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- Verified Buyer
I am a first time buyer of a continuous lighting set-up. There are a few kits similar to this one but at the time I purchased in mid-September 2021, this two-piece soft-box was going for under $50 which I think is an incredible value.There are compromises of course, like the bags, stands and soft boxes being just "OK" but the remote controlled, dimmable, colour-temperature-shifting LEDs are easily the best part of this kit. I was using a combination of household CFL bulbs to light my home-office video calls but had issues with flickering and green colour casts. Those have vanished since making the switch.One thing to note, a remote control is necessary for dimming and changing colour temp but as a fallback the bulbs will cycle through the three main colour temperatures (cool, white and warm) at 100% when turning them off and on again from the manual power switch.Although none of the following are deal-breakers, I have to mention them as they are the reason this is a four star review, not five.Despite the description by the seller, the kit I purchased included two 85w bulbs. They are just bright enough for my needs but the extra headroom would be nice as you lose a little light going through the diffusing material.There was also zero documentation in the package I received. It was easy enough to figure everything out but a diagram or quick video on the product page would have been handy. You really miss the documentation when it comes to operating the remotes however.First the good; the kit comes with two bulbs that can be controlled simultaneously with one remote. The problem arises however if you want to independently operate each bulb. There is a button on the remote that looks like it should facilitate swapping operation between bulbs but it doesn't appear to do anything. I have been able to coax independent operation by pointing another IR remote at one bulb while making changes to the other but it feels like something that should just work, even on a budget option like this.Only time will tell how durable the components end up being but I have been really happy with the results and wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to someone else.These are decent lights for the price. I am not an expert on lighting by any means, I am an actor who has to do my auditions via self tapes due to COVD. They are durable and good lighting. My only problem is the remote controls. When you have both lights on, adjusting is a pain. Both lights respond to either control, so you have a hard time controlling separately. But again, I am not an expert like my counterparts on the other side of the camera. I would recommend them though.They're reasonably bright, lightweight, and easy to assemble, which is good for indoors (not so much outdoors, TOO lightweight for even a stiff breeze). However, one of the bulbs that I received was a dud, and one of the fixtures didn't work.It was an easy fix, though - I unplugged it (IMPORTANT STEP), removed the two screws holding the socket in place, and popped it out. One of the two wires to the power cord had come loose from the base. If the same happens to you, just 'sandwich' the loose wire back into the connection and tighten the screw to hold it in place (if you're not sure what that means, look at the still-connected wire on the other side and copy that). I got the feeling that it'd just been assembled in a rush.Seller changed lights, so my original good review is for a completely different light that looks and works nothing like the one currently listed. This shady and dishonest practice drops my five stars down to one star. Seller can't be trusted. This current light might be fine, but I've no desire to support a seller like this.Original listing for different light:I've worked TV/Film/Media production for over 25 years, so I'm approaching things from that perspective. Are these the highest quality lights? Absolutely not. But for $75 +/-, the quality and features you get are impressive. I bought two sets of these from two different sellers (because of stock availability and shipping times). I wanted to make sure that the softboxes didn't have some big stupid mean-nothing, no-name giant Chinese logo/branding glaring at you, so I appreciated that these were clean of all of that. I bought these for a friend who was starting a little fb/youtube ministry channel and I wanted to help get him off on the right step from a technical standpoint. After working with these lights, I wouldn't hesitate to use these in my everyday production life if I needed them. I didn't take a CRI reading so I can't speak specifically to that spec, but there were enough settings adjustments via the remote to find lighting that complemented the ambient (non-direct) window light and make the skin tones look healthy and clean. The boxes don't come with grids so spill light may be an issue. Also, as with all of these cheap kits I've come across through the years, the diffusion fabric on the softbox pretty much sucks. I'd recommend adding a sheet of your favorite Lee or Roscoe diffusion in the middle of the larger fabric to soften the throw even more. Overall, for the money, not sure you could ask for more. Wouldn't trust this kit in a full-on ENG environment where you're always having to set them up, then strike them non-stop (most parts are plastic), but if you have modest production needs this is a pretty decent kit to start with.4/06/2020 Edit: Company contacted me and offered to replace the faulty light. It is now working great! Excellent Service!Got this light for my girlfriend to use for her instagram and YouTube videos. The ring light is great for the price! Extremely bright and the color options are definitely nice to have to set a nice ambiance for pictures.I would say grab a taller tripod to have a more versatile set up as the one that comes with the light is used for more desktop applications
