What do I need?
- Thread starter Ewan L
- Start date
sonofaresiii
Well-known member
Your budget isn't high enough for anything decent. If you add one or two hundred dollars you could maybe get a light. If you try to buy "lights" you're going to be throwing $180 in the garbage. Instead, take that money and look for practical, cheap solutions. Forget 3 point lighting, go find yourself some china lanterns, some scoop lights, and a lot of duvetyne and tape. Then when you're ready, you can invest a few grand in a basic lighting kit.
wgzn
Veteran
what kind of lights you need, depends on the kind of work you do.
but, yeah $180 wont get you much of anything useful. especially not in LED land. a VERY small, basic LED kit will put you back AT LEAST $1000
search ebay and craigslist. this might be a good starter kit for you:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lowel-Rifa-...ultDomain_0&hash=item20c2cdb30c#ht_655wt_1141
but, yeah $180 wont get you much of anything useful. especially not in LED land. a VERY small, basic LED kit will put you back AT LEAST $1000
search ebay and craigslist. this might be a good starter kit for you:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lowel-Rifa-...ultDomain_0&hash=item20c2cdb30c#ht_655wt_1141
In Barry Green and David Jimmerson's lighting DVD, they say something like, "Buy professional and you'll only cry once. Buy cheap, and you'll cry every time you take the light out." This is probably not bad advice for all video gear in general, but I have to say that my own budget is basically at your level. A few hundred at most on lights. But it's better to have some lights than no lights.
Some workarounds that will make professionals wince:
-- If you have a DSLR, you can probably use "practical"-type lights -- bedside lamps, reading lights, etc. You can even get away with candles and matches to light faces, if you're prepared to suffer noise from high ISO.
-- Make them yourself. Just google for "diy lighting" or "make your own video lights", etc. Lots of videos and instructions on how to make a basic light and stand for as low as $10.
-- Buy cheap $5-$10 camping lights; shoot close-ups if necessary. Rodriguez used $20 lights in El Mariachi (and photoflood bulbs).
-- Buy eBay CFL lights. Just go to eBay and search for "lighting kit". I think you might be able to pick up two softboxes with stands for as low as $80-$100. They're not powerful, and they're not Hollywood -- the quality of the light isn't beautiful -- but they'll do the trick. Can't count how many corporate shoots and short films I've used these things on, and the clients never complain...
-- Buy hardware lights -- $20 or $30 for two halogen lamps mounted on a yellow tripod. These get used on YouTube for low budget green screen lighting. To be honest, they're a big pain in the butt for plenty of reasons -- can't shape or dim the light, they get very hot and are an OH&S hazard, they create ugly hot spots, etc -- but if you have nothing else, they'll do the trick...
-- Look into on-camera lights on eBay. Something like a dimmable $20 Hong Kong LED is very useful (if you have nothing better). Just go to eBay and search for "video lighting". How to attach these to light stands -- gaffer tape, or get a light stand to hot shoe adapter from B&H or eBay.
Some workarounds that will make professionals wince:
-- If you have a DSLR, you can probably use "practical"-type lights -- bedside lamps, reading lights, etc. You can even get away with candles and matches to light faces, if you're prepared to suffer noise from high ISO.
-- Make them yourself. Just google for "diy lighting" or "make your own video lights", etc. Lots of videos and instructions on how to make a basic light and stand for as low as $10.
-- Buy cheap $5-$10 camping lights; shoot close-ups if necessary. Rodriguez used $20 lights in El Mariachi (and photoflood bulbs).
-- Buy eBay CFL lights. Just go to eBay and search for "lighting kit". I think you might be able to pick up two softboxes with stands for as low as $80-$100. They're not powerful, and they're not Hollywood -- the quality of the light isn't beautiful -- but they'll do the trick. Can't count how many corporate shoots and short films I've used these things on, and the clients never complain...
