More color temperature settings is better. Most of the ring lights we considered had at least three color-temperature settings: cool, neutral, and warm. We preferred those that offered more color-temperature steps between the coolest and the warmest levels; this allows you to dial in the setting that looks best with your skin and environment.

Improving the lighting when you are in front of the camera isn’t just about vanity: Having great lighting that helps you look your best breeds confidence.

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Windows consist of two flat polished surfaces. Primarily, the surface flatness of a window will determine its performance and needs to be measured. These surfaces may need to be parallel or have a defined wedge between the two. Parallel parts present unique measurement challenges and are best handled using ZYGO Verifire™ MST interferometers. Parallel parts also present a unique opportunity to simultaneously measure all the surfaces of a window.

Without it, you can look grainy, out of focus, or even shadowy—like an anonymous witness in a true-crime show. A ring light is a simple tool whose diffuse glow can bring you out of the dark and make you look more professional.

Flat surfaces are used in nearly all optical systems, and it is critical to ensure they meet specification. These surfaces are easily measured using interferometry and the results are extremely repeatable and reliable. Using a ZYGO Ultraflat and best practices, plano surfaces can be measured with an uncertainty of as low as λ/100. Large aperture beam expanders can be added to any of ZYGO’s interferometer systems to accommodate flat parts up to 32” in diameter.

CRI is one measure of light quality; the higher the CRI (the closer to 100, the better), the more colors the light can render and the more precise the image is color-wise.

It’s easy to get up and running with Zoom, but you may not know about some of its best, most useful videoconferencing features.

You can certainly find other lighting setups that produce better portrait or video lighting—such as this two-light kit Goodrich recommends, which includes lighting umbrellas, several light stands, and a number of photo bulbs. But they’re more expensive and more complicated to set up and break down.

Cylindrical optics present a more difficult problem for optical testing than do flat or spherical optics. Testing cylindrical optics using a conventional interferometer requires generating a cylindrical wavefront to match the curvature of the surface. Because cylindrical optics are inherently more difficult to fabricate, it is difficult to manufacture good interferometric references that would allow cylindrical surfaces to be fabricated.

10-inch lights aren’t great for most uses. These smallest lights had stands that raised the light only an inch off the desk, creating spooky, unflattering under-chin lighting. You could prop one of these lights up on a stack of large books or a box, but we think it’s worth paying a little more for a larger, brighter light that has a taller stand.

More flexibility is always better. Bonus points go to ring lights—such as the Yesker 14-inch—that include a flexible gooseneck mount for your phone; this is great for getting the angle of your phone just right too.

After researching and testing more than a dozen ring lights, we’ve learned that it’s a fast-moving category with lots of brands that may be here today but gone tomorrow. Many of the best ring lights we’ve tested are either now discontinued or have recurring stock issues. This includes the Neewer 14-inch LED Ring Light (RL-14), Neewer 16-inch LED Ring Light (RL-16), Yesker 14-inch Ring Light, and Godox LR120 12-inch LED Ring Light.

You might not find the CRI rating in the product description, but that doesn’t mean the ring light has a low CRI. Contact the manufacturer and ask for the number. If they don’t get back to you—or, worse, they don’t have a website—move on to the next ring light you’re considering.

Wirecutter’s Melanie Pinola has spent years testing and reviewing various gear—including home-office essentials such as webcams, USB microphones, and office chairs—for Wirecutter and other sites including Lifehacker, PCWorld, Popular Mechanics, and Laptop Magazine.

Having multiple brightness levels means you can adjust the lighting to any environment—whether it’s cloudy or sunny, morning or night, or you have few or many other light sources.

Mirrors are reflective surfaces used to steer light. Mirrors have the advantage of providing the same performance regardless of wavelength. However, surface figure requirements for reflective components are much more demanding than their refractive counterparts. These surfaces can be plano, spherical, aspherical, cylindrical, or freeform in shape and can be measured using ZYGO interferometers and accessories.

You should be able to bend the light and raise it up or down to get the most flattering light for whatever you’re shooting. People who wear glasses, for example, might need to raise the light and adjust it at a steeper angle to avoid glare and reflections.

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We still recommend these models if you can find them in stock. But if you can’t track them down, here are some tips that will help you choose a suitable replacement among a sea of similar-looking lights.

