If you use both film and digital cameras, as I and many other 35mmc readers do, you probably have a sense of just how much, and how rapidly, camera tech has advanced in the last few decades. These days we have cameras with a shutter speed of 1/80,000 sec, which can capture usable images at 40,000 ISO, nail autofocus on a diving raptor, and instantly send images to your phone – stuff which would seem like science fiction just 20 years ago. Using a film camera, with all its delightful limitations, helps us appreciate the miracles of modern camera technology.
But I got into lighting (both flash and constant lights) during the pandemic, and I’ve never used old-school lights. As a result, I don’t think I will ever truly appreciate the near-miraculous strides made in lighting technology.
These illustrations from a 1954 book, Fred Archer on Portraiture, show what studio lights looked like, back in the day:
My understanding, from reading old books like these, is that such lights were big and heavy, consumed lots of power, and got uncomfortably hot. And of course, they came in only one colour. If you wanted coloured lighting, you would have to use gels or filters.
And now you have lights like the Zhiyun Molus X100 RGB, which can pump out over 17,000 lux of adjustable power, light up in all the colours of the spectrum, don’t get hot enough to bother the photographer or the model – all in a package that weighs a mere 385g, fits in my hand, and can be powered by a small battery – no mains connection required! – for ultimate portability.
Disclosure
Zhiyun kindly sent us the Molus X100 RGB for review, but I was not paid for this article, nor did Zhiyun have any input into its content. This article contains affiliate links to the Zhiyun website. If you follow an affiliate link and purchase the Molus X100 or any other Zhiyun product, you’ll get 10% off, and I’ll get a referral reward at no extra cost to you.
In my reviews I always try to be honest and objective, and also provide lots of image samples so you can decide for yourself. If you have any questions or doubts, just let me know in the comments and I’ll be happy to address it.
Most of the photos and videos in this article were shot with a Fujifilm X-E4 and various lenses. If you want more details about gear, feel free to ask me in comments.
With all that out of the way, let’s get down to the review.
What is the Zhiyun Molus X100 RGB?
If you’re into videography, you most likely know of Zhiyun, a Chinese company which makes a range of popular gimbals (one of which I reviewed here). Zhiyun also make lights, and while I believe these are primarily targeted at videographers – being continuous lights (as opposed to flash) – they can, of course, be used for still photography too. In this review, I’ve tried to illustrate both use cases.
One of Zhiyun’s USPs seems to be lighting solutions that are compact but surprisingly powerful, and the Zhiyun Molus X100 RGB LED, the light that I’m reviewing today, is no exception. It has 100W of adjustable output, adjustable colour temperature, full-colour RGB, app control and various other features, all in a surprisingly – you might even say shockingly – compact package. The light can be plugged directly into mains, or powered by a battery (included in the Pro kit – see the “Versions” section below).
The Molus X100 is a COB (Chip On Board) light, consisting of a panel of LED chips (see above) which are densely packed together, producing a uniform and very bright beam of light.
Modern LEDs are incredibly versatile. In CCT (Correlated Color Temperature) mode, it can range from 2,500K (yellow/warm) to 10,000K (blue/cool), while in HSI (Hue-Saturation-Intensity) and RGB (Red-Green-Blue) modes, it can produce pretty much any colour you want.
The photo below was lit with warm but relatively naturalistic light, in CCT mode:
…while for the image below, I used a long exposure, dancing around in front of the camera with the light in RGB mode (100% Red). A photo like this one would have been far more complicated, if not impossible, with a light that requires a mains connection. But the Molus X100 has its own detachable battery, which really expands your creative options.
Sample photos and videos
In most gear reviews, I first talk about specs, controls, features, look and feel. Sample photos generally come at the end. But for this article I thought I’d invert the order and first show you what the light can do, which is more fun than the technical stuff.
Jieying’s dance video
The Zhiyun Molus X100 is the only light which I used for a dance video with my friend Jieying. You can watch it on Youtube or Instagram; it’s just over a minute long. She also used some of the same footage and outtakes to make two shorter reels: one more edgy, and the other more contemplative.
The photos below illustrate how we used the light in some of the locations. The first is a behind-the-scenes (BTS) shot of my setup in a carpark. The light is on the right, with an 85cm umbrella diffuser.
