Here at Editors Keys HQ, we've been using the same Amazon studio lights for 5 year now, our trusty NEEWER LED 45 Max lights have served us well through many videos and photoshoots, but we figured it's about time for an upgrade!
We were lucky enough to have been sent the GVM SD200b studio light by GVM themselves - they saw that we were in the market for new lights and wanted to know if we wanted to check theirs out. Which of course we did! We've certainly heard great things about GVM, but they're certainly an underdog within the lighting game so we were even more curious to see what kind of a difference a light like theirs could make, and if it's worth making a purchase.
Specs:
So firstly, lets go over the specs - The GVM SD200B lights feature a powerful 200-watt bi colour spotlight, compared to the mere 45watts of our old Neweer lights. Already they pack much more of a punch!
Lets go over the specs first of all. The SD200B lights feature a powerful 200-watt Bi colour spot light, compared to the measly 45W of our old Neweer ones. The bi-colour spotlight means that you can cycle through every colour temperature possible - compared to other spotlights which are stuck on just one or two colours, resulting in footage or pictures that are either too cold or too warm. It's also a super hand feature for if you're filming a product or a scene and you want to emulate the lighting of a sunny morning, a cold winters day, or the magical golden hour of sun.
It also offers 13 presets for various lighting styles such as tungsten, studio lamps, sunset, sunrise and overcast skies, which takes a lot of the guesswork out when it comes to trying to match light sources. The GVM has full app control as well, so you can adjust the brightness and temperature from your desk or from in front of the camera, so you don't have to worry about constantly getting up and moving back and forth. You can also turn the light on and off via the app as well!
The GVM SD200B also features 12 lighting effects including candlelight, fireworks and paparazzi. While these aren't really features that we'd be using for reviews, it's still a super interesting feature to have and can come in useful for a variety of things! On the outside, it looks great and pretty simple with the screen, control knobs and the fans. Something thats’s super important for us is the silent fan option, if you’re filming videos then this is a must-have, the last thing you want is a loud fan polluting your audio levels.
When we were originally shopping around for new studio lights, we were looking at the trusty Aperture lights - they're great and have a very high reputation. But at £500+ for a similar spec, they're quite the investment. This GVM SD200B light is priced at just £230 in the UK is just over half the price!
Neewer LED Max 45w
Our previous studio lights were the Neewer Max 45w. These are just your basic, run of the mill studio lights that you can pick up off Amazon or eBay for around £65. These lights have been used on every single video on our Youtube channel up until now! To be honest, these lights have served us very well - if you've watched any of our Youtube videos, well...that's the Neewer LED Max 45w in action.
If you're just starting out in video making, or have just started your own Youtube channel then don't be put off the Neewer lights, they work very well for a starter lighting kit and they certainly do the job. But at some point, like us, you'll likely want to start looking for an upgrade. The main issue with these is that the light is very spread out, so it’s lighting up a wider area, which just means you get less contrast and less overall control.
Shot Lighting
Be sure to watch our full Youtube review below, in order to see all of the lighting shots we filmed. Here are some screenshots of different lighting angles in action with the GVM SD200B!
Hopefully we've given you a few ideas of how great the GVMSD200B Pro light looks and feels. We're super happy with it and can't wait to use it in our videos. Be sure to check out our full Youtube video below.