The bigger the ring light, the better the light output and quality. We looked at 10-, 12-, 14-, 16-, and 18-inch models suited for sitting at a desk or standing.

Homogeneity of refractive index is another important metric used to define the quality of optical materials. Commonly measured by glass suppliers, homogeneity is the variation of refractive index throughout bulk optical materials. It is possible to measure homogeneity using any ZYGO interferometer, but ZYGO’s Verifire™ MST interferometers can provide a fast and reliable measurement of nonlinear and linear homogeneity.

“It’s really empowering,” said content creator and educator Gia Goodrich, “because you know that even if you’re showing up without makeup, you feel insecure, or you’re in your PJs, you can at least light yourself in a way that makes you feel good.”

Beamsplitters are unique because they are intended to both transmit and reflect light. That makes the specifications on transmitted wavefront and surface form error critically important. Some beamsplitters are made up component prisms where it is important to measure each component before assembling.

In addition to a stand, most ring lights come with extras such as a carrying case for the light, a mount for your phone, and a Bluetooth remote to take a photo on your phone from a distance.

Some larger models have a built-in USB port for phone charging. A few lights we tested that are 14 inches or larger had a USB port for charging your phone while it’s attached to the ring light. That’s convenient for long shoots.

DeskRing Light

Look for lights that can adjust brightness in 1% increments. With some ring lights, you can adjust the brightness from 0 to 100% in 10% increments (10% brightness, 20% brightness, and so on), but we prefer models that let you fine-tune the brightness to the nth degree. Some ring light descriptions will specify this; it might be called “stepless adjustment.”

While some conic shapes have been used for a long time like parabolic and hyperbolic mirrors in telescope systems, more general aspheres have been difficult to manufacture and test.  Advances in both are allowing optical designers to reliably use aspheric surfaces to improve optical performance and reduce size and weight of optical systems. Aspheric surfaces can be measured using the VeriFire Asphere system or Computer Generated Holograms (CGH). The wavefront error of optical elements or systems using aspheric surfaces can also be measured directly, avoiding the need to measure the aspheric surface.

For desktop use, a 12-inch model is best. If you plan on using a ring light propped up on your desk—not on a tall stand on the floor—look for a moderately sized model, like the Godox LR120 12-inch LED Ring Light. These have stands designed for desktop use and cost less than larger models.

We’ll be testing more ring lights soon with the goal of recommending specific picks. In the meantime, the current guide remains a reliable resource for finding great lighting options.

How far or close you put a ring light depends mostly on your comfort level and the size of the light. But I found that for video-call purposes, somewhere between 2 and 3 feet was most flattering.

Ring Lightwith Phone Holder

Like mirrors, prisms are used to direct light where it is needed. Each face of a prism is built to a very specific angle relative to the others in a prism. This has the advantage of always providing the same output angle relative to the input. It is very important to measure these angles for accuracy since they cannot be changed after finishing.

Lenses are made up of two surfaces which can be flat (plano), spherical, aspheric, or cylindrical. These surface shapes can all be measured for surface form errors, while the transmitted wavefront of a single lens or system of lenses can also be measured. These measurements can then be analyzed to provide information about the Point Spread Function, Modulation Transfer Function, Encircled Energy, and Strehl Ratio of an optical system or lens.

Whether you work from home or you need to nail a job interview via Skype, these are Wirecutter’s tips for looking and sounding like a pro on video calls.

Accurate qualification of optical components is a vital source of feedback to an optical manufacturing operation.  From plano to spherical to aspheric shapes, common measurements include surface form error, waviness and roughness.  Depending on the type of part and its application, material and geometric properties such as transmitted wavefront, homogeneity, wedge, parallelism, thickness variation, and radius of curvature may also require careful control.  Optical components are the building blocks of optical systems, making it critical to verify that each optic meets its requirements prior to integration into an assembly. Backed by over 50 years of experience supplying the highest quality optics and instrumentation, ZYGO’s laser interferometers and 3D optical profilers provide users with confidence in metrology for a wide range of optical components.

ProfessionalRing Light

As a freelance writer, Melanie Pinola wrote for Lifehacker, Popular Mechanics, ITworld, HowToGeek, PCWorld, and The New York Times. She joined Wirecutter as a writer on the home-office team in 2019. She died in October 2024.

