ULANZI VL49 2000mAh LED Video Light w 3 Cold Shoe, Rechargeable Soft Light Panel, Portable Photography Lighting for DJI OSMO Sony DSLR Canon Camera GoPro Vlogging

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 takes my photos on my sony zv1 to a whole other level. I was very upset because the camera is great for videos but the pictures looked really bad. I wish I wouldve found this sooner! 10/10 recommen!

The Ulanzi VL 49 video light is a game-changer for my video production! It’s compact, powerful, and provides excellent illumination. The adjustable brightness and color temperature settings make it incredibly versatile, whether I’m shooting indoors or outdoors. The battery life is impressive, lasting through long shoots without needing a recharge. It’s also lightweight and easy to mount, fitting perfectly on my camera and tripod. Overall, this video light is a fantastic value and a must-have for any content creator. Highly Recommended

I bought this light at the same time that I bought other lights from another brand, so I have a pretty good basis to compare the two under the exact same circumstances.

This light is very easy to use. One dial changes the brightness. One dial changes the “warmth” of the white light. (No color lights on this one.) The charger is USB-C, which is nice and seems more updated/modern than most USB-A chargers for lights like this. It’s quicker and — as the world slowly adapts to a USB-C standard — it means less chargers to pack.

It is much easier to use this and change settings on the fly, as compared to the other lights I bought which have a small screen on the back with buttons to adjust things like brightness.

Cons: This light gets very warm, and it does not last as long as the battery the other, similar lights I bought. It lasts maybe 75% as long.

This little light is perfect for on the go lighting. You can attach it anywhere that has a cold shoe mount, like on a camera, a tripod or cage rig. It even has it’s own cold shoes for attaching accessories to IT, like microphones or even more lights.
Using the adjustment buttons you can make it brighter or dimmer. The description says the light is rated for 95CRI but I wouldn’t know how to measure that to confirm it.

The best part about this light is the usb-c charging. No fiddling with batteries. Charge lasts a while too, I can easily record video for a couple hours with it. If the battery does run low, it simply turns off. Doesn’t fade away.

Did I mention it’s lightweight? So if you’re using this with a phone cage, microphone and other accessories, it’s not going to weigh it down. Actually the heaviest thing in my mobile recording kit is the phone itself!

My only wish for this is I wish I could change the color temperature. But for what this is I can’t really complain, especially for what I paid for it!