Welcome to our Yongnuo YN608 review that we have finally managed to find the time to publish. We have seen a number of YouTube vloggers and videographers reach out for advice on the YN608 over recent months so hope that our review article will help any of our readers considering picking this decent little ring light up.
Although at the time of writing, the YN608 is not as popular as we feel it should be, we have seen a steady increase in the number of people asking about it each month. We feel that once more people publish content about the light and share the solid performance it can provide for its low price tag, more people will end up adding it to their collection of camera accessories.
On top of its great performance, you can rest assured that coming from Yongnuo, the YN608 has a great no-frills build quality ensuring that the electronics on of the LED light are protected while keeping the costs as low as possible. The light also offers a pretty high level of customization for its output to allow you to get a far amount of done with one single light where some competing products may require you to carry two or three lights with you for the same level of performance.
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User Interface And Control System
Thankfully, unlike some other ring light products on the market right now, the Yongnuo YN608 has a very easy user interface system with the majority of the controlling being done via the wireless remote control shown in the image above. Thankfully, the system on the remote control is very easy to use and we are confident that any of our readers who are able to use a modern smartphone will be able to quickly pick it up and control their YN608 without issue.
The remote controller allows you to tweak every aspect of the YN608 ensuring that it performs exactly as required for your session. You can tweak the brightness of the LED light, the lighting effect, and the lighting color at the press of a button. We have seen different people report different success rates with the effective range of the remote control but the minimum we have seen reported is the 20-meter mark but this may be longer depending what else you have in your studio.
As the remote control for the Yongnuo YN608 does not use the 2.4g protocols there should be no issues with it causing problems with any other wireless camera accessories that you use in your studio either. In this modern age where more and more kit is supporting wireless functionality, this is a nice little feature to have as the last thing you want to be doing is trying to tweak the performance of your light only for it to do something to another piece of your equipment.
When the remote control is not in use, you can either keep it in the handy little housing for it just above the battery housing on the actual ring itself as shown in the image below or keep it in a safe place until you need it next.
Although Yongnuo has come at the control system of their light from a slightly different angle than some of the other popular brands out there, we prefer the wireless remote control system. It allows you to tweak the performance of the light from anywhere in your studio so can potentially save you time and it is also very easy to use.
We have also seen some people mention that Yongnuo are apparently going to add the functionality of the YN608s remote to their smartphone app but at the time of writing, this has not happened. If you do choose to pick the Yongnuo YN608 up, it might be an idea to download the latest version of the Yongnuo app to check if this functionality has been added as it can be handy to be able to control the performance of the kit in your studio from your phone.
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Performance And Functionality
With 320 individual LED beads and 80 RGB SMD LED beads you are able to get a decent amount of versatility out of the Yongnuo YN608 as shown in the different colors it can produce in the image above. If you are planning to use this ring light as a primary light source for YouTube videos then you can use the different colors to help set the mood as your vlog.
Another thing that we have seen vloggers use LED video lights like the Yongnuo YN608 for is in makeup and beauty tutorials. The even light distribution from the ring light and the 5500k color temperature of the white light make it ideal for lighting up your face and allowing your camera rig to capture what you are doing in great detail.
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When it comes to general videography work, there are an absolute ton of uses for a bit of kit like the Yongnuo YN608 and the only real limitation is what your imagination can dream up. As a great artificial source of natural light shades, the Yongnuo YN608 can help light your subject without having too much glare or causing any issues with your subject looking off color too.
The light also has some decent low energy consumption technology in it to ensure that you can get a high brightness level from it while still having a pretty solid battery life too. We have also seen a number of people reporting that they use their Yongnuo YN608 as the main light in their studio lighting set up and that it does a great job.
Considering that the ring light has a pretty low price tag and a great level of performance, we really can’t think of anything we would change on it. Yongnuo always seems to try to remove anything that adds cos but does not directly translate into an increase in performance to help keep the costs of their products down to let them compete with similar products at higher price points in the market and we feel that the same goes for their YN608.
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Build Quality And Design
The build quality and design of the ring light is also solid too with the Yongnuo YN608 easily holding its own against the competing LED ring lights on the market when it comes to build quality. Not only is the plastic used for the frame lightweight but it is pretty robust too and we feel it will prevent any easy damage to the frame from bumps during reasonable use.
The various types of LEDs in the lighting unit are all securely held in place as shown in the image below just under the front casing. Thankfully, this has no effect on the light output of the LEDs while still offering them some additional protection to wear and tear when in use.
Depending on what you are using the LED light for, you can power it via a mains outlet or via two batteries while still getting some solid battery life out of it due to the battery saving tech in the light. The battery housing units shown in the image below are also decent and will securely hold the batteries in place during use. We know some ring lights can randomly drop their batteries out of their housing during use causing the light to go off and start to cause you problems. The simple clip and slide system on the YN608 prevents this and lets you get on with your work as required.
The mounting thread on the light shown between the battery housings in the image above on the bottom of the light is also built well. This will allow you to quickly and easily mount or unmount the Yongnuo YN608 from your stands without having to waste time. As the threads are metal, it also minimizes the chances of you accidentally cross threading it too and making it difficult to unmount the light after use.
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FAQs
Question – What is the output power of the Yongnuo YN608?
Answer – The output power of the lighting unit is 32W.
Question – What is the expected service life of the Yongnuo YN608?
Answer – The officially listed life span of the YN608 is 50000h but like many other lighting units on the market, we feel that it will easily last longer than the 50000h mark if cared for correctly.
Question – What is the color rendering index of the Yongnuo YN608?
Answer – Its color rendering index is ≥95.
Third Party Reports
Our Verdict
That brings our Yongnuo YN608 review to an end and although the YN608 is not very popular within the community right now, we do feel that it is a solid little lighting unit and when word gets out, its popularity will steadily increase. It offers some excellent performance in a number of low light conditions and will make a great addition to your collection of camera accessories.
