If you want to make your content stand out from the crowd then you need to spend some of your cash to shine a light on your YouTube productions. Lighting also expands your ability to shoot footage in a wider range of locations, making your channel’s content more visually interesting.
Just one LED light will help you take a step up from an amateur using available light to a pro who can shoot wherever they want. Professional YouTubers may want to use a more advanced set-up such as a 3-point lighting kit. One light will be the key light that’s the dominant light source. The second fill light will fill in harsh shadows caused by the key light. A third backlight placed behind the subject will add a rim of lighting that helps make them stand out from the background. This classic lighting setup enables you to produce more cinematic-looking results. Professional content creators will also want a light with an adjustable color temperature so that they can make their light match the color of other light sources on location.
Whether you’re streaming live to YouTube from your PC or planning a location shoot, this buying guide is designed to help you find the right light for your YouTube video requirements. We’ve balanced our reviews with budget lights at one end of the spectrum to more expensive kits at the other, so there’s something here for every YouTube content creator to help them ‘up their game’ and grow their subscriber base.
The best lights for YouTube videos
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Best LED light panel for YouTube videos
Although the FIVRAY M20C may not rival the top COB lights in sheer power, its array of features more than compensates for this shortfall. It boasts nearly everything a creative individual could desire in a compact LED light panel. This light's performance seldom disappoints, making it a must-have for any vlogger, YouTube content creator, or filmmaker.
Its luminosity proves more than sufficient for close-up tasks like vlogging, portrait photography, or product shots. Yet, the M20C truly excels when delving into creativity, offering a full HSI color spectrum, imaginative lighting effects, and precise color adjustment.
Crafted with exceptional build quality, the M20C features convenient elements like magnetic attachments, allowing users to affix the light to metal surfaces or attach light-shaping accessories effortlessly. With decent battery life lasting several hours under conservative usage, and the added convenience of USB-C PD power, its operational duration can be extended considerably.
Read our full Zhiyun Fiveray M20C review
Best YouTube video light for getting in shot
The Hobolite Micro is the smallest light in the Hobolite range, but its small stature makes it the perfect portable accessory for location shoots where you want to travel light. Despite its small stature it emits enough light to provide modeling for a portrait and the six magnetically attachable colored gels enable you to add a range of mood lighting to location and studio shoots. Video makers will also find that the 8 animated preset lighting effects can be a springboard to creatively enhancing your footage.
Read our full Hobolite Micro review for more details.
Best for pro YouTubers
The Rotolight NEO 3 builds on the success of the preceding NEO 2 (which you can still find in some stores), adding a raft of impressive new features. Both models deliver flash output as well as constant lighting, but the NEO 3 delivers a full range of color in both modes, with full RGBWW options. It comes in various configurations and kits and accessories - but we think that the basic three-light kit is a great setup for professional-looking YouTube videos
Small but powerful and extremely versatile as a constant LED light, the NEO 3 delivers a full-color range for video use – but also offers useful flash modes for stills photography. It has a huge range of electronic color filters and special effects, all available via a simple and intuitive color touchscreen menu.
Read more: Rotolight NEO 3 full review
Best light kit for unboxing videos
Some YouTube channels are devoted to the unboxing of the latest products, from action figures to trainers. Once you’ve unzipped the attractive branded SmallRig carry case and you’re presented with three mini COB LEDs that you can use to add professional three-point light ‘modelling’ to a range of products. Each LED has a host of accessories that magnetically clamp to the lamp. These include diffusers to create a softer, more flattering light source and even coloured filters for more creative lighting set ups. Mini tripods extend each light’s height to 17 cm. As well as lighting product/unboxing videos, you can place the three LEDs on your desktop to light your presentations to webcam more attractively. Instead of using the 1/4 inch thread for tripod mounting you can use the supplied cold shoe mounts to attach an LED to a camera as a portable key light (though as they emit a fairly low 300 LUX at 1 meter they are best suited to close-up work).
Best YouTube light for power and portability
The Zhiyun Molus X60 RGB COB light is an ‘always on’ LED light (as opposed to an intermittent flash gun) that will suit the needs of portrait photographers and video bloggers alike. The lamp fits into the palm of your hand and even when you clip the supplied battery onto it, it is still light and portable. At full brightness, the X60 RGB emits an eye-searing 2680 LUX so it is powerful enough to act as a key or fill light on a typical shoot.
The Molus X60 RGB has a cheaper cousin - the standard Molus X60. Both lights can emit a color temperature between 2700K (a warm candle) to 6500K (cool daylight). This enables them to complement (or contrast with) the color temperature of the location’s available light. However, the X60 RGB has the additional bonus of emitting a wide range of hues at the twist of one of its two control dials. The dials (which can act as buttons) also enable you to quickly jump between increments in color temperature and brightness in a few clicks (instead of having to twiddle them which takes longer). The color changes are also incorporated into animated effects such as Disco or Hue Loop which could liven up video productions.
As with other lights in the Zhiyun Molus range you can link the X60 RGB via Bluetooth to a smartphone and then use the ZY Vega app to adjust its colors and intensity in a few taps. You can also use the app to sample the color temperature present in your shoot’s location (via your smartphone’s camera) and then get the LED to match that color temperature with speed and precision.
I used the X60 RGB on a gloomy rainy day to act as a key light and it elevated our model photography to a new level. We also used the standard X60 as a fill or backlight to help separate our model from the location’s dark corridor backgrounds. The X60 RGB’s color gel effects also added an extra dimension to my portrait shoot as we could get it to complement (or contrast with) other colored lights in the location.
Read our full Zhiyun Molus X60 RGB review for more
Best pocketable YouTube light
There are many mini light panels on the market, but the RM120 stands out from the crowd for several reasons. For starters, we were impressed by its construction. It feels more robust (and heavier) than many flimsy plastic LED panels due to its metal body (and this quality is reflected in its comparatively expensive price). It also has a color OLED display on the rear that makes it easier to view the many menu modes this mini LED panel has to offer. You can dial in a range of color temperatures using the main dial at the side (which also doubles up as a mode-changing button). You can also select a wide range of creative colors from the HSI menu (instead of having to pop a gel over the light like you do with cheaper models). If you shoot drama content for your YouTube channel then you’ll enjoy using 12 animated lighting presets including Paparazzi, Fire, or Lightning. A 1/4 threaded hole lets you mount the light on a stand or tripod, you can use the supplied cold shoe adapter to pop the panel above your DSLR or mirrorless camera for a key light on the go.
Read our full SmallRig RM120 review for more details.
Best YouTube light for versatility
The Zhiyun Fiveray F100 is an upgraded model from the Fiveray F100C, so it boasts more LED chips (324) compared to its predecessor’s 256. The newer model also sports a set of barn doors so that you can control the spread of light more easily. You can dial in a range of color temperatures or adjust Hue, Saturation and Lightness for a more creatively colorful output. The F100 also has a collection of 6 animated lighting effects which video makers can use to enhance their creative projects. It has a 1/4” threaded hole at the base for tripod mounting (though you’ll need to supply your own tripod). If you only plan to shoot stills then you could consider the older and cheaper F100C model (if you can find one).
Read our full Zhiyun Fiveray F100 review
