Cameras get most of the attention when it comes to a good-looking video, but lighting is the unsung hero. It is said by those in the know that a bad camera with good lighting will always beat a good camera with bad lighting. The key to nice lighting is a large surface area with nice, diffused light. LED lights have become popular solutions in recent years, with Elgato’s Key Light becoming one of the most common lights in peoples’ setups. Razer has delivered their answer to one Key Light with another, the Razer Key Light Chroma.
First of all, for people who are unfamiliar with lighting terms, the Key Light is a primary light source in a scene, so technically speaking, Razer did not rip off the name from Elgato, but come on, they knew what they were doing.
The comparisons don’t stop at the name, either. They are virtually the exact same size and have similar shaped bezels. They have similar connection options and provide the same quality of light, capable of changing the colour temperature.
The differences between the two lights, however, are as glaring as their similarities. First of all, a small but substantial difference; Razer has moved the position of the power switch on the Key Light Chroma, which is so much more convenient for those who are not controlling their light wirelessly. Razer has smartly relocated the switch to the bottom edge of the light, making it much easier to reach than Elgato’s switch, located in the middle of the back of the light.
“Razer has moved the position of the power switch on the Key Light Chroma, which is so much more convenient for those who are not controlling their light wirelessly.”
The biggest and most obvious difference in the game is the chroma part of the Key Light Chroma. Razer has made their lights capable of RGB, delivering a new level of lighting to content creators. While using RGB lighting as the lighting that goes on you as a subject in, say, a stream or YouTube video, would be pretty niche, what it opens up your lighting to potentially become is exciting.
Having a pair of these lights up opens up a whole world of possibilities. Use white light as your key light and RGB as a highlight. You can use the lights as more all-purpose studio lights for photography, B-Roll, and any other setup that your brilliant imagination can come up with. The issue with lights like this is that they are generally built for stream setups and the last thing you want to do is move them elsewhere for another purpose and set them back up at your streaming location.
As the light doesn’t connect directly to the computer in that it doesn’t plug into it, it requires other modes of connection, and the Key Light Chroma does so using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It can either be connected wirelessly to your PC using Razer’s all in one Synapse App or by connecting your phone using the Razer Streaming Mobile App. While each user interface looks a bit different, both give you full control over the Key Light Chroma’s functions. I can say that I had a few occasions where the Key Light briefly disconnected from the computer, resulting in it flashing red for a few seconds before re-establishing a connection.
“The Key Light Chroma is not too intense as it is meant to shine on you in a way that is aesthetically pleasing, not like a beacon or police light bearing down on you.”
Another interesting use is the ability to connect the light (as well as any other Razer lights) to Twitch so that you can give control of your lights to your audience. The lights, via the application, can connect to Twitch to go off when certain events, like subscribers, bit donators, etc. occur. You can have the lights change colour, brighten up or whatever you can think of in the event of an alert, which can really up the interactivity of your screen.
The Key Light Chroma is not too intense as it is meant to shine on you in a way that is aesthetically pleasing, not like a beacon or police light bearing down on you. Think of the colour coming from this light as accent lighting only. Selecting different colours causes the light to change ever so gradually, helping you avoid a dramatic change on screen that could be jarring. Additional presets exist in the app, including breathing, spectrum, wave, and many others, all of which allow you to customise your colours (save for spectrum and wheel, which uses all colours).
With RGB being, in effect, the only upgrade to the light in comparison to its competition, the jump in price may seem unreasonable to most. The Razer Key Light Chroma comes in at $299.99 USD for one light, $100 more than Elgato’s offering. This leads me to a question that I simply can’t answer. Is the RGB worth the extra money to you?
If there is a value to the RGB, there are a number of lights that you can find online with a similar size that also offer RGB. We reviewed the Pixel K80 RGB Video Lights a few months back that gives off beautiful colour at a much cheaper price but trading off the connectivity of the Key Light Chroma. I advise that you make a list of what you REALLY want in a light and see what checks the boxes for you. I can see a person being able to justify the $300 price tag, but I can see many who just can’t.
