The latest new product to cross my desk is yet another lighting system under the MOLUS monicker from Zhiyun, the company that made its name originally with its range of gimbals. This time it is the MOLUS X100, a fill lighting system using a rechargeable battery.
If it seems I am bombarding you with Zhiyun product of late, well it’s because I am. And only as they have been absolutely prodigious in their output of new gear lately.
(Zhiyun has a habit using seemingly odd names for its branding; its top of the range gimbal is a “Weebill”, which is actually a tiny Australian finch. Molus is a gossamer winged butterfly genus – or the son of a pair of mythical aristocrats in Greek mythology depending on your interests).
The basic X100 is ostensibly made up of two parts; the main lighting body with a ginormous great fan in it, containing a rechargeable battery, and a dome diffuser. An option, and in the kit, I received, is a chunky USB-C rechargeable battery grip. When assembled, the whole affair is about the size of an A5 book and weighs under a kilo. (Sans battery grip its under 400g)
For tripod mounting there are a couple of threaded holes on the underside of the X100.
Don’t be fooled though. The X100 packs one hell of a wallop! Indeed, when you take the main unit out of the supplied carry case and remove the sealed soft plastic wrapping so much used these days, its encased again in a bright yellow skin you need to cut off with a Stanley knife containing a grave warning about heat and intense light.
Once you have removed this, the battery locking terminal has yet another warning of the same before you can get to that and take out the waterproof rubber cover. They are playing very safe here.
Out of the box, the battery was ¾ charged, so once it was all put together – the diffuser screws and locks into place with a single motion on a ZY mount making it open to other options– a single press and hold of the Big Red Button fires the unit up.
On the rear is a small LED panel showing the intensity and colour temperature, and these are raised or lowered via a couple of knurled knobs mounted on the top of the X100.
The intensity goes as you’d expect from 0% to 100% giving up to 3881 LUX, and colour range temperatures range between 2700k to 6500k. Peak brightness is at 4500k. Zhiyun says adding a mini reflector increases this to a whopping 17317 Lux!
And trust me that is VERY bright indeed. By way of comparison I have a spotlight also using a COB based LED system that will light up a tree like daylight 100 metres away. The X100 I’d suggest is way brighter again.
Those warning labels are not there for nothing! Do not look into the light as they say.
The Zhiyun engineers have thought the system through beyond a simple on / off light, however. Using an app and Bluetooth control, a mesh system allows you to remotely control multiple lights in the MOLUS range, and there is even a music mode to allow autonomous control via a music rhythm.
Additionally, the cooling uses a DynaVort system using gyroscopic modelling heat sinks and FOC fans. The DynaVort technology is based on the fluid dynamics and attitude-control algorithm, significantly raising the cooling efficiency through intelligent control over airflow emissions.
Apparently.
The only minimal drawback, and I suspect this will be addressed for units shipped to Australia, is that the 240v battery charger came with a Chinese 2 prong plug therefore needing an international adaptor.
But that is a minor thing in this day and age. I would have liked the full manuals in paper form in the box though instead of accessing via a QR Code.
Summary
The MOLUS X100 is a brilliantly conceived and engineered system in my opinion. Simple yes, but effective definitely. A couple of X100s and perhaps a single MOLUS G60 and you have an eminently portable lighting system for around AUD$1000. By itself, the X100 at the moment is on special at AUD$399 as against the normal AUD$459 direct from the Zhiyun website at https://au.zhiyun-tech.com/products/molus-x100
What more could you want?
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