Jan 31, 2022
Blink and you’ll miss a revolution. There’s a fascinating trend happening in film and video right before our eyes, but for some reason it seems to be going unnoticed.
Film and video production is no longer for the high-budget professionals. It’s now for the low-budget (or often no-budget) amateurs, DIY creatives, and new YouTube creators who are merely adopting video as a means for creating their art and telling their stories.
Digital camera technology is getting smarter, smaller, and cheaper, and so are the tech and gear associated with video production. And no product or brand is taking advantage of this change more than Lume Cube — a lighting gear company meant to challenge the status quo of how modern, digital content creators light their films and projects.
So, for anyone interested in exploring this new vein of film and content, let’s take a look at some of the top offerings from Lume Cube to see if any options might be right for your workflows and projects.
A look at the Lume Cube
Alright, we’ve talked up this Lume Cube brand quite a bit now, so let’s take a look to see what they are all about.
With a corporate motto of “we challenge the status quo of traditional lighting gear,” their M-O appears to be all about powering this new age of creators. Their signature product might be the best example of this new wave of innovation in film.
As you can see in the video above, the Lume Cube is pretty much what it looks like — a light equivalent to the GoPro action cam. It’s a plug-and-play, easy-to-use, rough-and-tumble cube with great light quality and game changer tech in regards to battery power, battery life, and power source flexibility.
As someone who’s used GoPros on shoots from an afterthought B-cam for timelapses to an A-cam for interviews, it’s nice to see some durability-focused technology brought to the world of lighting.
But the question remains…
Should filmmakers actually care?
With their signature product offering so much in terms of fun tech and features, there still might be plenty of video purists out there arguing that a tiny GoPro light will never do the job of their favorite three-point lighting kit. And, in many ways, they might be right.
However, in a few key ways, they might also be surprised to learn that these Lume Cubes might be more of the way of the future for them too.
As many of us expected when the first Lume Cube was released, the company has subtly expanded from just offering their signature product to also making several other light types built off of the same LED technology.
From a drone strobe light, to a mobile creator kit and ring light, to an edge light pack and panel pro RGB lighting kits, the brand has several options for a wider variety of project types.
All of that is squarely aimed at the same DIY filmmakers and content creators. Who wouldn’t benefit from adjustable brightness, color temperature controls, ambient light capabilities, solid battery life and bright light great for video calls, video conferencing, livestreams (and even attachable for a camera or a desktop monitor)?
Options for filmmakers and content creators
As we’ve covered in the past here on the Soundstripe blog, lighting is an integral part of the filmmaking process. And in many ways lighting can be your best tool to add a cinematic level of professionalism to your videos, which can really make it stand out from your competition.
You can check out some of our behind the scenes featurettes to get an idea of what we’re talking about. However, for all of you at home who might be creating videos on your own with your smartphones, prosumer digital cameras, or simply without access to a full production crew, I firmly believe these are the types of products and lights you should explore.
As an update of their original Lume Cube, the Lume Cube 2.0 probably best exemplifies this new nature of run-and-gun DIY videography. While you can pick and choose more specific lighting options, this cube might be any new creator’s favorite piece of gear ever. It’s waterproof, chargeable, attachable, and surprisingly bright.
There’s also enough bells and whistles with attachable gels and mobile controls that you could use it as either your main or your secondary light for a variety of DIY and online content situations, from YouTube vlogs to TikTok-style videos and everything in between.
Other affordable video light options to consider
While the Lume Cube is the one we’re focusing on and one of the best to exemplify this new brand of DIY filmmaking, we need to also acknowledge that it isn’t the only DIY lighting option out there on the market.
In fact, in the years since the Lume Cube first released, several other brands and manufacturers have stepped up development in this new creator-space.
Here are some additional cheap video lights to consider:
- SmallRig Pix M160 RGBWW Video Light: $90
- Aputure MC RGBWW LED Light: $90
- Godox LEDP-260C LED Video Light: $90
- Pixel G1s RGB Video Light: $70
- ULANZI VL120 RGB Video Light: $50
Most of these options come at a comparable price point to the Lume Cube 2.0 (which retails at $90) as well as Lume Cube’s other panel LED lights like the Panel Go ($100) and the RGB Panel Pro ($160) which are more production-focused.
However, if you’re looking for to embrace (or at least try out) this new DIY content creation mindset and really think outside of the box, I’d still have to recommend trying out products like the Lume Cube to see if this product’s versatility unlocks any new video ideas or career inspirations.
After all, no one wants to be left behind.
Further reading
If you’d like to check out some other new product reviews, or find more filmmaking tips and tricks, check out these other great articles on the Soundstripe blog: