Field Check: SmallRig RM 03 Macro Photography LED Light for Shut-Up Work

For macro pictures, it could actually typically be helpful to have extra gentle. Many varieties of lamps can be found, some small, others giant. SmallRig now presents the brand new SmallRig RM 03 Macro Photography LED lights. These small lights present a whole lot of flexibility, as turns into clear on this assessment.

The SmallRig RM 03 Macro Photography LED light is a small and compact LED gentle on a versatile tube. This offers nice freedom in positioning the sunshine. Since macro pictures permits for putting lights in shut proximity, the depth of the sunshine should be saved relatively low. These lights are designed for such a objective.

I obtained a set of RM 03 Macro Photography LED lights from SmallRig for this assessment. The findings talked about on this assessment are my very own sincere opinion, primarily based on real-life use circumstances.

The RM 03 Macro LED Light in Detail

The RM 03, as I’ll name the unit from right here on, consists of a cylindrical deal with and a versatile tube. The LED is located on the finish of the tube. The deal with is 10.5 centimeters lengthy and about 2.5 centimeters in diameter. The whole weight is 300 grams.

The versatile tube measures 39 centimeters and will be bent in virtually any route due to the metallic springs inside. This half makes the RM 03 so preferrred for macro pictures: you’ll be able to place the LED gentle precisely the way you need.

Inside the deal with is the battery, which will be charged over USB-C. The RM 03 can run for 140 minutes at most gentle depth on a single cost. There is not any indication of battery degree, so it’s sensible to completely cost the battery earlier than use. However, if you find yourself with a useless battery, you’ll be able to cost the RM 03 utilizing an influence financial institution and proceed working on the similar time.

The deal with has solely two buttons. One of those is the ability button, which can also be used to regulate gentle depth in 20% increments. The different button lets you swap between the obtainable colours.

The RM 03 will not be a real RGB LED gentle. You have pink, inexperienced, and blue obtainable, however not a mixture between the three colours. By repeatedly urgent the C button, you cycle by means of the three main colours, regular white, and heat white.

The 5 LEDs present as much as 3 watts of sunshine, which ranges from 400/410 lux (heat white and blue) to 1,700/1,830 lux (cool white and inexperienced), with 1,030 lux (pink). This is adjustable to twenty%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% intensities. The CRI is 85, and the TLCI is 92, in accordance with SmallRig. I haven’t examined this declare, however I’m assured it’s right.

The design of the RM 03 presents an IP54 score, which implies it’s dust- and splash-resistant. However, it isn’t absolutely waterproof, so that you shouldn’t place the RM 03 in a puddle of water. Placing it on a moist forest flooring gained’t be an issue. Be cautious with the USB-C port, although. The rubber cap doesn’t keep in place, which will be a difficulty. More on that later within the assessment.

The Included Accessories

SmallRig consists of a variety of helpful equipment. These provide you with extra inventive prospects whereas utilizing the RM 03. The accent set consists of a small dome diffuser, a barndoor, and a projector with slides. These gentle shapers will be pushed immediately onto the entrance of the sunshine.

The projector accent creates a centered spot. You can insert one of many small slide plates to undertaking shapes as an alternative of a centered spot. Ten tiny metallic slides are included, a few of which comprise textual content.

Along with the sunshine shapers, you additionally get a 20-centimeter floor spike, a chilly shoe adapter, and a sturdy clamp with a mini ball head. Naturally, you can too mount the RM 03 on a (mini) tripod due to the usual 1/4″-20 thread on the underside.

The chilly shoe offers you the choice to mount the unit in your digicam. Although it really works, it doesn’t really feel very handy to make use of. The deal with stands out fairly far above the digicam. Although the versatile tube is lengthy sufficient to achieve the entrance of a daily macro lens, a small ball head or a second 1/4″-20 mount on the aspect of the deal with would have been an enchancment.

Using It in Out within the Field

Using the RM 03 is sort of easy and simple. You place the unit near your topic and bend the tube till the LED illuminates the topic as desired. Thanks to the small head, it’s straightforward to put it near the topic. That’s when the restricted quantity of sunshine the RM 03 produces is ideal. It gained’t flood the topic with an excessive amount of gentle.

Outdoors, the bottom spike is useful. You merely push the RM 03 into the bottom. How secure the unit stands will depend on the firmness of the soil. You may also simply lay the unit down on the bottom if that works higher.

When utilizing the bottom spike, it’s sensible to pin it down in a vertical place if attainable. If you insert it into the bottom at an angle, positioning the tube off-center could trigger the unit to rotate, making it tough to direct the sunshine exactly.

