Lume Cube (Photo Source: lumecube.com)
A Portable Sun in Your Pocket
As creatives, we often run into situations where we need a little bit more light, whether for stills or video. For some folks, using flash is challenging, and flash helps us not at all for video.
As more and more content is being created on mobile devices, we find that their small sensors just don’t perform well when the light level is low. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to carry a portable sun in your pocket?
Now you can, and it’s called the Lume Cube.
Figure 1: The tiny, yet very powerful, Lume Cube
What the Lume Cube Delivers
This tiny critter is available as singles, two packs and in some areas, four packs. It’s a complete light in a package only 1.5 cubic inches in size. It will fit in your pocket. Take a look at these specifications:
- 6000K White Balance LED
- Continuous Output variable from 1 to 1500 lumens
- Slave Flash mode with durations from 1/8000s to 1 second
- 1/4-20 standard light stand/grip/tripod mount
- Integrated battery delivering up to 20 minutes at full power, 60 minutes at 90% power
- USB charging
- Waterproof to 100′
- Remote control via Bluetooth app
Easy To Get Attached To – No Matter What You Shoot With
If the capability of this little light isn’t enough, the company has also built a series of mounts for the Lume Cube to enable easy attachment to your DJI Phantom drone, GoPro, action camera, smart phone, or camera hot shoe. They have also released a grip kit to hold a smart phone and the Lume Cube as a single unit for on-the-go smart phone video.
Figure 2: Lume Cube Smartphone Grip Handle with Ball Head
A single Lume Cube sells for about $110 and the accessories are very aggressively priced.
Some Suggested Uses for Lume Cube
You can probably think of lots of uses for this device, but here are some to consider:
- Smartphone video light when shooting indoors with family and friends
- Supplemental off camera light for special events, such as parties, restaurant dinners for still and video
- Use underwater with your action camera or tough travel camera
- Use as a tiny point source of light for creative photography
- Use a set of Lume Cubes for inexpensive video lighting (you can control up to five separate Lume Cubes via the Bluetooth app)
- Put on little table tripods as your lighting setup for your VLOG
- Supplement your camera flash with extra lights that fire wirelessly via optical slave technology
These are just some quick ideas that I thought of in under a minute. Your own creativity is your only limit. Consider how flexible the long runtime, easy charging and no wires function will be for you.
Summary
No matter what kind of photography or videography you do, a small, powerful supplemental light is going to be handy to have around. The cost is low and the functionality is high. This might just be a “must-have” for your creative work.
Thanks for reading, and until next time, peace.
