This is my 3rd pocket-sized video light from Ulanzi and this may very well be my favourite RGB LED light. The Ulanzi VIJIM R316 Dual LED RGB Light is pretty amazing. For about GHc 450 ($78), it is a bit pricy, but once the functionality comes into play, it can definitely be overlooked.

The unboxing experience is about as basic. Mine came in this plastic bag with shipping info and inside is the light in a box. There are some specifications on the box, indicating what to expect but we’ll get into that soon.

Opening up the box is a neatly cut foam on top, which is necessary for protecting the light. We have the hinge orientation guide, a USB type C charging cable, a mini ball head mount, I have no idea what this is, the user manual, the light itself and a nice carry pouch.

I must confess, everything inside the box feels premium, so thumbs up to them on that. The user manual is big, like the entire size of an A3 sheet. And the carrying pouch feels good too. This screw turner is included of course, but I doubt I’ll be that anytime soon. This came with the fluidness of the hinge the way I want it. But if yours does not, that’s what this is for, loosening up or tightening down.

So, this is the light itself, and as you can tell, it has some weirdness to it. The hinge is the headline of that. But we’ll get to the hinge in a bit.

Design wise, these are basically two separate lights joined by a hinge. And with that, we get 3 ¼ inch screw holes on 1 of the lights and the entire control setup on the other.

There are 4 controls on this, consisting of dials, switches, buttons and a mixture of some. From the extreme left is the power switch, the mode button, the function dial and button and the brightness control dial.



316 High luminous efficiency lamp beads with high colour rendering.  Which you can’t really see until I bring the exposure of the camera down then it becomes, sort of clear

5000 hrs LED working time, 3200mAh inbuilt battery, which works between 3 to 6 hrs at 20W

I don’t get why watt is Wh instead of W and model is spelt as motel. Doesn’t really matter, but I noticed it.

So, this is my usual setup, using just the front light, then I introduce the led strip at the bottom of the desk, the led all round behind me and then finally, the warm light for the plant on the wall. Then this is my full setup and lighting.

But with this light, I don’t really need all those backlights. Just this should be enough. And the cool thing is, it’s RBG. So, whatever colour I want, I can have.



And when it comes to the different modes, there is RGB cycle, Police car, ambulance, fire truck lightning, paparazzo, candle, tv screen breathe, broken bulb, lase light, firework and fire.

The LCD screen on the back is quite helpful too. It displays, basically all the settings you’re currently using right there and then. It’s about an inch wide and bright enough to look at, even outdoors. Note that, each bar on the battery indicator represents 20%, so 4 bars here means is right around 80% of battery life. When charging, the LCD screen stays as blinking for the battery until fully charged.

Another minor detail is, the brightness control dial, doesn’t adjust the brightness 1% at a time. More like 4 to 5% intervals, when you turn it.

In HIS mode, you use the function dial to adjust the colours you want. It is mostly set to H which stands for Hue and that’s for colours. But when you press on it, it changes to the S which is for Saturation, and the controls how much of that colour you want to see. Makes sense huh?

I would say my first Ulanzi light is big and barely fits in my pocket, but this is bigger yet cos it has a slimmer design. It fits my pocket with no issues.

Now, let’s talk about the hinge. First of all, it is quite rigid, which is a good thing, of course. Now, you don’t have to worry about it sliding out of the original orientation you made for it. If you stuck them up like a book, they say like that.

There are several ways to play with the hinge, but here are the few I could think of. There’s this, that, this, this, of course, this also and even like this if you want.

AliExpress.com Product – Ulanzi Vijim R316 Folding RGB LED Video Camera Light 2 Pack Foldable Dimmable Fill Light Photography Lighting