Neewer Basics FL20 20W RGB Portable Photography Flashlight review: combines RGB color and creative projection effects in a compact, affordable package

Since I started reviewing gadgets for Digital Camera World, I’ve upped my photography game by hiring models instead of shooting friends and family. As well as looking good in photos, models don’t moan while I fumble around in my kit bag looking for a photography accessory. Another big improvement to my photography has been achieved by using continuous LED lighting.

Even a single LED makes a big difference. I can use an LED to fill in the harsh shadows caused by strong sunlight, or add a rim light that makes the model stand out from the background and makes their face look more three-dimensional. Most LEDs are relatively compact, but sometimes you might want to travel even lighter, and that’s where the Neewer Basics FL20 20W RGB Portable Photography Flashlight comes into play.

The Neewer Basics FL20 20W RGB Portable Photography Flashlight has a big name for such a compact lighting solution (so much so, I'll refer to it as the FL20 from now on). It’s basically a handheld flashlight (or torch, as we say in the UK) that fits into a small kit bag. Despite its diminutive stature, it can produce big results in the shape of a circular spotlight that’s broken up by various shapes, such as the slats of a window blind – perfect for adding a film noir vibe to your portraits.

Neewer is a China-based company that produces a wide range of lighting accessories (plus other photography and video-related gear), such as its PL60C panel studio light or its portable HB80C battery-powered location LED, but the FL20 is the cheapest and most compact Neewer LED that I’ve tested. Cheap it may be, but it may well be the one that I give a permanent place to in my camera kit bag, and is certainly a contender for being one of the best video lights when it comes to value.

Neewer Basics FL20 20W RGB Portable Photography Flashlight: Specifications

Neewer Basics FL20 20W RGB Portable Photography Flashlight: Price

The Neewer FL20 officially retails at $74.99. That might sound like a lot for a flashlight, but given the difference the FL20 can make to a portrait, it’s a worthwhile investment. However, checking prices online, I found it available for significantly less, making it an even more attractive purchase. This lower price is comparable to similar products, such as the SmallRig RF10C flashlight

Thanks to the kit’s 20 supplied gobo stencils, you can add a wide range of shapes and textures to boring studio backgrounds, and summon a wash of red, blue, yellow, and white light that changes the mood/atmosphere with the tap of a button. The Neewer FL20 could provide one of the cheapest ways to improve your portrait photography, especially when on location.

Neewer Basics FL20 20W RGB Portable Photography Flashlight: Design & Handling

Your first impression when handling the Neewer FL20 is that it has a quality build. For starters, its silver aviation-grade aluminum body feels cold to the touch. It's a reassuringly solid metal unit rather than a cheap plastic flashlight. The feeling of quality is reinforced by the weight. It’s just over a pound [0.5 kg], so it’s not going to be buffeted by the wind when on a mini tripod. This thing has heft!

The FL20 is marketed as an RGB light, but when I hear that term, I think of LEDs that can produce thousands of colors. At the front of the flashlight, you can clearly see the four large LED beads that produce the FL20’s four colors – Red, White, Yellow, and Blue. So the range of colors is very limited compared to many other RGB LEDs, though this limitation is a common property of flashlight LEDs such as the similarly specced SmallRig RF10C.

The front of the unit is where you slide on the rubber gobo mount. This mount has a slot that enables you to slide in one of the 20 textured circular gobo stencils to add creative shapes to the LED's output. You can then pull the front of the flashlight to extend its length by about an inch. This adjustment causes the light pattern to produce a wider or narrower circular spotlight shape.

The lower half of the FL20 has thin metal grooves that give a firm and secure grip on the flashlight. It has three 1/4” threads that you can use to mount it on a mini tripod. Two of these threads are on opposite sides of the cylinder, while the third sits at the base of the shaft. I used a side thread to attach the FL20 to my GorillaPod tripod.

