HL-800C

Note: The softboxes, tripod light stands, and batteries shown in the photos are not included. I included them to show you what's possible with this light and put its size/use in perspective. The photograph of the wooden turtle is the only photo of the light (two of these lights) actually used.These lights are the best portable ("on location") lights on the market! These lights are bright enough to power a good size softbox and they can be run off of batteries (battery-life is 45 minutes on full brightness). The option to plug these lights into wall outlets exists, but the light can also be powered from batteries. Let's put in perspective how small these lights are. For this review, I uploaded a photo of me holding the light in my hand. You can see the light is extremely small! It is the smallest and lightest spotlight powerful enough to work for a nice size softbox. It is bright enough to power my 36" softbox. My 36" softbox weighs 2.65 lbs (1.2 kg) and the clamp supports it. I recommend that you don't go above 2.65 lbs (1.2 kg). When you buy a softbox, make sure you know the weight so that you can stay within 2.65 lbs (1.2 kg). There is another review that complains about the weight the clamp can support, but the light now comes with a new clamp that supports more weight. If you're not already familiar with what the CRI rating and TLCI rating mean, they measure how true the colors are to real life. These ratings (and therefore color accuracy) are considered very high.Professional cinematographers and photographers who travel understand the value of having a combination of portability, brightness, and softness of light. If you want to throw these lights in your car and drive somewhere to do a shoot, the lights will easily fit in your car without cluttering up a lot of space like other lights do. These lights seem small enough to transport in planes (although I honestly haven't looked into the airline policies to verify anything). Carrying them to and from your gigs is a cakewalk.Here is why I did not buy any alternatives to this light:* If you buy LED panel lights instead, the panel lights will give you shadows and "hot spots" (very bright spots that don't look good on skin) if you use them on skin. LED panel lights also create shadows on the wall and floor behind the person you are recording video of (or photographing). If you buy any other spotlight that requires an electrical outlet for power, you then you have to worry about people tripping over cords. Lights that require an electrical outlet for power also have other problems, like limiting where you can set up your equipment and blowing circuits. Relying on a wall outlet to power lights also burdens you with extra set-up time and extra pack-up time.* I won't name other brand names (because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings), but I will tell you that there are other spotlight brands with many complaints about noisy fans. I shoot video testimonials and did not want a noisy fan. Luckily, I did not notice any noise from the Wellmaking 80W light fan. Maybe there is an extremely faint noise, but I personally did not notice any noise from the Wellmaking HL-800C spotlight. So, the Wellmaking HL-800C light fan is either extremely faint (most likely) or totally silent.* There is a different spotlight brand I won't name that requires buying an extra battery grip and it is not compatible with normal Bowens mount softboxes. It's also more expensive than this Wellmaking light. The Wellmaking HL-800C light has a Bowens mount, which is very mainstream and standardized. This means the Wellmaking HC800C light is compatible with normal, common, mainstream softboxes.* I know of yet another spotlight brand that is priced lower than the Wellmaking HL-800C but it overheats and automatically shuts off after a short period of time. I definitely did not want to buy a light that shuts off after a short time!In summary, the Wellmaking HL-800C light is the most portable, practical, and versatile light for on-location shoots, traveling, set-up, and convenience that work for professional level video "on location" shooting and photography. The light weighs almost nothing. It takes up almost no space. It is not burdensome to carry it around. It is very fast to set up. It does not depend on a wall outlet to power it (but you have to buy separate batteries and the battery-life is 45 minutes on full brightness). It's bright enough to power a good size softbox. The compatibility with softboxes is the best it gets. The fan noise is so low that I didn't notice it. The color accuracy is wonderful. I highly recommend the Wellmaking HL-800C 80W spotlights!

Frankly, I would have preferred a more expensive and well know brand that I won't name. Short on cash, I got what I could afford. I must say, I'm pleasantly surprised. The lamp is much better than I expected. Pretty decent for the money.

I was sent the redesigned light, and what I have noticed is that the telescopic front portion of the light has definitely improved, it is no longer loose. The mounting part has a new loook, seems more sturdy, hopefully it doesn't break. I am grateful the manufacturer keeps up with their customers because like I said in my previous review, I love the light, it is the design I did not like, but that has changed and this light is now a great buy. It is super bright and small and convenient when you slap on 2 NP batteries to take it on the go! The light with the red ring is version 1 and yellow ring is version 2 in the pictures.Old review -Bright little light. However, the mounting part of the light broke off. I had to use JB Weld to hold it together. That was definitely a design flaw. Like the light, hate the way they made it.

Poor built. Don’t think to put some decent softbox. Only small compact reflectors or smaller modifiers.

stop working from no were

you see that battery hook on the side of the light right? well none of your NP or LP battery like 970 etc will work unless you have two, which is why they give you a charger to hang in the bank, why would you even create a battery space on the side when there isn't a NP870 battery that is 14.8 VOLT!!!! if someone knows there is one, please do let us know, but don't design a light to lure in people when that battery space will never be used!

The media could not be loaded. What a pleasant surprise! This a very well made and powerful light for such a small size. The Bowens mount is metal and very strong for attaching heavy modifiers. The LCD display is clear, the controls are easy to operate, and it even comes with a remote for controlling 4 lights. It has an adjustable Fresnel lens to help concentrate the light. Be sure you read the battery requirements (2 standard 7.4v FP-S or 1 Custom 14.8v Wellmaking battery). It's definitely worth considering if you're looking for compact yet high power continuous light. (see my evaluation video for more details)

The media could not be loaded. I bought 4 of these lights and did a quick photo shoot with them as soon as they arrived. I loved them and was very pleased. Shortly after that, I couldn’t get one of the lights to turn on so I impulsively wrote a 1 star review on Amazon. Not long after the review went up, I was contacted by Wellmaking customer support and they informed me they have a 1 year warranty and sent me a replacement light right away. I now have four awesome lights again! These are really nice and the remote is simple to use and makes controlling a 4-light setup so simple.The lights are bright enough for video without blinding your subjects, and bright enough for studio still photos at higher ISO. I don’t know how they could make them brighter without making them larger. I have a 100 watt LED from another manufacturer and while it’s quite a bit brighter, it is significantly larger. That one lacks the fresnel lens that these have, so got to weigh options.The tiny fans on these are absolutely silent. These are great for video.I’m impressed with these Wellmaking lights and very impressed with their support. We all hope we don’t need customer support but it’s great to know this company cares and is there if you need it.The only way I can see improving these would be variable color temp! Daylight balance is fine when lighting a set. I’d love if I could balance these with residential lighting in a kitchen without resorting to gels.I don’t have a ton of time with these but I can recommend them based on my experience so far.