The next three photos are straight out of camera, all with the camera’s white-balance (WB) set to daylight.
The first one is a normal exposure with ambient light only (the Molus X100 is turned off):
As you can see, the ambient light looks greenish, as fluorescent light tends to do with daylight WB. This can be partially fixed by setting WB to Auto, Fluorescent or Custom, but colour-cast aside, the lighting is rather flat.
For the next photo, I underexposed by 2.7 stops. This kills almost all the ambient light, leaving just a smidgeon for the vibe:
Finally, the next photo shows how it looks with the Molus X100 set to 4500K (warm) colour temperature. It’s a tad underexposed, but that’s how I tend to shoot video, for more flexibility in post-processing.
I used more or the same setup for a second sequence in the carpark, from a different angle.
For the sequence below, I used the Molus X100 with just the included reflector – no diffusers or other modifiers – for a harder light (see her well-defined shadow on the left).
The previous examples were all shot indoors, but we also used the light for one of the outdoor sequences, which shows that the Molus X100 can even (somewhat) compete with daylight.
I say “somewhat” because this was early morning on a cloudy day, so the daylight was not too bright. On the other hand, as you can see from the BTS shot below, the Molus X100 was placed at a considerable distance (on the right of the frame). Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by its power and throw.
The image below left is without the Molus X100 (natural light only), and below right was with the light. The difference is not as dramatic as the indoor shots, but it still adds just a pop of directional light to help the subject stand out (you can also see her shadow).
Overall, the Molus X100 was perfect for this dance video – it was the only light we used. It’s small and light, and powered by a (also very compact) battery for maximum portability. This made it easy to carry as we walked around scouting locations, and also very quick to set up. We did the whole shoot, in five different locations within the sports complex, in less than two hours.
The grip battery can power the light for 30 mins at 100% output, which was enough for this shoot (I was careful to switch it off when not filming, to conserve power). For longer shoots, you might want to bring a spare battery or some other power source.
Bird rescue
I recently found a small bird – a yellow-rumped flycatcher – lying in a pile of fallen leaves. She had no visible injuries but could barely move, perhaps in a state of shock.
I brought the bird home, put her in a box, gave her some water, and called National Parks. While I waited for a volunteer to arrive and take the bird to the vet, I thought I’d take some photos. The late afternoon light was fading, and flash might have traumatised the poor bird further, so it was a good time to break out the Molus X100. For the photos below, I used the included mini-softbox (which you can see in the first BTS shot). The light was in CCT mode at something like 40% power and 4500K.
Leica product photos
I also used the Molus X100 for product photos of a lens – Voigtländer 40mm f/1.4 in Leica M-mount – which I was planning to sell on eBay. I find you can generally get much better offers on eBay if your listing has nice photos – and good lighting really helps with that. As it happens, I managed to get more than what I originally paid for this lens when I bought it secondhand.
Unlike the dance video or the bird photos, this is a situation where I could have used flash. For still photography, I generally prefer flash over continuous lights, because pound for pound, flashes are more powerful. But for indoor shots like these, when you don’t need much power anyway, the Molus X100 is actually smaller and lighter than most flashes. And with continuous light, you can judge the brightness, angle, softness, etc. by eye, which can speed up the workflow.
The photo below shows the BTS:
And here’s one of the product photos I took for eBay (I only sold the lens, not the camera!)
Zhiyun Molus X100: Versions
Having shown some sample photos and video, let’s talk about the light itself. The Molus X100 RGB comes in:
- Standard version (just the light, reflector* and mains cable)
- Pro version (all of the above, plus a grip battery with fast-charging cable, barn-doors, softbox, Bowens-mount adaptor and storage bag).
I’m reviewing the Pro version, along with an add-on accessory, the Zhiyun spotlight attachment.
* What Zhiyun calls the “reflector” is in fact a Fresnel-like refractor. But in this review, I will set aside my pedantry and call it a reflector, in keeping with Zhiyun’s product description.
The reflector and softbox both attach to the front of the light via the ZY bayonet mount. The sleek-looking barndoors attach to the reflector with magnets, which is both convenient and satisfying.
While the barn-doors and softbox are nice to have, the true benefit of the Pro version is the battery. I’d recommend the Pro kit just for the battery alone, because it makes the light so much more portable and versatile, not needing to be tethered to a wall socket or other power supply. That said, if you already own a few more X100 or X60 lights and plan to share batteries, that might be one reason to get the Standard kit without battery.
It’s worth mentioning that there is also a plain (non-RGB) Molus X100. This has nearly all the features of the Molus X100 including bicolour (i.e. adjustable colour temperature), but not full-colour RGB. I’m reviewing the Molus X100 RGB, but most of what I say here also applies to the non-RGB version. If you don’t need full-colour RGB, you can get the non-RGB version and save some cash.
What’s in the box
The Zhiyun Molus X100 Pro comes in a nice padded case with a fabric exterior, and foam inserts to hold the different parts. The case includes:
- The light itself (with protector cap)
- Grip battery
- Reflector
- Barn-doors
- DC power adapter
- Power adapter organiser bag
- 100W USB-C fast-charging cable.
In addition, the Pro version also includes a mini (40cm) softbox (below left) and Bowens-mount adaptor (below right).
Zhiyun also sent me the spotlight attachment, which is sold separately. Later in this review, I’ll cover all these modifiers in more detail, with sample photos.
Specs
My reviews tend to be more focused on real-world usage and other subjective factors, but for completeness, here are the basic specs as presented on the Zhiyun website:
| Size (without reflector and battery) | 144.5 × 94 × 36.1 mm |
| Weight (without reflector and battery) | 385g |
| Max power | 100W |
| Power source | Detachable Grip Battery / 100W+PD Fast Charge / DC Power Adapter |
| Battery runtime | 30min with grip battery (at max power) |
| Color temperature range | 2,500K-10,000K |
| Color rendition | CRI ≈ 95, TLCI ≈ 97 |
| Max illuminance | 17,317 lux (with mini-reflector at 1m) |
Size, look and feel
Given the amount of light it produces, and the slew of features (which I will get to in a bit), the Zhiyun Molus X100 is tiny. The main light unit fits in my hand, and the grip battery is pretty small too. I like compact and portable gear (who doesn’t!) so on that count alone, I am predisposed to like the Molus X100. It’s especially helpful for me because I do a lot of on-location (as opposed to home or studio) shoots, on my own (i.e. without assistants), and generally take public transport.
The light feels well built, and the controls are well-laid-out and pleasantly tactile. Despite being a small and lightweight device, it still has a premium feel. One time I dropped it (just the light, without battery) from chest height onto a hard floor, and it sustained no damage – but this was purely accidental; I wouldn’t repeat the experiment.
There are subtle design touches which I appreciate – for example the protective cap is ridged, which gives your fingers some purchase and makes it easier to peel off. I also like its steampunk aesthetic with the metallic grille and knobs. The LCD is basic, but it has all the info you need, and most importantly, it’s bright enough to see in daylight. If I had to nitpick, I’d say if the LCD were about 50% bigger, it would have been easier to read at a glance.
The Molus X100 has a temperature sensor, so the fan (which you can see in the photo above) automatically turns on when necessary. The fan is pretty quiet. If you’re recording audio, it may be an issue if you have a mic less than a meter away from the light. Otherwise it shouldn’t be a problem.
Controls and layout
The controls are simple – in a good way. The Zhiyun Molus X100 just has a Power (on/off) button, and two knobs marked Select and Adjust.
Pressing the Select knob cycles through the various menus, namely:
- CCT (Correlated Color Temperature)
- HSI (Hue-Saturation-Intensity)
- RGB (Red-Green-Blue)
- FX (special effects)
- Music mode
- Main menu, where you can set the language (English or Mandarin), reset the Bluetooth and so on.
You can double-press the Select knob to return to the previous menu. For example, when you’re in CCT mode, a single press will move you “forward” to HSI, and thereupon, a double press will get you back in CCT.
The double-press feature wasn’t obvious to me. When I first started using the light, if I accidentally switched to a different mode, I would cycle through all the options until I got back to the original mode. But that’s on me for not reading the manual, which clearly talks about this handy feature.
Within each menu, you turn the Select knob to choose different parameters. For example, in CCT mode, the adjustable parameters are Dim (Power), CCT (colour temperature) and G/M (green/magenta tint).
Once you select a parameter, you turn the Adjust knob to adjust it. You can also press the Adjust knob to adjust parameters in larger increments. E.g. in CCT mode, with Dim (power) selected, pressing the Adjust knob causes the output to cycle through 0%, 50% and 100%.
Room for improvement?
My quibbles with this light are minor, and mostly to do with the layout.
Firstly, if the light is mounted on a stand, and you’re looking at the back – as you normally would, because the LCD is on the back – the knobs will be on your left. Given that most people are right-handed, I think it would make more sense to flip the layout so that the knobs are on the right.
Second, the tripod sockets are slightly recessed (see below). This to me feels rather unnecessary, and makes the light a bit more fiddly to mount. On the plus side, there are two sockets: one closer to the DC and USB-C ports, and one more central. The former is meant to be used with the attached battery, for more even weight distribution. The latter is for use without battery (e.g. when the light is plugged into the mains), and helpfully there is sufficient clearance (one of my criticisms of the Molus X60 was that the tripod socket is too close to the ports).
Modes
I lean towards naturalistic lighting, so I tend to use the light in CCT mode, in the 4,000–5,000K range. But you can go all the way from 2,500K (yellow/warm) to 10,000K (blue/cool), and also control the tint (green/magenta). This last feature (tint) was missing on the Molus X60, as I noted in my review last year, so I’m glad that Zhiyun listened to their users!
Below, the top left image is with ambient light only. The other three show how the light looks in CCT mode at the warmest (top right) and coldest (bottom right) settings. Bottom right (5000K) is probably closest to the ambient light, and therefore looks most natural. The only thing I changed was the colour temperature; the camera settings included white balance (Cloudy) were the same for all four shots.
These were shot on an overcast day with relatively cold light, but the colour temperature of daylight depends on the weather, time of day and other factors. So having this very wide CCT range can help us match the colour temperature of natural light, or alternatively, create contrast (e.g. cool background and warm foreground).
HSI and RGB modes allow for a range of different colours. These two modes are only available on the RGB variant of the Molus X100 which I’m reviewing, while the other modes are also available on the plain (non-RGB) model.
For the photos below, I used a flash with pink gel on the left, and the Molus X100 in RGB mode on the right. The barn-doors prevented light from spilling onto the camera.
FX mode has 18 different effects such as candlelight, faulty bulb, strobe, police car and so on. You can adjust the brightness, speed and colour of each effect. Music mode causes the light to pulse to a beat.
FX and Music mode can be useful if you’re shooting video or using the Molus X100 as a party light, but they’re not that relevant to still photography. However, some effects can potentially be used with long-exposures, e.g. strobes for a multiple-exposure effect, or the hue loop for multi-coloured patterns.
I also tried out the ZY Vega app (iOS and Android). It seems intuitive and in my limited use, it worked fine. In practice I tend to use the physical knobs, but if the light is placed some distance away or inside a softbox, I can see how the app might be helpful. The app is also handy for choosing specific colours, and it has a Picker tool where it uses the phone camera to try and replicate a specific colour. If the colour is not quite right, you can use the app to make further tweaks and aim for a closer match.
Battery and power supply
The Zhiyun Molus X100 can be powered in three different ways:
First, using the DC power adapter, plugged into an AC socket:
Second, using the grip battery, directly coupled with the light:
Third, using the supplied USB-C cable, with the other end of the cable connected to a power source, e.g. the battery (included in the Pro kit, but not the Standard kit), power bank, or AC socket with USB-C adapter (not provided).
If you use an USB-C adapter plugged into an AC socket, Zhiyun recommends using an adapter which is ≥100W and supports PD fast charging protocol. The USB-C cable can even be used to power the light directly from your laptop, if it has a USB port that delivers ≥18W of power.
The grip battery has enough juice to run the light for about 30 minutes at full power (the Molus X60, being less powerful, can run for 50 minutes). There are four charge-level indicators that light up when the battery is charging or in use.
The battery has a USB-C port which is both an input and an output port. What this means is that the same port can be used to charge the battery, and also to deliver power via USB-C cable to the Molus X100 or some other device (e.g. I sometimes use the battery to charge my phone, so it doubles up as a power bank).
Light power
The Zhiyun Molus X100 is surprisingly powerful for its size, but it has its limits. If you want a key light which can overpower daylight or light up a whole room, you might want something more powerful, like the Molus G300 which I reviewed earlier.
