Ceiling Lights for Video Studio?

N

ninjaboss

Member
Hi everyone,

This might be a newbie question but I've searched the forum for advice and couldn't find anything specific. And here goes my question.

What type of lights are ideal to use in a studio for the ceiling lights? I am starting up a small video production studio and getting ready to buy lights and fixtures for the ceiling. I have 6 bulb sized spaces for the edges and 2 long spaces in the middle for larger bulbs.

Through my reading, I know that the higher the CRI, the closer the video represents the actual lighting so I suppose that will be the start but do I need very powerful lights for this?

Worth noting is that I will have a green screen in this studio that is about 15' x 18'. I will also have a very basic lighting kit of 3 LED lights on light stands.

Any information would be very helpful. Thank you!
 
Ceiling lights (usually referred to as "house lights" in the industry) should not be used for lighting a shoot, those are only used when the production lights are being initially set up or torn down or are otherwise off - so CRI should be irrelevant. Get whatever fits the budget and illuminates the space.
 
Work lights just need to provide illumination - I always prefer fluorescents for decent output, low running costs and good lifespan.
 
Depending on how far you want to take your studio, a lighting track, truss, or pantograph system, might be an option for you otherwise stick with your lighting kit on stands.
 
I have a green screen setup right around your intended size in a small room, and currently I am using 4 2x55w Biax lights in a high low setup screen left & right with front spill flagged off, and 3 Chinese Lanterns from above to light the screen. The Chinese lanterns also provide a little back light for the talent. I then key light the talent separately from the green screen.
 
Some 2k spacelights also may be an option. If you want to go a more power conservative route, they do make LED spacelights as well.
 
Are we talking about work lights or production lights, I thought work lights, but other peoples suggestions are for production but now the op is selecting flus, but I certainly didn't suggest these for the real lighting which for me is still Fresnel sources in the main, with soft light from panels or older 'real' lights!
 
ninjaboss said:
What type of lights are ideal to use in a studio for the ceiling lights? I am starting up a small video production studio and getting ready to buy lights and fixtures for the ceiling. I have 6 bulb sized spaces for the edges and 2 long spaces in the middle for larger bulbs.
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? What is a "bulb sized space"? And what are "larger spaces in the middle for larger bulbs?"

If you are talking about lighting just to allow you to see to walk around in the space, you are talking "house lights" and they can be anything you want since you'll turn these off before the cameras are rolling. But you should have sufficient lighting so that workers can set up your productions under these house lights.

If you are talking about lighting used during productions, you might want to look up the concept of "lighting grid" which is what many (most?) studios use to allow precision placement of production lighting while keeping the floor free of light stands. Note that you can't put in a lighting grid with low ceilings. You'll want 12' ceilings or better for this. Go visit your local TV station's news studio set and you'll see how it's done -- a visit is worth a 1000 words, to paraphrase an ancient concept.
 
Thanks for the response Bruce. I'll definitely give a news studio a visit and do some research on the lighting grid.

The word I was looking for is House lights and I have 12' ceilings for the small studio as well.
 
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