I’m a snob about lighting. I still, to this day, swear by what a flash can do vs an LED for the same price. And I think off-camera lighting is a creative tool not only designed for when a place is too dark. For many reasons, the Lowel EGO LED shouldn’t leave your home studio. But no matter what, it will give pretty great light, and it surprised me in ways I didn’t think would happen.
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Table of Contents
Too Long; Didn’t Read
The Lowel EGO LED is a great light; it offers a bright LED source with built-in diffusion. Think of it as a light panel, but with the diffusion already there. Best of all, it’s super affordable.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- When you get a working version, they work wonderfully for video conferencing.
- Versatile mount for a light stand
- Color changing abilities is very cool
- Had it on for well over and hour with little overheating
- Took a tumble off of a lightstand and kept working
- They’re like $150.
Cons
- Cheap build quality around the ports: our first one had an issue here.
- I wish it had a battery and didn’t need to be connected to an outlet.
Gear Used
We tested the Lowel EGO LED with Sony, Leica, and Canon cameras.
Innovations
The Lowel EGO LED doesn’t necessarily innovate. But instead, they build in the diffusion into it for a very good price.
Tech Specs
These tech specs are taken from the Adorama listing:
- Professional beauty light with industrial design
- Hides in plain sight
- Powerful, flattering bi-color soft light to match any environment
- Plug and go, no assembly required
- Flicker-free dimming and low heat emission
Ergonomics
The Lowel EGO LED is pretty much a rectangle. There’s an LED inside, and there is a giant diffusion panel on one side. That’s pretty much all you need to know about how it works.
As you can see, the backside of the Lowel EGO LED is, well, black. So think of this exterior area much like a softbox.
On the back side, there are these controls. You’ll plug the Lowel EGO LED into the wall via a port. Unfortunately, it can’t be charged via USB-C, which would’ve been amazing. The brightness and color controls on the left will pretty much be the only other things you end up touching.
To turn the light on, there’s a switch on the bottom.
Here’s what the light looks like when the LED is shifted to the warmer color.
Build Quality
The Lowel EGO LED has build quality issues, but it’s far from being a cheaply built product. Our first copy of it had issues with the power port, so we needed to call another one in, but Lowel sent us two more. We only opened one and have been using it for a few months. At one point, the Lowel EGO LED took a tumble off our light stand and onto the floor. It survived and kept working. I think a big part of this is the design with the integrated diffusion.
You can have confidence in this product’s build quality. As long as your copy doesn’t have an issue with the port, you should be fine.
Ease of Use
The Lowel EGO LED is pretty simple to use! You plug it in, switch it on, and adjust the brightness or color to be warmer or cooler. Of course, this means you’ll need to get up and activate those settings yourself. Depending on how high on a light stand you put your LED, this could be a minor inconvenience.
It’s also pretty much going to stay on a light stand and won’t travel with you.
Image Quality
Over my months with the Lowel EGO LED, I’ve used it to assist me on both video and photo shoots. I’ll let you judge the results for yourself. All of these images had very minor editing. When I say that, I mean literally maybe a contrast adjustment.
Here are videos where we’ve used it. The torture test video was shot with my iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Conclusions
Likes
- Powerful output
- Consistent lighting
- Color shifting
- Simplicity
Dislikes
- I wish I could bring it around on shoots a bit easier.
The Lowel EGO LED is a powerful, effective light. For still photography, I believe I’m still a fan of flash. It just gives a more visible pop and lets me keep the ISO values I want. But, for very quick shoots and video, the Lowel EGO LED is difficult to beat.
The Lowel EGO LED is being awarded three out of five stars. Want one? Check out Amazon for the latest prices.