17 reviews for GVM 880RS RGB LED Studio 2-Video-Light-Kit

1. 

   5 out of 5

   Gerald Bertram – July 20, 2021

   I am usually not a fan of these cheap panel lights. Due to the combination of features and price I wanted to take a chance on this 2 light set. I am very happy I did!

   First stand out feature is the light output. 60w is a lot of power for a budget LED panel pumping out 11,200 lux at .5 meters. Not only that, it has a stated color accuracy of 97 CRI. The color range in CCT mode doesn¡¯t get very cool making out at 5600 degrees kelvin. However, 5600 degrees is pretty much the most useful color temperature since it is the closest to daylight. It can produce quite warm color all the way to 3200 degrees kelvin. RGB mode can produce a wide array of color, deep and rich in tone.

   Like a lot of manufacturers, GVM has ditched the physical remote control and implemented bluetooth control via an app. Not having to supply a physical remote saves on manufacturing costs but rarely do you see these costs savings passed on to the consumer. That being said the GVM mobile app is actually quite useful. Connecting to the lights via the app was extremely quick, quicker than I have seen with other panel lights. The app layout made sense and was easy to get up and running with all of the features of the lights. One feature I am not used to seeing is the master/slave option. Basically set one light as the master and the other as slave and whatever settings you set the master light to, the other slave light will mimic those settings.

   Construction of the lights is mostly metal save for the barn doors. Unfortunately those are plastic. I will say the plastic feels fairly thick and does a pretty good job of blocking light. The included light stands are about what you would expect with a budget set of lights. They are the typical $19 or under cheap light stands. So while these aren¡¯t great light stands they are strong enough to hold up these light weight light panels and will get the job done.

   Just to sum up some of the other features, you have 2 power options. The included DC power cords or you can power each panel with 2 NP-F batteries (not included). Make sure you use 2 batteries. One battery won¡¯t power the panels. So you would need 4 batteries in total to run both light panels.

   The carrying case was also far and away the best case I have seen with a budget set of lights. It is sort of a combo of soft and hard case. It has a cloth cover but with a more rigid structure. It will provide a good amount of protection when traveling around with these lights.

   All in all these may be the best set of budget priced LED RGB light panels I have come across. Far better than the ones I have seen from companies such as Neewer.

2. 

   5 out of 5

   Harold G. Meeks Jr. – August 5, 2021

   What a nice light kit for the money! Included in this kit are two light panels, light stands, slide-in diffusers and a nice hard sided carry case to hold everything. The panels come with velvet bags to keep them from getting dinged up or scratched. Power can come from the included power supplies with generously long cords, or batteries (not included). My commonly available NP series batteries work fine with the light – two are needed per light. The lights are made of metal, the barn doors are black plastic, which effectively block light and appear to be durable. The light stands are fine – well made and fold compactly.

   While many inexpensive lighting kits come with a remote, this kit uses a downloadable app for mobile devices. The app works fine – easy to dial in the lighting temperature and intensity needed. Connection is through bluetooth, and the app handles the pairing seamlessly. There are presets for specific lighting effects (police, light from a TV, disco, etc). The controls on the back of the light panel make sense – although it took a moment to figure out the the multimode knob. The information display is a good size and well illuminated – making it easy to see settings. The lights can be set up as master/slave easily. Intensity and color are fully variable and work smoothly – from a very warm amber to very cool with no flicker.

   These lights are a step up from less expensive lighting panels. They have a nice fit and finish, and the included case (holding everything, including the stands) is very useful. I appreciate the choice to use an app instead of another remote which can be lost. It¡¯s intuitive and genuinely handy. These are much nicer than the lighting panels I bought a few years ago for about the same amount of money – a welcome upgrade.

3. 

   5 out of 5

   WinWin – August 7, 2021

   This is a nice photography/videography LED light kit. It comes in a nice and sturdy carrying case that is big enough to store everything and more (tripod, power supply, lithium battery and the LED light panels, etc…). The tripod that comes with this light is small, compact but is very sturdy and stable when set up, at max height, it reach about 8ft to 8.5 feet high. This kit comes with 2 LED panels, which can be controlled by using my phone (running GVM app) and the lights can be set as Master and Slave device, meaning changing one will affect the other, or both can be set as Master and can be controlled individually. It’s not a full RGB spectrum, but a Bi-Color controls which allows you to change the level of brightness and hue. The benefit of bi-color LED is that it can be brighter and provide more lumen than RGB LED light, which would makes this better to use for video shooting. I’d strongly recommend you to get the lithium battery packs, which would make these light truly portable and much more versatile than using the power cord adaptor. These lights are very solid, well built and design and a great asset to have for indoor shooting or outdoor at night.

4. 

   5 out of 5

   Richard C. Drew – August 10, 2021

   This is a complete kit – case, power supplies, stands and lights. The lights have a diffuser and bard-doors attached. I’ve used them a few times over the past couple of days, plus left them running for 20 hours for a heat test. Max temp on the power brick was 107 degrees and on the light 121 degrees.

