If your PC is not equipped with Wi-Fi, use the Elgato Control Center app from the App Store to add and control Key Light from an iOS or Android device. Wi-Fi connection is only needed for initial pairing. Once Key Light is added to your network, you can control it via any Mac or Windows PC within your network. 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.

If Key Light does not appear when trying to control or pair via Control Center or phone, the steps in this article can help: 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.

Teeny tiny but shining oh so bright.

When loosening a grip on the pole, it might take a small amount of effort to start the process. However, you shouldn't have to use too much force.

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. I tried the whole reset thing again tonight, and the same thing happened. I would use Airport Utility on my Mac to try to set it up. The Mac kept saying it would either succeed or it would say "an unexpected error has occurred." Nevertheless, same result: no KLA on my Control Center. The Key Light Ring was working though. Weird right? 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.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. 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. There are no knobs to control the brightness or the color temperature, so you'll have to install an app called Elgato Control Center. It was pretty annoying to set up the first (and second and third) time. Whenever you move shooting locations and/or change your internet it’s a pain to reset both lights and resync them.

There are tons of different options to consider, but we know what to look for. Our team of professional photographers, filmmakers, and tech gurus have years of experience with lighting. Through trial and error, we've learned what's important when it comes to lighting a set, whether it be a massive film shoot or a bedroom streaming setup. That's why the best key lights are versatile and adaptable. 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. The Key Light panel has 4 mounting screw holes - one on each edge. You can choose the one that best meets your needs. To be clear, this doesn't excuse not having buttons, but it's a start. Hope this helps both of you with this problem I had!

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There truly isn't much to dislike about the Key Light Mini, but there are a couple of pointers that do bring the whole experience down a touch. The first is the price, just as has been a score against every other Key Light from Elgato. Comparison: Key Light Air on the left, and the Key Light Mini on the right. (Image credit: Future/Alex Berry)

Stands, mounts, and tripods: Lighting placement is super important, so we recommend key lights with stands that allow for adjustments to the tilt, height, and rotation of the light. Depending on how you intend to use your key light, however, compact clip mounts or desk stands may be preferable over tripods. The advantage of tripods, however, is that they're often tall enough to be placed on the floor, and they can collapse down for travel. 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. Make a copy of the settings.xml in that folder so you don't blame me with this whole affair goes horribly wrong.

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. 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. These steps can be used to manually pair an Elgato Wi-fi lighting product if other methods are not working correctly. This is not the complete settings.xml, again that's in the gist, but this was the missing piece for me. Using the same double-layer diffusion as the rest of the Key Light range, the Mini provides soft uniform light across an impressively broad field for such a small source. The 2900-7000K colour range is considerably wider than competitor panels and I found this really noticeable at the warmer end of the scale. Pure daylight is around 5000K so there’s enough scope here for creators to work in most environments, even outdoors.