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A fill light on the camera’s hot shoe is a handy way to brighten whoever stands in front of the lens. A 360-degree camera sees in every direction, so it needs the same light on its front and back at once. That is where a standard shoe-mounted light falls short, and the Omni 360 2W Video Fill Light from Harlowe is built to solve it.
It is not the first accessory of its kind, since several companies already sell similar 360-degree fill lights for spherical footage. It is one of the more affordable ones around, though, which suits anyone who would rather not pay $300 on a low-powered camera light.
A Wraparound Glow in Every Direction
This compact light shines all around, which makes it a natural partner for 360-degree cameras. The maker says it produces a balanced, wraparound glow that keeps faces and scenes looking natural and consistent by softening uneven shadows and harsh hotspots.
Output is rated at just 2W, so the glow is soft and diffused, which should suit subjects that are close by. If you need extra brightness, you can push it to 4W for a short time.
Controls and Smart Touches
Physical buttons on top handle brightness and color temperature. If you want a traditional front-facing fill light, the unit can also switch to a 180-degree directional output.
It reportedly supports gesture control as well, although we are not sure which gestures it recognizes. We imagine that would help when you would rather not touch the setup and risk nudging it out of place.
Onboard memory stores the settings from before you powered down and restores them at the next startup. That makes setups easy to repeat between shoots.
Mounting and Battery Life
The cold shoe mount is rugged enough, the company says, to sit not only on cameras but on cages and rigs of all kinds. An underside magnet also lets you snap the light onto a ferromagnetic surface.
A cold shoe provides no power, so the light has an onboard battery. At the lower setting of 25 percent, it runs as long as six hours of continuous use. At the highest setting, it lasts just 90 minutes before it needs to be plugged in again.
Four LED indicators on top show the remaining charge in 25 percent steps.
Size, Durability and Price
Its height is 2.8 inches, its width is 1.8 inches and its depth is 0.95 inches, and it weighs 1.9 ounces. That is small enough to slip into a little pouch on your camera backpack.
It carries an IP54 rating for dust and splash resistance. Outdoor shoots should be fine, as long as it does not get too much water.
At $95, the Harlowe fill light is available now. A bundle is also offered with a cage for either the DJI Osmo 360 or the Insta360 X5.
Liam Henderson
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