VL49

The Ulanzi VL49 LED light is a great small light for video and photography setups. It is compact and lightweight but still provides plenty of brightness for close range lighting. It works very well mounted on a camera or rig and helps improve lighting for videos, streaming, or content creation. The built in battery is convenient and lasts a good amount of time, and charging with USB is simple. I also like the cold shoe mounts on the sides which allow you to connect multiple lights if needed. Overall this is a very useful and affordable lighting option that delivers solid performance in a small package. Great for creators who want a simple portable light.

The ULANZI VL49 is proof that good things really do come in small packages. This little light instantly turned my vlogs from “dim and dingy” to “crispy and cinematic.” The brightness is seriously impressive for such a compact panel—soft, even light that flatters faces instead of making me look like a washed-out ghost. The rechargeable 2000mAh battery lasts way longer than I expected, and charging it back up is quick and painless. The 3 cold shoe mounts are a genius touch. I can stack multiple lights, add a mic, or build a tiny Frankenstein rig that makes me look like I know what I’m doing. It plays nice with everything I’ve thrown at it—DSLR, GoPro, even my phone setup. And the portability? Chef’s kiss. It’s lightweight, slips easily into my bag, and is tough enough to handle travel without freaking out. Honestly, it’s one of those pieces of gear I didn’t know I needed until I had it, and now I don’t want to shoot without it. In short: small, mighty, and makes me look way more professional than I actually am. The VL49 is basically a pocket-sized studio light for creators on the go.

Compact, bright, and very useful LED light I purchased the ULANZI VL49 LED Video Light for use with an action camera and mirrorless camera, and it exceeded my expectations. The light is bright, evenly diffused, and provides a soft, natural look without harsh shadows. The 2000mAh built-in battery lasts quite a while and is easy to recharge via USB. I really like the three cold shoe mounts, which make it easy to stack multiple lights or attach a microphone on top. The build quality feels solid, especially considering its small and lightweight design. This light is perfect for vlogging, indoor shooting, low-light situations, and travel setups. Works great with DJI Osmo, Sony, Canon, and GoPro cameras. Excellent value for the price — highly recommended.

great price and super convenient. pocketable and light. it’s great that it charges with USB C and u can have it plugged in while it’s on. i wish it got a little bit brighter but for 20 bucks i can’t really complain

This tiny light is almost perfect. The newer model's diffuser layer produces a very smooth medium-wide wash of white light with good CRI (I haven't confirmed the spectrum, but it seems to render color well so far). The little cold shoe attaches easily and locks / unlocks with one finger. The buttons that control brightness and display battery level are an unusual design, but easy to figure out after a few minutes experimenting with them -- and they make good use of three widely spaced buttons that are workable with gloves on. [UPDATE: The CRI or color accuracy of this white light is surprisingly good. Much purer white than a lot of LED light bulbs and LED tube lights.] Run-time on one charge isn't really under the control of Ulanzi -- that much light from that many LEDs with that size Lithium battery is more or less predefined by the components, but the battery certainly has enough capacity to shoot for a length of time that fits well with the GoPro's own shooting time. The highest settings run for hours. With other cameras, of course, one might need to run the light with an external power source, and the unit does operate when plugged in. (I haven't confirmed whether it charges at the same time.) There's a cold shoe on the other 3 sides of the unit, so you can chain them together, but there's no coordination between them. I suppose a cool enhancement would be a daisy-chain USB-C cable and firmware that would allow any one unit to control the settings on the others, but I'm not even sure I'd use such a thing. There's a 1/4" x 20 tpi metal tripod socket inside the cold shoe, which is extremely handy for clamping and tripod mounts when you don't want the light on the camera, but this light is a perfect match for the GoPro, and is almost exactly the same size. The only downside is that the built-in battery must, of course, be charged after 2-4 hours of use, which could be a problem. But the alternative -- replaceable batteries -- would significantly increase the cost, and the very low price of this light, compared to most of the competition, is one of its main selling points. I'm very impressed, and it's becoming clear that Ulanzi is positioning itself to be a leader in clever, affordable, quality photo accessories. They even have a replacement flip-down GoPro replacement mount for the Hero9 that incorporates a threaded tripod mount between the two flip-down GoPro mounts. UPDATE: Since writing this review, I've used the ULANZI VL49 quite a bit. The run-time is rather amazing -- several hours at less than full brightness, and using it for Zoom lighting I never need anything close to full brightness, so it's going 4-5 hours without running out. But the main thing I want to point out is that the brightness settings are a little too coarse for my needs. As great as this light is for general use with GoPros and webcams, in my Zoom setup I wish I could dial it down to be LESS bright than level 1. Interestingly, the solution to this is the OTHER version of this -- the ULANZI VL49 RGB, which I also bought and reviewed. The RGB version is just as bright, but adjusts in 1% increments, so I can dial in much dimmer settings, or anything up to (at 3 feet) blindingly bright. Of course the RGB version is also a color unit, with 2 modes -- color temperature, from warm white to mid-day sunlight, and RGB, with many combinations of R, G, and B in varying proportions. This gives a wide range of colored light, but the available color mixes are not smoothly continuous from R through G to B -- there are steps. So you get lots of color choices, but not a full color spectrum of intermediate colors. Since RGB mode is generally for weirdness, or very subtle color washes, that's not really a problem, especially in such an inexpensive unit. The ULANZI VL49 RGB is just under $10 more expensive, but still seems like a terrific value. I've ordered a second one for Zooming, and the monochrome will make a nice green-screen illuminator.

This was a gift for my wife to vlog with. She is very happy and extremely satisfied with the quality. The only downside it has is the non removable pedestal mount but that’s easy to overcome. Great buy!

This light was actually better than I thought. I love the level brightness on it. And the price is good for the quality.

I have the Sony ZV-1F and my camera doesn’t come with a flash, so I wanted to try this one out! It’s very easy to attach, comes with 4 different brightness settings, and is very simple to work with. I definitely recommend for selfies or any other types of pictures or videos!

Early days but works as described

Éclairage réglable, fait très bien l’affaire je recommande

10/10 es muy bueno, ágil y tiene luz potente

Great! It arrived fast too xD

I usually use a Neewer PT-176S light when I need to illuminate fungi and flowers when photographing them. It is a good light that is dimmable through many settings. It is a great light although quite large and because of this I do not always carry it. I wanted something smaller yet practical enough to carry around in my camera bag. I saw this one being used on a YouTube video. I bought one and have found it very useful. It is compact and reliable with a good battery life. It is limited by the fact that there are limited brightness settings. Because of this it will not replace my Neewer but it is a very good light.