The fact is that many photographers these days are finding that they have to shoot both stills and video in order to make their living. When lighting those jobs, it has always come down to needing strobe/speedlights for stills and continuous or hot lights for video work.

What Is The Lume Cube Light?

The Lume Cube is a small 1.5″ by 1.5″ LED that boasts an impressive 1500 Lumen output and Bluetooth technology, but its real trick is that it acts as both a continuous light or a flash/strobe. Is this the perfect accessory light for any gig?

Lume Cube SLR Lounge

My Thoughts On The Lume Cube Light

I first became aware of the Lume Cube when I wrote about the project being funded on Kickstarter. They blew past their initial goal of $56,000 and earned almost $230,000. That was over a year ago, but this week, I finally received a review unit, and I was excited to check it out.

Upon opening the package, I was not sure what I would find. I honestly had forgotten that I even had a unit coming in for review, and could hardly remember what the unit was supposed to do. But once I turned the Lume Cube on and started playing around with it, I realized what a gem this little light actually is.

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But just to refresh your memory, in case – like me – you don’t recall or maybe never heard about Lume Cube in the first place, here are some spec highlights:

  • 1.5″ by 1.5″ Cube LED
  • Dimmable Between 0–1,500 lumens
  • ¼ 20 Mount Attaches to Tripods & Action Cam Accessories
  • Fully Adjustable Flash Duration & Brightness via Smartphone App
  • Optical Sensor For Easy Off-Camera Triggering
  • 5600K Color Temp
  • No Recycle Time Needed Between Flashes
  • ~2-Hour Battery Life @ 50% power & 1-Hour Charge Time w/ USB Charger
  • Waterproof to 100′

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The build of this little light is actually remarkably solid. Let me put it this way, I would have no issues letting my 2 or 6-year-old play with this light. They could throw it, hit it, etc., and I have every confidence it would hold up. That said, due to the brightness of the unit, I don’t recommend letting your children play with it; it could damage their (or your) eyes.

The main ways that you interact with the Lume Cube Light is through an iOS or Android app, which I will get to in a minute. But as far as physical buttons, there are two located on the top of the unit. These allow you to set the mode of the light without needing to open your app. That said, though, to change any advanced settings, you will need to have your phone handy to connect to the Lume Cube.

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One button turns on the optical slave, essentially putting the Lume Cube into strobe mode. This will cause the light to flash, just light a Speedlight, upon registering another Speedlight firing. The other button turns on the continuous video light, which is deceivingly bright.

On the bottom of the Lume Cube, you have a standard 1/4 20 thread which makes mounting the Lume Cube to any standard light stand, tripod head, or accessory arm incredibly easy. You can almost literally put this thing just about anywhere.

The back of the unit features this screw out stopper that covers, and protects, the Lume Cube’s micro USB port with is used for charging the unit’s internal battery. That battery is rated at 20 minutes on full power (continuous) or up to 2 hours at 50% power (continuous).

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The Lume Cube Apps

As mentioned previously, to interact and control the Lume Cube, you use an iOS or Android app. There is a free version and a $2.99 paid  ‘pro’ version. The free version, as you would expect, is rather limited. It does not allow for more advanced control of the light, mainly making the Lume Cube a fun phone accessory.

The paid $2.99 ‘Pro’ app, on the other hand, allows for some really fun customization of your Lume Cube. You can modify your flash duration, light output, turn on a red-eye reduction mode, the optical slave, etc. It also tells you the battery level and the Bluetooth signal strength of your connection to the cube.

You can also control up to 5 separate Lume Cube’s from a single phone. This allows you to have some fairly elaborate lighting setups without much fuss at all. It’s quite neat really.

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My Verdict on the Lume Cube Light

The versatility of the Lume Cube makes it a really valuable accessory in my opinion. Just throw a couple of them in your camera bag and you have some extra lights on hand to enhance your shot, or take over in case one of your dedicated lights craps out. The ability to use these for both stills or video, with your camera or just your smartphone shows that these little lights pack a lot of possibilities.

They are not perfect; not being able to trigger them in flash mode from your real camera without a Speedlight is a flaw that should be easily remedied with some sort of on-camera trigger. The battery life could also be an issue if you need them for prolonged use at higher brightness settings. Those issues aside, though, at only $79 each, these are going to be finding their way into my bag for sure.

Still, more testing is needed to be sure of exactly how useful these would be in a professional setting. Stay tuned for a more in-depth look at the Lume Cube in the future.

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If you are interested in checking out the Lume Cube for yourself, you can learn more over on their website here. If you are interested in picking one up, you can also purchase directly from Lume Cube via their website or you can pre-order them now via B&H here. They come in Black, Gunmetal Grey, and Silver.

Quick & Dirty Night (With Lume Cube & Without Example)