But no included stand is surprisingly inconvenient. I have a spare mini tripod I could use with it, but to use this in any kind of studio environment you're going to have to invest in additional gear. That said, after using these since they launched, I wouldn’t actually recommend using them head-on over long periods. They just cause too much eye strain unless you use them at an angle. Color Temperature Range

Key Light can be paired to a 2.4 Ghz Wi-Fi network using a macOS, Windows, Android or iOS device that features a Wi-Fi connection. DETAILS: Look I have no clue why this is the fix, but it is. Even with the above RIP setting turned on, I kept resetting the KLA and affiliating it with my network using AirPort Utility on my Mac. The router showed that it was connected, but Control Center could not find it. I noticed that Control Center was available for iOS, so I installed it on my iPhone. I followed the instructions on the app to add a new device using the iOS Settings->WiFi process that looks pretty similar to the MacOS->Airport Utility process, and it worked. The most obvious alternative is the excellent Lume Cube Panel GO, which is brighter at 1,000 lumens (versus 800 of the Elgato Key Light Mini) but with less color range (3200 to 5600K vs. 2900-7000K). The Lume Cube Panel GO battery is just 2,470 mAh versus the larger 4,000 mAh in the Elgato Key Light Mini, although battery life is 90 minutes at 100%, versus 120 minutes for the (dimmer) Elgato Key Light Mini. BTW, I also found this lovely blog post from Trevor Sullivan where he shows the Elgato Key Light internal API (on /elgato/lights) and a PowerShell Module that lets you change the Elgato Key light with script. For those with a more static setup, the Key Light Mini has less to offer compared to other options. Don’t get me wrong, it’s more than up to the job but it loses its price advantage compared to traditional the best ring lights or even Elgato’s own Key Light Air once you factor in a stand.While it demands a high price due to its wireless controls and excellent diffuse lighting, the Key Light Air would make the life of a regular streamer significantly easier. The ease with which you can change the brightness and color temperature mean that you can adjust your lighting to your surroundings instantly. While you can link several lights to the same controls, what's missing is the ability to save profiles within the Mac, PC and smartphone apps, which might be useful for dealing with different lighting conditions - not all of use have a dedicated room that's not affected by sunlight or stream from an identical setup or distance each time. Brightness: There's no hard-and-fast answer for how bright your light should be, since the total illumination of your space is determined by other light fixtures, natural light, and the distance the subject is from the source. That's why we recommend key lights with an adjustable brightness, so you don't have to keep shifting the light's distance to find the sweet spot. We typically choose options with a maximum brightness of at least 1,000 Lumens, which should be sufficient to illuminate an entire desk space. Alright folks. I was pretty pissed of with Elgato's frankly lame support on connection issues with the Key Light Air (let's called it KLA to shorten things), but I think I have it worked out.

This is not the complete settings.xml, again that's in the gist, but this was the missing piece for me. OK, randomly a few months ago, my KLA decided to stop showing up in Control Center. I have no clue why as nothing really changed from a network hardware standpoint. I also did not disconnect or reset anything. Enter the name of your WiFi network. This needs to match the network name exactly including upper and lowercase letters and spaces.

The result is lights that are both excellent at night while still being soft. The Key Light and Key Light Air are more than bright enough to stream and record YouTube videos with. These lights don’t come with a giant umbrella or a detachable diffusion plate. That design causes many lights to become too dim to use alone at night. With the Key Light and Key Light Air, the diffusion is built into the panel’s design. The Elgato Key Light has 160 and the Key Light Air has 80 small LEDs that illuminate from the edge inwards before being bounced off the reflective panel inside. These solutions may or may not work for you, but I thought its worth putting it on the inter webs to help even one frustrated person out there. It is, alas, still going to cost you quite a bit, but you cannot deny the quality you're getting. Besides now being portable, the Key Light Mini performs every bit as good as its larger siblings. It's incredibly bright if you need it to be, and just as hands-free as the others.

The Key Light Mini is arguably the most attractive of all Elgato's Key Light products. It's no longer just for in-studio content creation, with the addition of a battery and a smaller size making it something that any type of content creator can use. Make a copy of the settings.xml in that folder so you don't blame me with this whole affair goes horribly wrong. Note that during this time your computer will not be able to connect to the internet. This is expected. If Key Light does not appear when trying to control or pair via Control Center or phone, the steps in this article can help: Sometimes blogging means lots of long form essays that take weeks to write and drop lots of wisdom.