By Brady Betzel
If you read a lot of reviews and articles like I do, sometimes you can get overwhelmed by how many products are out there. Lighting is one of those categories where the availability of products seems never ending. From ARRI Fresnels that can go for over $5,000 to the Kino Flo Diva-Lite at over $1,300, lights cover the entire spectrum of prices. But sometimes I don’t have the power, room or even money to buy these lights and need something cheaper — way cheaper. Portable lights like the Litra Torch are usually focused around tiny action-cam users are pretty great and go for around $100 but are tiny and may serve a better purpose such as a hair light or a tiny spot light. For those wanting a cheap but larger surface area, Polaroid has come to the rescue. For $99 you can buy the Polaroid RGB LED Light.
The Polaroid 320 RGB is a multi-color RGB LED light that runs off of a rechargeable Sony-style NP battery and can be controlled by an iOS or Android app via Bluetooth. The light also comes with a carrying case, a cold-shoe swivel head adapter to mount on top of a camera, a DC adapter with international adapters, a diffuser, battery and battery charger. The case itself is actually pretty nice — it will protect the light and hold all the accessories. I left the battery to charge overnight after I used the light so I can’t tell you exactly how long it took, but I can tell you it isn’t fast. Maybe a couple of hours. However, if you had a Sony camera from a long time ago you may have some leftover batteries you can use with the Polaroid light if you don’t have your DC adapter around.
The LED light is made up of 320 LED lamps: 144-3200K LEDS, 144-5600K LEDs and 32-RGB LEDs. The light can either be used in the RGB color mode or standard mode. To create the array of colors, Polaroid uses the 32 RGB LEDs to shine almost any color you can imagine. RGB lamps have three colors: red, green and blue, which can be turned off and on in multiple combinations to achieve almost any color. From cyan to magenta to yellow or purple, you can adjust the hue on the Polaroid RGB LED light by pushing the H/S button and turning the knob to the desired color. Oddly enough, it tells you which color you are on with a number between 0-199. I would think 360 would be the RGB designation since a color wheel is a circle.
If you hit the H/S button again you can access the saturation value of the light, which can be adjusted from 0-100. There is a Bluetooth light to tell you when the app is controlling the light… it will turn blue. Next to that is the Bat button, which will tell you how much power is left if using the battery. Underneath that is the Bri, or brightness, button and the Temp button. The Temp button is used when in the “white” mode to change color temperature values from 3200K-5600K, although the LED readout only displays three digits, so you won’t be getting the full Kelvin temperature read out.
But really the beauty of this light is using it through the Fi Light app you can find in both the App Store as well as the Google Play Store for Android. I have to admit, it was difficult finding the app in the Google Play Store, but if you look for the white lightbulb with blue background by “tek-q” you have the correct app. What’s even stranger is that to connect to the Polaroid light you don’t need to connect your Bluetooth to the light, the app will connect on its own. Something I couldn’t get through my head for some reason. But once the light is on and the app is up, start adjusting the hue, saturation and brightness, or even mess with the different modes like Rapid Rainbow Transition or Pulsating Red/Blue for a police light-type effect. While I couldn’t test more than one, there is a group settings dialogue that could presumably join forces of multiple lights to control them at once. The “Blu” light on the back of the light will light up, appropriately in blue when it is connected to your phone.
Summing Up
This light isn’t the strongest, especially when used in conjunction with the sunlight, but if you are photographing or filming products in a controlled environment like a garage, it will do just fine. Ideally, you would need two with a reflector, or three to light something. That being said, for $100 this Polaroid light may just fit your needs for product lighting, or even washing a wall with color behind an interview. It definitely won’t beat out any of the high-end LED lights, but it will do the job in a smaller space with controlled lighting. And because it can mount on a cold shoe of a camera it can even be a great run-and-gun light when working with subjects close to camera.
Check out www.polaroid.com for more products from Polaroid or on Amazon.com where you can search for this light and many more filmmaking-focused products from them.
Brady Betzel is an Emmy-nominated online editor at Margarita Mix in Hollywood, working on Life Below Zero and Cutthroat Kitchen. You can email Brady at bradybetzel@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @allbetzroff.