Conventional interferometry can provide useful information about a cylindrical optic's surface, but a Computer Generated Hologram (CGH) can be used to gather a complete description of the surface. A CGH can generate a cylindrical wavefront to match the curvature of the test surface. Similar to testing a sphere with a Transmission Sphere, a single cylinder CGH allows for testing a wide range of cylinder optics.

AmazonRing Lightfor Laptop

These accessories make using a ring light easier, but they’re just extras. Prioritize the features above when choosing a ring light.

It’s also worth considering the height range of the ring light’s stand. The greater the range, the more versatile it will be to accommodate all kinds of situations.

Ring Lightwith Stand

A CRI of 90 or higher is best. Ring lights with a CRI of 90 or above are considered excellent, whereas those with a CRI between 80 and 90 are thought of as good, according to Westinghouse Lighting.

Spherical surfaces used for lenses and mirrors are defined by their radius of curvature. Along with surface form error, these two quantities will drive the performance of the lens or mirror and it is essential to validate both to ensure the performance of an optical component. Spherical surface form is tested using a transmission sphere to generate an ideal reference wavefront. The same transmission sphere along with radius scale hardware is used to measure radius of curvature.

Common prism measurements include right angle prism error, corner cube dihedral angle, surface flatness of prism faces, beam deviation, and transmitted wavefront error.

A ring light is a simple, cost-effective option that anyone can set up and use. It makes the most sense when you need just a bit more emphasis on yourself in a space without a lot of natural light and you don’t have the time or energy to invest in a pricier professional lighting setup.

But going too big causes issues, too. On the flip side, the 18-inch models were overkill: They were so bright that they created washed-out images at all but the lowest brightness levels.

Find the right temperature for your skin tone. Wirecutter’s Rago said that warm light generally works best for most skin tones, but if it’s too warm, a person could look orange. Bluish light can make a pale person look lifeless.

Many of the latest ring light models also have a Wi-Fi remote to power the light and adjust the color temperature or brightness.

Smaller, USB-powered lights are great for mobile use. Ring lights that are 12 inches or smaller can be powered via USB, whereas the larger ring lights use an AC/DC adapter because they need to draw more power. So if you want a ring light that you can use outdoors—tethered to a laptop or USB power bank, without an outlet nearby—a ring light that’s 12 inches or smaller is ideal.

A ring light is exactly what its name suggests: a doughnut-shaped light, typically made of rows of LEDs. The halo shape diffuses light over a wide area, reducing shadows and washing away blemishes for a more-flattering appearance. The space in the middle of the light is a great place to mount a camera or phone because you get an even distribution of light around the lens.

Color temperature, measured in kelvins (K), greatly affects the aesthetics of your photo or video. The room you’re in, the clothes you’re wearing, and your skin tone can all look different depending on the light’s color and temperature.

More expensive doesn’t mean better quality. While researching this guide, we saw a Wescott 18-inch Ring Light that cost nearly $200 despite having only two color temperatures (cool and warm). Some ring lights cost twice as much as similar-size lights without adding more features or benefits.

A professional video producer shows how you can tweak the lighting you have in your home office to elevate your video-call look.

AmazonRing Lightfor Phone

Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time).

Expect to pay between $50 and $100 for a good ring light that has all of the features we mention above. Paying any more than that is likely throwing money away.

Lighting plays an important role in the image quality of your videos and photos, second only to the quality of your camera. But you don’t have to invest in a complicated lighting rig to get better close-ups.

For anything else, a 14- or 16-inch ring light will do. These larger models should suffice if you want to keep the stand off of your desk or you plan on using the ring light while standing. The 14-inch ring lights we tested, including the Neewer 14-inch and Yesker 14-inch, were plenty bright in our testing. A 16-inch ring light, such as the Neewer 16-inch, would be brighter. But that extra luminance is really only useful if you’re going to position the light several feet away from you.

Our tests showed that a Bluetooth speakerphone won’t necessarily produce better results than a smartphone. But we found a few models worth checking out.

Wirecutter’s Rozette Rago and Michael Hession, our head of photography and video, helped me determine the most important features to look for in a ring light.

More steps between the coolest and warmest color temperature levels mean more flexibility in suiting your skin and environment.