Zhiyun Fiveray M40 Pocket Light Review – Portable Fill Light For Photography

Fill light is an essential tool for photographers to create stunning, vivid, and three-dimensional images. It is used to add light to specific areas of the image, such as shadows, to create a more balanced and pleasing image. However, the process of setting up and adjusting fill lights can be cumbersome, especially when using high-brightness fill lights that are large in size and quality. Additionally, using fill lights that are not bright enough can also be a problem, as they may not provide the desired lighting effect. Zhiyun, a leading technology company, has once again delivered a powerful and innovative device with the launch of the Fiveray M40 Powerful Pocket Light.

This powerful light has a capacity of 40W, making it ideal for content creators who need to film or take photos in a variety of environments. The Zhiyun Fiveray M40 Pocket Light is a versatile and compact lighting solution that is perfect for photographers, videographers, TikToker, live streamers, and content creators on the go. Its lightweight design and built-in lithium battery make it easy to carry and use anywhere, while its high brightness and wide color temperature range allow for professional-quality results. Whether you’re shooting in a studio or out in the field, the M40 Pocket Light is a reliable and powerful tool that will help you achieve the perfect shot every time.

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Let’s take a look at its performance in this review.

Unboxing

The M40 Pocket Light comes in a sleek and elegant packaging box designed to make it look like a gift. The box is made of high-quality cartons, which provides excellent protection for the product inside during shipping.

Inside the box, you will find the Zhiyun Fiveray M40 Pocket Light, a charging cable, and an instruction manual. The charging cable is used to charge the light, while the manual provides detailed instructions on how to use the product.

Design

The main shell of the Zhiyun Fiveray M40 is made of white plastic! which is both wear-resistant and resistant to fingerprints. The left side of the light features a back cover for the built-in lithium battery compartment, which has a unique wave texture design that adds a three-dimensional appearance to the light. The M40 pocket light is not only well-crafted, but also visually appealing with its black, white, and orange color scheme.

The pocket light has a unique design with a relatively dense air intake grill on the shell. It is equipped with a built-in cooling fan to dissipate heat when the light is running at full power. Passive cooling methods are not sufficient in this case, and the cooling fan automatically kicks in when the internal temperature reaches a certain threshold. The fan speed is also intelligently adjusted based on the temperature to ensure efficient heat dissipation.

Zhiyun Fiveray M40 features a protruding part on the back where the lithium battery is located. It is equipped with two 18650-size lithium batteries, each with a capacity of 2600mAh. When used at full brightness, the pocket light can last for around 30 minutes. Additionally, it supports fast PD charging, allowing for dynamic charging while in use.

The design of this device features a unique battery compartment that inclines on one side, giving it a sleek and modern look. The air outlet grille is also strategically placed on the side of the fuselage! with a curved shape that adds to the overall aesthetic. This design not only enhances the visual appeal but also helps to soften the harshness of the rectangular shape, making it more comfortable to hold in the hand. The grip arc is perfectly contoured, providing a comfortable grip. However, the arc design does prevent the device from being placed on its side.

At the bottom has a one-piece adjustable bracket, which is made of aluminum alloy. The whole is very thick, and the edge does not feel cut. It supports 360° rotation in the horizontal direction. The bottom and left sides of the bracket are designed with 1/4 screw holes! which is convenient to install on a tripod. If you want To adjust the rotation tension, you can turn the screw on one side to adjust. Once you rotate the bracket, you can also find the Type-C Fast charging port.

There are two adjustment knobs designed at the bottom of the pocket light. The color temperature and brightness of the light can be controlled through the knobs. There are clear numerical scales on the knobs. The structure of the adjustment knobs is relatively fragile, and the whole is covered by a metal bracket, which protects the knobs to a certain extent. Avoid bumping the knob when carrying or using it.

By turning the knob, you can easily turn on the light. The knob has a smooth and seamless feel, with moderate rotation damping. This allows for quick and precise adjustments of the light brightness and color temperature. Using the knob is more efficient than using physical buttons. Additionally, there is a status indicator located next to the knob, with each light representing 25% of the power ratio.

The front of the pocket light features internal LED SMD lamp beads that utilize dual-color temperature LED lamp beads and are spaced out evenly. There are 88 cold light and 88 warm light lamp beads for a total of 176 pieces. Additionally, the surface is protected by a frosted light-transmitting plastic plate. The quality of the lamp beads is a crucial aspect of pocket lights as it directly impacts the lighting effect.