-- Buy hardware lights -- $20 or $30 for two halogen lamps mounted on a yellow tripod. These get used on YouTube for low budget green screen lighting. To be honest, they're a big pain in the butt for plenty of reasons -- can't shape or dim the light, they get very hot and are an OH&S hazard, they create ugly hot spots, etc -- but if you have nothing else, they'll do the trick...
-- Look into on-camera lights on eBay. Something like a dimmable $20 Hong Kong LED is very useful (if you have nothing better). Just go to eBay and search for "video lighting". How to attach these to light stands -- gaffer tape, or get a light stand to hot shoe adapter from B&H or eBay.
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A word of warning -- part of the reason those eBay lights are cheap is that they're not built to last, and they're more designed to be set up and left alone than packed and unpacked to run around to shoots with. If you put one of those eBay stands next to a real light stand, it's like, "What the hell is this dodgy, plastic piece of s***?" That said, I've had mine for about three or four years now (originally purchased in a kit together with green screen and backdrop support for about $150), and they still haven't needed any repairs. So if you take care of them, you know...
Egg Born Son
Veteran
You can get worklights for cheap from a hardware store. I gave this a go and learnt the truth of Barry's expression, I now choose to cry once. However you can get some serious wattages for a low price. The downsides are while the brightness is there the quality of the light isn't that nice, even to the amateur eye. They run extremely hot and are a serious fire hazard indoors. Keep them well away from curtains and anything else flammable and place barriers around them because it is too easy to walk backwards into your lights while concentrating on your filmmaking. They don't have barndoors so it is nigh impossible to control the light, they spill everywhere and even flagging them produced only so-so results. Finally they can be hard to get up high.
Now that I have some proper lighting, set ups that took me an hour or more trying to get some sort of control out of the worklights now takes me 5 minutes. Worth every cent just for that. The quality of light is better, the barndoors let me control the light spill in seconds, while they run hot they are far better ventilated and I am a lot more comfortable using them indoors. I bought the more expensive eBay lights ($200-300 a piece) and had them checked by an electrician for safety (build quality is getting good on the more expensive chinese lights but the experts on this forum have pointed out numerous times that the wiring can be shoddy). I took them to a co-worker who is a qualified electrician but if you don't know one, electrical safety testing only takes a couple of minutes and costs very little (like a few bucks). Cheaper than an ambulance (or coffin).
Now that I have some proper lighting, set ups that took me an hour or more trying to get some sort of control out of the worklights now takes me 5 minutes. Worth every cent just for that. The quality of light is better, the barndoors let me control the light spill in seconds, while they run hot they are far better ventilated and I am a lot more comfortable using them indoors. I bought the more expensive eBay lights ($200-300 a piece) and had them checked by an electrician for safety (build quality is getting good on the more expensive chinese lights but the experts on this forum have pointed out numerous times that the wiring can be shoddy). I took them to a co-worker who is a qualified electrician but if you don't know one, electrical safety testing only takes a couple of minutes and costs very little (like a few bucks). Cheaper than an ambulance (or coffin).
Ewan L
Active member
Thanks.
I've never worked with setting up proper filming lighting kits so I'll need to be careful. If it's so cheap to get it checked, I'll definitely do it. I don't know anyone who's an electrician, but there's a shop along the road where they fix different things and stuff like that. I'll mainly be shooting outside so I won't have to worry about it being next to curtains etc...
I've never worked with setting up proper filming lighting kits so I'll need to be careful. If it's so cheap to get it checked, I'll definitely do it. I don't know anyone who's an electrician, but there's a shop along the road where they fix different things and stuff like that. I'll mainly be shooting outside so I won't have to worry about it being next to curtains etc...
j1clark@ucsd.edu
Veteran
The 'cheap' fluorescent light package I bought, the biggest problem were the stands. Since I have light stands for my strobes, I pretty much dumped ones that came with the 'package'. As light fixtures go, I'd say they were good for more that one use... but they won't be lasting 35 years, like my strobe package... well, I would have had the whole package but most was stolen during a burglary, and I only have one flash head left from the old stuff. But the 'new' stuff, has lasted 25 years...
