Viltrox K90 RGB Light review: a dual lighting kit that’s a springboard to creative lighting

Continuously illuminating light sticks and light wands, such as the Viltrox K90 dual light kit, provide ways to make your portrait and video shoots look more professional (rather than having to rely on available light in your locations). The K90 is marketed as a fill light, so it can fill in harsh shadows caused by a brighter location light source, such as the sun. Continuous lights (as opposed to intermittent flash lights) are traditionally used on video shoots, but the K90 also proved to be a powerful and effective light source for on-location portrait shoots during our test.

An LED (Light Emitting Diode) tube light’s larger surface area covers a wider range than a smaller, more narrowly focused spotlight, such as the Neewer HB80C 80W. The LEDs are placed along the K90’s 973.3mm length, giving you almost a metre of light. You get two K90s in the kit, which enables you to use one as a key light and the other as a fill, which helps ‘model’ the subject by emphasising the contours of their face (rather than suffering a ‘flat’ look from a single burst of on-camera flash).

The K90 is an RGB LED, so you can alter its settings to produce thousands of creative colours. It’s also a bi-colour light, so you can dial in a specific colour temperature in the Kelvin range to make the light match location light sources such as the sun during the golden hour.

The company that designed and built the K90 is Viltrox, which since 2009 has been designing and manufacturing a wide range of photography equipment, focusing on lenses and adapters for mirrorless cameras. The 30W K90 is the latest model in their light stick series, so it has a more powerful output than its cheaper 20W predecessor, the Viltrox K60.

Viltrox K90: Specifications

Viltrox K90: Price

The Viltrox K90 is available for $229 in a twin light kit, which I think is a reasonable price. The K90 kit is similar in size and functionality to the Nanlite Pavo Tube T8-7X, which, at around $95 each, costs a little less than the K90 for two tube lights. However, the K90’s body is much more robust than the Nanlite Pavo Tube T8-7X, and you get more accessories, so this makes the K90 a more attractive purchase.

Viltrox K90: Design & Handling

As a 30W lamp, the Viltrox K90 produces a brighter light source (2300 lumens— that’s the equivalent of 2300 candles!) than its 20W predecessor, the Viltrox K60 (which shines with the brightness of 1950 candles). The K90’s brighter intensity is also achieved as its nearly metre-long shaft has 448 lamp beads inside, compared to the 266 beads in the K60 (which has a shorter length of 578.3mm). The LED beads are hidden inside a sturdy white plastic panel, which acts as a diffuser, creating a soft and even spread of light.

Despite being nearly a metre long, each K90 tube in the dual light kit weighs in at under a kilo (864g), which means it’s easy for you to hold the light in one hand while shooting with the other. Our model had no trouble wielding one of the K90s like a lightsaber (and the light felt robust enough to be handled in this way).

You can control the K90’s various properties via a panel at the base of the unit. The panel features five buttons that enable you to power on the LEDs and change their colour in degrees Kelvin, or dial in thousands of creative colours or mimic industry-standard gels. A monochrome display enables you to see properties such as Hue, Saturation, and Lightness values, which you can modify via a couple of button presses.

This control section also contains a USB-C socket so that you can charge the lamp up at home or power it via USB-C on location via a power bank. At the top and tail of the tube, you’ll find handy 1/4” threaded ports. We used a port to stand one of the K90s on a mini tripod— a Manfrotto Pixi.

The K90 kit also ships with two plastic clamps for each K90 tube light. These clamps have two 1/4” threaded ports that you can use to attach the K90 to a lighting stand in horizontal or vertical orientation. The clamps also feature built-in magnets that are strong enough to clamp a K90 to magnetic objects on location. Check out our video in the Performance section to see the magnetic clamps in action.

The K90 dual light kit is contained in a sturdy black fabric bag for easy transport to a shoot. The two K90s are held securely in place by hook-and-loop straps, and the interior of the bag is padded, so we felt that the kit was safe as we carried the bag via its shoulder strap between two city locations.

Viltrox K90: Performance

I took the K90 dual light kit on two model shoots in London. The first shoot, with Instagram-sourced model @ocado_yoo, was a conventional portrait shoot. As the shoot started at 5:00 pm, the sun was in the golden hour phase, and the tide on the River Thames was out, so I was able to shoot my model on the beach against the spectacular backdrop of Tower Bridge, which was bathed in a warm golden glow of the setting sun. However, while the bridge was in direct sunlight, the model was in the shade due to the sun’s low angle. To solve this problem, I used the Viltrox Link app on my iPhone 16 Pro to set one of the K90s to a comparably warm colour temperature of 4100K. This added a warm, golden glow to the side of the model’s face to complement the background sun hitting the bridge. The model was able to hold the K90 at arm’s length so that it was out of shot while still illuminating her.

