Zhiyun MOLUS G300 - Review - The Best Small Light?

Zhiyun sent these to me, but have not had any input into this review or final edit.
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Over the past few weeks I've been testing out a pair of the MOLUS G300 Lights.
Aside from being smaller than most other 300W COB LEDS they have a trick up their sleeve in the form of the MAX mode. Which takes the output from 300W to 500W, at the optimum white balance around 4500K.
This has been one of the most enjoyable lights I've used in a while, and I think this is a trend that I've noticed with the products from Zhiyun. I've used plenty of more powerful/expensive lights, but the joy of having smaller kit is something that I hadn't anticipated.
There are draw backs to such a small form factor combined with the option of this much power, the fans need to spin up quite high in MAX mode to keep the operating temperature down. Having said that in most of the 'normal' day to day settings I haven't had to push them anywhere near this.
But if you are aiming for 100% in max mode for an interview in a room competing with direct hard sunlight then you should be aware of this as it may impact you audio.
However within the context of a 300W light which is after all what it is things generally stay farm more subdued.
And you can hear in the project with the Opera Singer that there was no issue with sound when used in that context.
Overall I've been very impressed with the lights and will certainly be continuing to use them on projects, so stay tuned to this channel to see how those come out as well!

[@louisd6410]

Came for a review, stayed for lighting tutorial 🔥🔥

[@Dale_Campbell]

🙌

[@CineMobilePodcast]

Appreciate the early review. I was literally about to pull the trigger on the G200 to replace a 300watt light that died

[@Dale_Campbell]

No worries 🙌 It’s pretty enticing at this price isn’t it 😉

[@matt.banton]

I have the G200 and love it. Will definitely pick one of these up soon. Thanks for sharing your experiences, for me, that’s much more useful than just specs

[@Dale_Campbell]

Thanks Matt! Glad to hear the approach was useful for you!

[@avx111]

was really close to buying a Nanlite F300B, but being able to just put this on a backpack and needing less gear to actually position them is very appealing.

[@Dale_Campbell]

What kinds of shoot are you doing mostly?

[@avx111]

@@Dale_Campbell mostly commercial, documentary and corporate. I would absolutely love something in the 500-600w range that can overpower the sun or fake a sunny day, but it's not a problem I have often to justify buying instead of renting. Also I love putting these lights on Super Clamps.

[@dnkswole]

Zhiyun striked again ! How long can you run the light with this anker power station ? Thank you for the vid pal!

[@Dale_Campbell]

I haven’t done a stress test in a controlled way yet. I ran the two lights for over an hour, but I was dancing the levels up and down. At the end it was 50-54% full

[@bobsteinfinkel]

I would want something like this for corporate interviews battling sun lit windows. So just wondering what your thoughts are for this in a typical setting, ie. person sitting at a board room table with the light at max setting. Space is not too cramped, I tend to keep the light probably like 4-6 feet away. Do you think you'd hear the fan in the audio?

[@Dale_Campbell]

I’ve shot a lot of scenarios like this and competing with direct sun is brutal. I’d say you need at least 600w of output and although this can get close the max mode does spin the fans up. They did announce a new ‘B’ series of lights which may be more suitable but I haven’t used them yet.

[@wiezyckifamily]

This is great! Wow the singer is freaking me out just a little though 😂 But hey, have you run into any difficulties with the ZY Vega app getting confused between the fixtures where after adding a new one a previously paired light stops responding to the app? I couldn’t get the x60 and the x100 fixtures to work in the app at the same time in the same group. Same for the M20C and the g200. It’s weird - they will work in separate groups but not together all at the same time.

