Elgato has lengthy presented intuitive, studio-quality lights to lend a hand Twitch streamers and YouTubers glance as skilled as imaginable on digicam. However taking into consideration the corporate’s Key Lighting fixtures can run upwards of $200, what do you do if you wish to have one thing smaller and less expensive for recording at the street or just having a look higher on video calls? That’s the place the $99.99 Key Gentle Mini is available in.
The Key Gentle Mini is a compact, totally wi-fi field gentle that attaches to any tripod, digicam or magnetic floor for fast, vibrant illumination. And prefer the remainder of the Key Gentle circle of relatives, there are a selection of how to regulate it.
However and not using a incorporated tripod or mount — and a few critical festival from Logitech’s $59.99 Litra Glow — is the Key Gentle Mini the precise are compatible for your house administrative center or streaming house? I spent every week with Elgato’s transportable, tough new gentle to determine.
If you wish to have a compact, travel-friendly and completely wi-fi gentle for vlogging, streaming or having a look skilled all the way through never-ending video calls, there is a lot to love in regards to the Key Gentle Mini.
The who, what and the way
Who it’s for: The Key Gentle Mini is perfect for content material creators or house administrative center staff who need a compact, wi-fi and top quality gentle to lend a hand them glance true-to-life on digicam.
What you wish to have to understand: The Key Gentle Mini is a conveyable, wi-fi 6-inch field gentle that may connect to maximum tripod mounts in addition to magnetic surfaces. You’ll be able to regulate it the usage of an app in your PC or telephone, or by the use of Elgato’s Movement Deck. The sunshine can final round 4 hours on battery energy, or you’ll be able to stay it stressed by the use of USB-C. The Key Gentle Mini doesn’t include a stand within the field, so that you’ll have to offer your personal.
The way it compares: The Key Gentle Mini’s closest competitor is Logitech’s Litra Glow, which is considerably inexpensive, and in contrast to the Key Gentle, comes with its personal mount for attaching for your observe. Alternatively, the Key Gentle Mini has the benefit of being wi-fi and casting a much broader quantity of sunshine. And whilst the $99.99 Key Gentle Mini isn’t reasonable, it’s additionally essentially the most reasonably priced member of the Key Gentle circle of relatives in comparison to the $199.99 Key Gentle and $129.99 Key Gentle Air.
The Elgato Key Gentle Mini is a small, rather hefty 6-inch rectangle that may light up your face from anyplace you place it up. This battery-powered gentle is totally wi-fi and will even connect to magnetic surfaces, giving it a large benefit over competitors just like the Logitech Litra Glow and most inexpensive ring lighting. Alternatively, in contrast to the ones lights choices, the Key Gentle Mini doesn’t include any more or less stand or mount, which means you’ll have to offer your personal approach of holding it propped up.
The excellent news is that the Key Gentle Mini includes a conventional quarter-inch mounting connection for attaching to maximum stands and cameras, and I had no drawback affixing it to my tripod. And due to its integrated magnets, I used to be additionally ready to stay it to my whiteboard for some simple wall lights. Alternatively, those that don’t have get right of entry to to the precise stand or floor should purchase some of the two to make use of the Key Gentle Mini optimally, which provides some hidden additional value to Elgato’s differently flexible gentle.
The Key Gentle Mini includes a dial for adjusting the brightness, an influence button and USB-C connection for charging. I discovered the sunshine’s side-facing brightness dial intuitive and simple to achieve when it used to be fastened above my observe, particularly in comparison to the extra obscured, rear-facing controls at the Litra Glow. Higher but, there are a selection of to hand techniques to regulate the Key Gentle Mini with out ever having to the touch it.
After you have the Key Gentle Mini correctly configured along with your Wi-Fi community, you’ll be able to regulate it the usage of Elgato’s Keep watch over Heart app for each iOS and Android units in addition to Mac and Home windows computer systems. Right here, you’ll be able to energy the sunshine off and on, in addition to set brightness and colour temperature ranges. The app is slightly bare-bones — there aren’t a couple of integrated lights profiles like there are in Logitech’s G Hub instrument — however I liked the facility to regulate the sunshine with a couple of fast faucets on my smartphone.
Alternatively, like maximum Elgato units, the Key Gentle Mini is absolute best utilized in tandem with some of the corporate’s customizable Movement Deck keypads (or by the use of the paid Movement Deck Cellular app). You’ll be able to assign controls similar to energy and brightness/temperature adjustment to any of the Movement Deck’s buttons, which is perfect for making on-the-fly changes all the way through a published with no need to click on from your sport and open a separate app. I particularly liked the usage of the Key Gentle Mini along with Elgato’s new Movement Deck Pedal, which let me energy on and tweak the sunshine with a snappy foot faucet — holding my fingers loose for operating and gaming.
Daring lights high quality and k battery lifestyles
Firing up Elgato’s miniature gentle instantly made me glance brighter and extra true-to-life than I most often do after I take a seat in entrance of a webcam. The colours of my eyes, pores and skin and clothes had been all extra colourful and correct whilst the usage of the Key Gentle Mini, and the finer main points of my scruffy beard had been a lot clearer. Elgato’s gentle additionally held up neatly in opposition to the Logitech Litra Glow all the way through selfies and Twitch streams, although each and every gentle confirmed some distinctive strengths and weaknesses in several eventualities.
To check those two tiny lighting, I took a sequence of pictures on a Logitech C920 digicam in each herbal and coffee gentle, biking between each and every gentle’s default, heat and funky colour temperatures at 50% brightness. Elgato’s gentle excelled in sure scenarios, making me glance extra correct and detailed in herbal gentle when the colour temperature used to be impartial or cool. However in lots of different eventualities, the Key Gentle Mini had a bent to make me glance slightly blown out at part brightness in comparison to the Litra Glow’s more-even lights.
The Key Gentle Mini has a better most brightness than the Litra Glow at 800 as opposed to 250 lumens, and is the reason why I discovered it to be brighter and harsher than Logitech’s gentle. If you happen to’re lights your self from a distance and wish particularly outstanding gentle, the Key Gentle Mini will most probably do a greater process for your setup. But if I fastened each lighting atop my observe and sat in entrance of them for prolonged classes of time, I discovered the Litra Glow to be more uncomplicated on my eyes for up-close use in a smaller setup.
On the subject of battery lifestyles, the Key Gentle Mini tapped out after about 3 and a part hours of constant use at various brightness ranges. That’s relatively underneath Elgato’s score of 4 hours, however continues to be numerous juice to get you thru a video name, a YouTube recording or a couple of hours of Twitch streaming. And when you’d quite now not concern about battery lifestyles, you’ll be able to all the time stay the Key Gentle Mini plugged in by the use of the incorporated USB-C cable. Simply be aware that there’s no energy brick within the field, so that you’ll have to offer your personal or plug in by the use of your PC.
There’s so much to love in regards to the Key Gentle Mini. It will get lots vibrant, is straightforward to hitch to any tripod or magnetic floor and gives intuitive app-based controls. And it truly involves lifestyles in case you have an Elgato Movement Deck to hand for adjusting brightness and temperature at the fly.
There’s a little of DIY concerned right here, as you’ll want to supply your personal tripod, mount or floor with the intention to use Key Gentle Mini to its complete doable. The $59 Logitech Litra Glow is a extra reasonably priced and all-in-one resolution, as you’ll get an incorporated observe mount in addition to some nice regulate choices for other people with Logitech G keyboards.
Alternatively, when you’re available in the market and keen to pay up for a brighter gentle — one that you simply’ll have the liberty to arrange wirelessly — the Key Gentle Mini delivers lots for the associated fee.
