You might have assumed that the best LED light panels would only be really suitable for videographers – but this isn’t the case. While they’re definitely more commonly associated with video, good LED panels can be hugely useful for photography, giving you instant real-time preview of how your light looks. Often find myself recommending them to photographers and hybrid shooters as well as those working in video.
In this guide, I’ve distilled the best of the best – all the finest LED lights the DCW team have tested. This includes a broad range, from heavy-duty cinematography lights to pocketable lights that clip onto a smartphone. Whatever your setup, whatever you shoot, I think there will be a great LED light here to suit you.
I’ve also aimed to make sure there are options for all different budgets – but if you need more options, we also have guides to the best flashguns and the best studio lighting kits. So, if you need more light in your life, let’s get started!
Ben is responsible for all the testing on Digital Camera World and across the entire photography portfolio at Future. Whether he's in the lab testing the sharpness of new lenses, the resolution of the latest image sensors, the zoom range of monster bridge cameras or even the latest camera phones, Ben is our go-to guy for technical insight.
The quick list
Best hotshoe LED
The modern replacement for the old-fashioned flashgun, this small-but-powerful light is equally suited to shooting video sequences, or for short bursts for stills photography.
Best for portability
This pocket-sized light is incredibly stylish and easy to use — and it also packs a punch in terms of brightness, putting out up to 40W from its tiny body. The control system is great, too.
Best for smartphones
These tiny panels make a fantastic kit for desktop work, including unboxing videos and still-life photography – plus, they're impressively affordable and pair well with a smartphone.
Best smartphone panel
Packing an impressive punch, the Lume Cube RGB Panel Pro 2.0 offers a brilliant spectrum of colors. Its app control is also sublime – much better than the physical control buttons, which can be fiddly.
Best tube light
Essentially packing the power of the Lume Cube Panel 2.0 into a tubular form factor, this light is a great option for creative expression. It's still got all those colors and that great app control.
Best MagSafe light
As it's able to attach via a MagSafe connection, this Harlowe kit could be the best option for anyone who shoots content predominantly on their iPhone.
See more
Best miniature light
The tiny Beamo doesn't look much like an LED panel, but it still gets the job done with plenty of lighting power for its size. Perfect for throwing in a kit bag and bringing everywhere – just in case.
Best for studio
Serious pro-quality LED lighting, which has advantage that it can be used handheld if you need it. With full color adjustment these panels can be mains or battery powered.
Best light stick
An LED light stick that comes with its own carry case and barn doors, the Zhiyun Fiveray F100 is brilliant both for illuminating shoots and adding special visual effects to videos.
Best for pros
The redesigned LED chip makes this a superior tool for both photographers and videographers who need professional-level versatility and power from their lights.
Portable studio light
If you're looking for studio-level power in a portable, location-ready package, the Nanlite Forza 300 is it. Putting out plenty of illumination, it packs up well and is easy to use.
Best for cinematography
This high-end light is designed for filmmakers and cinematographers first and foremost, though there is a high-speed flash option for stills shooters.
The best LED light panels
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Best hotshoe LED panel
While it won;t be suited to everyone due to the asking price, I have to be honest and say that the Rotolight NEO 3 is simply the best LED light you can buy right now for photography and video. A significant jump ahead of the previous NEO 2, the NEO 3 delivers a full range of color in both flash and constant lighting, with full RGBWW options. It comes in various configurations and kits and accessories will vary according to which you choose.
Small but powerful and extremely versatile as a constant LED light, the NEO 3 offers a huge range of electronic color filters and special effects, all available via a simple and intuitive color touchscreen menu.
Our resident lens-and-lighting expert Matthew gave it the full five stars in our review. About the only thing you can ding it for is the fact that its flash power is lower than conventional flashguns – but if you're shopping for an LED panel, that should be a compromise you've already accepted. The NEO 3's power and versatility quite simply put it in another class.
Read more: Rotolight NEO 3 full review
Best portable video light
If you require a constant photography or video light, combining the smallest possible footprint but the most lighting power, then I think the Zhiyun Fiveray M40 should be a serious contender for your gear bag. It's stylishly designed, and the level of lighting power it puts out is absolutely face-melting considering the relatively small size of the thing.
Of course, compromises have to come somewhere, and as Gareth noted in our review, all this goodness comes at the price of it being somewhat on the heavy side. He also found its control system turned out to be both a blessing and a curse, with very quick and precise controls which were far too easily changed by accident. Still, neither of these are fatal flaws in my book, and I can happily recommend this powerful and affordable light.
Read our full Zhiyun Fiveray M40 review.
