Third-party brands are cheaper, mains-powered options are brighter, but this strikes the perfect balance and is a fantastic everyday ring light – and one that’s well worthy of the Razer name. Third-party brands are cheaper, mains-powered options are brighter, but this strikes the perfect balance and is a fantastic everyday ring light – and one that’s well worthy of the Razer name.
Coming from one of the best-known names in computing, the Razer Ring Light is the latest big-brand challenger in an arena dominated by cheap products and no-name companies.
The wired remote enables you to increase or decrease the brightness, cycle between the three color temperatures and turn the light on or off – and its one-handed operation means you can discreetly make adjustments off-camera when presenting, or while brandishing a camera in your other hand while you’re shooting or filming.
As a USB-powered device, the Razer Ring Light obviously isn’t going to kick out as much brightness as its mains-powered rivals – but it still does a darned good job of delivering impressive illumination. Used in bright daylight it delivers the fill you need to lift unwanted shadows, and in gloomy or dim conditions it’s a fantastic key light that instantly makes your stream or footage look more professional. The articulating head of the included tripod means that you can angle the light 90 degrees to shoot vertically downwards, ideal for flat lays or unboxings. There are plenty of options out there for smaller ring lights, but they’re mostly of the cheap and cheerful variety that always fall short in at least one area, whether it’s power, performance or price.
Razer Ring Light Review
I found myself typically staying in the balanced white around the lower/middle brightness steps, but I’m sure you will find something in these 30 different lighting modes that will flatter your delicate cheekbones to your liking during hours long game streams. Inside this so-called ring of light, can be affix one of the two included mounts, one for cell phones and another for a webcam, also adjustable. Elgato’s AC powered unit is littered with impressive features and can reach brighter brights and more control over colour adjustments, but it also comes in at double the cost and a flimsy clamp instead of a tripod.
Razer Ring Light Review: Add some light to your stream for $80 [Video]
With an included tripod, adjustable brightness, color temperature, and powered by USB, this $80 light is a great companion to the recent Razer Kiyo webcam, and Razer Seiren Mini. For mounting the Razer Ring Light, the included tripod provides a stable stand.
Adjustments allow the head to rotate and tilt to dial in the perfect angle. Since it’s USB-powered, it doesn’t get as bright as something like the AC-powered Elgato Ring Light. Since the Kiyo is exceptional in low-light situations, you don’t need to blast yourself with bright light to have a good-looking image. Razer’s Ring Light sits kind of in the middle of some of the competition. It can get brighter, you can dial in the color temperature more accurately than just three settings, and it also can be controlled via a PC.
Razer Ring Light for Webcams
Improve your video broadcasts with the Razer Ring Light. The Razer Ring Light has the perfect size for close-ups.
Razer Ditches the Ring Light on $79 Kiyo X Webcam
In fact, both webcams boast similar features — 1080p streams at 30 frames per second (fps) or ultra-smooth 60 fps at 720p, a clip mount mechanism for easy attachments to monitors, and a compact, all-black design — with the main difference being that the newer model scraps the dedicated ring light to help keep costs down. The company claims that the Ripshaw X does this all with near-zero latency and maximum detail, and all that’s required is a camera with HDMI output.
If you’re interested in the Razer Virtual Ring Light software for the Kiyo X, you’ll have to wait until next month for it to become available.
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