Full disclosure up front: we are Ants on a Melon, and we make light painting tools. So we are not a neutral reviewer. But we have been in this craft long enough to tell you honestly where our tools win, where someone else's are the better buy, and what each kind of tool actually does in the frame. That is this post.
There are four families of light painting tool: brushes, writers, tubes, and blades. They do four genuinely different things in a long exposure. Below we cover each one, name the brands worth knowing in 2026, and say plainly who should buy what.
The state of light painting tools in 2026
A quick lay of the land, because it has shifted. Light Painting Paradise, one of the original tool makers, closed at the end of 2025. ProtoMachines, the legendary programmable flashlight, has been discontinued for years. At the same time the category is healthier than ever, with strong makers across North America and Europe and new brands still arriving.
The other thing worth understanding before you spend anything is that there are two philosophies for how these tools work:
- The connector approach. A passive tool (a fiber brush, an acrylic blade) attaches to a flashlight you already own through a universal connector. Color comes from the flashlight, from colored fiber, or from filters. Light Painting Brushes, the original brand in this space, pioneered this and it is excellent if you already own good torches.
- The platform approach. One programmable RGB flashlight that every tool threads onto, with color and pattern set from an app. This is the approach we took with the RGB Critter BT: set any of 16 million colors at the source, then swap heads for brush, writer, tube, or blade.
Neither is right. If you own torches and love to tinker, a connector system is great. If you want one light that does everything and changes color from your phone, a platform makes more sense. With that out of the way, the four tools.
1. Brushes
A brush lays down the softest, most organic mark in light painting: a wide, feathered stroke made of hundreds of fine fiber tips, each tracing its own micro-trail. The effect looks painterly, with none of the hard edges of a bare LED.
The brand to know: Light Painting Brushes. Created by Jason D. Page, this is the original and most established name in the category. Their black fiber optic brushes illuminate only at the very tips, so there is zero light bleed down the strands, which is genuinely excellent. They offer white and color fiber, an enormous tutorial library featuring pro photographers, and a Universal Connector that fits a wide range of torches.
What we make: the Fiber Optic Duster. Our brush threads directly onto the RGB Critter BT, so instead of colored fiber or filters you set the brush color from the app, any of 16 million. It is part of our beginner kit for exactly this reason: it is the most forgiving creative tool to start with.
Who should buy what: If you already own quality flashlights and want the most established brand with the deepest tutorial ecosystem, Light Painting Brushes is a fantastic choice. If you want your brush color controlled from your phone and to share one light across every other tool below, the Duster on the RGB Critter is the simpler system.
2. Writers
A writer is the opposite of a brush: fine and precise, a single clean line you can draw and write with. This is the tool for light writing, words, signatures, outlines, and line drawings traced in mid-air.
The brands to know: Light Painting Brushes offers light writers and light pens that produce a very thin, controllable line, and its range is the most varied here.
What we make: the Acrylic Writer. An acrylic rod channels light from the RGB Critter out along its length, giving you a crisp point to draw with, in any color you set on the flashlight. At $19.95 it is one of the most affordable entry points into creative light painting, and the cause and effect is so direct it is the tool we hand beginners first.
Who should buy what: For pure variety of writer styles, Light Painting Brushes has the broader catalog. For an inexpensive writer that shares a flashlight with your brush, tubes, and blades, the Acrylic Writer is the efficient pick.
3. Tubes
A tube paints bold, continuous trails with built-in texture. This is the most expressive trail tool, and the competition here is the strongest of any category.
The gold standard: Eric Pare and the Light Painting Store (Canada). Eric Pare and Kim Henry are the artists who defined the modern tube look, and their Canadian-made tubes, squares, and kits are premium, beautiful, and trusted worldwide. If the tube aesthetic is your whole reason for being here, they are the benchmark.
Other strong tube makers: Luminosify (UK) makes the well-regarded Choob tubes with tri-color options. Light Painting King (Germany) offers waterproof tubes and adapters. Nanlite makes a well-priced three-foot tube with built-in pixel modes if you want to experiment cheaply. Most share the T8 tube standard, so they cross-pollinate.
What we make: the Light Painting Tubes. Impact-resistant polycarbonate tubes that thread onto the RGB Critter, with laser-cut surface patterns that shape the light as you move:
- Dots Combo: dual-sided, bold large dots on one face, evolving graduated dots on the other.
- Honeycomb: a structured hexagonal texture.
- Spiral Dots: twisting, spiraling trails.
And because we make a T8 Modular Adapter, the RGB Critter can also drive standard T8 tubes, so choosing our system does not wall you off from the wider tube ecosystem.
