SmallRig x CineD OrBrella Crowdfunding Now Live – 60W Bi-Color Soft Light, Foldable, 15-Second Setup

Lighting NewsSpecial Deals

by Johnnie BehiriYesterday

Subscribe to News - Lighting

The crowdfunding campaign for our SmallRig x CineD OrBrella soft light is live as of today! It runs until November 8, with the 60W bi-color umbrella light offered at $169.99/€178.90 instead of its later retail price of $199.99/€209.90. The 200 early-bird reservations we made available were claimed in just three days during IBC 2026. Now, this crowdfunding campaign is your next — and last — chance to secure the light below retail price before the first batch ships on January 20, 2027.

If you missed the story so far, our launch article explains the entire backstory of how we came up with this idea and how the light actually works. We also talked about it at length on Focus Check ep133, so make sure to catch up on it in case you missed it.

Now, though, I want to focus on what happened at IBC, what the crowdfunding campaign actually offers, and what we learned from the first people who put money down to reserve the early-bird unit.

What happened in Amsterdam

I spent all of IBC at the SmallRig booth with the latest prototype, and honestly, I did not expect the reaction we got. We set aside 100 early bird units for the show, reserved with a $1 deposit, and those were gone in roughly a day and a half. SmallRig agreed to add another 100, and by the end of the third day all 200 were spoken for. For our first product, that was a humbling three days.

The OrBrella also received a Future Best of Show Award at IBC 2026, which I mention not to brag but because it came from a jury that walks through the show and decided to pick our light from all the fixtures they see there. One visitor at the booth put it more simply than the jury did: he said he would definitely buy at least one, because it is handy for both location and studio product shoots. That covers the two use cases we designed it for.

The comment I keep coming back to, though, came from a solo operator who reserved a unit and said that his gigs are on-location interviews, and that this light is going to cut his setup and teardown time more than in half. That is one of the main reasons the OrBrella exists. As a side note, I saw a lot of interest coming from creators who are taking photos next to video. They immediately recognized the benefit of having such a portable soft light for taking on-the-go portraits!

Why an umbrella instead of another COB

Almost every light on the market today is a COB with a Bowens mount, and in my opinion, once you hide the badge, they all behave the same: a hard point source that you then spend five minutes softening with a softbox, a grid, and a diffusion layer. I have used this approach on documentary shoots for decades, and it works, but the time and bulk add up when you are a one-person crew filming interviews in someone’s living room.

The OrBrella turns the idea around. Eight LED strips sit on the ribs of a 58cm/22.8 in umbrella and fire inward at the white fabric, so the source and the diffusion are the same object. The result on an interviewee is the wraparound, book-light quality that normally needs a bounce, a frame, and a stand for each. A supplied cap goes over the front if you want it even softer. Stefan Karle, CEO of DoPchoice, who mentored me through the prototypes, helped us to also choose the diffusion fabric. At this point, I want to mention how grateful I am for his guidance and patience.

When you need more punch, you press the knob at the end of each strip, pull it off its USB-C connector, and flip it so it faces forward. The strips flip individually, so you can run half bounced and half direct if a scene calls for it. That is the “2-in-1” in our campaign language, and it is the part I am proudest of, because it means one fixture in the bag instead of a soft light plus a harder key.

What the fixture is, in numbers

The OrBrella FM 60B is a 60W bi-color fixture with a range of 2,700 to 6,500K plus green/magenta correction, which matters more on location, because mixed fluorescent and daylight are exactly what an interview in a real room gives you. The 60W figure was deliberate: we found it sufficient for sit-down indoor interviews.

Folded, the light is 34cm / 13.4in long and weighs 1.3kg / 2.87lb, so it easily fits inside a camera bag next to a body and two lenses. It opens in about five seconds and, in our comparison, puts total setup at around 15 seconds against three to five minutes for a COB with a softbox, matching my experience at the booth and on location with early prototypes.

Power runs through a separate control box on a permanently attached cable, so there is no cable to forget. The box carries a V-mount plate, a USB-C input for a power bank or laptop charger, and mains power; a Sony NP-F plate is in development as an accessory. On a 99Wh V-mount battery, you get about 1.5 hours of runtime. Control is on the box itself (intensity, color temperature, green/magenta), with NFC pairing and the same functions in the SmallRig app so you can trim the light from your chair while setting up the interview.

What the early birds told us

The best thing about showing a prototype in public is the feedback, and we are already working some of it in. Several visitors asked for shorter USB-C cables between the strips and the hub, possibly L-shaped, and that is being looked at. DMX control came up more than once from studio users, and it is under consideration, though I cannot promise it for the first batch.

Anyone who sees how the OrBrella deploys and how the indirect bounce works will get a significantly more capable product in their hands, and at a very cost-effective price. But I’ll let you guys judge that for yourselves once the units are out there.

One more thing worth saying plainly: the images you have seen so far, including the ones in this article, are of a prototype. The light is still under development, and small details may change before January.

Price and availability

The crowdfunding campaign runs from today, September 25, until November 8 on SmallRig’s campaign page. During that window, the OrBrella FM 60B is $169.99/€178.90. Once the campaign closes, the light moves to its regular price of $199.99/€209.90.

The first batch is expected to ship on January 20, 2027.

For more information, please visit our crowdfunding campaign here.

We love celebrating innovation and promise not to stop here. We would be grateful if you would consider backing our first product.