Magideal LED Panel Light ( Video / Stills )

Pros:

1. Cheap in terms of pricing ( Rs. 1760 )
2. Quick fix for quick DIY videos / talking-head videos / product photos for Instagram etc.
3. Works with AA batteries ( six of them – get rechargeables ones – I use Eneloop, because you’ll run out of power pretty quickly with non-rechargeable ones )
4. Light intensity is adjustable with a handy dial.
5. There is a battery test button that tells you how much power you have left.

Cons :

1. Threading on hotshoe is plastic and not cleanly cut – putting the fixture onto the camera is a bit of a fight.
2. Communication on the Amazon listing does not clearly specify how batteries / power works.
3. The LED does not derive power from the camera – which means, you will have to put AA batteries and THEN put on-camera, which greatly increases the weight for making videos if you’re doing handheld.
4. If you use the light directly facing you, right next to where you’re looking into the camera, recording your own face, prepare to be blinded for a good 15-30 minutes even after the video is done. I had a blank spot in my vision for hours. Ideally use this light bounced – I tend to set it up bounced off a wall right behind where the camera is placed. My podcast videos are about 30 minutes long and I can’t even think about looking at the light for 30 seconds. Yeah. Even when you dial down from full brightness, it is very harsh on the eyes. Taping up an additional diffuser also doesn’t help. The only thing I thought was helpful was to keep the light way above my face at a 45 degree angle, almost out of my vision. At full brightness. I prefer using the light independent of the camera i.e., not mounted on the camera.

Cheap toy to potter around with at home but I wouldn’t recommend it for any semi-pro or pro use. There’s way better, much more expensive toys for that.

More photos of the hot shoe connector and the back and the box below. All images can be viewed at larger sizes if you click on them. The image above alongwith the Microsoft Arc Touch mouse is for size comparison.

Where to buy : Amazon Affiliate Link.

I wanted to get this light primarily because I’ve realized I can’t record my podcasts during the day – it tends to get super noisy and the apartments doorbell is always ringing. I used to record during the day because I love natural light and prefer to use that as much as possible. But sometimes, I just have to record at night. The only other artificial light I have is a studio softbox light. The problem with that, apart from the enormous amount of power it draws is that it is super noisy and gets really hot. My makeup melts and I have to pay special attention to the audio of my podcast to get all the sound out. While Adobe Audition does a great job of sound removal, the light’s in-built fan is not constant – it turns on and off at it’s own convenience depending on how hot the light gets. I don’t like that uncertainty. This LED light should help. As long as I don’t have to look at it!