Fiveray F100: Affordable, Portable, Powerful
A common problem I see in many photos today is a severe lack of light. While it’s critical to have light to make a photograph, you don’t always need a flash; in many scenarios, continuous light will work just fine. Introducing the Fiveray F100 Lightstick, produced by Zhiyun-Tech. The F100 is a portable, 100W lightstick that packs a punch.
Note: Zhiyun-Tech did send me two F100 Light Sticks to review, free of charge. They have been open to my feedback, both Pros and Cons which I’ll share with you here. As always, here are my unbiased thoughts!
F100 Lightstick Review
Fiveray F100 Specs
The Fiveray F100 is a 100 Watt RGB light wand that feels pretty solid. So far, I’ve utilized the F100 on a photoshoot AND I’ve worked it into my YouTube video setup. I use two F100 lightsticks: one as a key light and the other as a fill light or sometimes a hair light. I have an example still frame from my D3 Review posted below.
When it comes to the Fiveray F100 specs, the lightstick is available in both Black and White. It comes with a great soft case with foam cutouts, to carry the light wand and its accessories. The F100 comes with barn door, which can block and reflect light. It also comes with a soft-box style diffuser and a grid — both work in conjunction with the detachable barn doors.
The Fiveray also includes multiple Modes: HSI (Hue, Saturation, Intensity), Creative Effects and Color Temperature. Additionally, this light has built-in heat sinks, and 6 fans to keep it cool during extended use. I had these lights on pretty high power for a couple of hours during a photoshoot and was quite impressed the battery lasted the entire time. They also never heated up!
This light isn’t very heaving, weighing in at 950g, and comes in at about $300 USD, which is pretty affordable.
Is the Fiveray F100 good for Photography?
So who is this lightstick made for? Well, to adequately review the F100 lightstick, I’ve been using it for a couple of months, and I’ve been pretty impressed with the multitude of features for photo and video. I can record 10+ Youtube videos without recharging. So, it’s a great tool for YouTubers lighting their set.
Also, I can turn it way up for photoshoots for a cool neon glow effect. During the photoshoot with the F100s, the house lights wouldn’t shut off, so we had to over-power them. If you’re familiar with lighting, you can typically only do this with strobes and a fast shutter speed. However, I was able to turn the light up and over-power the fluorescent bulbs, and get some pretty rad portraits in a fully lit room.
I wanted to show a few specific photos from this portrait shoot (below). I was using one light wand set to red as my key light, and the other set to blue as a fill light. They were pretty close to my model, which gave me some big catch lights in her eyes. We also gave the same lighting setup a try, but with a more natural color temperature. The reflectors on the inside of the barn door allowed me to bounce the light around and get a pretty soft, portrait.
My Final Thoughts on my Review of the F100 Lightstick
Overall, I’m quite happy with my Fiveray F100. My only feedback to Zhiyun about the F100 is that it could be a little bit brighter in the HSI (RGB) mode. I know that’d difficult because it is physically limited by the number of color LED lights inside the wand.
I think this light could be super helpful for low budget filmmakers and photographers. It’s a great run and gun light that can be used as a key light, fill light, hair light, background accent light, or even for some light painting.
You’ll definitely see me using this light in the future, and I’d highly recommend it!
If you’d like to pick one up for yourself, Fiveray F100 Lightstick!
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Until next time, get out and go shoot!
