Lighting helps to control the brightness, tone, mood, ambiance, texture, vibrancy, and luminosity of a subject, and ring lights will make you look your best whether you’re taking selfies, recording video, streaming, or attending a Zoom meeting or online class. Here are some of the best ring lights to help you up your video/photography game for picture-perfect shots.
What to Look For in a Ring Light
The first thing to consider is the purpose for which you need a ring light. Is it for selfies, streaming, product macros, or online meetings? Depending on your requirement, you’ll have to account for the size of the ring light, colors and temperature, and other factors.
Size also matters, as ring lights come in different sizes (diameters) for different purposes. These sizes can range from massive, that have room to house a large DSLR camera, to small options that you can attach to the top of a laptop or PC monitor.
The brightness is also key. There are different brightness levels to consider, depending on whether you’re using a ring light for product photography or just for better lighting during a video call. Equally important is the color temperature. This determines the lighting tone, i.e. how warm or cool its color output gets. Typically, the wider the range, the more you can experiment with how to light a scene.
Other essential factors include the color rendering index (CRI), which measures how natural colors render under an artificial white light source compared to sunlight. Depending on your needs, the power source, portability, ease of setup, and more are also important.
In this roundup, we’ve included ring lights that consider these factors, with options for every budget.
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Pros |
Cons |
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Bundled remote for the light, Bluetooth shutter for phones |
No battery |
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Wide color temperature range |
Too bright at the lowest setting |
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Carry bag included |
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Easy to use |
Neewer’s Advanced 16-inch LED Ring Light (RP16) ticks many of the right boxes for what most people want in a ring light for photography. It’s reasonably priced and has a lightweight adjustable stand to mount the ring light and your camera or smartphone. The stand can be collapsed and stored in the bundled carry bag for portability.
The ring light is designed with a touch panel that lets you switch it on or off and adjust the brightness and color temperature, giving you complete control over your lighting setup. It can also adapt to your specific needs with a color temperature range from 3200K to 5600K and brightness settings from 10% to 100%.
The company also supplies a remote to trigger or adjust the light. The remote has a small display that shows various parameters, including the remote battery level, color temperature, and brightness. Notably, you can control multiple RP16 ring lights with the same remote. So, if you have a big setup with multiple lights, you won’t have to worry about dealing with multiple remotes. Another advantage of going with this ring light is the included Bluetooth shutter that you can use with your smartphone to control the camera shutter.
The Neewer offering only supports AC power and has no built-in battery. The only other major downside is that the light can be too bright at the lowest setting for some use cases or if you are too close to the light. For such situations, we recommend choosing the 14-inch version of the Sensyne Ring Light, our best ring light for selfies recommendation. It’s also an excellent ring light but less bright at the lowest setting.
Best Ring Light for Photography
Neewer Advanced 16-inch LED Ring Light
There is a lot to like about the Neewer Advanced 16-inch LED Ring Light. It offers multiple adjustments, comes bundled with a Bluetooth remote shutter for smartphones, and has mounts for both cameras and phones.
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Pros |
Cons |
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Large 18-inch cordless ring light with flicker-free operation |
Pricey |
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360-degrees rotation and 180-degrees tilt |
Batteries feel bulky |
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CRI of 97 and 3200K to 5600K temperature range |
No remote control or Bluetooth shutter |
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AC/battery-powered with 1+ hours of battery life |
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Solid 6.5ft tripod |
Videography involves a lot of lighting, and the Lume Cube 18-inch Ring Light is up to the task. Its size allows it to fill spaces with bright or warm lights as needed. It features a gooseneck mount that allows you to film on a smartphone or DSLR camera at 180 degrees of tilt and 360 degrees of rotation.
This cordless ring light comes with an AC power adapter, batteries that can last over an hour, and a carrying case. It supports multiple brightness levels with a temperature range of 3200K to 5600K and a CRI of 97. It measures 21 x 17 x 24 inches, weighs 7.33 pounds, and comes with a 6.5 foot tripod and compact carrying case.
Best Ring Light for Videos
Lume Cube 18″ Cordless Ring Light
The 18-inch Lume Cube Ring Light is a cordless battery-powered ring light with varying brightness levels and temperatures to enhance your videos and photos.
