NEEWER BASICS FL10 Photography Flashlight: Fun, versatile, inexpensive!
An inexpensive but sturdy four-color flashlight with continuous brightness control, mounts, shaped gobos, and the ability to zoom the light? We couldn’t wait to use the NEEWER Basics FL10 flashlight for, well, all sorts of applications! Note: NEEWER sent us the NEEWER BASICS FL10 Portable Photography Flashlight to review and keep. However, this is a completely independent review. All thoughts about this product are our own. Pros Cons NEEWER BASICS FL10 Portable Photography Flashlight — Technical specifications All of the technical specifications for the NEEWER BASICS FL10 Portable Photography Flashlight are from the official NEEWER website. Package Contents NEEWER BASICS FL10 Portable Photography Flashlight — Ergonomics and build quality Ergonomics The knurled button has enough texture that it is easy to rotate whether you are turning on the light or adjusting brightness. Powering on the flashlight takes a little bit of getting used to initially. To power it on, you long-press the button for about two seconds. If fully charged, the button will emit a green light underneath. From here, to further turn on the light, you must rotate the button in either direction. Initially, I thought it was a bit strange, but I like that if you store the flashlight in the bag, it’s less likely to turn on accidentally and run down the battery or get hot if mistakenly pressed. Another feature I enjoyed is the ability to mount this light three ways via the ¼” thread holes. Nice. The push/pull feature for zooming the light works very effectively. I like that there is a good amount of friction in the zoom mechanism, which means that as you move the light around, it stays at the same setting. The indicator light underneath the button shows green when the battery has a 30–100% charge, red for a 10–30% charge, and flashes red when below 10%. This is extremely helpful. I found that the gobo filters with various shapes were reasonably easy to put in. I also found that I could leave the silicone snoot on the flashlight and change the gobos easily. For some, it might be preferable to leave the snoot on, even when not using the gobos. Build quality The FL10 is chunky and solid with a slightly hefty build, and especially feels great if you have large hands. The build in general inspires confidence. NEEWER states that the body is made of aviation-grade aluminum alloy. The flashlight weighs nearly a pound, so it’s not a tiny lightweight flashlight. But then again, you have the ability to mount this on a stand three different ways and use gobos for videos. The button is not wiggly and feels solidly attached and rotates smoothly. The lens is recessed and therefore, a little harder to scratch or damage. The Unofficial Photofocus Drop Test There is no official drop test from Photofocus. Therefore, I performed an “unofficial one.” While light painting at night, I mistakenly dropped the light from the top of a wall about two and a half feet high. It fell onto bricks, and did not even have a scratch. NEEWER BASICS FL10 Portable Photography Flashlight — In the field The flashlight is so versatile that it would be challenging for us to test every application. We tested the light while photographing various items around the house. One of the areas where this light shines most would be for quickly creating interesting product photos. It’s quick to set up, flexible since you can mount it to a stand in three different ways, and comes with 20 interesting gobos. We also used it for over two hours, and the green light did not change to red, which would have indicated that it had dropped below a 30% battery charge. We didn’t even scratch the surface of what this can do. The FL10 can be used to create interesting light for content creation, such as videos, either by using it on the subject or presenter or by creating interesting designs and colors in the background via one of its 20 gobos — or both. My personal favorite is the one where it creates that noirish effect as if night light from a window is streaming in at an angle. Also, the ability to extend or retract the lens barrel to adjust the size of the illumination worked beautifully. This allowed you to control the projection distance and beam clarity. Furthermore, the mechanism had a good amount of stiffness, so when using this in the field, it held the same setting. Using The FL10 for Light Painting at Night Being a night photographer, I naturally felt compelled to use this for light painting. Here, in part due to its ability to hold detail due to its high CRI (Color Rendering Index), it held detail quite well when testing the light while creating night photos in Joshua Tree National Park, CA. By pressing the button when activated, you can switch between four colors: warm white, orange yellow, blue, and red. All of these colors translate well on camera and look pleasing, although it was easier to oversaturate the red color, which is quite typical with colored lights and digital cameras anyway. Those of you who began light painting while using gels in front of flashlights might remember that you often mixed a couple of colors to create another color. With warm white, orange yellow, blue, and red, you can “mix” colors together, as light painting works cumulatively when using long exposures. For example, you could create green by mixing yellow and blue together. Or you could control the apparent saturation in the final photo by using a combination of white light with one of the three color lights. Observations when light painting at night in the field To be fair, this light isn’t really made for light painting. Its target audience seems to be more for content creation, video, portraits, or product photography. Consequently, these observations are not criticisms. These are merely observations of how this light performed for light painting despite
