Godox LR150 Air and LC500R Air Released – Inflatable Ring and Wand Heads, One Battery Grip, 92-Minute Runtime

Lighting News

by Johnnie BehiriJune 12^th, 2026

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Godox has launched a modular handheld lighting system built around two inflatable heads that share a single battery grip: the LR150 Air bi-color ring light and the LC500R Air RGB wand. Both deflate flat for travel, run roughly an hour and a half at full power, and start at just $99.

The pitch here is portability taken to an unusual extreme. Instead of a rigid fixture, Godox has placed the light-emitting surface inside an inflatable body that you can inflate on location and deflate when you are done. The system is aimed at mobile creators, run-and-gun shooters, and anyone who has ever tried to fit a ring light into a carry-on. We have seen Godox experiment with inflatable construction before at the large end of the catalog, and this is the company bringing the same idea down to a handheld scale.

A modular system, not a single light

The most interesting part of this release is the architecture. Both the LR150 Air ring head and the LC500R Air wand head attach to the same BG-LC5A battery grip and controller, so you can swap heads on a single handle depending on the look you need. The ring head produces clean, flattering frontal light for portraits, beauty, and streaming, while the wand head works as a source-like edge or background light in tight spaces. Buying into the grip once and adding heads is a sensible way to keep a compact kit flexible, and it is the kind of thinking we usually only see in larger ecosystem fixtures.

It is worth flagging a naming point for readers shopping in the US. The new wand is the LC500R Air, an inflatable redesign of the older solid-head LC500R that has been on the market since 2021. The two are not the same fixture: the original LC500R is a solid 24-inch RGB stick (CRI 96, TLCI 98, 5800 lux at 1.6 ft) that currently sells for around $189, while the LC500R Air is the new, lighter inflatable version covered here. If you are after the new system, make sure the listing says “Air.”

What the LR150 Air ring light offers

The LR150 Air inflates to a 2 ft (0.6 m) diameter and delivers bi-color output across a 2800K to 6500K range, with dimming from 0 to 100%. Godox rates color accuracy at approximately CRI 97 and TLCI 98, which is solid for a fixture in this class and price bracket and should hold skin tones together well enough for talking-head and beauty work. Bare output is quoted at 1760 lux at 0.5 m (1.6 ft) and 564 lux at 3.3 ft (1 m) at 5600K, so this is a fill and key source for close subjects rather than a room light.

The ring head carries 11 built-in effects, including flash, lightning, cloudy, broken bulb, TV, candle, fire, fireworks, explosion, welding, and SOS. Control runs either through the front-facing panel on the controller or over Bluetooth via the Godox Light app, which also handles firmware updates. With the battery grip attached, the fixture weighs 603 g (1.33 lb), and the circular source throws the catchlight that ring lights are bought for in the first place.

The LC500R Air wand

The wand head takes a different approach to the same problem. It inflates to a full 2.5 ft (76.9 cm) length including the controller and grip, with a 600 mm (23.6 in) illuminated section, and the inflatable construction trims weight by more than 30% compared to the solid LC500R, bringing the fixture plus grip down to 532 g (1.2 lb). Godox widens the color range here to 2800K to 10,000K, adds full RGB with green-magenta tint adjustment, and packs in 14 effects modes.

Output is the headline number Godox is pushing: a peak of around 2630 lux at 0.5 m (1.6 ft) at 5600K, which the company claims is close to three times the brightness of comparable handheld wands. As always with manufacturer figures, that comparison is the company’s own and will need real-world confirmation, but the longer illuminated section does produce a more source-like quality that reduces hotspots versus a small panel. Color accuracy is rated at approximately CRI 96 and TLCI 98.

Shared power, controls, and mounting

Both heads draw from the same BG-LC5A grip, which houses a 7.26V, 4750 mAh (34.4 Wh) lithium cell. Godox quotes full-power runtime of 94 minutes for the LC500R Air and 92 minutes for the LR150 Air, with a USB-C recharge of roughly 2 hours 20 minutes at 12V/2A. The grip also accepts USB-C pass-through power, so you can keep shooting while topping up, which is the kind of detail that matters when a 90-minute battery is your ceiling.

Mounting covers handheld use through the grip, a 1/4″-20 thread, and magnetic attachment, and a MagSafe-compatible phone holder is available separately for the ring. Godox also lists diffuser and grid modifiers as optional extras. Each light ships with its own air pump for inflation, a charging cable, the controller, and a storage bag, and the whole point is that everything packs down small once deflated. The 34.4 Wh battery sits comfortably under airline carry-on limits, which is consistent with the travel-first intent.

Where this fits in the Godox lineup

This is not the first time Godox has reached for inflatable construction. The company’s KNOWLED AM1600R is an inflatable full-color mat light for large sets, and the Air system effectively miniaturizes that thinking for solo creators. It also sits alongside Godox’s recent push into compact and mobile lighting, from the pocket-sized Litemons LR15Bi and LR30Bi selfie ring lights to the C30Bi and C30R fixtures. For anyone tracking the broader catalog, our coverage of the PaletteLab color engine and the MG4K LED traces how aggressively the company has been expanding across every power tier.

The open question, as ever with portability-first designs, is durability. An inflatable body is light and packable, but it is also a new failure mode that a rigid panel simply does not have, and the proprietary front mounts mean modifier choice is limited to what Godox offers. Those are the kinds of trade-offs we would want to test on a real shoot before concluding.

The Godox LC500R Air RGB Inflatable LED Stick Light is available for $99, and the Godox LR150 Air Bi-Color Inflatable LED Ring Light is available for $109 through retailers including B&H. For full specifications, see the Godox product page. Please note: due to differences in VAT and tax rates, prices may vary by region.

Would an inflatable, pack-flat light find a place in your travel kit, or does the new failure mode put you off? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!