Where most fixtures fail is in the tightening knobs and screws that are made of 'cheap' alloys or plastic, rather than better metal and bakelite (ok a plastic but durable...).
I think using them for a year, learning 'light', then upgrading would be a 'good cheap' route.
Once you figure out some things about 'light', then you can go to a rental house, pay for a 'weekend' rental, and see how well 'pro' equipment works. Now as it happens some rental houses require insurance, credit card 'deposits', etc. and that may be a stopping point on that sort of thing. But the rental place I last used, had the 'policy' that if one rented late on Friday evening, like at about closing time, you could return the equipment on Monday, around opening time... giving you 2 full days + 2 full nights of use. And if there was a 3 day weekend... more days... and when I rented, it was Thanksgiving weekend, so I got 4 days of use, they weren't open on the Friday after Thanksgiving...
This changes practically everything, as you can get 99.9% of your light for free: it's called the sun.
More important to invest in reflectors and flags/scrims to help control the light you are already getting.
Most of the other lights people are recommending are going to give you a VERY hard time meaningfully fighting sunlight.
Postmaster
Dark Side of the Camera
Chap 36 PAR cans (30 bucks or less each) with barndoors and some frost gel can also get ya a long way.
http://www.bulbamerica.com/american-dj-short-par38-black.html
Just make sure you get an open face reflector instead of the sealed beam bulbs.
Shane Hurlbut got two interesting "lighting with Homedepot" articles on his site: http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2011/12/16/lighting-with-home-depot-lights-part-2/
Also check out this site from time to time: http://cheesycam.com/
Tons of cheapskate stuff and DIY inspiration.
Frank
http://www.bulbamerica.com/american-dj-short-par38-black.html
Just make sure you get an open face reflector instead of the sealed beam bulbs.
Shane Hurlbut got two interesting "lighting with Homedepot" articles on his site: http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2011/12/16/lighting-with-home-depot-lights-part-2/
Also check out this site from time to time: http://cheesycam.com/
Tons of cheapskate stuff and DIY inspiration.
Frank
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Andrew Luczenczyn
Active member
+1 for rentals. $400 will go a long way, especially if your shooting outside. get some 4x4 frames of bounce, net, and flags, with junior stands and sand bags, and your set. If you can negotiate well, you can maybe even get a Joker in there.
j1clark@ucsd.edu
Veteran
Since you clarified about 'outdoors', you should always have something for bounce, even if it is the shiny/white side of a car sun screen, as well as eye for 'open shade'. Bright sun often gives harsh shadows, and so bounce allows one to soften that. More elaborate things include a screen over the talent, out of camera view, etc.
kwkeirstead
Well-known member
I use yellow/red construction lights on a solid tripod - they have grills on the lights that keep everything about 6 inches away. I place "laundry fabric softener sheets" (called "Bounce" here). Each stand has two lights and each light has 2 x 300 watts). Gets hot, for sure and yes, heavy, but solid. You can put one, two or more sheets on each light to reduce the glare and somewhat diffuse the light. I use metal spring clips to hold the sheets in place (one each side of each lamp). Each 2 x unit costs about $80, not $20/$30, possibly the price differential is due to the fact that there are two housings per tripod. I painted my two stands black to avoid undue embarassment. Will probably buy a third.
I just bought a Panasonic Ac 160 and understand that sound and lighting are my next priorities - I have two Rode mikes, so I will stick with these for now, stay with the lighting, and my next purchase is going to be a Sekonic meter. Its very easy to spend a fortune.
I just bought a Panasonic Ac 160 and understand that sound and lighting are my next priorities - I have two Rode mikes, so I will stick with these for now, stay with the lighting, and my next purchase is going to be a Sekonic meter. Its very easy to spend a fortune.