I’ve received two items in the post this week – both of them related to Vlogging. The first is a small waterproof, rugged Vlogging light by Ulanzi called the L1. It’s a big upgrade from my existing LED light, which isn’t very sturdy.
My second purchase was a Vlogging cage for my GoPro Hero5 Session. Produced by Soonsun, this Vlogging cage will allow me to attach the GoPro to a standard tripod and it has a cold shoe mount as well, so I can stick a Vlogging light on top.
I also provide a quick explanation of colour temperature, do some night-time Vlog-style filming with my LED lights, and conduct a waterproofing test.
Ulanzi L1 light: https://amzn.to/2HSv0l5
GoPro Session Cage: https://amzn.to/34qJj88
TRANSCRIPT
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Whatup nerds? I’m Jay Shareef.
Welcome to another episode of Tech Tuesdays.
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Every Tuesday I make a video talking about whatever tech or gadgets I’ve bought in the last week.
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And I’ve had two deliveries in the last seven days.
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Both of them related to vlogging, and
linked to previous episodes I’ve made.
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Let’s start with the more expensive item.
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By the way, if you’re hoping for unboxing videos
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this isn’t the place for that.
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I don’t enjoy them so I’m just not doing them anymore.
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So, a few weeks back, I built myself the perfect
vlogging rig and as part of that setup
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I purchased a cheap, and not very rugged,
LED light for night time filming.
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However, what I really wanted was
a decent waterproof vlogging light.
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Unfortunately, the waterproof lights
were always ridiculously expensive.
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Luckily, I discovered that Ulanzi have released a
reasonably priced, rugged and waterproof, LED light
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that’s ideal for vlogging, called the Ulanzi L1.
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And I got mine for less than £30 GBP from Amazon.
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Now the first thing that worried me
about this when I opened it up
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is this USB charging port.
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It’s totally open to the elements.
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Ulanzi assures us, however, that this thing is entirely waterproof, including this charging port,
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all the way down to 10 m – that’s about 30 ft.
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So you could use it for diving too. Which is great news.
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I probably won’t be testing the waterproofing though.
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I’m just glad that this thing can cope with a rain shower
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because that’s about the limit
of the action I expect it to see.
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As well as the charging cable, the light
basically comes with just two accessories.
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Firstly, there’s this cold shoe adapter
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that allows you to attach the light
to a camera or camera cage.
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Oh, and if you don’t know what a cold shoe is
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then check out my last Tech Tuesday’s video
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where I explain the terms “hot shoe” and “cold shoe”.
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The second accessory that Ulanzi
provides with the light is some filters.
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I’ve got a white diffuser, and a
couple of orange colour filters too.
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That might seem like a strange choice,
but it does make sense I promise you.
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Basically, it’s all to do with colour temperature.
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There are usually two types of colour
that most lights will give you as standard.
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Firstly bright white light.
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Which has a colour temperature of 5500 Kelvin.
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Which is often written as “5500K”.
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That is what’s supposed to come out of this Ulanzi LED light.
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Which is basically the colour of pure bright sunlight at noon.
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“5500 K”.
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However, as you get closer to sunrise or sunset,
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the colour of the light starts to change.
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At first it becomes more yellow and
then it starts to get more orange in tone.
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Orange light can produce some beautiful images.
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And that’s why a lot of photographers
like to take pictures just before sunset
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when everything is bathed in a kind of golden glow.
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They even have a term for it: Golden Hour.
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Now orange light has a colour temperature of about 3200 Kelvin.
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And by putting this orange filter on the Ulanzi L1
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you can adjust the temperature of the light for a look
that more closely mimics that Golden Hour vibe.
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Anyway, that’s a very, very simplified
explanation of colour temperature.
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I have now charged this cube.
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At first, I thought it was broken, because every
time I pressed the button nothing happened.
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Then I read the instruction manual.
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You’re supposed to hold the button to turn it on.
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There are four power settings. When you
first turn it on, it’s at its minimum power.
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Each press of the button changes the light intensity,
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and, if you want to turn it off, you
have to hold down the button again.
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Right. Time to head outside, at night time, and test this
light against the cheaper version that I bought earlier.
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Right, so it’s 3.30 in the morning.
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It is pitch black here by the canal.
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Let’s see what it looks like when I
turn on my old, cheapo LED light.
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Whoa! OK, so can you see me?
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Can you see anything else?
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OK, so that’s the cheapo LED light.
I’ve turned that on to full brightness.
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Which is probably too much, quite frankly.
Let’s turn it down a little.
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This has dimming capabilities.
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So we can go all the way down to zero.
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Now, let’s try the Ulanzi L1 and see what that looks like.
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That’s the Ulanzi L1.
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Let’s show you the canal.
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So that’s the Ulanzi L1.
I think that’s at minimum power.
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That’s a little brighter.
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Brighter still.
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And brightest. I think that’s the
brightest that the Ulanzi L1 will go.
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[SILENCE]
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Alright, this is spooky and it is four o’clock in the morning.
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The things I do for you!
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Look, you can make your own judgments
from that test but I’ve got to tell you,
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I absolutely love this little gadget.
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You’ve got to keep in mind that action
cameras, like the DJI Osmo Action,
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have absolutely tiny, tiny sensors.
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They’re designed to work in daylight only, basically,
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and you can’t expect a small light to work miracles.
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But having one definitely made the video better.
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And it’s a hell of a lot cheaper to buy a nice little
light than it would be to buy a large sensor camera.
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This light cost me £30 GBP. A decent camera,
with a large sensor, will cost you at least £300 GBP.
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So this Ulanzi L1 has a 1000 mAh battery,
that will last 80 minutes at full charge.
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That’s amazing, quite frankly. And it can
be charged on the go using a power bank.
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It’s just so damned versatile and I’m genuinely
delighted to add this to my vlogging rig.
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What’s interesting is that the Ulanzi L1 light looks
a hell of a lot like my GoPro Hero5 Session.
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And both devices have exactly the
same size battery inside at 1000 mAh.
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As it happens, my second purchase of the
week relates to the GoPro Hero5 Session.
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This GoPro was the first device
I ever reviewed on this channel.
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And I told you all about how much I loved it.
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The tiny size makes it the perfect
vlogging camera in many situations.
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People are always surprised when I say that because
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they know I have much better cameras
than this sitting in my cupboards.
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However, the main benefit of the Hero5 Session
for vlogging is that it’s inconspicuous.
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Nobody notices it.
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There are many situations where
using camera will attract attention.
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And sometimes, in some situations, people
can become defensive or even angry
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if they see you walking around with a large camera.
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There are some situations where Police
or security guards will come up to you
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and demand that you stop filming.
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They may even try and confiscate your
camera and then delete your footage!
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Obviously that’s not likely to happen in the UK or US.
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But, if you’re a travel vlogger, there are plenty of third
world s***holes where human rights just don’t exist.
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And, sadly, thanks to “security” legislation,
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even British citizens passing through British airports
no longer have basic human rights protections.
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And, if you’re a libertarian like me,
then that will really piss you off.
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Anyway, I digress.
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The big advantage of the Hero5 Session
is that it’s practically invisible.
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The disadvantages are that it’s got a short battery life,
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it can’t be mounted on a regular tripod or monopod,
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and you can’t mount a light or microphone to it.
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Now there’s not much you can do about the battery life.
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But there is a third-party product that
can help with the other two issues.
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It’s a camera cage specifically designed for the
Hero5 Session. It’s by a company called Soonsun.
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And mine arrived yesterday.
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This cage is made of sturdy aluminium,
with an optional plastic lens protector.
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As you’d expect, it fits the device perfectly.
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And it isn’t much bigger than the standard Hero Session frame.
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It has a little switch at the bottom to
open and securely close the back door.
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This camera cage also allows you to connect
the Hero5 Session to a regular tripod, like so.
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And I can also attach my Ulanzi L1 waterproof
light to the cold shoe at the top of the cage.
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Basically what this cage has done
is given me a backup vlogging rig.
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Which can be used in circumstances where my
normal rig would attract too much attention.
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This cost me £22 GBP. Which is twice the
price of the normal Hero Session frame.
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But I think the Soonsun cage is ten
times as good, so that’s a bargain price.
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You know what? I said I wasn’t
going to do a water resistance test.
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But seeing as I’ve now got a waterproof
light attached to a waterproof camera…
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We might as well give it a quick dunking!
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Are we okay?
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So, there you have it. Another week
of successful gadget purchases.
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There are links in the description as usual
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if you want to buy any of the products I’ve mentioned.
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This has been another episode of Tech Tuesdays.
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I’ll be back again next week with more.
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Later nerds!
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