Versatile lighting kit - no idea where to start

S

seanadl

Active member
Hi there,

I'm building a mini set in my home studio for a new project launching later this year. I'll be mostly filming someone sitting down at a news-style desk doing pieces to camera as well as interviews.

Lighting is not my strong point and I need to start thinking about a lighting kit that will suit a £3,000 budget. I'd ideally like it to be versatile enough so that I can film other scenarios if needs be in the future without having to buy new kit - the plan is to eventually film comedy sketches in front of a green screen. I may also do location interview work so the kit needs to be fairly mobile.

I'm thinking a basic 3-point lighting kit is where I should begin. But what lights should I think about getting?

I've been recommended the 'Profound' LED lighting kit by one company. Curious what others suggest?
 
There are so many options and we can't get inside your head. I'd suggest you think about future uses beyond the sit down interview to help narrow the field of choices.

Will you want hard and soft lights? If yes, then you want to start with hard lights that can be diffused to go soft if you are going with a small kit.
Are you going to want bi-color or RGBWW or stick just with daylight or tungsten?
What are your portability needs (transportation)?
Will you run exclusively on AC or do you want battery operation?
Do you want top brand names with reliability or do you want a big kit for less money?
 
Main uses for the next 24 months are sit down interviews and pieces to camera.

- Yes, I'll want both hard and soft lights.
- I know I want the option of being able to adjust the light to make it colder/warmer depending on the mood of the segment I'm filming. Beyond that, I'm not sure which out of bi-color, RGBWW, etc is more suitable.
- Need to be able to transport these fairly easily in the back of a people carrier and have them set-up on location without needing an entire army of people or hours of time.
- run on both AC and batteries (for the rare occasions we are somewhere that doesn't have an AC source)
- I'd prefer reliability and longevity.

Edit to add: In the future I imagine I'll be in a small indoor space doing comedy sketches with 2 to 3 actors. It's hard to say exactly what they'll be doing, but I'm pretty confident the space will be fairly small and the action limited (i.e. mostly actors walking around and talking).
 
To be more specific, the main project is satirical news show. The space I'm filming in is extremely limited. I want to create an over-the-top dramatic look to the space the newscaster is sitting in.

For inspiration see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgOG0j5KJsw

Jump to around the 2.29 mark and that's the kind of space I'm going to be operating in.

I'm wondering if there's anything interesting I can do with lights to achieve a similar look to the above?
 
Hi Sean,

Given your budget, I'd start with an aputure 300d ii. It will be a solid, bright, workhorse main light. With the dome it's a decent sized source and will be self contained on a single stand. It's daylight only but it should be bright enough to add CTO for the ways you'll be using it. Otherwise you can pick up an extremely cheap tungsten light eg 800w.

Get the aputure first, then you can add any smaller cheaper lights you need. I would avoid striving for the 3 point lighting kit and would concentrate on a really nice key light, have no fill or use a cheap bounce for fill, then use any extra lights for the background.

Don't do a hard backlight on the hair, that's not a thing anymore (speaking in the corporate interview space)!

- https://cvp.com/product/aputure-apv0129a2f-300d-mark-ii
- https://cvp.com/product/aputure_6947214409554_light_dome_ii
 
Hi Rob,

Thanks for the suggestion. I actually had a look at the Aputure yesterday at CVP - I liked the output. Do you think this would be ok plugged into the mains in a home?

What do you recommend for hair lighting these days? My days of lighting go way back to the 90's, when I used to work at MTV as an intern. They would send me off with a 3 point lighting kit to interview people, and by default I'd whack a hard light up as a hair light to pop them out from the background.
 
seanadl said:
Hi Rob,

Thanks for the suggestion. I actually had a look at the Aputure yesterday at CVP - I liked the output. Do you think this would be ok plugged into the mains in a home?

What do you recommend for hair lighting these days? My days of lighting go way back to the 90's, when I used to work at MTV as an intern. They would send me off with a 3 point lighting kit to interview people, and by default I'd whack a hard light up as a hair light to pop them out from the background.
Click to expand...

At 300w you'll be fine plugging in multiple 300d iis into a home (at least in the UK).

That is an awesome work story. MTV in the 90s would've been fun.

Other than how it looks, there's nothing wrong with a hard light on the hair for interviews. It just seems like a dated style, probably from when people were using lowel and other tungsten lighting kits, as well as simply being a popular style.

