As smartphones continue to evolve, users tend to find themselves relying on their built in cameras more and more for both quick picture opportunities to full-scale photography. With 4K resolution capable cameras and high quality glass from companies like Carl Zeiss, it just keeps getting easier to forget your expensive cameras at home.
This goes for both consumers and professionals. Although a professional would find it more difficult to rely on their phone compared to a high-end piece of equipment, sometimes you have to make due with what you have when you’re in a pinch. Our staff here (including myself) reach for their phones all the time when the typical equipment we are used to depending on, isn’t within reach.
Surefire makes it even easier to depend on that phone of yours with their FirePak video light that helps bring illumination to what you need to shoot. Surefire has been around for a long time and are well known for their effective lighting solutions for tactical situations, hunting and more. Now they bring their dependable lighting to your iPhone device by attaching an LED solution directly to your case.
The FirePak is made up of two items. The light itself and a custom case for the phone. The light slides onto the case when you are ready to use it and detaches when you don’t need it. It offers up to 1500 lumens of light, which is bright enough for just about any situation and is fully rechargeable. You can use it to simply add additional light to your environment or fill the area if there isn’t any light at all. With 1500 lumens, you can really light up a dark space. It literally is like having a high powered tactical light strapped to your phone. This is because it is a high powered tactical light.
This is great since the camera on your phone doesn’t always offer the best results in low light conditions, leading to grainy video and sometimes usable content. The light output makes a big difference by relieving some if not all of these worries depending on which model you have (results vary depending on the iPhone device’s capabilities).
It features a slider switch on the side allowing you to control the brightness of the LEDs and adjust for the best lighting for your given environment. The low settings (starting at around 100 lumens) are comparable to the LEDs on your phone and the high settings are comparable to a full LED solution sitting atop a hot shoe of a professional video camera. You get about 1-1.5 hours worth of light at the highest setting and as much as 10 hours with the lowest setting.
When it comes time to recharge it, you simply use the micro-USB cable provided with it and you are set. It also features a full USB type-A port so that you can plug your phone into it and use it as a battery bank as well when you find yourself low on power.
We found it to be quite useful in our trials of it and have now thrown it onto one of the shelves with the rest of our video lighting inventory so that it can be made use of in the future.
Lastly, as mentioned, it comes with a custom case that the light slides onto. When not in use, the case keeps a thin profile without the light attached, making sure to provide a clean look without any design obstructions. It also provides a great deal of protection for your phone and looks good doing it. When it comes time to adding the light into the mix of things, it simply slides right into place. It can go in either direction, allowing you to bring the LED’s close to the camera or to the opposite side of the phone, allowing you further customization for your given situation.
Our Conclusion
This is a fantastic solution for bringing illumination to your smartphone’s camera. The amount of battery life you get per charge is perfect and it screams quality (just as you would expect from Surefire). Like most of their lights, it does come at a cost. The price tag is around $199, which is quite pricey for a light, yet to be expected for a professional piece of equipment.
Our Rating | Average Price* $199 |
*Average price is based on the time this article was published
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Specifications:
- Two high-performance LEDs and multifaceted reflectors create 1500 lumens of perfect light specially designed to light 16:9 HD video
- Multi-setting slide switch provides easy access to four light-output levels + off
- Integrated rails securely attach to popular smartphones via specially developed SureFire cases
- Energy-dense Li-ion battery provides extensive power & runtime for illumination (video & security)
- USB and Micro-USB ports provide simple capability to charge your smartphone and also to recharge the FirePak itself
- Battery-charge indicator light offers continuous power status
Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.