Adjusting the brightness and color temperature of the light is easy to understand. By altering the brightness of the cold and warm lamp beads! various levels of brightness and color temperature can be achieved. The maximum power output is 40W, according to the manufacturer! the highest level of illuminance can reach 14000Lux when measured from a distance of 0.3m.

One of the features of the Zhiyun Fiveray M40 Pocket Light is its lightweight and portable design. The size is 136.8*77.8*29mm, and the weight is only 320g. Its size and weight are about equal to two mobile phones. Despite its compact size, it boasts a maximum operating power of 40W! making it much brighter than traditional fill lights with a power of 5-10W.

Ease of Use

If you only use your mobile phone for video shooting when you go out, you will easily put the pocket light in your pants pocket, which will not bring obviously cumbersome feeling. Even if you put it in a tripod storage bag! it will not significantly increase the weight on your back, allowing you to carry it out for creative shooting. The process becomes easier, and girls will not feel heavy when holding the fill light, which fully interprets the essence of pocket light design.

Regarding the installation and use of the Zhiyun Fiveray M40 Pocket Light, the fuselage comes with an integrated bracket. The fuselage comes with an integrated bracket. When rotated to a certain angle, it can support the pocket light to illuminate at a certain angle. It is suitable for placing on the ground outdoors or placed in a high place that illuminates downwards so as not to take up extra space.

The built-in bracket of the pocket light is only for emergency use. The application scenarios and the angles that can be placed are very limited. Personally, I prefer to use it with a tripod. The stability is better, and the angle and height are freer! can be used with a tripod that supports the center axis inversion function or the built-in bracket.

The metal bracket of the pocket light is equipped with two 1/4 screw ports! which can be used with various accessories to assist in fixing the pocket light, such as universal brackets! hot shoe brackets, or suction cup brackets. Due to the size of the pocket light itself and Lightweight, it can be easily mounted on motorized slides, and portable extension poles! or equipment such as cameras.

If you want to fill in the light properly for the subject, you can install and fix the pocket light on the camera with the hot shoe bracket, move and change the angle with the camera, use the camera stabilizer to fill the light for video shooting, or even install and fix it on the pocket light For a mobile phone or an action camera, the actual fill light effect is far better than the built-in flash of the mobile phone.

Performance

The picture was taken at four o’clock in the afternoon, and the sunlight is on the left side of the person. If only the background is exposed, the main body of the headset will be underexposed. Place the Zhiyun FIVERAY M40 pocket light on the right front obliquely above the person, and the main body of the headset and the subject will be underexposed. Appropriate fill light on the right side of the character can get clearer picture details.

If you encounter the problem of insufficient exposure to details in outdoor shooting, you can optimize it by adjusting the shadows. However, in a scene with a large contrast between the main character and the background, it is really impossible to optimize the picture by adjusting the highlights and shadows. Forcibly raising the shadows will lead to There are problems such as distortion and noise in the picture.

Shooting the driving recorder from the inside of the car, the original image is straight out without modification and adjustment, the light outside the car is sufficient, the contrast between light and dark is too large, if the background is exposed, the subject will inevitably be black, and Zhiyun FIVERAY M40 pocket light is used With a proper fill light, the details of the subject can be easily captured.

It is even more difficult to shoot at night without a fill light. Fix the Zhiyun FIVERAY M40 Pocket Light on the hot shoe of the camera. It is not recommended to use wide-angle shooting at this installation position, as the lens shadow on the ground will be captured, and the pocket light The light irradiation range is close to 180°. If you need to control the light range, you can use accessories such as light control grids.

Brightness is the most important thing when shooting at night. The picture below is a comparison of the lighting effect of the pocket light at 50% and 100% brightness. The person is standing close to three meters away from the camera, and the F2.0 aperture value ISO-800 exposure is 1/ The original image shot in 160 seconds is straight out, and the brightness of the pocket light can meet the needs of supplementary light for shooting at close range at night.

If the light only illuminates the front, it will appear a little stiff, and the facial contours of the characters lack a sense of three-dimensionality. If you use two Zhiyun FIVERAY M40 pocket lights at the same time, one is used to illuminate the shooting scene, and the other is used with cold or warm light for the characters. Properly fill in the light on the face of the subject to make the outline of the character’s face clearer and more natural.

