ZHIYUN Molus B300 COB Light

The ZHIYUN MOLUS B300 is a powerful constant lighting solution for both photography and video. While constant lighting has traditionally been used mainly for video, they’re becoming increasingly popular among photographers due to the ease of use.

For this reason this new light should find favour with both photographers and videographers and at 300W, it is exceptionally bright. When you combine a few of these, you can achieve some pretty complex lighting results, for example using a standard three-light setup with constant lighting rather than flash. Another feature that makes this light very useful is its compatibility with standard Bowens mount lighting modifiers. If you have any modifiers like softboxes or reflectors already, then they will fit directly onto this light.

Another nice touch is the inclusion of an umbrella clamp just underneath the light. This allows you to bounce the light off an umbrella—whether silver, white, or gold—to create natural lighting effects for portraits, this is of course standard for studio flash but less common for constant lighting.

The light’s overall design is very stylish, and it includes all the standard features that have traditionally made this type of light so easy to use and popular, such as AC power via the mains or through a power station like the Bluetti AC200.

The power of the light makes it a great option for photographers, even though videographers more traditionally use constant lighting. The Molus B300 not only brightness and colour temperature controls, but includes a range of preset lighting effects, such as strobe, paparazzi, and lightning. These can be activated either through the buttons on the side of the light or via the app once connected.

ZHIYUN has enabled their product designers to revisit traditional constant lighting, which you will be familiar with if you’re involved with video production. The light features brightness and temperature control with built-in lighting effects that are all easily accessible using the two dials—one on each side—and the small LCD screen.

Using the light is incredibly straightforward. Simply plug it into the mains, switch it on, and you have complete control from the lighting head. Alternatively, if you have the ZY Vega app installed on your smartphone then you can connect through Bluetooth.

The light’s aesthetics really stand out with its ultra-modern look with some semi-transparent plastics, offering a faint glimpse of its inner workings. Large venting grills and metal plates on the exterior protect the fans and air intake/outtake systems. A look inside the light reveals the massive metal heatsink designed to draw away heat from the large LED COB.

While the design is aesthetic and futuristic, it still conforms to many production norms. It includes a convenient carry handle—though slightly thin at the back—and a clamp and standard lighting stand socket on the base, ensuring compatibility with any existing lighting solutions.

What sets the MOLUS B300 apart from traditional lighting is its full compatibility with the Bluetooth app. Once the app is installed and the light is connected, you can add it to a group, either with other MOLUS lights or any other ZHIYUN lights. This feature is extremely useful, allowing you to control your lighting setup from the comfort of your mobile phone.

A quick rundown of all the features really shows the amount of development that has gone into this light. It combines a traditional-style light with the latest features, enabling this ultra-bright COB light to be housed in such a compact body.

Firstly, the industrial design encasing the light is strong and built around ZHIYUN’s powerful vortex cooling system, which helps keep the COB light cool. This 300W LED gets incredibly hot, so to ensure that the light keeps running throughout a days shoot it’s mounted directly on a huge heatsink, surrounded by three large fans. The rest of the light’s internals are relatively small, with most of the technology focused on ensuring that the COB light stays as cool as possible.

300W is quite a draw in terms of power, so the main power source for this light is a main AC plug, which you can connect directly to any wall socket. Alternatively, something like the Bluetti AC200 can power this light for several hours without issue.

There’s a good range of adjustment when it comes to the colour temperature, from 2700K up to 6500K, so whatever the lighting conditions in your location, you should be able to match them by adjusting the colour temperature of the B300.

When it comes to navigation and control, the two side-mounted push-button dials are very simplistic. It’s surprising how easy they are to use and how quickly you can navigate all the menus and settings, as well as select effects. Using a combination of rotation, button presses, or long presses, you’re able to access all the relevant features and to be honest, there are only a few that confuse you.

The main function when using the light is to adjust the brightness from 0 to 100%, or you can click the dial to adjust in 20% increments from 20% to 100%.

In addition to controlling all the settings directly on the lighting head, you can also do so through the ZY Vega app, which is supported on iOS and Android, or through the new ZY Vega One-Wire Controller. This is a really nice addition and will suit many more traditional videographers and photographers who prefer manual control.

Another big feature is the compatibility with Bowens mount lighting modifiers. So, if you have any old Bowens-style modifiers, you can use them directly with this head, and they will click in as normal. ZHIYUN also supplies its superb range of lighting modifiers. We tried one of these in our review, and the quality of the 85cm lantern softbox was exceptionally good.

This light can be as simple or complex as you want. Straight out of the box, it can be used as traditional constant lighting for video or photography.

If you need to add lighting effects to your video productions, you can easily access the app or use the small interface on the light to select some of the built-in effects. The ZY Vega app allows you to interact with the light, giving you plenty of additional options.

