Zhiyun FIVERAY M60 Ultra RGB Video Light Review

Zhiyun’s pocket lights have always leaned toward portability and creator‑friendly design, but the FIVERAY M60 Ultra feels like the moment the series steps into a more confident tier. It’s still small enough to slip into a side pouch, still built for fast setups and location work, yet the jump to a full 60W output places it in a space normally reserved for larger fixtures. This is a compact light designed for creators who expect professional results from something they can carry in one hand.

Design and Build: Compact, Practical, and Modifier‑Ready

The M60 Ultra keeps its familiar postcard‑sized footprint of 150 × 80 × 37.3mm and 430g, making it easy to pack alongside a camera kit. The toughened plastic chassis feels sturdy enough for regular location work, and the layout is clean: dual control knobs, a clear colour display, and offset 1/4‑inch mounting points for balance.

Zhiyun’s magnetic modifier system is one of the more thoughtful touches. The diffuser and honeycomb grid snap on instantly, and the ZY mount opens the door to further accessories. Each lamp bead uses a professional optical lens, concentrating output and giving the M60 Ultra noticeably more punch than typical pocket lights. It’s a small engineering detail that has a clear impact on real‑world performance.

Output and Colour Performance: Serious Power in a Small Frame

The headline figure is the 60W output, delivering 6,490 lux at one metre at 6500K, which is a substantial leap from the earlier M40 and enough brightness to serve as a main light for interviews or tight portrait setups. The directional beam is crisp and controlled, and with the diffuser attached, it becomes gentler and more flattering for close‑up work.

Colour accuracy is excellent: CRI ≥95, TLCI ≥97, and a wide 2,500–10,000K temperature range. It also has an SSI D32 rating of 84, which is unusually strong for a light this size and ensures natural daylight reproduction. RGB performance is smooth, with full hue and saturation control and 15 creative lighting effects for stylised looks.

In practice, the M60 Ultra behaves like a miniature key light with the flexibility of a pocket fixture. It’s bright enough to shape highlights, accurate enough for skin‑tone‑critical work, and compact enough to live permanently in a camera bag.

Battery, Power and Cooling: Portable but With Clear Boundaries

The built‑in 4,500mAh battery is a sensible compromise for a light this powerful. At moderate brightness, it delivers comfortable runtime, but once pushed to full 60W output, endurance drops to around 28–30 minutes. This is simply the trade‑off for serious power in a compact frame. USB‑C PD and QC fast charging help offset this, and the light can run continuously from a power bank or mains adapter.

Cooling is handled by an active fan system. It remains quiet enough not to interfere with audio, and thermal performance stays stable even during extended use. The fan noise may well be present but it remains unobtrusive, and rarely an issue for spoken‑word content.

Control and Connectivity: Built for Multi‑Light Workflows

App Control: Quick, Responsive and Built for Multi‑Light Scenes

Zhiyun’s ZY Vega app is more than a remote dimmer; it’s a proper control surface for creators who run multiple lights at once. The interface is clean and responsive, with colour wheels, temperature sliders and effect pre-sets laid out in a way that avoids menu‑digging. Bluetooth Mesh makes a noticeable difference here. Once the M60 Ultra is paired, adjustments register almost instantly, and grouping several units into a single scene feels surprisingly natural. You can assign one light as the primary controller, tweak hue or brightness across the whole cluster, or fine‑tune individual fixtures without breaking the connection.

Smart Matching: Letting the M60 Ultra Copy Any Light in the Room

One of the M60 Ultra’s more quietly impressive tricks sits inside the ZY Vega app. Using your phone’s camera, you can sample any light source in the environment, from a desk lamp, to a practical bulb in the background, a coloured LED strip, or even daylight spilling through a window. The M60 Ultra will then match its hue, temperature, and brightness automatically. It’s a small feature with huge real‑world value. Instead of nudging sliders to approximate a look, the light simply adopts the exact tone you’re working with, making it far easier to blend practical situations with your key light, or maintain continuity across quick location changes.

Real‑World Use: A Pocket Light That Punches Above Its Weight

A consistent theme emerges whilst using this exciting piece of hardware: the M60 Ultra feels like a tool designed for creators who expect professional results without carrying a full kit. It’s bright enough to serve as a key light in tight spaces, accurate enough for skin‑tone‑critical work, and portable enough to accompany every shoot. Its directional beam makes it particularly effective for shaping highlights or adding controlled accents, while the diffuser transforms it into a flattering close‑up light for interviews or product shots.

Considerations

The M60 Ultra’s only meaningful constraint is its battery endurance at maximum output. The 4,500mAh cell performs well at moderate brightness, but once the light is pushed to its full 60W capability, runtime drops to around half an hour, which is simply the trade‑off for this level of power in such a compact frame. The toughened plastic chassis is durable enough for regular location work, although it lacks the premium feel of metal‑bodied fixtures. Accessories beyond the included diffuser and honeycomb grid must be purchased separately, and while the M60 Ultra delivers impressive punch for its size, it cannot replace a larger soft panel when broad, wraparound illumination is required. These boundaries don’t diminish its strengths, but they do define the scenarios where it performs best.

Key Info