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Pros |
Cons |
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Simultaneous live streaming on three phones or a DSLR |
Pricey |
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120 LED bulbs for super bright yet dimmable output |
Tripod only supports 180-degree rotation |
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Temperature range of 2900K to 6000K with a CRI of 90 |
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Remote controller with Bluetooth shutter |
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Sturdy tripod up to 6ft long |
If you’re looking for the best ring light for streaming, you can’t go wrong with the 19-inch EOTO Ring Light. Featuring up to three phone holders, it allows you to simultaneously capture multiple videos or photos. This is ideal for content creators who live stream on different platforms. It also supports DSLR cameras and features USB ports that let you charge the phones while filming.
This ring light features 120 LED bulbs, an LCD touchscreen, and a simple user interface. It has a CRI of 90 and supports a temperature range of 2900K to 6000K. Accessories include a 3-meter power cord, remote control, Bluetooth shutter, a sturdy tripod, and carrying case.
Best Ring Light for Streaming
EOTO 19-inch Ring Light
With three phone holders and a camera mount, the 19-inch EOTO Ring Light is ideal for live streaming, gaming, and content creation. It features 120 LED bulbs and dimmable brightness for that picture-perfect shot.
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Pros |
Cons |
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Compact and lightweight |
No remote control |
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360 degrees rotation for portrait and landscape shots |
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Temperature range of 3000K to 6000K with 10 brightness levels |
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Bluetooth shutter button included |
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Very affordable |
If you’re looking to glam up your selfies or photos for the gram, the Sensyne 10-inch Ring Light is a great option. This compact 10-inch ring light comes with a fancy carrying bag that is portable enough to carry around for instant selfies, while its adjustable tripod can reach up to 51 inches. Also useful is that the ring light supports 360-degree rotation for portrait and landscape modes.
Easy to set up, its high-sensitivity touch panel lets you control its three color modes and brightness levels for great shots. The Sensyne 10-inch ring light covers a temperature range of 3000K to 6000K. It’s light and compact, measuring 14.15 x 11.42 x 3.99 inches and weighing only 2.31 pounds. However, it is only USB-powered and has no built-in battery.
Best Ring Light for Selfies
Sensyne 10” Ring Light
$30 $33 Save $3
The 10-inch Sensyne Ring Light is ideal for people who want to level up their selfie game for the gram. It is compact, lightweight, and 360-degree adjustable for the perfect shot.
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Pros |
Cons |
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Superb 4.6-inch ring light for video conferencing |
No phone holder |
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Safety clip-on with anti-slip and anti-scratch silicone pad and tripod |
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Multi-temperature modes with 3200K to 6500K temperature range |
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360-degree horizontal and 180-degree vertical rotation |
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Ultra-compact and lightweight |
The small but mighty ACMEZING 4.6-inch Ring Light is our top recommendation for the best Zoom ring light. This webcam light comes with a clip-on that fastens to the top of laptops, desktops, and tablets while on a Zoom call or online class. The clip-on has an anti-scratch and anti-slip silicone pad.
It features different temperature modes with a range of 3200K to 6500K. The ACMEZING ring light can be adjusted horizontally (360 degrees) and vertically (180 degrees) for the perfect angle. It is USB-powered and comes with a sturdy but flexible tripod stand. The ring light is small and lightweight, measuring 6.54 x 6.42 x 3.23 inches and weighing only 15.8 ounces.
Best Ring Light for Zoom
ACMEZING Lighting Kit
$24 $40 Save $16
At just 4.6 inches, the compact ACMEZING Ring Light is the perfect size to clip onto your laptop, desktop, tablet, or phone to highlight your facial features for that all-important Zoom call, online class, or meeting.
FAQ
Where is the best place to set up a ring light?
The best place to set up a ring light varies depending on the specific situation and the lighting effect you hope to achieve. For instance, a clip-on ring light is best placed above the webcam on your computer facing you. However, this arrangement will not work for other scenarios and ring light sizes. In general, you can find out the best place to set up a ring light by experimenting with different angles and distances.
Is a 10-inch or 12-inch ring light better?
The answer is relative. It depends on the specific situation and lighting effect you hope to achieve. For instance, a 10-inch ring light may suffice for close-up photographs or product macros, but may fall short for extreme long shot or extreme wide shot photography.
What is CRI?
CRI stands for Color Rendering Index. It measures how much natural colors render under an artificial white light source compared to under sunlight. In other words, it measures how well artificial light sources render colors compared to natural light sources. CRI is represented as a numerical value on a scale of 0 to 100, with the higher, the better.
