I want to lead with this: I did not get paid for this review. I reached out to Zhiyun and asked if they’d send me the lights so I could make this video, they said yes, and here we are. No sponsorship, no script handed to me. Just my honest take.

And my honest take? This light is really, really good.

This is the Zhiyun Molus X100 RGB Cam Mackey Edition, and I’ve been testing it as a wedding filmmaker, YouTuber, and freelance commercial filmmaker. If you’re like me and you’ve been hunting for one light that can do it all, keep reading.

First Impressions: The Case and What’s Inside

Right out of the gate, I hope you like the color brown and small semi-flightless birds, because Cam Mackey’s logo and branding are all over this light and its carrying case. Personally, I don’t mind it at all. In a sea of black and gray light cases, a little color is a refreshing change.

But the real story here isn’t the case’s look. It’s what’s inside. The word that keeps coming to mind whenever I think about this light kit is versatility, and the included accessories are exactly why.

Here’s what you get straight out of the box:

• The Zhiyun Molus X100 RGB light itself
• Fresnel lens attachment
• Metal magnetic barn doors
• Compact collapsible softbox
• Bowens mount adapter
• Included battery (55Wh)
• AC adapter
• The carrying case

That is a full kit. In one case. That you can carry onto a plane.

The Fresnel Lens: A Surprisingly Great Spotlight

The fresnel lens attaches to the front of the light and gives you roughly a 15 to 20 degree beam angle. To be clear, the beam is not adjustable. You can’t tighten or widen it. But here’s the thing: I didn’t miss that feature at all when I tested this at a real wedding reception.

I set it up in the corner of a dance floor and let it rip, and it lit up the entire space without me once wishing it was wider or narrower. The beam angle is just in the right sweet spot.

That said, I want to be upfront: compared to a dedicated fresnel spotlight like the Practilite 602 or the Aputure 60x, the beam on this light is not quite as crisp. There’s a decent amount of falloff on the edges. But given the wide beam angle, even on a tight dance floor, this light has more than enough spread to cover the space. For the price and what you get in the full kit, it’s a more than reasonable trade-off.

And beyond weddings, this fresnel is equally useful as a hair light or background kicker for YouTube videos, corporate interviews, or commercial shoots. Versatile, as promised.

Barn Doors: Control the Spill

The included metal magnetic barn doors attach directly to the fresnel lens, and they are excellent. They help compensate for the beam’s softer edges by giving you real control over where the light goes and where it doesn’t.

At the wedding I used this at, I was able to dial the barn doors in so the light only hit the dance floor and didn’t bleed onto the walls or ceiling around it. If you’re shooting weddings or events where you need to control spill, you’re going to love these.

The Softbox: A Complete Studio Setup In One Case

Here’s where things get really impressive. This light comes with a compact, collapsible softbox included in the box. That’s not something you expect at this price point.

With most lights, if you want soft, flattering light for an interview or a talking head YouTube video, you have to go buy a separate softbox, figure out how to rig it up, and then figure out how to transport it. With the Molus X100, you just pull the softbox out of the case and you’re good.

And the way Zhiyun designed the case to transport the softbox is genuinely clever: the bottom of the case has ring straps that hold the collapsed softbox perfectly. Slide it in, and the whole kit stays organized and compact. It’s the kind of thoughtful design that makes you realize someone actually used this thing in the field before shipping it.

Bowens Mount Adapter: Maximum Compatibility

If you already own a larger softbox, a spotlight attachment, or other Bowens-compatible modifiers, Zhiyun also includes a Bowens mount adapter so you can use any of that gear with this light. That’s a smart call on their part, and it opens up the modifier ecosystem considerably.

One small gripe: I couldn’t find a good way to store the Bowens adapter in or on the case. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it does mean you’ll need to toss it in your bag separately. A minor inconvenience for an otherwise extremely well-organized kit.

RGB and Bi-Color: Yes, It Does Both

This isn’t just a bi-color light that lets you dial between warm and cool. This light can output any color in the RGB spectrum.

That means if you’re filming a wedding reception and the DJ forgot to bring lights, you can add some color to the dance floor and give the whole thing a vibe. Or if you’re filming a YouTube video and you want to change the color of the background, mimic the look of moonlight coming through a window, or dial in a specific mood, this light can do all of that.

There’s also a companion app so you can control the light wirelessly and really fine-tune the color output. I found it intuitive and easy to use.

If you’re interested in pushing your color work even further in post, you might want to check out my LUTs to help shape the look of your footage after you’ve nailed your lighting.

The Battery: Better Than It Looks On Paper

Here’s the part of this review where I want to push back a little on the spec sheet, because the specs can be misleading.

The included battery is 55 watt hours, which keeps it under the carry-on limit for air travel. Zhiyun rates it at about 34 minutes of runtime at full power. When I first heard that number, I thought, okay, that’s not great.

But then I actually used it at a wedding. A two-hour wedding reception. And the battery still had about 75% charge left when I took the light down at the end of the night.

How? Because in a real-world reception environment, I didn’t need this light at 100% power. I only needed around 20 to 30% brightness to make a meaningful difference on the dance floor. At those power levels, the runtime is dramatically longer than the rated spec at full blast.

This is the kind of thing you can only learn from actually using the gear at a wedding, not from a spec sheet. And it completely changes the value proposition of the included battery. At moderate power, this light can feasibly run an entire wedding reception on the included battery alone. That is a big deal for a light this compact.

The Bottom Line: Is The Zhiyun Molus X100 RGB Worth It?

The Pro Kit of this light runs somewhere between $450 and $500, and for that you get the light, carrying case, fresnel lens, barn doors, softbox, Bowens mount adapter, and battery.

Here’s my honest take: if you want a single lighting kit that can handle a YouTube video on Tuesday, a corporate or commercial shoot on Wednesday, and a wedding reception on Saturday, this light can do all of that. You don’t need multiple different lights. You just need this one.

For filmmakers who are just starting out and looking at buying their first real light, this thing checks a ton of boxes in one purchase. And for experienced filmmakers looking to add something compact and versatile to their kit, it fits right in alongside whatever else you already own.

I would have absolutely loved to have something like this back when I was getting started. Instead I was running Home Depot work lights in 2008. Those things were hot. Literally.

If you want to level up not just your lighting but your entire video production, check out my guide Edit Videos Like a Pro for more tips on producing better content from start to finish.

And if you want to see more of the gear I use and recommend for wedding filmmaking, check out my posts on destination wedding videography gear and how to film a wedding reception.