By Brady Betzel

With LED lights showing up everywhere these days, it’s not always easy to find the balance between affordability, power output and size. I have previously reviewed itty bitty-LED lights like the Litra Torch, which for its size is amazing. Litra has now expanded its LED offerings, adding the Litra Pro and the Litra Studio.

Litra Studio ($650) is at the top of the Litra mountain with not only varying color temperatures — from 2,000 to 10,000 kelvin with adjustable green/magenta settings — but also RGBWW (RGB + cool white + warm white), CCT (kelvin adjustments), HSL (hue + saturation + lightness), color gel presets, flash effects and more.

But for today’s review, I am wanted to focus on the Litra Pro LED, which comes to the Premium 3 Point Lighting Bundle, complete with light stands, lights, soft boxes, and carrying case. I had reached out to Litra about reviewing this bundle because I am tired of having to lug around big clunky lights for quick interviews or smaller setup product shots. And to be honest, it was right before I was heading to Sundance to shoot some interviews for postPerspective, I and didn’t want to check a bag at the airport. (Check out my interviews with editors at Sundance here.)

For the trip, I wanted to bring lights, a Blackmagic 6K Pocket cinema camera, my Canon L series zoom lens, a small tripod and some hard drives all stuffed into my backpack. I knew I’d be in the snow, so I needed lights that could potentially withstand all types of precipitation. Also, I would be throwing these lights around, so I needed them to be durable. The Litra Pro lights fit the bill. They measure 2.75in x 2in x 1.2in  — smaller than a phone, weigh 6oz and have upwards of a 10-hour battery life if set to 5% power. Each Litra Pro costs just under $220 but can be purchased in different bundle assortments. Individually, each Litra Pro comes with a rubberized diffuser, USB-A to Micro-USB charging cable (very short, maybe 3-4inches in length), DSLR mount (to be mounted in a hot/cold shoe), GoPro mount and a little zipper bag.

I wish Litra would package not only the GoPro mount to ¼”-20 but also the female ¼”-20 to GoPro mount adapter to be mounted to something like a tripod. If you don’t already them them, you’d need to purchase the GoPro mounts. Alternatively, it would be nice to have a mini-ball head mount like they sell on the site separately.

I was sent the Litra Pro Premium 3 Point Lighting Bundle. This essentially gives you everything you need for a standard three-point lighting setup — key light, fill light and back light. In addition, you get three light stands with carrying bags, three soft boxes, a customizable foam-insert carrying case and the standard accessories. This package retails for $779.95, which is a pretty good discount. If bought separately, the package would add up to about $820 not including the light stands, which aren’t available on Litra site and cost around $26 for two on Amazon. That means with the bundle you are essentially getting a free carrying case and light stands. The carrying case fits most of the products, except for the light stands. I had some trouble fitting all of the soft boxes along with the original accessories into the carrying case, but with a little force, I got it zipped up.

Do Specs Live Up to Output?
The Litra Pro lights are amazing lights packed into a small package, but with a kind of expensive price tag — Think of the saying, “Better, faster, cheaper: Pick two because you can’t have all three.” They have a CRI (Color Rendering Index) of greater than 95, which on the surface means they will show accurate colors. They can output up to 1200 lumens (increasing from 0-100% in 5% increments) either by app or on the light itself; have a 70-degree beam angle; can be adjusted from 3000k to 6000k color temperature in 100k increments; and have zero flicker, no matter the shutter speed (a.k.a. shutter angle). The top OLED screen displays battery info, Bluetooth connection info, kelvin temperature and brightness values.

One of my two favorite features of the Litra Pro lights are the rugged exterior and the impact they can withstand, based on MIL-STD-810 testing. The Litra Pros can withstand a lot of punishment, typically more than any filmmaker will dish out. For me, I need lights that can be in a pocket, a backpack, or mounted on a lighting stand in the rain, and these lights will withstand all of the elements.

They stood up to my practical production abuse: dropping, water, snow, rain, general throwing around in my backpack on an airplane, and my three sons — all under 10 — throwing them around. In fact, they are waterproofed up to 30 meters (90 feet).

My second favorite feature is the ability to control color temperature and brightness among a group of lights simultaneously or individually through the Litra app. When purchasing the 3 Point Lighting Bundle, this makes a lot of sense. Controlling all of the lights from one app simultaneously can allow you to watch your output image on the camera without moving around the room adjusting each light.