Who should buy what: If tubes are your art form and you want artist-designed premium gear, Eric Pare's Light Painting Store is the one to beat. If you want app-controlled color, distinctive laser-cut patterns, and a tube that runs on the same flashlight as your other tools, ours are built for that, at a lower price.
4. Blades
A blade is a flat acrylic shape, edge-lit so the whole form glows and smears into a sharp, defined plane of light when you sweep it. This is the tool for hard geometry, dramatic shapes, and bold structural elements.
The brands to know: LITEBLADE is a respected name for light swords specifically. LightTubePro (Netherlands) carries plexiglass tubes and a small blade selection. Light Painting Brushes also offers plexiglass blades through its connector system.
What we make: Light Painting Blades. This is where we are hard to match on range and brightness. Two things set ours apart:
- The largest shape library in the category: circles, katanas and swords, feathers, crab claws, hearts, and many more, in both standard and Pro versions.
- Thickness. At 8mm, ours are the thickest light painting blades on the market, and because an edge-lit blade glows along its thickness, that means more light output and brighter, cleaner trails than thinner blades.
Blades need two pieces: the blade and the Light Painting Blade Holder, which twists onto the RGB Critter and locks the acrylic with two thumbscrews (it fits 3 to 8mm blades).
Who should buy what: For a dedicated premium light sword, look at LITEBLADE. For the widest range of shapes, the brightest trails, and app-controlled color across all of them, our blade system is built for exactly that.
The 2026 comparison
| Category | Leading alternatives | What we make | Where ours wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brush | Light Painting Brushes (zero-bleed black fiber, original brand) | Fiber Optic Duster | App color control, shares one flashlight |
| Writer | Light Painting Brushes (widest writer range) | Acrylic Writer | Low cost, modular |
| Tube | Eric Pare / Light Painting Store (premium benchmark); Luminosify; Light Painting King; Nanlite | Dots Combo, Honeycomb, Spiral Dots | Laser-cut patterns, app color, T8-compatible, lower price |
| Blade | LITEBLADE (swords); LightTubePro | Light Painting Blades and Holder | Biggest shape library, 8mm (thickest, brightest) |
All four of our tools run on one RGB Critter BT, with color set at the flashlight, so any tool can be any of 16 million colors.
Which should you buy first?
Do not buy one of everything. Pick by the look you want:
- Draw and write with light: a Writer. Most intuitive, fastest results.
- Bold, dramatic trails: a Tube. Start with our Dots Combo for two effects in one, or Eric Pare's kit if tubes are your sole focus.
- Soft, dreamy, painterly shots: a Brush.
- Sharp shapes and geometry: a Blade plus the Blade Holder.
If you would rather not assemble a system piece by piece, our kits bundle the flashlight with the essentials:
- Light Painting Photography Kit for Beginners: RGB Critter BT plus the Acrylic Writer, Fiber Optic Duster, and a Light Painting Tube. Three tool types, every major style from day one.
- Light Painting Starter Kit: the flashlight and core tools.
- Light Painting Pro Kit: two RGB Critter BT flashlights and nearly the full accessory range.
Everything is modular and works with 200+ RGB Critter accessories, so whatever you start with, you expand later without replacing anything. You can browse the full range on our light painting tools collection.
Light painting tools FAQ
What is the best light painting tool brand?
There is no single best. Light Painting Brushes is the most established for brushes and writers. Eric Pare's Light Painting Store sets the standard for tubes. We make the broadest modular system, where one app-controlled flashlight runs a brush, writer, tube, or blade in any color. The right brand depends on which effect you are chasing.
Do I need a separate flashlight for each tool?
With a connector-based brand, you attach tools to torches you supply. With our platform, no: one RGB Critter BT runs every tool and you swap heads. Color is set at the flashlight.
Can I mix brands?
Often yes. Many tubes use the T8 standard, and our T8 Modular Adapter lets the RGB Critter drive them. Connector systems are designed around common torch sizes too. Check fittings before you buy.
Why does blade thickness matter?
An edge-lit blade glows along its thickness, so a thicker blade carries more light. Ours are 8mm, the thickest available, which means brighter, cleaner trails in a long exposure.
What camera settings should I use?
Start with a 10 to 20 second exposure, f/8 to f/11, ISO 200 to 400, on a tripod, in a dark room. Set your color, open the shutter, make your mark, close it.
Made by the Ants on a Melon team. We build the RGB Critter BT and a full range of light painting tools, and we would rather you buy the right tool than only ours.