For me, the Molus X100’s primary use-case is as a key light for portraits or smaller objects (e.g. for product or food photography), or as a secondary (fill or rim) light. Having said that, in the dance video I linked to earlier, you can see how it can also be used for full-body illumination, and even compete with daylight (up to a point).
Modifiers
As I mentioned, the Standard kit comes with a reflector, while Pro kit also includes barn-doors, mini (40cm) softbox and Bowens mount adaptor. I was particularly impressed by the softbox, which has a very solid metal mount, two layers of diffusion and a grid.
The softbox folds and unfolds quickly and securely. The metal mount has catches and springs for each strut.
Scattered throughout this review are images made with the various modifiers, e.g. just the reflector for certain sections of the dance video, barn-doors for the bicolour portrait shoot, and softbox for the bird.
The Pro kit also comes with a Bowens-mount adaptor for its Molus X60 and X100 lights. This is a high-quality piece of kit, with a reflective cone and metal screws and levers which feel reassuringly solid. It also has its own swivel mount which fits the standard 1/4″ screw on top of a light-stand, thereby bearing the modifier’s weight and taking the weight off the light itself.
The adapter is rated for softboxes of ≤60cm and ≤1.3kg. I tried out a softbox which was slightly over spec (65cm and 1.6kg), but the adapter handled it like a trooper.
In my previous example photos, you can see how the light behaves with a few of the most common modifiers, but the Bowens-mount adapter allows for any number of other accessories. If you are into lighting, you can probably imagine how it would look with a beauty dish, grid, parabolic reflector, and so on.
Spotlight attachment
The spotlight attachment is not included in the Pro kit; Zhiyun sent it to me separately for review. It’s a cylindrical device – essentially a projector lens – which attaches to the front of the light via the ZY bayonet mount.
The spotlight attachment is largely made of metal, and as the name suggests, it’s basic function is to project a focused beam of light. It has a focusing ring, which allows you to project either a hard-edged or a fuzzy spotlight, as desired.
The default shape of the spot, as you would expect, is round, but the device has internal four-leaf barn-doors – the metallic protrusions in the photo above – which allow you to shape the light in various ways. For example, in the photo below, I used the barn-doors to create an angled slash of light to highlight the text and the fountain-pen nib.
The spotlight attachment also comes with 10 masks (gobos) to project different kinds of shadows. The masks are in a convenient little “album”. You simply place your chosen mask into a holder, which in turn slots into the light. 
The gobos are great for creating a bit of visual interest or texture, in a photo which might otherwise look flat.
The photo above-left was with ambient daylight only. For the one on the right, I used the spotlight attachment and gobo. Being able to control the light colour and intensity makes it that much more versatile, allowing us to precisely balance the ratio of ambient and artificial light. The shot below shows the BTS setup.
Here are a couple other examples of gobo use, this time with little or no ambient light.
Final thoughts
I find the Zhiyun Molus X100 RGB is versatile enough to genuinely expand my creative possibilities while adding little or no friction to my workflow. Its power-to-size ratio is amazing, and the combination of adjustable colour temperature, full RGB capability, intuitive controls, and multiple power options make it a super versatile tool for both stills and video.
My quibbles, as I noted, are minor, and possibly subjective. I would have preferred the control knobs to be on my right when the light is on a tripod, and if the tripod socket were not recessed. A slightly bigger LCD would have been nice too, but it’s not a problem if you mainly use the app. With the power and quality of the light itself, I have no complaints at al.
The Molus X100 is not a replacement for more powerful studio fixtures, nor is it meant to be. But when I needed a small but relatively powerful light – whether on location or in my makeshift home studio, for product photography, birds, portraits and dance – the X100 consistently delivered clean, controllable light in a compact package. The Pro kit’s included modifiers and optional accessories broaden its creative potential, while the battery turns it into a go-anywhere solution. All technical specs aside – and as an amateur, this is a quality which I prize in my equipment – the Molus X100 just feels fun to use.
If you’re interested in purchasing this or any other Zhiyun product, feel free to use this affiliate link. You will get 10% off, and I will get a referral reward, at no extra cost to you. For more of my work, check out my Instagram. Thanks for reading.
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