When I first started writing this review, the Litra app was one of the most important factors. When I was at Sundance, I needed to change lighting temperatures or brightness levels without leaving my interview position. I wasn’t able to bring an external monitor, so I only had the monitor on the back of the BMPCC6K camera to judge my lighting decisions. But with the updated Litra app, I was able to quickly add the three Litra Pro lights into a group and adjust the temperature and brightness easily. I tested the app on both Android and iOS devices, and as of mid-February, they both worked.

There can be a little lag when adjusting the brightness and temperature of the lights in a group, but they quickly catch up. The Litra app also has “CTO” (Color Temperature Orange) common preset temperatures of Daylight 5600, ⅛ CTO 4900K, ¼ CTO 4500K, ½ CTO 3800K and ¾ CTO 3200K to quickly jump to the more common color temperatures. If those don’t work, you can also set your favorites. An interesting function is to flash the lights — you can set a brightness minimum/maximum, color temperature and strobe per second in Hz.

When shooting product and interview photography or videography, I like to use diffusion. As I mentioned earlier, the light comes with a rubberized diffusion cover that sits right on the camera. But if you need a little more distance between the light and your diffusion to draw out the softness of the light, the Litra 3 Point Lighting Bundle includes soft boxes that snap together and snap onto the Litra Pro. At first, I was a little thrown off by the soft boxes because you have to build them and break them down if you want to travel with them — I guess I was hoping for more of a collapsible setup. But they come with a padded, zippered pouch for transport, and they lay very flat when broken down. They actually work pretty well when snapped together and are pretty durable. The soft boxes are indispensable for interviews. Without the soft boxes, it is hard to get an even light; add the rubberized diffusion and you will almost get there, but the soft boxes really spread the light nicely.

Over Christmas, I helped out at an event for a pediatric cancer-based foundation called The Bumblebee Foundation, which supports families with kids going through pediatric cancer treatments. They needed someone to take pictures, so I grabbed my camera and mounted one of the Litra Pro lights with a soft box onto the hot shoe of my Canon 5D Mark II with the included mount. The Litra Pro was easy to use, and it didn’t startle people like a flash might. It was a really key item to have in that environment.

I also do some product photography/videography for my wife, who sews and makes hair bows, tutus and more. I needed to light a few Girl Scout Cookie hair bows she had made, so I mounted two of the lights using the lighting stands and soft boxes and just stood one of the Litra Pros behind the products. You can see the video here.

What was interesting is that I wanted more light vertically, and because the Litra Pros have 2-¼”-20 mounts (one on the bottom and one on the side), I could quickly mount the lights vertically. I never really realized how helpful mounting the Litra Pros vertically would be until I actually needed it. At the same time, I had left the lights on at 60-80% power, and after a few minutes, I felt the heat the Litra Pros can put out. It isn’t quite burning, but the Litra Pros do get hot to the touch if left on for a while… just something to keep in mind.

Summing Up
From the military-grade-feeling exterior aluminum construction to the CRI color accuracy, the Litra Pro lights are truly amazing. Whether you use them to light interviews at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival (like I did), add one to a GoPro shoot to take the load off of the sensor with a high ISO, or use them to light product photography, the Litra Pro 3 Point Lighting Bundle is worth your money. They can fit into your pocket and withstand being dropped on the ground or in water.

All in all, this is a great bundle. The Litra Pros are not cheap, but the peace of mind you get knowing they will still work if you drop them or get them wet is worth every penny. When flying to Sundance, I had no fear throwing them around. I was setting up the lighting for my interviews and noticed a water ring on the table from a glass of water. I didn’t think twice and put the Litra Pro right in the water. In fact, when I was shooting some videos for this review, I put the Litra Pros in a vase of water. At first I was nervous, but then I went for it, and they worked flawlessly.

If you are looking for super-compact lighting that is bright enough to use outdoors, light interviews indoors, film underwater, and even double as photography lighting, the Litra Pros are for you. If you are like me and need to do a lot of product videography and interview lighting quickly, the Litra Pro Premium 3 Point Lighting Bundle is where you should look.

Brady Betzel is an Emmy-nominated online editor at Margarita Mix in Hollywood, working on shows like Life Below Zero and The Shop. He is also a member of the Producer’s Guild of America. You can email Brady at bradybetzel@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @allbetzroff.