Best smartphone light
You might not think it possible to get Hollywood-style lighting with an affordable desktop panel setup – but the SmallRig RM01 mini LED Video Light Kit does just that! It's designed to work in tandem with a smartphone, and the full kit we reviewed provides a full three-point lighting system that's perfect for unboxing videos or tabletop photography – our reviewer George Cairns used the set to indulge his passion for toy photography.
The panels use closely packed LED chips to produce a bright and constant light source, with a flicker-free quality that's ideal for video. They can't change their colour output, so the kit comes supplied with gels that you can put over them if you need light in a distinct hue – these use a magnetic attachment system that allows for quick and easy swapping. In use, the lights deliver strong and reliable illumination – so much so that George has now permanently added them to his home studio!
See our SmallRig RM01 mini LED Video Light Kit review
Best smartphone panel
Roughly the same dimensions and weight as your average smartphone, the Lume Cube RGB Panel Pro 2.0 is the kind of panel you can slip into a pocket and carry everywhere with you. Fortunately, it also delivers the goods where it counts in terms of brightness and versatility – as Mike found in our review, it offers a huge spectrum of colors in addition to the standard white output. Brightness can be adjusted from 1% to 100% in 1% increments (previous Lume Cube panels only allowed 5% increments), meaning you can get highly precise with your lighting.
The Lume Cube RGB Panel Pro 2.0 features both on-board physical controls and app integration, and honestly you'll probably gravitate towards using the app. I would mention that if you're a stickler for using a device's physical buttons, it's worth being aware they are quite small and fiddly. The Lume Cube Control app integration, by contrast, is beautifully smooth.
Read more: Lume Cube RGB Panel Pro 2.0
Best tube light
Essentially, you could say that this is the Lume Cube Pro Panel 2.0 (above) in a different shape, with the same powerful lighting technology packed into a tube. Of course, I'm sure you'll agree that's no bad thing, and the Lume Cube RGB Tube Light Mini is a fantastic on-the-go solution if the ergonomics of a panel aren't quite right for your setup.
In testing, Mike found that the RGB Tube Light Mini produced a powerful beam well-suited to the applications you'd expect for an LED light – product photography, portraits, video, etc. He felt that the panel shape produced a slightly more even light, but the number of creative applications for the tube shape give it a USP all by itself. The seemingly endless range of RGB colors lets you cut loose with your creativity, and the excellent app integration makes it easy to take control and make adjustments on the fly.
See our Lume Cube RGB Tube Light Mini review
Best MagSafe-compatible light
While there are plenty of lights on this list that are suited to smartphones, I want to single out the Harlowe Sol 5 Spectra Creator Kit for one particular reason – its MagSafe compatible. This means you can mount it to your iPhone via the same magnetic attachment you use for wireless charging. If you already shoot all your photos or videos on your iPhone anyway, it'll slot right into your setup with ease.
It's a great light too, as George confirmed in our full review – while it produces a comparatively low light output of 220 lm, that's plenty for the relatively up-close shooting most people do with phones, and being able to use the circular touch-sensitive panel to quickly dial in the desired color temperature is intuitive and easy. Also, the Harlowe light doesn't have to necessarily be attached directly to a phone – it also performed well in George's more conventional tripod-based setup, even if it was a little top-heavy and unbalanced at points.
Read more: Harlowe Sol 5 Spectra Creator Kit review
Best miniature light
The Joby Beamo may not look much like a traditional LED panel, but this hotshoe-mounted light unit has got it where it counts. Capable of outputting up to 1,500 lumens, this is an impressive little light that's also small enough to keep in a pocket and take everywhere with you. There's also a slightly smaller, slightly cheaper "Beamo Mini" version that tops out at 1,000 lumens, which is quite a bit less useful. Unless you're on an ultra-strict budget, I'd say go with the full-size Beamo.
George took both for a spin in our full review, and was impressed in particular by portable convenience of the Beamo. While it's not going to trouble the big LED panels for power and versatility, the fact that you can throw it in any kit bag and have it at your disposal makes it a handy tool for giving yourself a burst of extra light in a pinch. Videographers may want to think about picking one up, just in case.
Read more: Joby Beamo (and Beamo Mini) review
Best studio panel
I'll say up top that this likely isn't going to be suitable for most people reading this. Designed (and priced) for pros, this powerful, hugely versatile yet lightweight portable LED lighting panel is a radical redesign compared with the original AEOS, the main upgrade being that you get 16.7 million colors of light to play with, instead of just various degrees of white – and that goes for both constant lighting and flash, the latter with a high-speed sync option.
In our review, Matthew also praised the overhauled interface, which adds of a color touchscreen that makes it quick and easy to access a huge range of lighting options, digital filters and special effects.
The AEOS 2 is available in several kit configurations: the cheapest 'Basic' kit only includes a mains power adaptor and no battery, although the light does come complete with a good-quality diffuser dome.