   The lights can be powered from AC with the included power supplies or with the common Sony batteries. I think we all have these now because they’re used in field monitors, lighting and more. Each light required two batteries.

   The lights have a few modes – basically stand alone, app, master and slave. I really appreciate the master/slave setup. Set one to slave, the other to master (does not matter which one) – they instantly work together. The settings on one are echoed by the other instantly. All light options can be controlled by the app – brightless, color, effects.

   The stands are actually decent – I typically toss these kit stands in the trash. Not these. The metal is probably 3x as thick as the cheap models. Not as good as the expensive, pro versions, but perfectly good for enthusiasts. Each stand and light has it’s own pouch, plus the case is well padded and fits with little wasted room.

   100% recommended!

5. 

   5 out of 5

   Adam Conrad – August 10, 2021

   This kit has a few things that really impressed me. The first was the actual light output. I was getting over 10,000 lux with both the yellow and white LED’s on at 4400K. I tested my other LED panel light and that’s around 2K more lux than I could get out of it maxed out. The pure white or pure yellow was also around 1K over individually.

   The second thing I love was the master and slave functionality in the control panel. I’m used to needing to use my phone app to control panel lights as a set, but with this I was able to control both lights using only one light control.

   The knobs and buttons all work very well, and allow me to make quick adjustments. If I turn the knob quickly, it moves 10 at a time, and if I move it slowly it moves in increments of 1. That’s such a nice change over what I’m used to.

   Other than that it’s fairly similar to other LED panels. It has scene functions like flashing lights and mimicking different scenarios or disasters. They’re good for a low budget effect, but it’s not something I see myself using.

   The I tried it with a Neewer 11.5″ round LED panel softbox, and it just barely fit on the barn doors. The light I get out of it is beautiful, so the softbox is staying on.

   Overall I love these lights.

   Highly recommended.

6. 

   5 out of 5

   Jeff & Wendy S – August 14, 2021

   You could almost justify the price for just a single light and stand, but to get two sets for this price is a real deal.

   I have a somewhat larger, but very similar professional panel light that costs 3X this price and there’s really not much difference – in fact, with the app and the ability to do a master/slave connection, these actually do more. I would definitely choose this set over the other if I had to do it over again.

   The color adjustment works really well and they produce a lot of a light for their size. The materials are “great” if you compare them to other economy lights, and “very good” when compared to professional sets. The two tripod stands are much better than standard, economy stands as well. It all comes packed in a very nice case.

   While still not “cheap”, I think for this grade of specialized, professional equipment, this is a very good deal.

7. 

   5 out of 5

   Michael P – August 19, 2021

   This is my second set of GVM lights and can attest to their quality and performance. I purchased my first set over a year ago for a music video shoot and I was extremely pleased with the GVM LED lighting kit. I was doing green screen work and needed the right amount of light to evenly light the green screen and omit any shadows. I also had challenges with overloading the circuits and potential fire hazard of my traditional lighting kit, so these LED lights gave me peace of mind and comfort while I was filming. They were lightweight to move around and manipulate the light and could be adjusted as described. They did not produce heat while on.

   The batteries I used for these (purchased separately and recommended) were the Powerextra NP-F960/F970 also purchased on Amazon. The batteries lasted during the duration of the 4-6 hour shoot. I have used other major brand LED lighting kits in other scenarios and these worked just fine.

   Not surprised these keep going “out of stock.” They are a great find for the money.

   I hope you found my review helpful and hope your next shoot rocks too!

8. 

   5 out of 5

   Rodrick – August 23, 2021

   I got these lights to replace my current soft box setup for video lighting, and I’m very upset I didn’t do this sooner. The soft box lights were very limited (fixed brightness/color temperature) and would need the bulb physically changed or the whole light stand to be moved closer or further away to solve those issues. Until today!

   These lights are made of aluminum and not only look cool, but are very high quality and highly functional. The barn doors are very nice look aesthetically and great for protection while being portable. Speaking of portable, the ziplock case everything comes in it some-what hard-shelled and has a compartment for each light, stand and cable, so keep everything organized.

   The LED’s are very bright and can be adjusted physically on the light with the LCD display or with the app on my smartphone, either individually or together (with master/slave mode). The app works great and allows full control of the lights, including brightness, color temperature, RGB color, saturation, hue, etc. along with the 8 different scenes that allow for nice effects such as cop car and lightning.

   There hasn’t be any flickering on any of my cameras from these lights.

   The lights have made an immediate and noticeable positive difference in my video quality and I wish I made this change much sooner. If you take your videography or photography seriously, I can definitely recommend picking up these lights.

9. 

   5 out of 5

   SnowedUnder – August 27, 2021

   This light kit is an excellent offering from GVM. You get two very bright 60W panels with barn doors and light stands in a semi-rigid case. The lights can be controlled by the knobs on the back, or by a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth, which works very well.

   These lights are bicolor lights so you can vary the color temperature from 3200K-5500K, in addition to having an RGB mode for super saturated individual colors. The panels can run off the included AC power adapters or you can use the excellent Sony NP-F550 or NP-F970 batteries (or a third party equivalent) to power them on location where there’s no AC power. Each panel requires two batteries to run, and batteries are, of course, not included.

