SmallRig RF 05B Portable Zoom LED Video Light

Happy'sTake

October 6, 2026

Great Portable Spotlight with Long Battery Life and Versatile Design

I ordered this SmallRig RF 20C 20W zoomable LED photography flashlight for my small studio where I make training videos. I always wanted to have one for occasional use, and it has been a great addition. I like the design, functionality, and colors, as well as the replacement heads that let me create different ambiances for various scenes. The battery capacity is impressive, and the fast charging means every time I reach for it, it is ready to go without me having to worry about the charge status frequently. I also like the size, since it does not take up too much space in my studio. It is powerful enough for my needs, and the mounting options are perfect for my setup. My only wish is that it was a little cheaper for what it is, but the performance makes it worth considering. I recommend this item.

News Guy Camping

September 26, 2026

Versatility and Functionality Make This Light A Must Have

This sis a great little light that is more than meets the eye. A dimmable, 4 LED light, with a focus-able lens, lens hood which holds a pre-cut scrim for those background patterns that add that look you're going for. The light comes with 20 pre cut scrims, ranging from a heart, to different types of louvers and windows and many more.

The color temp runs from 3200k-5600k which is perfect for s small key light, a background fill or a back light for a person to highlight their hair.

The light comes with two female mounting holes (light stand not included) so it is easily attached and versatile in it's ability to be placed in an inconspicuous manner.

I've used this light for product lighting, for a small boutique I've shot video and stills for. The small light makes it suitable for many uses, indoor or out.

Nice one..!

This SmallRig photography light is soo cool. Multiple color options upto 4 and the battery life is also great. Good for someone who works on photoshoots and creative and its adjustable too

Wedding photographer must have!

I use these lights on every wedding I photograph!!! Highly recommended.

Keri sending me the wrong item

I’ve tried to buy this light 4 times now and each time they send me a small rig electric suction cup instead of the light 😭 I’ll update this review if the real light ever shows up

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Aaron

July 7, 2026

Sloppy work from SmallRig.

This is a review of the RF20C, the most expensive light of this series.

I honestly expected better from SmallRig, but I'm disappointed.

The gobos are soft, not sharp, no matter what, even after removing the lens element.

Without the gobos, it does a good job of looking like one of those $14 Tiktok lights

Beyond that, it's really struggling to keep up in my studio.

Why is the gobo not sharp, no matter how far away from the wall? This signals poor engineering for the gobo system. If the product developers didn't bother to use math to make the optics sharp, what are the odds that there are other oversights?

Speaking of oversights, this is the LOUDEST light in my entire studio, with a faint rushing sound always in the background. Conversely my COB light has a fan and is virtually silent. It is the only thing I hear in an otherwise quiet room. Even the ceiling fan is quieter.

Wireless control ended up mattering a lot more to me than I thought. I have an Elgato StreamDeck button that controls pretty much all the lights in my studio, but this is the one thing I have to reach over my bed to turn on. And turning it on is the most awkward process ever, where you have to press, and then make sure you turn the knob clockwise (not counter-clockwise!). Yeah, no. It would've been nice if I could just put this on a smart switch and have it turn on as soon as the brick gets power (Amaran calls this "studio mode" for their lights), but it can't even do that.

Between the loud fan, the poor workmanship of the gobo quality, the inability to control this light remotely (or even have it power on when USB-C power is provided) makes it a poor choice for my streaming setup.

I'll probably be returning this and using an Amaran 60C with a snoot instead.

Look at everything you get!!

Great for on the go!!!

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Don E. Nelson

July 1, 2026

High quality LED multi color studio lighting device.

The packaging is First Class, the quality is first rate, and comes with all the accessories.

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Muchos usos y funcionalidades!

Producto Genial!

Francisco Da Souza Vasquez

June 10, 2026

Excelente calidad de construcción.

Llegó en buenas condiciones, calidad de construcción es buena, lo único me hubiera gustado es que sea mas intenso la luz pero funciona muy bien

This light has a permanent place in my kit

I had already been looking at the 10 W version that I’ve been seeing all over the place, however I just didn’t feel that one had enough power. Then comes along this 20 W version! And boy does it have power. It’s honestly quite impressive how bright it is for how small it is.

