A proposed interlocking LED flash system may be getting additional features after it met its community funding goal ahead of schedule. The LED Light Cube, a project devised by IC12, an Australian company, is a new kind of photographic light source that has the ability to work as both a high-speed flashgun and an always-on video lamp.
The Cube’s Indiegogo campaign began in mid-August and hoped to raise US$60,000 to fund production. It has reached that amount with twelve days to spare, thanks to the support of over 100 people, some of whom pledged $1,400 or more to get their hands on four-piece kits.
Unlike many other crowd-funding projects on Indiegogo and Kickstarter, the LED Light Cube was a “flexible funding” campaign, which means that the manufacturer would receive all money committed, whether or not they passed the threshold. However, from the outset IC12 has insisted there was no chance of funders going empty-handed, saying: “It is 100% guaranteed that we’ll be moving forward into production, which means all contributions will be honoured and supplied even if we don’t reach our goal.
“If we surpass our target, we’ll be able to consider some ‘stretch goals’ and additional features for the Cube,” they added.
The LED Light Cube prototype is different to conventional photography lights because it has a customisable flash duration, from a quick 1/8000-second pulse to running for 30 seconds or more. Its creators claim the flash is as bright as Canon’s Speedlite 580EX II firing at full power, and they are asking customers to vote on if they should sacrifice battery life for brighter output in video mode.
It is not yet clear what extra features are going to be proposed for “stretch goals” or how much more money IC12 will need to raise to implement them.
We've hit our $60K target! Now for some stretch goals… #crowdfunding #lighting #ledlightcube #technology #photography #filmmaking
— LED Light Cube (@LEDLightCube) August 31, 2013
The final retail price is set to be $695 per unit, but before 11th September 2013 you can order them for under $500 by backing the campaign. Visit the Indiegogo page for more information.
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