   The barn doors are made of a sturdy but flexible plastic. This is the first set of lights I’ve had with plastic barn doors rather than metal ones, so I was a bit skeptical at first as to whether I would like these, but I think the plastic works just fine. Of course, the LED panels stay cool enough that the plastic is at no risk of melting.

   My only complaint with this kit is that the case could have a little more organization to it. The lights are well protected but the stands and power cords don’t have dedicated compartments, they just sit on top of the divider panel. It would be nice if there were little pouches for the power bricks and cords just to keep everything a little more neatly organized.

   This is my first experience with GVM lights and I’m pretty impressed. They are excellent quality panels with a good quality of light and good color rendition. They are a very good value for the money. I would gladly buy more!

10. 

    5 out of 5

    Godwin – September 7, 2021

    These are very good quality lights. They were better than I thought. The light was pretty soft and great for skin tones. They were portable to carry around in their bags. Easy to setup and works really great. The stands and app were quite on point for a better experience. The fact the lights can be set any color temperature (3200-5600) or set to an RGB color of choice is simply amazing. It can be powered by direct power connection or battery. I love them, no complaints.

11. 

    5 out of 5

    Dipped in Ink – September 20, 2021

    Nowadays, putting out video content using just your cell phone just isn¡¯t enough. However, it¡¯s so easy to produce professional-quality photos and videos by adding just a few essential accessories, and this lighting system does the trick.

    The light is very user-friendly and being able to control it from my smartphone makes it easy to make changes on the fly between recordings.

    The tripod stand is easily adjustable. I was happy to find that the tripod stand is also very solid despite its lightweight.

    The light output is fantastic, and I¡¯ll be using this to add a professional touch to all of the photos and videos that I post to social media.

    This light would be great if you are a YouTuber or run any type of content marketing business on your social media platforms. In my opinion, it¡¯s well worth it to get accessories like this to improve your content.

12. 

    5 out of 5

    Kelly S. – October 17, 2021

    I ordered these lights for our photo studio and they did not disappoint. The lights are bright and provide the right kind and amount of light we need for our studio shoots. This is the entire kit! We did not have to buy anything extra, and that was amazing! I love that all of the parts were in the pack. None were missing, which was good because we used this kit right out of the bag for a shoot. The Bluetooth controller setup with no pairing problems and worked very well. The quality of everything is really good also. This kit is easy to use, set up, and break down. The carrying case came in handy for when we had to take everything to an offsite shoot, which was a lifesaver. I would definitely recommend this kit.

13. 

    5 out of 5

    CKE – October 30, 2021

    I have used a variety of lights over the years. These lights are a giant improvement over what was available just a few years ago. These lights can be unpacked, and set-up, in less than 10 minutes – and they do a great job. While they are bright enough for vlogging, Tik Tok, and social media but aren’t quite powerful enough to be used as primary lights for professional set-ups.

    Notes-

    – Easy to set-up and pack up!

    – Bright enough for secondary lights.

    – The RGB lights can be used for a variety of scenes – color set-ups and even for special effects. The preset effects aren’t super helpful, but the color schemes really can help create specific moods through lighting.

14. 

    5 out of 5

    Sean McGill – November 22, 2021

    We have used these now for about a year. Of course they still work like the day we received them.

    We have used these in a church setting for our Christmas Eve service lighting. We have used these for the children in our community to get pictures with Santa Clause during the pandemic. Parent were able to take their own phots and becomes when used these lights they didn’t need a flash and they took some of the best and most memorable pictures.

    We continue to use these as a more up close lighting option. We have big stage light but these are portable and convenient to use. All metal construction with a nice carrying bag.

    Trust you found this review honest and helpful:-)

15. 

    5 out of 5

    klee – December 28, 2021

    This kit is very bright for 60W. The RGB function is great. It is brighter than putting a color gel on a traditional 650W Tungsten light. Depending on your usage, this could be a great life saver. It doesn’t draw a lot of power and offers a lot of lighting options.

    I’ve only had great experience with this light. I have used it as a Key, fill, and just background light and it has not disappoint. I am very pleased with it.

16. 

    5 out of 5

    C. Ball – January 26, 2022

    If you are a content creator and need a key and fill light these will work, 60W isn’t the brightest if you diffuse them but they should be bright enough for most like 99% of people. Even though you can use these as your main lights I actually like to use these to light my set, they add a nice splash of color to your background when recording. The barn doors are a nice touch and is a feature you don’t really see often in this price range, they work great and help control the light very well. The price for this whole set is amazing and is a great pickup for someone starting out who’s looking for some decent studio lights.

17. 

    5 out of 5

    Gomin Planet – January 27, 2022

    Gorgeous even light that we use on every video shoot. Would not live without the app control for colors and effects. Works great! We use a combination of 4 of these lights and they never disappoint. They are well packaged and come in a zip up hard cover bag. We use them outside with NPF Sony batteries or indoors while plugged in. Zero complaints! Will probably buy more.