Broadcast Lighting Kit

I’ll start this by saying I’m not a professional photographer, blogger or person who has a studio but after CoVid am using tech that I never could’ve imagined. So...about the LumeCube. Besides that it is just a super cool looking design, it is functional and easy to use. Hold the blue button on the side for a few seconds and it comes on. Use the little wheel next to the on button to brighten up or down. There is a display on the back if you wish to check the actual numerical values. One of my pictures shows that. With the diffuser on, it gives my face a soft glow. Great for zoom meetings. I use it to balance the light in a poorly lit space while teaching remotely. Weighs next to nothing and is easily moved from one place to the next yet is sturdy enough to stay wherever you place it. One charge lasted me for two days of teaching - on for about 8 hours at the lower setting. I should’ve checked to see where the battery was but I figured, that I’d just charge it anyways. It gets pretty bright and I did use the lower level of brightness because that seemed to look best for my situation in the daytime. The lowest level (warm) also gives my skin a golden glow that looks awesome on camera. The telescoping stand wasn’t easy to figure out at first but the height is great for my needs and it stays locked in wherever you pull it out to. It’s 30 inches from the floor to the base of the light and the light itself is about the size of a 3x5 card. It’s smaller than my iphone plus but about double the thickness. The light at the top is easily angled and set with a thumb turn knob. I’m super pleased with the quality of the telescoping light and would def recommend this to a friend. I did not try out the suction cup attachment but it’s nice to have as an option should I decide to change my setup and just added to the value. If you’re looking for a light for your home studio, you just found it. Update - 3 weeks of regular use later. I use this 5 out of 7 days a week to balance the light in a room that already has natural daylight streaming in on the opposing side. I leave the silicone diffuser sleeve that came with it on at all times. The light is set up so it’s about 3 - 4 feet from my face and at nearly the lowest (1% of 3200k, warm) setting. One charge usually lasts me several days of about 6 hour each time. Right now, the display on the back says that I have about 4.2 - 4.4 hours left on this charge at this setting. If I changed the setting to 10% of 3200k it shows that I have 3.1 hours left. At 100% 3200k it shows 4 minutes left. I have plugged it into my usb hub (using the usb-c to usb cable that came with it) and it works just fine while charging. Also, to reduce glare and the reflection of the light in my blue light glasses, Ive adjusted the light position upwards so it is no longer in the family of angles for reflection. Still loving my Lumecube light!

Despite my trepidations on the reviews (suction cup, angle) I decided to purchase and try out, Im using this for video conferences for work and for Discord games with my friends for leisure. I opened the box, charged it up and used it a couple of nights ago; brightness was perfect, I was afraid it was going to be too bright or even feel like a spotlight on my face; I attached the suction cup to the back of my laptop (MacBook Pro 2016) and never popped off or had any trouble sticking; the angle was perfect because it illuminated the whole area around my head/upper torso and looked natural (my friends confirmed this). I wanted something small, portable, easy to use; compared to some of the other similar products I just cant justify spending over $100 for something comparable or even something cheaper that breaks after 3 uses. So far I have used it a few times and every time it has worked perfectly. Really happy with my purchase. Edit on 9/19/20: Okay, so far the suction cup failed; however, I realized that I didnt properly press in on the function cup to create as much a vacuum before turning the clip; retried it and worked; so far tried it up to this date and the suction problem has not re-surfaced. I think that the reviews claiming the suction cup doesn't work is b/c of human error and not an issue with the product.

Like so many other people this past year, I bought this primarily for remote meetings and appointments. It's pretty good for that. It doesn't have dozens or hundreds of settings/filters/colors/etc. I actually see that as a positive. It's for remote conferencing, not a production. The range of brightness and color allow for optimal lighting in what I'd guess are most common setups. The diffuser is useful as well. The light is consistent across the device (so far). No blinking, fading, LEDs that vary much. It has a pretty small profile. I like the tripod. It fits into a small space Now the things I like less about it: First, the suction cup mount is not very helpful, in my case. It leaves a mark on my desk, so I won't use it there. Mounting it on my laptop does not provide enough headroom for the light to get high enough, and it adds a lot of weight to the lid. Second, the thing heats up. That doesn't bother me too much, but I thought one of the advantages of LEDs is that there is less energy wasted as heat. Not sure what it is that's heating up, but my best guess is the battery. The main problem I have is the relatively short battery life. It lasts about an hour (sometimes less), and I need it to work, frequently several hours more-or-less straight. I've run it plugged into a wall charge (I really which it was built in and didn't require USB, but I sort of think I understand why). That slows the discharge down, but it still is not enough for what I need. That all said, I do like the light. It's better than the few ring lights I tried and sent back. In fact, I've ordered a second one. I'm hoping I can run both of them at lower brightness to save power and extend batter life, and I think dual lighting just looks better.

