Review-Ulanzi VL119 RGB Handheld Light Wand

VL119 RGB Handheld Light Wand is the exciting big brother of Ulanzi's VL110 Magnetic RGB Tube Light. With its extremely creative lighting options that can be used in a variety of situations, the VL119 is definitely worth investing in.

EXTERNAL FEATURES

Ulanzi Light Wand weighs only 205 grams and is 500mm long from base to tip. It offers the user an illuminance of 355mm, illuminating half the diameter of the 37mm rod. This enables a lighting angle of a helpful 120 degrees. The grip features an on/off button on the side, right where the user's right thumb rests. Directly above is the USB-C charging port, and the wand comes with a USB-to-USB-C charging cable. The light is controlled via four buttons arranged squarely next to each other, lying under a small LED panel that easily guides you through the settings. If you have used Ulanzi lamps before, you will be more than comfortable navigating the menu. On the bottom of the handle is a ¼-20" mounting screw and tab to attach a lanyard or wrist strap.

CREATIVE LIGHTING POSSIBILITIES

There are countless versions of LED lights flooding the market. So a different angle is required, pardon the pun, and that's exactly what the VL119 offers. With its lightsaber shape, it expands the creative application possibilities immeasurably, e.g. B:
- Light painting on the background of a subject you want to highlight.
- Creative lighting of a variety of products with any light color of the spectrum, both in a direct and indirect way .
- Creative lighting of a model from behind or in front.
- As main light, edge light, back light or mood light for any subject to be filmed or photographed.
- Simulation of light effects with the 20 different lighting scenarios (including emergency services, fireworks, television, fire, defective/flickering fluorescent tubes, strobe lights in white and multicolored, etc.).
- And among other things, of course, the simulation of a Star Wars battle scene.
Not to mention the uses outside of photography, when I think of my children who use it to organize a disco with their friends.

KELVIN LIGHT OPTIONS

The VL119 also offers constant and adjustable Kelvin light temperature, with an adjustable temperature range of 2500K - 9000K, with 5500K being natural daylight. Together with the setting of the light intensity from 1 - 100% you can solve a variety of lighting tasks. The light intensity can be incremented in single digit increments, or by holding down the "+" or "-" button you can step in increments of 10.

COLOR SERIES

Need a wide range of colors? Complementing the Kelvin properties of this light wand, you can choose from the full 360 degree color gamut, with hue, saturation and brightness fully adjustable at each degree. The Ulanzi photo above shows some of the many color options available.

ILLUMINANCE (BRIGHTNESS)

This is always a difficult aspect to convey about any luminaire. At a distance of 33 cm, the experienced illuminance is 395 LUX. At 50 cm it drops to 178 LUX and at 1 meter further to 52 LUX. For comparison: the light of the full moon is 1 LUX, the average illuminance in a family living room is 50 LUX and the average illuminance in a classroom or lecture hall in a school is 250 LUX and in a supermarket 750 LUX.So the VL119 RGB Light Wand offers a lot of light for its size, weight and price

THE DISPLAY

All of this can be followed on the OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) display, which is quite small, although Ulanzi used most of the space available to them used on the handle for this display format. I found it difficult to read the display when the light wand was on full power. The display itself packs a lot of information into a small space, including light setting, remaining battery power, ability to select from submenus, effective percentage displays, and descriptive text so you know what light setting you're using.

BATTERY LIFE

When I tested the light at full intensity, it ran for 95 minutes, which is impressive for the built-in 2000mAh rechargeable lithium battery. It takes 120 minutes to charge which requires some development as an ideal product I think should work for longer than it takes to charge but you can use it while charging which is a great advantage.

THE BUTTONS

I really like the arrangement of the buttons on the VL119 light stick. The "on" and "off" switch is very handy in situations where you can't see or remember where all the buttons are. The four control buttons: mode, select, + & - sit together but are slightly separated, which is very helpful. They have a plastic feel, but there's a satisfying click when you press one of the buttons. With the mode button you can switch between RGB, CCT and scene selection. You can use the Select button to navigate through the options of the mode you have chosen. You can then use the + and - buttons to select the desired lighting result within the selected mode. After using the light in various situations, I realized that it's easy to accidentally press the buttons and change the light setting if you're not careful. It would be a great addition if there was a "lock" switch on the handle that would disable the buttons when pressed. This would improve the user experience even further.

ASSEMBLY AND TRANSPORT

There is a ¼-20" female thread at the base of the VL119 handle, allowing you to attach the light to a variety of mounts and tripods, which increases its versatility.The lanyard clasp provides security if you wish to hang the lamp on your wrist, bag, hook, etc. You can also see in the above image that there is a light grip pattern on the back of the handle .

SUMMARY

Ulanzi's VL119 RGB Handheld Light Wand is a wonderful addition to your camera or film equipment. Lightweight and easy to hold, it offers many lighting options that are easy to select and the 330mm long light bar means you can stretch your creativity even further. You can buy it from Ulanzi at a very affordable price of €35.56 here.