Neewer Basics BR60 5″ Ring Light review
The Neewer Basics BR60 5” is a cheap and easy way to improve selfies, videos, or online video calls. It’s certainly one of the best ring lights I have tested .
The design is focused on being as functional as possible, making it incredibly easy to operate. The added attachments of a clip and tripod make it convenient for any situation.
It brings out the real world colour typically lost when taking pictures, especially when using the front facing camera on my phone.
The only caveat is that the ring light has to be plugged in to work and doesn’t come with a battery power option. This means while it is lightweight and easy to walk around with, it isn’t entirely portable without a power bank in tow.
However, the need to be plugged in does mean you are sure to have consistent lighting for whatever you are doing.
You can find out more in my full Neewer Basics BR60 5” Ring Light review.
Neewer Basics BR60 5″ Ring Light review: Cheat sheet
- What is it? A mini ring light with tripod and clip accessories
- What does it cost? The Neewer Basics BR60 5” Ring Light is available for $21/£19 at Amazon
- Who is it for? Anyone who is looking to improve their selfie or first person video content
- What should you use it for? Consistent and stable lighting on selfies or first person video, and makeup set ups
- What do we like? It is incredibly user-friendly and offers a lot of adjustment
- What don’t we like? No built-in battery support
Neewer Basics BR60 5″ Ring Light review: Specs
Neewer Basics BR60 5″ Ring Light review: Price & availability
The Neewer Basics BR60 5” Ring Light is available at Amazon U.S. for $21 and Amazon U.K. for £19.
The price is slightly higher ($29) if purchased directly from the Neewer website, but you’ll get a one-year warranty as a bonus. In fact, you can extend this further by signing up to the company’s newsletter if you’re so inclined.. You’re paying a little extra, sure, but you get the added peace of mind of a warranty period which for some is worth the cost.
Neewer Basics BR60 5″ Ring Light review: Design
The design of the Neewer Basics BR60 5” Ring Light is exactly that — basic. But not in a bad way. It eliminates any fuss that comes with an awkward set up and is super straightforward to use.
The entire body is plastic with metal threads at the base to attach to the tripod. The tripod itself is easy to attach, and the legs fan out for stability.
There is also a clip which slides into the bottom of the ring light. This clip allows a tilt of up to 170º so I was able to adjust the light exactly how I needed it even when it was in a fixed position.
The clip can be attached to anything less than 1” thick. I was able to easily attach it to my mirror while doing my makeup, on my laptop for work calls, and my phone for selfies.
The clip has a gap on one side which perfectly fits over the camera on my phone and laptop. So it doesn’t obscure the camera view when attaching the light, which I have had happen with other phone light attachments I have used in the past.
The light needs to be plugged in at all times and comes with a built-in six foot USB-A cable which is also where the controls are. There is a USB-A to USB-C adapter included though and this meant I was able to plug it in to my MacBook which only has USB-C ports.
Neewer Basics BR60 5″ Ring Light review: Controls
The controls for the Neewer Basics BR60 5” Ring Light are extremely easy to get on with. It seriously couldn’t be any simpler.
Attached to the built-in charging cable is a control pad. The power button turns the light on and off when plugged in and there is a mode button which cycles through the light’s six modes.
My personal favorite of these modes is the warm light as I found this looked the most natural and added some warmth to my face. The settings then become cooler as you cycle through them.
There are plus and minus buttons to alter the brightness of the light with 10 levels of adjustment. This makes the light extremely customizable — there is something for every scenario.
Neewer Basics BR60 5″ Ring Light review: Performance
Having been disappointed with the performance of small ring lights in the past, I am pleased to say that I was blown away by the Neewer Basics BR60 5” Ring Light. I seriously think it changed my face for the better during selfies and now I get why the Kardashian Instagram game is so strong.
The light has a CRI (color rendering index) of 97+. A higher CRI means that the light ensures that objects and subjects appear true to their original colour, and lower values indicate more color distortion. This is measured on a scale of 0-100.
So this light having such a high reading is a great sign, and I found that, with the light on, I looked more like what I would see in the mirror as opposed to in my phone camera in natural lighting.
With all the settings to cycle through on the light, the color temperature of the light ranges from 3000K to 6000K. The lower values are the warmer tomes and higher values are cool tones. Both are necessary for different types of photography as cooler lights are often better in a studio setting, or just depending on what your own style calls for.
To test out how the light works for every day use I used the tripod to set it up next to my mirror to do my makeup for the day. This is one of the uses recommended by Neewer so I wanted to check if it made me do it better.
I was able to have far more attention to detail and found I could see the colors better and get a better idea of how everything was blending. It was pretty gloomy outside on my testing day so the natural lighting was dull so it was a good opportunity to get some natural light tones. It is easy to see why makeup artists use ring lights when working on clients, I’ll definitely be adding this to my daily routine.
I also used it to take some selfies, since this is probably one of the most likely use cases for this product. And it massively improved the visual quality and made me look more polished and professional on camera.
Image 1 of 2
Both of the above images were taken using the front facing camera of my iPhone 14. The first image is taken with the ring light on the warm light mode. It is clear that the light enhanced my features while brightening my complexion.
The second image is taken in natural lighting in front of a window with the same camera and is very dull and there is a lot more noise in the image. The ring light made everything sharper.
Neewer Basics BR60 5″ Ring Light review: Verdict
In a society where everything is documented, the Neewer Basics BR60 5” Ring Light is an essential addition for anyone’s home or office setup.
The color reading index rating is high and it is evident from the images I took that it brings out real world color on camera, which usually dulls the color. It also worked incredibly well to reduce noise in the image by creating sharper lines.
Unfortunately you do need to be near a power outlet or have some sort of portable charger with you to turn the light on since it is not battery powered. This means you’re quite limited with movement when using it, but on the flip side you’ll never get caught out by a dead battery.
At only $21, this ring light is an affordable way to improve your selfie or video calling game.