If you need extra freedom to maneuver round, the chilly shoe will be an possibility. The almost 40-centimeter tube is lengthy sufficient to light up the topic in entrance of your (macro) lens. Keep in thoughts that the unit protrudes fairly excessive above the digicam. I worry it would put some stress on the connection, particularly if you stumble upon one thing, regardless of the low weight of the RM 03.

You may also mount the RM 03 on the heavy-duty clamp. The small ball head gives extra freedom in positioning. However, the ball head itself doesn’t enable any axial rotation and, with just one indent, it’s considerably restricted in freedom of motion.

Regarding the included gentle modifiers, the dome diffuser gives pleasantly mushy gentle, whereas the projector produces a pleasant, centered beam. Extending the top offers you an extra approach to manipulate the sunshine spot, making the perimeters a lot softer.

With the projector, you will have ten slides obtainable that may undertaking shapes or textual content. The slides are very small, which is sensible. It’s necessary to work fastidiously so that you don’t lose them. If the usage of slides will not be your factor, the projector will also be used for a small highlight. Alternatively, the barn doorways are fairly efficient as nicely, due to the required shut distance to the topic because of the restricted most brightness.

However, the restricted brightness generally is a draw back as nicely. It turns into tough to make use of the RM 03 at a bigger distance to light up a bigger floor space. However, that’s not what it’s designed for, and I consider in these circumstances a traditional LED gentle could be more practical. Combining it with the SmallRig RM 40C, as an example, which is a real RGB gentle, by the best way, could possibly be answer if extra gentle is critical.

Conclusion

I’ve been utilizing the RM 03 for mushroom pictures. The floor spike was fairly useful in a whole lot of conditions. I discovered that inserting the unit vertically was typically necessary. It prevented rotation once I positioned the versatile tube. However, with the vertical place, you’ll lose some attain, forcing you to put the sunshine nearer to the topic.

The rotation with the bottom spike can simply be prevented with a small redesign of the spike. Instead of a spherical pin, a star-form pin could be higher. Or maybe three pins subsequent to one another as an alternative of only one. Since the connection is a straightforward 1/4″-20, a custom-made pin could possibly be a easy answer as nicely.

The RM 03 has an IP54 score, as talked about earlier than. This lets you place the unit on the moist forest flooring with none drawback, or you should use it in a lightweight rain bathe. There is a small rubber cowl that protects the USB-C port. However, this rubber cowl doesn’t keep in place in any respect. It turned an annoyance whereas utilizing it. Whether this can be a drawback for the IP54 score, I don’t know.

The lack of a battery indication can catch you unexpectedly. The 140-minute runtime at most output is sort of good and must be sufficient for many conditions. But there isn’t any heads-up when the battery is nearly depleted. It could be fairly irritating for those who’re going out within the area with just a few minutes of energy left. It’s sensible to ensure you begin with a completely charged battery.

Speaking of going out within the area, if you wish to take all of the equipment with you, it’s advisable to place them in a devoted pouch. A small accent pouch or cable case ought to do properly. That method, you retain all the pieces collectively. If you don’t, issues will get misplaced finally. Unfortunately, SmallRig doesn’t embody a pouch.

Despite the criticism, utilizing the RM 03 is an pleasant expertise and presents additional inventive prospects within the area. There are some things to bear in mind, such because the rotation of the bottom spike, the USB-C cowl, and the dearth of a battery-level indicator. Even with these comparatively minor points, I can suggest the SmallRig RM 03 Macro Photography LED light.

What I Like

• Small and compact
• Flexible arm gives nice freedom in positioning
• Easy to make use of
• Accessory set included
• Projection slides supply additional inventive choices
• Barndoor works very successfully because of the brief working distance
• Last used setting (coloration and depth) is retained
• IP54 weatherproofing towards mud and water
• 4,000+ tube actions assured, in accordance with the web site
• Good worth worth

What Could Be Improved

• USB-C rubber cap comes unfastened with each dealing with of the unit
• No show for battery information or gentle depth
• Ground spike permits the unit to rotate when positioning the sunshine off-center
• Grid accent could be helpful
• The ball head on the clamp has no axial rotation functionality
• Cold shoe may benefit from a ball head
• Barndoor can’t be utilized in mixture with the projector
• Extra 1/4″-20 mount on the aspect could be helpful
• A easy accent pouch must be included

There is one remaining factor that might considerably improve the RM 03’s worth. Since the RM 03 already presents the three main colours, full RGB capabilities could be an amazing addition. Of course, this could require extra advanced controls and maybe a small LCD display screen, which might undermine the simplicity of the RM 03.

In that case, Bluetooth functionality with an app could be fascinating as nicely. However, this isn’t actually a disadvantage, nevertheless it’s one thing that falls into the class “nice to have.”

As a remaining observe, I need to thank SmallRig for offering the RM 03 Macro Photography LED lights.