It's pretty easy to get there with a variety of LED lights. You could go wand/tube, small panel with extra diffusion, light cloth, aputure 120d with small softbox etc. I'd keep it light so that you can arm it out on a stand if using it as a hair light so it won't be in shot.

If you're desperate to spend your 3k budget something like an astera helios or titan or aputure 120d ii with softbox would be great lights which you could use in many different ways.

Otherwise on the ultra cheap end there are plenty of "LED softbox" options, either as existing products or DIY type projects.
 
Amazon rocks. Sorry Litepanels CVP and Dedo.. you are history!

Id indeed get that Apture or Two which when bounced from a white wall or £20 polyboard will fill any small space with soft even light.

If you want some hair kickers (good idea imo) there are three point lite led kits £200 on amazon (apture too?) if you want to light a green screen Amazon also has cheap panels. Newer is the brand I like as they have metal yokes.

To look (visually in the shot) pro you need to be using polyboards to create a big source, forget wasting loads of money on softboxes.
 
Would a gemini 2x1 be overkill? I know its out of budget, but I'm thinking in terms of versatility and future proofing.
 
Yep, that's the one. If I did go with that, obviously the budget would have to be increased. Just wondered if the difference in price for that light is justified in terms of light quality/power?
 
Im not seeing your logic. Or maybe that is your question.
To me the light is in no way justified in terms of power or quality.

To make a mini studio around your budget I would be looking at..
A powerful Apture (300?) Or two iff possible bounced off a board or shot through a scrim to create a wash over the whole scene
2-3 small (Apture 20?) hard lights to backlight your talent(s)
2 or more cheap (newwer?) panels to wash your background.
 
Im going to go with your suggestion and use the Aputure 300D as our main key. Maybe (if budget can stretch) we'll get two, and then the smaller 20D's for hairlights.

I'm thinking now about the backdrop. I'm veering towards a printed backdrop rather than green screen. A dark backdrop with a map/logo combo on it perhaps. Given that I'm filming this in a small space, I imagine the talent will be positioned around 3-4 feet from the background. Is it going to be doable to light up the talent without spilling too much of the key light onto the backdrop and lighting that separately?
 
I dont know if spill of the key onto the back is a problem as Id be looking to heavily diffuse the key.

Im suggesting that on your budget a couple of the ($100) Neewwer led panels will help you with the background.
 
seanadl said:
... Is it going to be doable to light up the talent without spilling too much of the key light onto the backdrop and lighting that separately?
Click to expand...

Newsroom lighting is not photography, it's not cinema, it's not mood lighting, nor is it key and fill. It's blast-a-lot-of-light-on-the-talent and let it spill all over and put a hair light on them and away you go. That's been the tradition from the old tube days and it continues today. Take a look at 'newsroom lighting' videos on youtube and you'll get the idea.

Most national broadcast and cable news use that, but NBC has gotten away from that a bit with a softer, more intimate look with a diffused, almost key and fill look. But they have big sets and room to play with .
 
I don't necessarily want to adhere to the traditions of what a legit news show would look like. As its satire and as we're going to be going wildly off format from a normal news show, the look can be a bit different to the norm.

I the simple look of The Day Today.The background is darker and the anchor isn't flooded with light. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3BO6GP9NMY
 
seanadl said:
I don't necessarily want to adhere to the traditions of what a legit news show would look like. As its satire and as we're going to be going wildly off format from a normal news show, the look can be a bit different to the norm.

I the simple look of The Day Today.The background is darker and the anchor isn't flooded with light. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3BO6GP9NMY
Click to expand...

I would incrementally add lights rather than buying many at once. Start with one or two then see what else you need.
 
I would rent lights and see what works, then buy those. The 300D MKII is a great light but if money is tight, nothing wrong with the 120 D II and the Aputure Parabolic softbox instead, just not as much power.
 
Going with a printed background in your situation is smart. The thing you HAVE TO HAVE for good green screen is SPACE(read: separation between subject and green screen). Talent only 3-4 feet off of the bg will be trouble. For a standard interview type green screen shoot(which would be similar to what you are wanting to do) I usually tell people we need at least 7-10 feet separation or forget about it.
 
My suggestion for a backdrop would be a duratran.

Mount inexpensive Fluorescent lights on the back wall to backlight the duratran.
Then mount the duratran in front of the lights. This will take up about a foot of depth.
Have the duratran printed slightly out of focus. this will give the illusion of more shallow depth of field, and more depth on set.
This means you can also concentrate on lighting the talent, since the background will already be lit.

I have employed this technique on numerous news sets over the years.

Best!

Dave
 
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