I just received this light package and am very impressed with it!! Well made and works great!! I'm glad I paid the extra money for the light and accessories - well worth the price!! I did notice one missing feature that would really make this stand out far above all the competition - hands down! I was using it for a video meeting about the time the sun was going down, and the light coming in from the window behind the light was changing as the sun set. I found that the light was becoming way too bright and started to look unnatural. I had two choices at time - interrupt the meeting by standing up, covering the camera with my body, turning the light around and changing the brightness, or.... let it continue to appear brighter on me (overexposing my face) as the light from the window diminished. I would like to suggest to the manufacturer that they add a way for the device (PC in my case) to manage the light brightness and color. It is already connected to my computer via USB, and there must be a chip inside of it managing the light output - seems like it would be an easy upgrade to add control of the light output from the device to which it's connected. Again - great light! But for my situation, there is a massive opportunity for a feature upgrade. Thank you!

I bought the Lume Cube in April 2021 for $100. During it's first year, it got maybe 4-5 hours of use/week--pandemic work-from-home meetings, but that job ended and I've used it since for calls with friends--maybe 4 hours a month. The battery has always lasted around 90 minutes and even though I leave it plugged into a USB port, it doesn't provide the power to stay on after the battery is low. This past week I was on a call and it started turning off and would not turn on, and now it just won't hold a charge anymore. Further, upon closer inspection the diffuser cover over the LEDs had lifted from the body of the device (see pic) and it looks like the interior has lifted too, as if it's warped from being overheated. With infrequent use, I expected longer than 3 years out of this product. If I had used this daily or several days a week, I might have a higher opinion, but for most of the time I've owned the Lume cube, it hasn't even been used weekly. When it worked, it did a good job. If this is your choice, consider buying the Protection Plan, and watch for overheating that warps the cover and insides. I just replaced this with LitONES--we'll see how this goes, for half the price.

Having researched this company a bit, I finally bit the bullet and bought the mini panel light; I was immediately impressed in the variances of brightness and warm-to-cool color control. It's the perfect light to mount on my desktop computer and use for virtual calls. Price wise is worth it, albeit a bit high, compared to other lights offered out here from other companies. BUT! the control options on this one make it worth the price! I know people have mentioned that the suction doesn't work as well as it should and I can only guess that it depends on your own situation. The suction cup also has a self-adhesive ring on the suction cup, to give it a double hold when on your computer. The suction mount can be taken apart (similar to how a GoPro works, if you've encountered those). If you are using on a laptop and going to be popping this thing off and on again and multiples of times, then you may find that the suction cup doesn't always hold up as long under the weight of the light. But, if you can leave it on for some time, I suggest taking it apart and adhering the suction cup portion first (on a clean surface of your computer) and then after a few minutes, connecting the light panel portion next; this should give the suction cup and reusable silicone adhesive on it, some time to "lock on" to your computer, hopefully avoiding any falling off of the light. Also, take into consideration the angle of your computer screen, as the further back you push open the laptop screen, the more the angle of the light is going to fight against gravity 9which could also lead to it disconnecting from the computer).

I received my light panel today. I will be returning it today as well. Lume Cube sells three light panels: Panel Mini, Panel Go, and Panel Pro. The Lume Cube Video Conference Lighting Kit comes with the Panel Mini. The suction cup has been coated with some sticky substance, but it still requires a smooth flat surface. If you will be using it with a desktop monitor be warned - the backs of many desktop monitors are slightly curved and have some slight texture to improve appearance. They also have air vent slots. These features are incompatible with the suction cup mount. The suction cup may stick to the back of your monitor for a while due to the sticky substance coating the cup, but there will be not be any suction holding the cup to the monitor. The sticky substance is not strong enough by itself to keep the suction cup and panel reliably in place. Eventually, the assembly will fall off. The USB cables are only used for charging. The instruction pamphlet says you must unplug the cables when the light panel is fully charged. (Perhaps the batteries are damaged if overcharged?) On the back of the panel is a tiny (~2 inch) display that indicates the battery power, brightness setting, and color setting. This is the OLED display they keep bringing up in their marketing literature. Big whoop. Who cares if the miniscule status display is OLED or LCD or something else? It is not used for displaying pictures or videos. It is only used for showing miniscule icons. You will not be able to see the status icons from where you are sitting in front of the panel. You will have to get up and look around back at the status display. I get the impression that the Panel Mini was designed for use with DSLR cameras when one is out and about taking photos. Lume Cube saw a chance to make money during the pandemic and repackaged the Panel Mini as a Video Conference solution, but they did not bother to design a standard monitor clip style mount – the type of mount which is used by all web cams. Instead, they decided to include suction cup mounts which are used by photographers.

I bought a second Lume Cube for my wife because I was so happy with mine. Ring lights seem to be the best-performing option for video conference lightning, but they are big and ugly. We love the Lume Cube because it's barely noticeable when a desk is in a living space and it's easy to take on the road (when lighting is most likely to be variable.) The battery is surprisingly robust for the size and it's easy to keep it plugged into a computer or monitor (you rarely need to actually run the thing purely on battery but it's a nice option when you don't want to further drain your laptop battery. Finally, I wanted to mention that I had an issue with my first Lume Cube with the charging port and even though the device was a few years old and out of warranty the support team was kind, understanding, and helped me out with a new device. They didn't have to do it and it makes me a loyal customer.