Ring Light: Elgato Ring Light
The Elgato Ring Light is the best overall ring light I’ve tested, and it will completely transform your videos and photos. Whether it’s for TikTok, YouTube, Zoom calls, or Twitch streaming, this 17 inch light is high quality and versatile. The Elgato is very bright at 2500 lumens max brightness and it has adjustable color temperature from 2900 - 7000 Kelvin.
It has a clamp to attach directly to your desk, and the ring itself has a 1/4th inch thread on the bottom to mount to a tripod so you can take it anywhere around your set. It has both physical and wireless control through wifi with the free Elgato Control Center app. Elgato sells their own phone grip to make TikTok content creation convenient.
The two things that might give you pause are its price point and lack of mounting options out the box. This light does not come with a conventional tripod and the phone grip cranks up the overall price. You have to buy a heavy base (Amazon) to put this on the ground separately and the included stand is still not very tall. It maxes out at 29 inches. Elgato sells their own Multi Mount system, but you can save a lot of money by buying a sturdy tripod.
Here is my full review of the Elgato Ring Light and a link to its Amazon page for current pricing.
Snapshot taken using with the Elgato Ring Light mid day.
Snapshot taken using with the Elgato Ring Light at night.
2. Runner up: Neewer 18” Advanced Ring Light
(The webcam clamp shown actually goes to my Logitech Streamcam)
The Neewer SRP18-2.4G 18” Advanced Ring Light is a great alternative to Elgato that’s still really good. It appears almost as bright as the Elgato Ring Light based on my testing, but it has a tighter range of color temperature (3200-5600K).
The remote that comes with the Neewer is much more consistent than the Elgato Control Center app, and the build is much sturdier overall. It comes with a phone grip and bluetooth shutter remote in the box. If you have space behind your desk or you’re not filming at a desk at all, this is a perfect alternative. Not being able to clamp this to a desk is the only reason I don’t use it for my main setup.
The Neewer Ring Light was under $140 when I bought it, but here’s the Amazon page link for current prices and here’s my full review of the light.
Snapshot taken using with the Neewer Advanced Ring Light mid day.
Snapshot taken using with the Neewer Advanced Ring Light at night.
3. Third place: Neewer 18” Ring Light (model: 10088612)
Bottom 5600K diffusion plate on only.
All 4 3200K diffusion plates on.
Daylight + Neewer 18” Ring Light.
Neewer 18” Ring Light in an otherwise pitch black room at night.
Neewer has a ton of ring lights, and the older (non-advanced) version of their ring light is still really good. It’s even brighter than the advanced model and it’s cheaper (I bought mine for $90). The brightness is adjustable with a knob and the diffusion plates are 5600 and 3200 Kelvin.
Its main weaknesses compared to Neewer’s more recent model are: no remote, diffusion plates that you have to put on manually, and the diffusion system itself doesn’t give very soft light at higher brightness settings. It’s the brightest light on this list, so if that’s what you’re looking for, this is the way to go. Here’s an Amazon link to the device.
Best Budget Ring Light: Sensyne 10” Ring Light
The Sensyne 10” Ring Light is the best budget ring light. While the Sensyne Ring Light doesn’t get nearly as luminous as the Neewer Advanced 18” Ring Light or Elgato Ring Light, it costs way less and is still quite bright for its size. There are 11 brightness levels and the color temperature settings are 3000K, 4500K, and 6000K.
It comes with a high quality tripod that you can screw it onto, and the ring has a 1/4th inch thread to mount cameras onto it. However, the actual ring is so small (10 inches) that I couldn’t fit a full DSLR (Canon T3) into the middle of it - only my webcams. Unlike a lot of other budget ring lights, this one comes with an AC adapter as opposed to a USB cable allowing it to draw more power.
I bought this light for under $40. Here is the Amazon link for current pricing and my full review.
Sensyne 10” Ring Light in daylight.
Sensyne 10” Ring Light at night.
