Today we are doing a review of a very special new light from iFootage, a company that up until now was known for its quality tripods, sliders, and other small accessories such as arms. The iFootage Anglerfish SL1 60DN that we shall be reviewing is the smallest in a series of new lights from the company but it brings several unique features that we didn’t see until now in any other light on the market.
We have already reviewed a number of iFootage products here in the past including the Seastars Q1 which is our recommended quick-release system for larger accessories, Spider Crab Arms which are the best accessory arms on the market hands down, and the longer SA-32 Telescoping Support Rod which we reviewed recently.
iFootage was kind enough to send us a large number of products besides the Anglerfish SL1 60DN including two new light modifiers, a compact on-camera light as well as several other products that were announced in the past year or so to play around with and we will mention some of them below.
The new iFootage Anglerfish SL1 60DN LED
phone clamp & Round base monopod
The first product we’ll look at today is a pocket phone clamp. This $30 plastic clamp comes in different colors and can be used as a stand or selfie grip or mounted with its Arca-swiss plate or Manfrotto 50mm extension plate.
It also features a 1/4‘’ mount to set it up on any stand, like the iFootage Timberpod Mini Tripod which is an elegant wooden mini tripod from iFootage ($50), or their round flat-based monopod for the studio.
The flat base is very useful in the studio since it doesn’t take up a lot of room. iFootage offers a tall (59.4’’ $90) called iFootage RB-A300 Cobra 2 and a short (22’’ $70) iFootage RB-A200 Cobra 2 tabletop version of this monopod.
Spider Crab vehicle suction cup
Another interesting product by iFootage is this suction cup to mount cameras to the side of a vehicle or any smooth surface. Even though the cup is rated for up to 20kg of payload, since there is no failsafe, you shouldn’t really use it for anything bigger than an action camera.
IFootage now offers Spider Crab Lite arms to securely position your light camera setup. For a larger setup, you can combine three suction cups and use iFootage SpiderCrab arms or support rods to mount a camera to the side of a car.
These SpiderCrab suction cups come in 2 sizes (118mm $110 and 146mm $130) and feature 1/4’’ and 3/8’’ mounts on two sides and a quick-release converter screw.
Anglerfish HL1 C4 on camera LED
An interesting new product by iFootage is the Anglerfish HL1 C4 on-camera RGB LED ($50). It’s a pocket-sized unit that comes in different colors. The light features a magnetic back for easy placement and a magnetic diffuser on the front.
This tiny light packs a wide color temperature range from 2800K to 10000K and includes a Bluetooth controller to control it remotely with the iFootage Lumin app.
Anglerfish SL1 60DN COB LED
Now let’s talk about the new light. This is the smallest unit in the new lineup of iFootage COB LED’s. It’s a pretty simple unit, but it promises a couple of important innovations and sells for under $200 (the bundle with carrying case costs $230).
In the box
IFootage ships the SL1 60DN in a semi-hard carrying case. Included in the kit are the light unit, a reflector, power brick and cable, and a stand adapter.
Build and design
The SL1 sports a minimalist design. It’s a lightweight, almost pocket-sized unit. It features an aluminum base and a plastic enclosure.
The front of the light features a proprietary mount that looks like a mini-Bowens. We are not sure if iFootage will make this mount into a whole ecosystem in the future (Godox created the Godox mount in the same way).
There is an optional Bowens mount adapter ($20) and a new 90cm iFootage softbox ($130). Both of these feel pretty basic. The Bowens ring is made of plastic and has a hard-to-grip tiny handle (this should really be improved in a future update in our opinion). The softbox is a very simple spoke lock design with flaps in the back and probably fits the two other larger and more powerful Anglerfish LED better than this 60W unit with the adaptor (both the other units have a proper Bowens mount).
Features
The SL1 is a daylight (5600K) COB light. It has a built-in Bluetooth controller that allows the user to control the light through the iFootage Lumin app (Android / iOS – which should be up soon). The app is pretty straightforward. It connects automatically to the light and allows to quickly change settings or pick effects.
The unit is cooled with a pretty silent fan. The only part of the light that gets warm is the LED itself, but you don’t want to be touching that anyway.
Control
On the back of the light, there are two clickable knobs for dimmer control, effects, and menu.
There is also a power button (a short press will pause and a long press will turn it on/off) and a power cable port. The power brick comes with a small metal cable to hang it from the stand. Not the best solution (we prefer a v-mount connector), but it’s nice to have.
The buttons on the back of the Anglerfish SL1 60DN
Power options
One of the important innovations of the SL1 is the USB-C power option. It requires 100W of power delivery, so it’s important to use it with the right cable and charger (or power bank), a weaker cable/power source will not allow you to use the light at 100%.
iFootage also offers a V-mount battery plate with a handle ($60). In our tests using a 150Wh battery, we were only able to get about 1 hour of continuous output at 100% with Bluetooth enabled (the app has a battery status indicator, but it doesn’t work with the V-mount plate)
The DC in and USB-C connectors
Performance
One major innovation of the SL1 is the corrected blue wave, which is problematic for other LED lights to accurately produce (see a technical discussion here). We asked iFootage for an explanation about how they accomplished this, and we’ll update this article when we get an answer.
We did some tests to see if this is something that is visible to the eye, and you can see in the video above some footage for you to decide.
We tested the light output and color accuracy of the SL1 60DN from 1 meter away with and without a reflector and with a 90cm iFootage softbox using our Sekonic C-800 Spectrometer. We also recorded the readings from the sun (not from 1m away) and the results as you can see below are extremely close.
Here are the results we got:
Anglerfish SL1 60DN reading, bare bulb
- Color temperature: 5431K.
- Output: 2960Lux.
- CRI: 97.6 (R9 – 98.1; R12 – 96.8).
- TLCI: 99.
- TM-30 RF: 97; TM-30 Rg – 102.
- SSI: 83.
The Anglerfish SL1 60DN reading (bare bulb)
Anglerfish SL1 60DN reading with a reflector
- Color temperature: 5480K.
- Output: 11000Lux.
- CRI: 97.6 (R9 – 97.8; R12 – 95.8).
- TLCI: 99.
- TM-30 RF: 97; TM-30 Rg – 102.
- SSI: 82.
Anglerfish SL1 60DN reading with a 90cm iFootage softbox
- Color temperature: 5286K.
- Output: 968Lux.
- CRI: 97.9 (R9 – 98.3; R12 – 95.8).
- TLCI: 99.
- TM-30 RF: 97; TM-30 Rg – 102.
- SSI: 82.
For comparison – here are mid-day sunlight readings (summer around 13:00)
Conclusion
In conclusion, iFootage hasn’t failed to provide interesting products, and with these new additions to their lineup, we are excited to see what they’ll come up with next. Having a light that has a color accuracy that is essentially almost indistinguishable from sunlight is very impressive and as far as we can tell a first in the industry.
These accessories we tested are for the most part very useful and are in line with iFootage’s level of quality and you will be seeing more of them in some of our upcoming reviews and projects.
The iFootage Anglerfish-SL1-60DN and several iFootage accessories
Pricing and availability
The iFootage Anglerfish lights are going to be available from September 2022 for the following prices – all from the iFootage website at the moment:
- iFootage Anglerfish SL1 60DN – $190 light only ($230 bag kit).
- iFootage Anglerfish SL1 220DN – $429.
- iFootage Anglerfish SL1 320DN – $650.
- Mini Bowens adaptor – $19.
- V-mount adaptor – $60.
- 50cm Lantern – $90.
- 65cm Lantern – $100.
- 60cm softbox – $120.
- 90cm softbox – $130.
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