It has 5 individual LEDs, each a different color. So this is not an RGB light. So you just need to make sure that the colors that are listed, are colors that you are wanting.

It comes with a charging cable, protective bag, a silicone gobo holder, and a bunch of different Gobos.

The housing is made of aluminum, and feels very sturdy.

It has a quite long battery life, I was shooting portraits for about an hour, and it stayed on the entire time. It has an internal fan to keep the diodes cool during extended run time.

I love the gobos, however, there is one drawback. Unfortunately, since the gobo holder is simply a collapsible piece of silicone, there is no way to focus the gobo. So unless you have the light close to whatever surface you’re shining it on, the gobo will be extremely blurry. However, at this price point, I feel like that’s perfectly acceptable. However, that’s why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5.

I recently used this light to add a color cast to my white paper backdrop for some head shots. And I really love the effect that it gave. Obviously, I used Lightroom, and poorly edited out the face for privacy reasons, but the image attached to this review has the background lit by this light.

Overall, I’m extremely happy with this light, and it will be going in my kit

An Absolute Gem!

I was using a toilet tissue roll prior to get me that spotlight effect. It sucked. This gives you that and more.

J.A.

May 3, 2026

Disappointing light. Cropped and blurry images make this unusable.

This isn’t my first flashlight of photography light, and given that it is merely a 20W output, I wasn’t expecting anything stunning, but I was excited to try out something with a decent output for close-up photography and video.

Unfortunately, the gobos (the stencils that are included, which create the projected images) along with their silicone holder appear to be afterthoughts, despite being the central purpose of this light. There’s a whole host of problems, such as the rings of Saturn being spaced so close to the planet that it looks blurry, diffuse, and unusually shaped unless using the light at an extremely close, zoomed-in distance. Then there’s the fact that some stencils literally have parts of them blocked by the silicone holder; for example, the sharp point on the heart stencil is partially blocked by the silicone holder so that it appears to fade out.

Just to note some practical things: it is easy to use and intuitive, since it contains a single dial with just press, hold, and turn commands. The battery life isn’t spectacular, but appears to hold up to the claims, so you can do a short shoot. It’s not something that can be used for extended streaming without being plugged in.

A 20W light doesn’t produce a lot of light output, but this does produce a lot of heat. But 20W isn’t exactly premium, but the pricing suggests that this is supposed to be a premium-quality light. The fact that the stencils and image quality come out so poorly is frustrating and seems like something that would have been immediately noticeable on testing the light. If you don’t care about the projection quality and plan on just using the light alone, it’s fine, albeit heavy, but the core purpose of this light is to produce these projections, so I’m seriously disappointed to find that they are lacking in quality. I hope this helps.

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Tommy

April 29, 2026

Portable LED Photography Flashlight

Great light. Great value High quality

m

February 4, 2026

Dead after 6 months!

Stopped working for no apparent reason after (almost exactly) 6 months of normal indoor use.

I used it a couple of hours per day, mostly while connected to charger, one day it simply died out of blue and never turned back on.

Will update if there is good warranty but would not recommend this as it shouldn’t have died under this circumstances with only light use! Look elsewhere!!

Fields Photography

Great light for adding a little touch to your videos or product photography

Light won’t work

Light is cool, but a few seconds after turning it on something went wrong. It won’t change colors, and it also won’t turn off. So now I don’t know what to do with it.

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LUIS ALVARADO

December 20, 2025

Bueno el producto

Excelente producto pero el lente vino muy sucio.

Great for photography

Love it!

Pequeña pero potente.

Esa luz la hice con ella, es muy versátil al usarla en espacios adecuados. Es pequeña pero potente.

Tiene varias tramas y se deja usar puntual y abierta.

Muy buena luz.

This little perfect light is a game changer!!

This little perfect light is a game changer!! So affordable and wonderful for a splash of color or a slash of light across the eyes. We made a little horror film and we used this light everywhere! In the 2 images attached you will see where we used this light to make "golden hour" light on the wall on the stairs. And on the creepy mask, we put a slash of blue light across the eyes to pop the colors in the mask. This light was exactly what we needed! And a long battery life is a plus.

