– One of the most popular
lights you can buy for YouTube videos or
even video production are what is called paneled lights. When these were first released, they were LEDs that gave you the ability to change the temperature of
the light from cold to warm. Years later, RGB was added to these panels to bring in some colors and really give you the
ability to vibe out your space with any color that you would like. However, you'd be limited with the amount of bulbs
being used on the panel because they would have
to be split by 50%. And that's why in this video we'll be checking out this
double sided panel light from GVM called the 50SM. Because this one panel
light has two sides, it gives off double the brightness and is a feature rich light that truly allows you to use it in so many different ways and scenarios. And in this video, we're gonna be checking
out all the details to see if this light
is the perfect addition to your content creation needs. Let's go. You gotta just press record.
Hey, what's up, it's Omar
Takrori with Think Media. And this video is sponsored by GVM, And we just wanna thank GVM
for sending out these lights for us to test and review. But before we get into the features and the things you get in the bag, I wanna break down different scenarios that you can use a light like this for, just to get your creativity rolling and to see if you could potentially use the light in the same way.
The first way you can use this light set is in a talking head situation, and using one light as your key light and another light as your fill light. What's cool about these
lights is they do include a softbox, diffuse, kind
of like honeycomb thing, which gives you a nice kind
of soft light on your face. And it just makes that a
little bit more flattering. And, so, it's really cool that these are included in the
package when you buy them. But allowing you to use these as a key light for talking head videos, or interviews and things like that, and using the second
one as they fill light is one way you can use these lights. The next way you can use this light is to use it as a hair light,
or even a motivated light.
Now, a hair light is simply when you splash the light from behind you down on your hair and shoulders. This creates separation
from your background and then creates just
a nice dynamic image. This is a cool way to kind of bring a lamp
from the back of your video, which gives the effect that a lamp would cast that light onto
your shoulder or your hair. This technique is used
a ton in commercials, and in Hollywood, but it's also a good look
for YouTube videos as well. Another way you can use this light is kind of one of my
favorite ways to use it, and that's simply to
color your background.
If you have a plain colored
wall, whether it's white, or maybe you're using paper backdrop and it's gray, light gray, you can actually splash a
color onto the background and create whatever color you want. And if you're doing this
for your YouTube videos, that's cool. But you can also use it for thumbnails and create cool colors
with the use of a light. You don't have to buy or paint your walls. You can just simply use the
different colors on the RGB side to produce whatever color you want. You can also use a light like
this for accent lighting, which is simply a splashing light in certain areas of your background. And we like doing this kind of behind this
like fake plant we have, we can just splash a
light from underneath it.
And it kind of just produces a cool vibe when we're shooting in
the Kyle Anderson Studios. But this is one way that
you can use this light. Because it has so many colors
and it's very powerful, you can actually produce
whatever kind of light you want and splash it wherever
you'd like to splash it. And then what's so cool about these lights is that they include the famous scenes that GVM includes into
a lot of their lights, which is things like candle,
or TV, or cop car, or disco. The scene capability with these lights just allow you to level
up the production value of a commercial or a music
video that you may be doing. Or maybe you even shoot weddings. This is a light that can be really great for throwing onto the dance
floor and things like that. Now, let's talk about some
more features of this light. As far as the build quality goes, these are made out of a durable aviation
aluminum alloy material, which altogether just means
that they're pretty sturdy, that these could take a beating and they'll last a pretty long time.
I love that this light has
an all LED screen display that's super clear, that shows
what the mode you're in is, and the temperature of
light that you're using, as well as the power from zero to 100. And, also if you're
tapping through the scenes and things like that, you can see what you're
doing on the light. And even from a glance, you can see what mode your light is in, which is super helpful. There's two knobs at
the bottom of the light that controls your brightness, and also your color temperature
and things like that. But, one of the knobs you actually click to tap through the different modes, whether that be the LED side,
the RGB side, or the scenes. With the LED side of the panel, you have the ability to go from 3,200 Kelvin to 5,600 Kelvin, which is pretty standard
for most lights like this. But, again, like I mentioned
in the intro of this video, is that you're getting the whole panel to be able to produce this light, which is super helpful and gives you essentially double the power than it would in the past.
The RGB side of the lighting panel gives you a 360 degree color spectrum, allowing you to essentially
choose any color you can possibly think of, or imagine. The included barn doors
you get with the light are super cool because
you can actually change what side you have them
on by simply unscrewing and then flipping over
and screwing it back on. This is super helpful to direct the light you want to produce, and so you don't get any spill
when you're using the light. Another one of my favorite
things about these lights is that it comes with an app. And what's cool about this app, unlike other GVM lights in the past, is this app connects via Bluetooth. So, you don't have to like undo your Wi-Fi and then tap into this one, and then try to go on
Instagram and it's not working, but you can just connect via Bluetooth and control these lights wirelessly.
If you put these lights
in like slave mode, you can truly get the
full spectrum of controls all from the palm of
your hand using the app. Another cool thing about these lights is that they have the ability
to add L-Series batteries, and, so, if you're running gun and you don't have the ability to plug in, you can simply use L-Series batteries, which depending on the
size and quality you get, you can really run these lights
for a long period of time without having to plug them in to power, which is super convenient and cool.
Now, let's break down
what you get in the bag when you get the two
pack, 50SM light from GVM. You're gonna get the two
lights themselves, of course. Two light stands for
the lights that go on. You're gonna get a carrying case to carry all this stuff in it. (cameraman laughing) Freaking frick, dude. Super sick carrying case. Two AC adapters to power up the lights. You're gonna get the two barn doors that you can use on
either side of the light. And then you're gonna get the diffusers that you can add right
on top of the lights, with the two honeycombs, so that if you really want that nice diffused spread out lighting, that's gonna be really nice
for using it as a key light. But that's all that you
get in the pack of two. Now, as far as the price
goes for the GVM 50SM light, the two pack that I just
mentioned and broke down comes in at around $700 at the time of shooting
this video here in the US.
And if you wanna get a three pack, you could save a little bit, and it's gonna cost you just under $1000 at the time of shooting this video. And you can check out updated links and more about these lights down in the description below. I definitely think these lights are made for the person who
needs all these features. I think you could definitely,
you know, save some money and get the one paneled
version of these lights, but you're just gonna lose
out on a little bit of power, which might be better for you. And we'll post the alternative
version of these lights, the one that just has one panel on them, down in the description below, as well. But if you're definitely getting more serious in video production, maybe you're shooting
weddings, maybe you're, you just need things in
your kit that can do it all.
I think these lights can do it all. You can use them as key lights. You can vibe out an entire room because of how much colored
lighting they put out. They don't share 50% of
the panel with LED bulbs, which other ones do in the past. And, so, I think for that reason, this is a super cool light. And I would prefer to have these around more than the other ones, simply because of the different use cases that we may need them in. And we're, you know, obviously
we're producing videos at a high level and a high volume, but that would make sense for us. But let me know down in the comments below what you think of that price point. And what do you think about
these lights, just in general? Can you see yourself using these lights in your YouTube video setup, or maybe in what you're
doing with video production. Would love to know down
in the comments below.
Now, if you wanna check out the video we did on how we use one light to kind of get different
colored backgrounds, you can check that out by
clicking or tapping the screen. And, I can't wait to see you
in a future video. Peace. (mellow music).