Indoor shooting also requires being full of light. If it is only to increase the brightness of the shooting scene, ordinary fill light can also be realized, but the color temperature and brightness cannot be adjusted freely. Zhiyun FIVERAY M40 pocket light can control the brightness and color temperature independently! Different shooting styles can be adjusted in a variety of ways to enhance the atmosphere of the shooting scene.

The subject in the picture below is an integrated smart display! which was shot at 50% brightness mode, and a Zhiyun FIVERAY M40 pocket light is arranged on the left and right, and they are all installed and fixed on a tripod. The construction and adjustment process is simple and fast. The soft light effect of the frosted panel is average, it is recommended to use it with a high-transparency soft light cloth, and the shadow effect will be better.

Still-life shooting pays more attention to supplementary light, such as shooting small and medium-sized objects! properly illuminating the subject without overexposure and darkening, and it is necessary to show clear details such as the subject, and outline shape! and texture in the picture.

Install the Zhiyun FIVERAY M40 Pocket Light directly on the long arm bracket! the light source is located obliquely above the subject, and adjusts the light to the warm color at 10% brightness mode! the shooting effect is very good, and it can easily shoot brighter subjects, the background is darkened.

In addition to the need for sufficient light brightness! The fill light also has high requirements for the color rendering index of the lamp. If the color rendering is poor, there will be problems such as color cast or loss of color! which will lead to a poor color effect on the picture, unclear and fuzzy. The TLCI index of the Zhiyun FIVERAY M40 pocket light is >97! and the CRI color rendering index is >96, which makes the image color more natural and real.

Charging and Battery

Next, let’s talk about the power supply and battery life of the Zhiyun FIVERAY M40 pocket light. The maximum charging power of the pocket light is 15W! the actual measurement is about 14W, and it supports two fast charging protocols, PD and QC. If only the pocket light is turned off For charging, the general charging head or mobile power supply is enough! and it takes nearly one and a half hours to fully charge from 0% to 100%.

It takes a long time for the pocket light to be fully charged. It is impossible to wait during the actual shooting. Some precious scenes are often fleeting. At this time, it needs to be powered by an external power supply. The peak value is measured when charging and 100% brightness. The power consumption is about 55W; that is, it needs to be equipped with a charger that supports the PD fast charging protocol with an output power of 65W or above to provide stable power for it.

This Zhiyun FIVERAY M40 pocket light is very bright, but it will also cause problems such as battery life. The measured power consumption of the pocket light at 100% brightness is 40W. When the cooling fan is activated, it will increase to 41W. The battery can only increase the battery life by half an hour! the light brightness can be dimmed appropriately, and the battery life can reach one hour at 50% brightness.

Due to the high power consumption of the pocket light at full load, a large-capacity power bank will be brought with you when you go out to shoot. For example, the power bank in your hand can provide stable power for the pocket light for about five hours at 50% brightness. It is enough for daily shooting. If the outdoor shooting time is longer and there is more equipment, it is more appropriate to choose a large-capacity outdoor power supply.

Conclusion

The Zhiyun FIVERAY M40 Pocket Light is a powerhouse of performance and functionality that sets it apart from its competitors. This pocket-sized device is designed with portability and ease of use in mind! making it an ideal tool for a range of professionals and enthusiasts.

The dual color temperature feature of this light is a standout feature! offering peak power and illuminance that can meet most lighting needs. The adjustable color temperature and high CRI ensure that the images captured are true-to-life and natural. The built-in lithium battery and cooling fan allow the device to function at maximum capacity for extended periods! providing versatility and convenience for shooting in various settings.

While its lightweight design does have some drawbacks, including shorter battery life! the device’s setup and adjustment process is straightforward and easy to use. The 50% brightness setting is sufficient for most lighting needs! and with the option to use a mobile power source or other equipment, battery life is not a significant concern.

Overall, the Zhiyun FIVERAY M40 Pocket Light is an excellent choice for professional photographers, vloggers, self-media creators, and outdoor enthusiasts. Its versatility, portability, and high performance make it an ideal tool for anyone seeking to capture outstanding images or enhance their lighting setup.

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