The Explorer Kit adds a battery and charger, plus a padded soft case. Next up the price ladder, the Masters Kit doubles up on lamps and diffusion domes while also adding light stands and a padded soft case, but this time batteries aren’t included. Top of the range is the Ultimate Kit, which is essentially the same as the Masters Kit with the addition of two batteries and chargers.
Even the cheapest AEOS 2 Basic kit is still a hefty investment, but it’s a joy to use and a top performer, making it worth the money.
If the AEOS 2 isn't yet available where you are, the original AEOS (below) can still be found new, and for significantly less money than the AEOS 2.
See our full Rotolight AEOS 2 review
Best light stick
The Zhiyun Fiveray F100 is a portable and powerful LED light stick that adds a modeling light to photo shoots and special animated lighting effects to video shoots. It’s a welcome upgrade from the excellent F100C thanks to the adjustable barn doors and the superior carry case. George's conclusion in our review was that if you already own a Fiveray F100C, the F100 is not an essential upgrade, but if you’ve yet to add an LED light stick to your kit then the F100 is a highly recommendable purchase.
Read our full Zhiyun Fiveray F100 review.
Best for professionals
With a redesigned LED chip, the Aputure LS 300X puts an emphasis on versatility, making it a fantastic tool for photographers and videographers in the studio. And yes, I do mean videographers – we found in our review that its quiet fans mean it won't overwhelm the sound of a video.
The Aputure LS 300X offers a huge amount of lighting control, with variable colour temperature from 2,700-6,500K, and compatibility with a wide selection of lighting modifiers. While it's mains-powered, the unit also has the option to switch to battery power, so can be used on location with ease, as well as in the studio. With a huge output of 56,000 lux at 1m, the Aputure LS 300X also has power where it counts, marking it out as one of the best professional lighting solutions around right now.
See our full Aputure LS 300X review
Best portable studio light
Part of the relatively new Nanlite range from Nanguang, the Nanlite Forza 300 is a powerful, portable and capable LED Light. Able to put out 43,060 lux at 1m, it's more than powerful enough for most photographic purposes, and it's pretty simple to use. Control is done via the control box, which can be mounted on a light stand using a locking collar to make sure it's out of the way.
The light is very easy to use, though the flip-side of this is that it might be too simplistic for some tastes; there's no colour temperature control, for instance – 5600K is all you're getting. Power consumption is also pretty heavy at 300W, which is more than an equivalent unit from the likes of Rotolight.
See our full Nanlite Forza 300 review
Best for filmmakers
Rotolight has packed the technology and features of its award-winning Titan X2 RGBWW LED light panel into the new Titan X1 which is a lot more portable and cheaper to buy – though both panels are expensive compared to regular photographic lights, reflecting the fact that they're aimed at the high-end cinematography market. This is in a different league to some of the little smartphone-mounted panels I've included elsewhere in this guide.
You can set any color you like, including white, dial in electronically-adjustable diffusion, use special effects for filmmaking and even use it as a high-speed flash. As Adam concluded in our review, this is a great tool for hybrid stills photographers and filmmakers.
Read more: Rotolight Titan X1 review
How to choose the best LED panels
Modern LED panels let you precisely vary the intensity and colour temperature of your light, making it straightforward to achieve precisely the look and feel you want in the shot.
The big difference between LED panels and flashguns is that LED panels emit light continuously, not just at the moment of capture, meaning you can see what your shot is going to look like before you capture it. Obviously essential in video, this can also be useful in stills photography.
LED panels come in a few different varieties, all of which we've covered in this guide. Hotshoe LED panels are the most straightforward; as the name implies, they can literally mount into a camera's hotshoe, and provide you with a point-and-shoot light source. Like a flashgun, they can also be mounted to a stand if you prefer. If you're using a DSLR or mirrorless camera, they're a great choice, and are often quite affordable.
But say you've got an even simpler setup. Say you, like many people, are using a smartphone like one of the best iPhones to produce dynamic, interesting photo and video content. There are plenty of smartphone LED lights out there which are specifically designed for just such a setup, and many can put out more lighting power than you'd expect. At the other end of the scale, there are full-size panels, designed for professional studio use. They're less portable, but can deliver incredible lighting power.
How we test LED panels
At DCW, we test a huge variety of photo and video equipment, including cameras, lenses and accessories such as LED panels. Our process involves both real-world and lab testing – for LED panels, we measure brightness output and compare it to the manufacturer's claims to see how well the product stacks up. We also look at portability, colour temperature range, lighting modes and other factors to assess how useful the LED panel will be to working photographers and videographers. Learn more about how we test and review on Digital Camera World.