Extending from the side of the FL20 is a button. Press and hold the button to turn on the light. Immediately, you hear what appears to be the whirring of a fan (though it's quiet enough to be negligible if you’re using the LED while capturing audio on location). Rotating the button turns on the flashlight, and tapping it cycles between the four LED beads in the flashlight’s head. You can then rotate the button (which has a nice textured grip) to adjust the brightness of the device, but I imagine most people will keep it set to maximum output, as it should last for three hours on that setting.

Neewer Basics FL20 20W RGB Portable Photography Flashlight: Performance

To test the Neewer FL20, I took it to the gloomy corridors of the Barbican Centre in London to add some color and texture to portraits of my model, Maddy. The FL20 ships with a cloth carry bag that has a drawstring to keep the LED safely stowed. However, you can’t fit the 20 plastic gobo stencils and the rubber snoot in the drawstring bag, so they have to be stored separately in a zipped mesh pouch in my go-to camera backpack – the Gomatic 25L Camera Backpack.

I was mindful of a previous shoot when I planned to test a similar device – the SmallRig RF10C flashlight – in the same location. I managed to lose the SmallRig’s rubber snoot shortly before the shoot, so I had to try to attach the stencils to the SmallRig by using the model’s hair band. That was a stressful shoot! Fortunately, there was no recurrence of this problem when using the Neewer FL20.

On a previous Barbican shoot, I was moved on by security personnel who objected to me using a tripod-mounted LED light wand. The beauty of the Neewer FL20 is that it’s much smaller, and when screwed by its 1/4” thread to a small Joby GorillaPod, I could attach it to railings or place it on surfaces without it drawing too much attention. The additional fact that I was using an iPhone 17 as my camera also helped me keep a lower profile, and my model shoot unfolded without any interruption.

I often shoot in the interior corridors of the Barbican Centre due to the texture and shapes of its amazing Brutalist architecture. These features make exciting backgrounds for my model photography. Many of the Barbican Centre’s concrete corridors are already lit creatively by blue and yellow LEDs, so they make great backdrops for model portraits.

The Neewer FL20 brought an extra level of lighting variety to the available light on location. I was able to summon a blue spotlight from the FL20 to contrast with a wash of yellow from the location’s LEDs. By adding various stencils to the FL20’s snoot, I was able to add extra shapes to the bland backgrounds just by using light, so I could create portraits that would stand out and showcase the location in a fresh way. Check out this review’s supporting video to see the model and the FL20 in action on location.

One niggle I have is the time it takes to slide a stencil into the rubber snoot’s grooved slot. It took me 30 seconds to get each stencil inserted and aligned, so when changing stencils, the model had to hang about patiently. I let Maddy choose which stencils she preferred, and we were both fans of the window pane look, as that helped add extra texture and color to the background. Other photographers will enjoy experimenting with different stencils to tell their own creative stories with light!

Neewer Basics FL20 20W RGB Portable Photography Flashlight: Verdict

To be brutally honest, I thought the Neewer FL20 would be a bit of a ‘toy’ during my pro model photo shoot. However, I loved using the FL20. It was compact enough to fit easily into my 25L backpack alongside other bits of kit, yet made such a huge difference to my portraits. By summoning four different colors at the tap of a button, I was able to change the mood of my portraits instantly.

I could also contrast or complement the creatively colorful lights in my indoor shooting location. The kit’s supplied gobo stencils added extra texture to my portrait photos, too, such as mimicking light streaming through an offscreen window – perfect for film noir-themed shoots. And the two threads on the body of the flashlight enabled me to pop it on a GorillaPod and attach it to railings or set it on a surface, so I could shoot my subject hands-free.

Alternatives

SmallRig RF10C
The SmallRig RF10C flashlight works in much the same way as the Neewer FL20 and costs a similar price, and it is around 100 g [3.5 oz] lighter than the Neewer device. It boasts a similar selection of stencil designs and produces the same red, white, blue, and yellow color outputs.

Godox RS100Bi
While the Godox RS100Bi is also flashlight-shaped, it's a much more powerful device with a super-bright output and advanced features, including presets that emulate lightning, fire, or flickering lightbulbs. Its bi-color nature offers various shades of white, rather than colored light, though it has an RGB sibling capable of projecting millions of specific colors.