Photography Lighting | Video Lighting

In my previous blog, we talked about DSLR Camera for Beginners and I recommended Nikon D7000 (Amazon Affiliate Link) or later version with Nikon 50mm 1.8D lens (Amazon Affiliate Link). Sure, 80 percent of the time you’re pretty much covered for all the shoots that you need to do and should be able to take beautiful photos. But how about shooting in the dark? The camera can only go so much in the dark. Having no source of light will result the lens to focus hunt forever for the subject and having no ambient lighting will basically render your photoshoot useless. Plus I’m sure that exploring speedlights at this level must be out of your realm for you to dive into especially if you are just starting out. I mean you can use the on-camera flash but you can’t really get creative with it. If you are stuck in this situation, then I would prefer the use of a continuous lighting for starters.

Lume Cube Portable Lighting Kit (Amazon Affiliate link) unboxing. I love the packaging.

Well there is a solution to your problem and it’s affordable too. Enter Lume Cube (Amazon Affiliate Link)!! You can get this at Amazon with other available accessories too. I have plenty other LED lights that I use. Don’t get me wrong, I love them all and they are quite powerful when it comes to my videography and photography (I typically use speedlights or strobes on my still photography). The drawback I have on most of my current LED lights is that they are just bulky and heavy. Lume Cube on the other hand is perfect! It’s literally 1 inch and half in diameter and square shaped that weights only 3.5 oz. Not only that this is tiny, you’d be surprised how bright this little thing is! Lume Cube emits 1500 lumens of balanced daylight, the LUX of 750 at 1m. (3.2ft). In case you don’t know, this light has 10 levels of brightness. Yes, it’s that bright… if you are not careful… you will get blind just by looking directly at it… I trust that you’re a smart person so I know you won’t do such a thing lol!

Quarter Front View
Front View
Top view
Back view

I’ve used this several times at a wedding where I had to cover a video. It lasted me 4 hours at full charge and using only 4- 5 levels of power on a really dark venue. Of course I turn this off from time to time it’s why it lasted me up to 4 hours. It was claimed that it lasted 20min to 30min from full charge at 10^th level power. I have not tested this out yet, because it never occurred to me until now. This light has a spread of 60 degrees so it’s pretty wide in comparison from my other typical LED lights. Be careful however, the longer the light that is in use, the housing gets pretty hot. The cool thing is that this has a safety feature where if Lume Cube detects or reaches its maximum internal heat, it will shut down automatically to prevent it from damaging any further.

The version that I got was the one with the ball head mount combo so you can attach it on your DSLR or other camera that has a cold shoe mount. The base model only comes with the Cube and micro-usb cable. So make sure you purchase the one that you want! Here is the link in Amazon where the Lume Cube comes with ball head mount. (Amazon Affiliate Link)

Ball head mount
Ball head mount with Lume Cube attached.
When it is all mounted and ready to shoot.

You can feel that this device was constructed for durability and you can feel it once you get a hold of it. It’s actually made out of durable aluminum housing. It’s so durable that I dropped this thing plenty of times on the field and surprised that it still works. I’d still be very careful though…I’m just a clumsy guy lol Lume Cube is waterproof up to 100 ft deep which is perfect for users that likes to shoot underwater with their GOPro Hero. Just make sure that the sharks don’t get a swallow on this or you will mutate a shark with laser beams coming out of its eyes! *Dr. Evil Laugh* MUahahahaHahaha!

Another really awesome feature with this device is that you can control the light using an App (Android or Iphone) via Bluetooth. You can control up to 9 or 10 Lume Cube individually at the same time at different levels of lighting. Its pretty neat!

Lume Cube Android App
Lume Cube iPhone App.

Charging Lume Cube is a breeze! You can virtually use any micro-usb cable which it already comes with upon purchase of the cube. However, it does not come with plug for outlet. You can simply use any phone charger however or plug the USB end on your computer. This thing can charge from empty to full within 60min or less. You will see a greenlight on the button when its fully charged. Blinking Red is when it’s charging… and while in use also indicates that you are about to run out of juice.

There is a screw cap where you can take it apart to plug the micro-usb to charge your Lume Cube. This also keeps it waterproof as well.

What else can I do with this?

This Lume Cube can act as a Slave Off-flash for photographers that wanted to get a bit creative on lighting. You will see a small circle sensor on the front of the Lume Cube. That’s the sensor where it receives a sudden change of ambient light and Lume Cube will flash at the same time when main flash fires. I have not tried this settings yet but one day I will.

How about accessories?

I am surprised that there are handful of accessories that you can get for Lume Cube. There are diffusers, gels, brackets, etc.. You can see them on my list below if you want to check it out or make the purchase. (Following list are Amazon Affiliate Links)

Anything to be concerned about?

Even though I said so many good things about this product, there are some areas that I think it needs to work on. Upon my observation, when it comes to video… its super bright. If you are going to use this on Photography, I would recommend setting your level to higher than 5 so that you have ambient lighting for your subject. For people that really knows photography… Lume Cube is a perfect combo with speedlights, because this can act as AF-Assist light. Another thing I would like to point out, but I think this is more of a design issue in general and not an issue with Lume Cube perse…is the micro-usb mini plug. Because I can’t tell if I’m plugging it right side up or upside down. Many times that I forced plugged the micro-usb upside down and then realize that I plugged it wrong… then the prongs are bent the opposite way. I have to use a needle to bend it back into place otherwise it won’t charge.

Lume Cube clone??

For other alternative company that is almost identical light solutions like Lume Cube, there is a company called Sokani and LitraTorch. They run cheaper in price but I am not sure how their quality is. But as I looked at their design, it seems very similar. You can check them out listed below. (Following list are Amazon Affiliate Links)

Overall, Lume Cube is an excellent addon to purchase if you need a simple light solution on dark alleys… I mean places lol! Specially if you are not comfortable tinkering with speedlights/flash. This light is perfect for Videography, video content creators, GoPro, Iphone, DJi and good in photography. If you think that that this light is too bright on some devices, there is a diffuser that you can get at an affordable price. See the link below (Amazon Affiliate links) Let me know your thoughts or if you have any questions on how you should use it, subscribe to my mail listing and you will receive a “Survival Guide Photography for Beginners” as my thanks!

You can definitely feel the durability of this thing. I kid you not… I just accidentally dropped it again right after I took this pic!! LOL Still works!!!

That is all folks! See you all on my next blog post!