[@Dale_Campbell]

Thanks! I haven’t encountered that issue, on this shoot I started everything fresh, Bluetooth reset all the fixtures and then added them all together. I also renamed them to help me quickly work out what was what when needing to adjust levels. Mixing the X60 and G300 in the app didn’t seem to be a problem… was this with the current build of the app? The singer was performing the Queen of the Night aria, as I understand it the character is basically cursing her husband out in the most extreme terms! Telling her daughter to kill him… So thats the ‘intent’ 😮

[@wiezyckifamily]

@@Dale_Campbell I just was able to do a fw update on the G200 and it seems to be operating well on the app now. Just received the G300 and WOW! My travel kit is now those 2 lights plus 2 x100s and 2 Fiveray M20s. All fit in the space of a single 300w type light from Aputure. I do use a ton of Aputure fixtures in the studio or local locations though!

[@Dale_Campbell]

@@wiezyckifamily awesome 🙌 Just working out a packing solution for all of the lights at the moment, what are you using?

[@wiezyckifamily]

@@Dale_Campbell I've been carrying on a Lowepro ProTactic backpack for camera bodies, lenses, laptop, etc. (under the seat) then the PortaBrace rolling carry-on case (overhead) holds batteries, a few lights, gimbal and/or drone (mini pro 3). Then I check a Briggs and Riley Torq 28-inch medium trunk suitcase with lightstands, tripod w/head removed, power bricks for lights, light modifiers and then my clothes go into the top lid portion. If I'm careful I can get it under 50lbs because the suitcase itself is only like 9.5lbs. As far as the actual packing of the lights themselves I've just sorta stacked them together in a couple of the velcro dividers in the PortaBrace. Just FYI I do have to pop the wheels off of that case to fit in the overhead and sometimes it's a bit tight and flight attendants look at me with 'that look.'

[@ooppss5284]

how do u compare it with G300 which it can up to 500w too?same output if both uses 500w?

[@Dale_Campbell]

Hey, not sure I understand correctly, this was the G300. Did you mean the B500?

[@DeluxSkater]

im planning on getting two lights, either 2x amaran 300c or these, 2x MOLUS G300 mainly for studio work and weddings as well, which would you recommend ?

[@Dale_Campbell]

Do you need the rgb colour mode?

[@DeluxSkater]

@@Dale_Campbell I don’t rely on it, I guess it could come in handy but not a necessity

[@Dale_Campbell]

@@DeluxSkater all other things being equal I’d usually opt for more output

[@ccudjoe89]

you can adjust the full range of colour temp in max mode as well?

[@Dale_Campbell]

You can, but I imagine as with other bi-colour lights the intensity marginally drops as you move away from the ideal range where it is using all of the emitters. But this is to be expected. It does however still feel ‘boosted’ so anecdotally I don’t feel I’m loosing much.

[@ccudjoe89]

@@Dale_Campbell tyvm for your response! very insterested in this one for the form factor!

[@robinprobyn1971]

I believe it's only 4300 in the max mode .

[@kenyakking]

Are the modifier and lightstand clamps metal? The G200's biggest weakness was plastic on the clamps...

[@Dale_Campbell]

The baby pin receiver and articulating mount are metal. The Bowens mount seems to be tough plastic

[@kenyakking]

Bummer they didn't change the plastic bits...can you ask them why?​@@Dale_Campbell

[@Dale_Campbell]

@@kenyakking I’ll try, If I had to guess I’d say that at this price point and in the interest of keeping weight down. It does feel solid though.

[@gwartmedia]

I always think that english churches are hard to light but you got great result.

[@Dale_Campbell]

Thanks! Second time shooting in this one, the first time I could have done with more small lights to sort the deep background like this. What I really want to do is get 4 of the G300s outside pushing in through the windows and haze it up 😅🤔

[@gwartmedia]

That would look amazing!

[@Dale_Campbell]

@@gwartmedia just need a few more 😬

[@cyb]

my eyes are so tired I thought your hand was floating and grew big I thought you were going to grab me

[@Dale_Campbell]

Maybe it has 👋

[@habcast3978]

Shipping date?

[@Dale_Campbell]

They should be shipping now!

[@Dale_Campbell]

There should be a link in the description (it is an affiliate link FYI).