Starting up the B300 is easy simply plug in the AC power, connect it to a portable power station or into the mains, and then attach any modifier. We used the 85mm lantern softbox from ZHIYUN, mounted it onto a lighting stand, ensured the stand was locked and ready, and switched the power on. You’re pretty much ready to go at this point. You can then adjust the colour temperature and brightness using the dials on either side of the head. When it comes to straightforward use, it’s really simple, and there’s very little to confuse you with this light.

During our testing, we first used it outside on location on a relatively low-light day just to add a little bit of fill light to the scene and illuminate the inside of a van where we were filming. The power of the light, combined with the illumination cast by that lantern softbox, gave a beautifully natural effect. The fact that we could fine-tune the colour temperature and brightness was a real benefit to the quality of the visuals we were getting.

Over the next few weeks, the light was used in a variety of different situations, both for video and photography shoots. In the video shoots, the light really came into its own. Those familiar with how constant lights are used to illuminate scenes, bounce light, and complement natural lighting found that this light blended in perfectly. One feature we were really excited about was the ZY Vega app, which was supposed to control the B300. However, when we tried to connect through iOS, it was impossible, as the device wasn’t recognised. The same issue occurred when we attempted to connect using an Android Vivo 100.

After updating the firmware using a MacBook Pro M1 16-inch, the process was extremely straightforward. We simply connected via a USB Type-C cable, switched the light on, and the MacBook recognised the device. We were then able to download the software and update the firmware directly onto the B300, with the whole process taking no more than three or four minutes. However, while the firmware did update, Bluetooth connectivity remained an issue. There must be some additional trick to getting this to work, and I’ll update the review as soon as I discover what that is.

Otherwise, the video’s use of light was absolutely superb. Once the connectivity works, having several ZHIYUN lights on set and being able to control them all through an iPad or smartphone will make a real difference in the ease of adjusting a scene’s lighting.

Moving on from filming into the studio for some photography, this light worked really well. We first coupled it with a very old and battered Bowens snoot. The mount worked perfectly, even with the snoot, which is probably a decade old, fitting without issue and creating the small spotlight effect we wanted. Again, the ability to adjust colour temperature and brightness was a real benefit. As we shot several products, this light just made things easy. At the same time, we didn’t get the same style as when we used Flash; the brightness at the full 300W enabled us to capture super pictures of excellent quality.

One of the big features to really highlight is just how quiet this light is. Having used older constant lighting for a lot of video productions and photo shoots, you’re likely aware of just how noisy some of these lights can be when left on for hours, getting hotter and hotter. Here, however, every few minutes, you just hear the faint hum of the fans starting up, making sure that everything stays cool. What’s surprising is that even with a full 300W of power, in most situations, you only need to use it between 40% and 60%. Cranking it all the way to 100% is incredibly bright at close quarters. In all power and temperature adjustments, the fans kept on top of the heat without creating any loud noises.

For both photography and video, the ZHIYUN MOLUS B300 absolutely excels. It’s extremely easy to use, and those two dials on either side of the head make it really easy to adjust settings and access some of the lighting effects if you want them. It is a shame, however, that you may encounter issues with the Bluetooth functionality, as we did. Still, hopefully, with a firmware update or clearer instructions on how to connect, you’ll get this working. If it’s anything like what we’ve seen from other ZHIYUN lighting products, it should be really exciting.

The ZHIYUN MOLUS B300 COB Light is an evolution of the traditional constant light design. The larger body, compared to some of their other more compact lights, enables the advanced cooling system to keep the innards of this light cool, even when using it at its maximum output for extended periods. While the fan noise is audible, it’s minimal. When you’re about a meter away, with other noises happening in the scene, the fan noise fades into the background. On a busy set with actors moving around or presenters speaking, you’re hardly going to notice it.

The 300W light provides excellent illumination, especially with the brightness and temperature adjustments, allowing you to achieve the lighting you want. Because it’s constant, you can see exactly what’s happening as you take pictures, which gives you a lot more flexibility and creative control, especially when you’re starting with lighting and photography.

The design of the MOLUS B300 is reminiscent of other ZHIYUN products, with a slightly industrial style and look, which is a departure from traditional lighting gear. However, in this case, it works really well. The plastic casing seems tough and robust, so it should last for a long time.

Overall, the design of the B300 COB light makes it a superb choice if you need a constant lighting solution for photography or video. As a standalone lamp with manual adjustment, it follows all the usual conventions of more traditional lamps. With the standardised Bowens mount, you have access to hundreds, if not thousands, of different lighting modifiers from ZHIYUN and other manufacturers. The built-in lighting effects work incredibly well, but the main issue is the inability to connect via Bluetooth—though I’m sure this will be resolved soon. If you’re in the market for a high-powered constant lighting solution that adheres to traditional standards but includes a bit of modern design and features such as lighting effects and app control, this is an ideal solution.

However, you shouldn’t just think of this light as an individual product but as part of a larger system. As your photography or video work develops, you can buy more of these B-series lights and create a very large and sophisticated lighting system, all of which can be operated and controlled through one app.