Photography Accessories

Review: Switronix TorchLED Bolt 220

Chris Gampat
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12/21/2013
4 Mins read

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Switronix Light (3 of 7)ISO 40001-250 sec at f - 2.8

Switronix has always had great solutions for folks looking for effective products at an affordable price. We’ve been playing with their new TorchLED Bolt 220 light for a little while now and believe that for indie filmmakers and news shooters, it’s a lightweight solution for all the problems that plague videographers. The light is an LED with variable color temperature control in both the Tungsten and Daylight scopes. This product is an update to their original TorchLED Bolt, and it shows quite a number of other improvements besides just output.

Pros and Cons

Pros

– Super powerful light output is also useful in case a deer happens to walk onto your set

– Simplistic to use

– Fairly good build quality

– Light diffuser that comes with the light is quite powerful at nerfing the output

– Lots of accessories included

Cons

– Included camera connector is a bit flimsy

Gear Used

We used with TorchLED Bolt 220 with the Black Magic Cinema Camera and a Sigma 50mm f1.4 lens.

Tech Specs

Specs taken from the B&H Photo listing of the product.

Lamp Type 16 LED with
Mount Type 1/4″-20 (includes swivel shoe-mount adapter)
Color Temperature 3200 to 5600K
Illumination 3200K: Approx. 2100 lux at 3.3′ (1.0 m)
5600K: Approx. 2600 lux at 3.3′ (1.0 m)
Equivalent Light Output Max. 220W
Dimming Range 0 to 100%
Power Connector PowerTap cable
Power Requirements 7.2-16.8 VDC
Sony L-Series battery
Power Consumption 13 W
Material Housing: Black ABS plastic
Dimensions (L x W x H) Light body only: 5.59 x 4.00 x 2.95″ (14.20 x 10.16 x 7.49 cm)
Weight 1.15 lb (0.52 kg)

Ergonomics

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Switronix Light (2 of 7)ISO 16001-100 sec at f - 4.0

Switronix’s TorchLED Bolt light is actually a lot smaller than it looks. The unit itself is really thin and you’ll only need to be wary of the massive Sony batteries that the light uses to give you lots of light output. In general, the sides of the light don’t have much except for vents to keep it cool.

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On the back left, you’ll see two controls: one for brightness and the other for color temperature. This is also where one might plug in the battery or an AC adapter for longer amounts of power.

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Switronix Light (7 of 7)ISO 6401-100 sec at f - 2.8

The front of the unit obviously contains the lights. The included diffuser can be placed here which basically cuts down almost all the light in our tests. In fact, we would probably prefer to mount this light in a large softbox instead.

Build Quality

The overall feeling of the new TorchLED Bolt 220 is pretty good; but you’ll probably want to keep it in a very well padded pocket of your backpack or bag. A bit too much bumping around is something that we feel that this unit can’t really take. There are vents to keep it cool and there are LED lights in there too. So by all means, take care of it.

Ease of Use

Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Switronix Light (4 of 7)ISO 40001-160 sec at f - 2.8

These knobs are really all that you’ll need to care about in all honesty. There are knobs: color and brightness. That’s really all there is to it. By turning the color temperature knob you change the temperature from daylight to tungsten. Then the brightness of the overall light can be added in accordingly.

Light Output

The light overall outputs a ton of usable light for more than just interviews–which is what it was really designed for. Inspired by a project that my roommate did for Vimeo, we decided to record me doing a modified way or making a traditional absinthe drink. Throughout the video, we also messed with the color balance of the light to show off its capabilities.

In truth, this light can be used for a heck of a lot more than interviews. And in many situations, it could be the only light you ever need.

Big thanks to my buddy Doug Guerra for helping me out with this project.

Conclusions

Overall, if you’re a videographer and want a small, portable, and easily placeable light, Switronix’s TorchLED Bolt is a great option. It can be used for a myriad of things and can also help you by working with your camera’s white balancing to make it easier for your editors. Obviously, it won’t replace massive panels, but it’s still quite good for the price point.

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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.