Eduardo Hernandez

October 17, 2025

Economic Option and Easy to Use

Easy to use, very small and portable.

It has different colors and many different types of grids that you can use as backgrounds.

My only issue is that it needs a little more power.

for a small set up and a space with full light control it’s perfect, for the price is good comparing to other options that are more expensive.

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Dominique James

September 22, 2025

Get a stand for ky

It’s perfect

Could be stronger

I wish the light was just a touch stronger but it works well and I’m excited to use it. I also wish it came with a stand, I thought it did thankfully I had one that works.

Daddydavid

August 12, 2025

It's exactly what you would expect, see my review for more info LOL

We've all seen the reviews on YouTube, and various blogs, and read it, so I'm not going to dive into all the technical specs. Specs. I will say that this product is exactly as advertised. It arrived in pristine condition, I believe I purchased it used. It was pretty much new, I can't tell otherwise.

So yeah, I would recommend!

0:48

Almost great, at first, but don't expect it to last.

This product was fine at first. It's unfortunate that you cannot run it off of a power source. It also gets VERY warm from staying on. It comes with GOBOs, which is why I bought it, and it has 4 colors, and those colors are not customizable. It's heavy to hold for a long time or to put on a tripod. After a few months of pretty light use and it will not charge or run any more. I thought that Small Rig was suppored to be better quality. I would say that the quality is poor and the value for money is also poor. Keep looking.

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Tamo En Android

July 29, 2025

Perfect

Perfect.

1:05

Receiving a faulty item

I ordered this item and received it today, but unfortunately, it is defective. A reputable company like SmallRig should thoroughly test and inspect their products before shipping them to customers. Receiving a faulty item right out of the box is extremely disappointing and has seriously diminished my trust in SmallRig’s quality control. It feels like a complete waste of money

0:15

Not Bright Enough

Light isn't bright enough for any normal studio situation. If your setup is very dark and moody, this might work. I tried it with full brightness on a mostly black backdrop, and it wasn't strong enough for me. See attached photo. I highlighted the area where the light was casting. I had it positioned only about 4 or 5 feet away from the wall. Build quality was felt solid, and the battery seems to last a few hours just fine.

Sean Woods Media

January 22, 2025

Small and compact light that can add a creative touch to your films!

If you're looking for a compact light that can be used in a creative way, then this light checks a few boxes!

First, to touch on a few things I've seen others mention...

The POWER: So, when I'm usually filming documentaries, commercials and other things, we would typically bring a strong light in with a spotlight attachment and gobo holder to add windows and other images on the background. Even though this light can do those same things, I wouldn't compare it to them. This is pretty much a flashlight, with RGB functionality, that comes with gobos to project. It's not going to be anywhere near as strong as the more professional lights. So, if you're someone that needs a very strong light for a bright scenario, then a pro light will be better suited for you.

The gobos QUALITY: Same as the power, I would look at the quality of these the same way. Yes, the holder is rubber and the gobos are thin, but you also don't have to worry about breaking them. But be careful with the gobos, because they do seem like they'll bend and get out of shape if you're just throwing them anywhere.

I do wish that it came in an actual case instead of the bag. I can see myself purchasing some type of small case to hold the light and the gobos, to try and keep them in shape.

I'd recommend this light to filmmakers, content creators, anyone doing product photos or videos and definitely someone that might have a home space or podcast setup where you're filming in front of a blank wall. This is a good, cheap option that can elevate the overall look, just by adding a light slash or image to the background. Same goes for interview sessions along with other things.

Overall, it has a solid build, the power output is decent for small scenarios and to be honest, if we decide to compare it to the pro setups, you're looking at $53 vs a few hundred to get an RGB light and a few hundred for a spotlight attachment.

I'm giving it 4stars because I feel like a case is needed. Even if it was just for the gobos. With them being cheaper quality, it's going to be tough keeping them from getting bent inside the bag.

I hope my short video gives a decent preview of some basic ways to use the light.

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