The Viltrox Link app also lets you trigger animated effects such as a Hue Loop that cycles through multiple colours. This provides a quick way to add multiple washes of creative colour to your model’s face so that you can capture a quick series of portraits that have different colour-induced moods. In Hue Loop mode, the model was encouraged to keep the K90 in shot to add extra colour and drama to the images.

For my second test shoot, I took the Viltrox K90 dual light kit to the Barbican Centre and met up with Maddy the model (@Runway.voguish) for a retro sci-fi themed shot. The K90 was perfect for this type of shoot. I popped a K90 onto a mini Manfrotto tripod and stood it vertically. I then used the Viltrox Link app to set the LEDs to Hue Loop to cycle through multiple colours. I locked off my camera and got Maddy to walk into shot. By mixing between two locked-off shots, I was able to make her materialise Star Trek style - see supporting video. The glowing and colour-looping K90 in shot looked like a teleport device. I placed the second K90 out of shot and set it to Hue Loop too, so that Maddy would have multi-coloured interactive lighting on her as she exited the frame.

My second sci-fi set-up involved Maddy advancing on the camera and firing a ray gun (which I picked up for a fiver in a local toy shop). I chose a flickering light effect in the Viltrox Link app to create some interactive lighting. I was able to modify the animated light effect to change its colour to red so that it matched the flickering red LED in the ray gun. I then tapped the effect preset icon in the app as Maddy fired the gun. It took me a few attempts to trigger the effect at the right moment as I was filming Maddy with an iPhone in one hand while using another iPhone to run the Viltrox Link app. My iPhone 16 Pro was mounted on my current ‘go-to’ smartphone gimbal - the Hohem iSteady M7.

I found that the Viltrox Link app was very useful. Before the shoot, I set up presets for both lights so that I could turn one to teal and the other two orange in a couple of taps. This meant that on location, I could set up my still fashionable cinematic-style lighting quickly and concentrate on directing the model and getting the camera work right.

Viltrox K90: Verdict

I’ve tested a wide range of tube, wand, and spot LEDs for Digital Camera World, and I find that by using an LED light, it elevates my portrait photography to a higher level of quality. An LED brings out the contours of a model’s face and creates a more professional look. RGB LEDs such as the K90 also add drama and atmosphere to a portrait shoot with their ability to cast a wide range of colours on the subject. The K90 is also light enough for the model to play with, which led to some creative shots that featured the light as a prop.

I was particularly impressed with the magnetic staying power of the K90’s clamps. When shooting in the Barbican, I have been moved on by security twice when using a light mounted on a tripod. Tripods (even mini ones) are like a red rag to a bull in relation to security personnel. By using the supplied magnetic clamps, I was able to quickly clamp a K90 to a metal panel and shoot a video clip of my model firing her ray gun. I could then quickly grab the LED and change location. The lightweight nature of the K90 kit enabled me to ‘run and gun’. The ability to control the K90 via the Viltrox link app was very useful as I could create presets before the shoot and tap to access them on location. The K90 dual light kit should suit the needs of both portrait photographers and videographers. Highly recommended.

Alternatives

Nanlite PavoTube T8-7X
This opaque white plastic tube looks deceptively basic, but once you fire it up and sync it to your smartphone’s Nanlink app, you can unleash a barrage of moving light sequences and a spectrum of alternating colours. This should make it attractive to creative movie makers, though it will also cast tungsten or daylight colour temperature light on a model during a conventional photo shoot. A dual kit costs a little more than the dual Viltrox K90 kit, but you can save money by buying the PavoTube T8-7X as a single unit.

Zhiyun Fiveray FR100C
Unlike the longer Viltrox K90 the Zhiyun Fiveray FR100C Light Wand is short enough to carry in your kitbag. Thanks to its 100W output the Fiveray will illuminate darker locations than the 30W K90 can. The Fiveray’s rechargeable battery should keep it shining for the duration of your shoot and a control dial enables you to adjust color temperatures to match the location’s available light - or you can dial in neon hues for a more creative look.