Home creators understand the battle between space and utility. We live in a time when any home can be a studio, but finding lighting that fits your space is work. Finding the middle ground between power and form makes the Lume Cube Studio Panel Lighting Kit unique.
Lume Cube has included two powerful, rechargeable, 10.5” x 7.4” panel lights, stands, and connectors into a package that fits under your bed. From photographers looking for hyper-portable portrait lighting to streamers who want to bring their content to life, this kit delivers.
However, is it powerful enough for professional use to justify its price tag? Here’s everything you need to know about the new Lume Cube Studio Panel Lighting Kit.
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What is the Lume Cube Studio Panel Lighting Kit?
Lume Cube’s Studio Panel Lighting Kit is a dual-panel lighting setup ready to work out of the box. You get two 10.5″ x 7.4″ panel lights featuring Lume Cube’s edge-lit technology, barn doors for the lights, mounts, stands, remote, and a power cord. Everything comes in a handy bag that keeps your lights secure as you travel.
Each panel light weighs about 1.5 lbs, with the stands each weighing a pound.
The Lume Cube Studio Panel Lighting Kit retails for $349.99. A single Studio Panel Light is also available from Lume Cube for $149.99. However, it only comes with a power adapter, remote, and tilt mount. You’ll need to provide your stand.
What Features Set The Lume Cube Studio Panel Lighting Kit Apart?
Edge-Lit Technology Provides Soft But Powerful Light
Each of Lume Cube’s 10.5″ by 7.4″ Studio Panels delivers shockingly powerful yet soft light for such a compact device. Lume Cube’s edge-lit inward-facing LEDs feature built-in diffusion, resulting in a powerful, yet never harsh, output. Even when placed close to your subject, we never experienced harsh glares.
1800 Lumens of Light with 2100 Lux at .5 Meters
Lighting on locations can be unpredictable, but with 1800 Lumens of output, the Studio Panel can handle most conditions. This kit becomes a beast up close, with 2100 Lux at .5 meters. This provides extraordinary detailed clarity and color beyond the kit’s powerful baseline.
3200K – 5600K Adjustable Color Temperature with a 96+ CRI Rating
Ensuring the correct color tone out of your videos is simple with the Studio Panel’s 3200K to 5600K color temperature range. Even when we tested these lights in a room with fridged recessed lighting, we could always find a temperature that worked.
That’s in part thanks to its 96+ CRI rating. CRI is ranked out of 100, with 100 able to replicate color under white light perfectly. This color accuracy helps bring out the vibrance of your locations and subjects.
Includes Tilt Mounts and Barn Doors
Studio lights are precise tools, and Lume Cube’s Studio Panel kit comes ready to help you work with tilt mounts and barn doors. The tilt mounts allow you to get the right angle your video needs, from key lighting to illuminating your subjects.
You’re in for a treat if you’ve never used Barn Doors. These shutters let you direct your light precisely, from creating beam effects to highlighting a specific point.
Remote Lets Self Shooters Fine Tune Lights From In Front of the Camera
While Bluetooth apps can be nice, nothing beats having a remote that just works. This little wonder lets you make finetune adjustments to your lights from far away or in front of the camera. You can adjust the warmth and power of your lights with simple button presses. Lume Cube even included shortcut buttons to jump between temperatures or power levels quickly.
Comes With Two 70” Stands
Along with tilt mounts, this kit includes two of LumeCube’s lightweight aluminum stands, which break down compactly and fit in the case. Each stand moves from 1” to 70,” ready to suit almost any basic shoot requirement out of the box.
Rechargeable Lithium Batteries
You can use the Studio Panel while plugged into the wall, but thanks to its built-in lithium battery, the kit is ready for road work. Fully charged, these lights can run at max brightness for 80 minutes. Given that each one weighs a little over a pound, that’s an incredible amount of power just to take to the beach.
What Downsides Are There To The Lume Cube Studio Panel Lighting Kit?
Price
At $349.99, the Lume Cube Studio Panel Lighting Kit is not cheap, especially when studio panels are getting less expensive. However, if you do the math, this studio kit is remarkable. Alone, each Studio Panel costs $149.99 apiece and doesn’t come with barn doors, a bag, or a stand.
If you wanted to add barn doors, those cost $19.99. Additionally, each 70″ stand is $49.99. Buying two lights alone would be $300 before tax. If you add in the barn doors and stands, that would be an extra $140. That means if you buy the kit, you’re saving roughly $100 off the cost of getting everything. Plus, the bag which Lume Cube doesn’t sell on its own.
You may be asking yourself, are Lume Cube’s stands that good? The answer is an emphatic yes. Compact, lightweight, yet sturdy as hell, they aren’t just branded stands.
No USB-C Charging
The Lume Cube Studio Panel Lighting kit is almost on the cutting edge of the moment, at least until you get to its AC power source. We understand why AC power might be best for charging, but these portable lights can’t help but make you wonder what if. If you could use a power brick in a pinch, we’d never stop recommending them. Instead, we merely love them.
No RGB Light Options or Effects
Lume Cube users might be surprised that the Studio Panel Lights don’t offer any RBG color options or effects. While these features are standard for the company’s panel lights and tubes, they are nowhere to be found. Given the technology that goes into providing such wildly powerful lighting on the go, we’re not surprised. But it’s a slight downside in an otherwise excellent package.
No Bluetooth
If you need Bluetooth controls, this isn’t the kit for you. However, thanks to the remote control, we never required Bluetooth. This is a minor complaint, but we know someone will care.
Is The Lume Cube Studio Panel Lighting Kit Worth Your Money?
My first studio lighting kit cost me $200 and took 20 minutes to set up. Each light had four light bulbs, each in its box with protection. Its softbox needed to be built, with four poles needing to be inserted into a lighting base before the cover was attached. Then, each light needed to be plugged into a wall outlet. Its settings were “bright,” with no adjustable factors for warmth or power.
Breaking it down took roughly the same amount of time, and including stands, the whole kit was the size of a bag of golf clubs. Accordingly, I’m amazed at the ease of use, quality, build, and power you get with Lume Cube’s Studio Panel Lighting Kit. Almost every feature, from the built-in defusion sparing you the need for softboxes to its powerful battery, makes it worth your money.
These lights are so small you’ll be tempted not to put them away when using them at home. But it’s when you take them out for a spin shooting on location you start to get it. Take your Studio Panel light to your favorite bridge for a nighttime shoot or to add fill light and clarity in the woods. Leaving behind your wires lets you open up the wells of creativity.
What stands out, however, is how much you get for the price. Sure, $350 before taxes isn’t cheap. But everything that comes with this kit is built with love and utility. Buying everything in this kit separately would run you roughly $450. Instead, Lume Cube includes its wonderful, compact 70” stands built for these lights.
Whether you are looking for lights that respect your space or powerful tools that provide high-quality light, the Studio Panel Lighting Kit has you covered. You’ll never have to replace a broken lightbulb, you won’t have to build the softbox, and the whole thing fits in a tiny little case. We’d accept sacrifices in power for such portability. Instead, Lume Cube delivers 1800 lumens of battery-powered illumination.
If you’re exploring the world of panel lights, these are some of the best you can find. Compact, brilliant, and helpful. We wish it had Bluetooth, USB-C, and RGB color lighting, but those are minor complaints. Once you start creating, you won’t mind the minor downsides.
