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The CINEPEER is Zhiyun’s high end product line brand, so one has a right to judge them against the very highest standards.  (After all, the price tag is often high-end, too.) The CINEPEER C100 100 watt RGB Stick Light is one of their newest offerings, and it is both unique and premium in many ways. But does it have enough going for it to justify the purchase price of $250 (to $299)? This Zhiyun Cinepeer C100 review is of the basic version, not the kit.

Let’s get the basics out of the way. As the name implies, this is a 100 watt RGB light wand. This in itself is remarkable—its power output is three to ten times more than other lights in this form factor. The Aputure Amaran T2C is a feeble 20 watts (and $200). Smallrig’s RT25 produces 25 watts for a more pocket-friendly $125. Budget versions of the light wand/stick, such as those from Neewer and Soonpho emit just 10 watts. Cinepeer has broken new ground by creating a useable key light in wand format.

Its name isn’t exactly accurate, however. The C100 is actually a RGBWW light. It contains 208 white leds and 96 RGB. As such the color rendition is excellent.

Also excellent—the build quality. The lamp is a mix of metal and plastic. The result is solid, with a great feel in the hand, but perhaps a problematic amount of heft. At roughly 3 pounds, it’s asking something of your light stand. This becomes even more evident in its wand/stick form… it has leverage over your light stand when attached to one end of the light. I’ll talk more about this condition later.

100 watts produce a lot of heat, and Zhiyun has redesigned the stick form to address this issue, placing multiple fans and a vent on the backside. The multiple fans means that none of them have to work too hard. At full power the unit isn’t completely silent, but is so quiet only a mic pointed right at it will pick up the sound. 

As a producer of light, the C100 excels. The quality of light is very good, with only the slightest of tint shifts (and the ability to tweak the tint on the light. Being 14 inches, the C100 can also mimic a bigger light source than it actually is. We generally see shadows horizontally– how the nose casts a shadow on the cheek, for example. We tend not to notice the chin casting a shadow on the neck, in part because we’re more used to top-down lighting (i.e., the sun). Placed horizontally, the C100’s 14 inches gives the illusion of a 14″ x 14″ light panel. This allows for use of the instrument as a key light in a pinch… when we don’t have a larger modifier… which we know we really should be using for an attractive image.

Overall, the Zhiyun Cinepeer C100 stick light is extremely well made. The body is a combination of metal and plastic for improving heat dissipation and weight. The buttons are nicely clickable and adjust in 1% increments. Even the barn doors are high quality: thick plastic and snug fit. With up to 100 watts of output this light stick stomps on the competition, providing anywhere from 3-10 times the amount of light. But a few shortcomings really drag this light down. At three pounds it’s quite heavy, so much so that holding it by hand for a video shoot is not great. Being three pounds in “stick” form means the C100 will pull lightweight stands over when attached to the end. Which leads me to my biggest gripe. The “non-kit” version of the light doesn’t include the clamp adapter that allows you to attach the light in the center of the stick. This is a must have accessory in my view, more important than the barn doors. Zhiyun needs to start shipping the clamp with all the lights; there is, after all, plenty of room in the oversized case.

Sadly, the barn doors are a small “miss,” too. The inside of the doors are a reflective silver material. I spent 20 years producing light designs in the theater world. Barns doors are meant to be matte black. Silver doors prevent you from cutting (or shuttering) the light in a narrow fashion. The light bounces off the silverdoors and into the room. As a result, you can narrow the beam of the C100 from about 170 degrees to about 90 degrees and no further. Black matte barn doors can reduce the beam angle to five degrees… with the light produced being smaller than the lamp itself. Now if they’d made doors reversable (silver on one side, black on the other) then they would have a truly useful and innovative modifier.

The C100 has a built-in battery, which is unique for a 100 watt light. It claims 54 minutes at full power, but that’s under perfect conditions… including the “perfect” (or most efficient) light temperature… which is apparently about 4200K. At other settings, the staying power drops to as low as 35 minutes, which is sub par. This is a harsh statement, considering the wattage. If the C100 was a 50 watt light that could last from 70-90 minutes, we’d be pretty enthusiastic. You can, of course, run the light off of DC or USB-C power as well, which is a useful feature.

These shortcomings stand-out in a light at this price-point. It costs more than traditional COB 100 watt lights, so you really need the “stick” form to be flawless.

The pricier kit version ($340-400) includes a clamp that can connect two light sticks end to end. This is great, though it should be noted that the ¼ inch space between the two lights means that if used on camera—if you wanted it to mimic an overhead fluorescent—the light isn’t continuous. There’s a dark gap.

It’s difficult to judge the C100. The light output is generous and the build quality robust. The stick/wand form isn’t as versatile as a traditional lamp that can take Bowens mount modifiers, and the shortcomings are small but numerous. You have to really need a battery-powered light stick to choose this over the huge range of other lights available. It’s not an over-priced light, exactly, but for such a premium watt-per-dollar tag, I wished for something a little less specific in its virtues. As much as I wanted to love this light, it falls pretty squarely in the middle of the road for me. 3.5 STARS.