Young filmmakers often obsess over hot new cameras and lenses, but longtime imagemakers know that lighting is often the cause of the real visual magic. Great lighting can transform drab compositions into all-time classics, and building out your lighting toolkit is an essential step in being able to create attention-grabbing cinematic images. What do you need to buy to make it happen? Read on for our advice.
Basic LED Lights: Monolights and Panels
Let’s start with the bread and butter of your lighting kit. If you want a hard pop of light that can be modified and shaped to your hearts content, go with an LED monolight. On the higher end, we have popular options like Aputure’s mighty STORM 1200x or LS 600x Pro, while more budget-friendly picks like the amaran 200x or 60x S can also get the job done, so long as you’re not competing with strong natural sources like the sun. Straight from the source, the light will be super punchy and harsh, but throw it through diffusion like bedsheets or a softbox and you can some beautiful, flattering light.
If you don’t want to mess with modifiers and want something more soft right away, LED panels are popular for their decent power and even cast. Sometimes called LED mats if they’re softer and more bendable, these sources are typically lighter than monolights and more capable of being stuck in small corners and contained spaces, though their softness does come from their increased length and width. Nanlite’s PavoSlim line has nailed this type of fixture, from their compact 1’ x 1’ 60B to an expansive 2’ x 2’ 240C and everything in between. You can even mix and match monolights and panels to suit your scene, just be aware of which need AC power and which could run off batteries.
Special LEDs: Tubes, Floods, Bulbs, and On-Camera Lights
If you really want to step up your lighting game, the next step is to get into the weirder stuff. These might not come out every day on set, but they could save you in a pinch. Tube lights have become a hot commodity in recent years, as they can fit into small nooks and crannies, provide a relatively soft, color-accurate light, and be infinitely built out by adding more and more of them. They might not have a big punch, but they can be that extra glitter that turns your shot to gold. Consider the inexpensive Genaray PX1 to start, then upgrade to Nanlite’s PavoTube II kits if you really love them. Floodlights can give you a crazy punch of light to illuminate a bigger space or isolate a subject, just don’t expect as much control as our general LEDs. Generay has a good budget-minded option called The Torpedo, while Aputure has their LS 60x.
LED bulbs have also grown in popularity over the years, as more filmmakers want to use practical locations while overcoming their limitations, namely not-so-great bulbs in practical on-set fixtures. Replace them with a Godox C10R or Aputure Accent B7c and suddenly you have full color control, dimmability, and a much higher CRI score. It’s best to have at least a few, in case you ever need to create more consistent lighting across a larger space. You can spot small on-camera LED lights in wide swaths of today social media content, but their use on a set can be limited. Rarely would they actually go on-camera, as that creates a very source-y, artificial look, but they can be super handy for getting in tight spaces where even a tube can’t squeeze. Consider the Lume Cube Panel Mini if you want super small, or the Aputure MC for greater customization.
Extras: Fresnels, Flags, Reflectors, and Stands
Though they’re not used as much anymore due to their high power consumption and hot operating temperatures, there’s still a decent market for traditional tungsten Fresnels, especially options from ARRI like the 1000W T1, just be wary of where you place them and how long you run them. For smaller crews, the better option is to skip the fancy fixtures and focusing on subtracting light to create a dynamic, multi-layered image. Flags, cutters, floppies, and scrims can all subtract light and reflections, creating more interesting contrast ratios of light, especially when shooting exteriors with the sun high in the sky. There are tons of guides online about how best to use these versatile tools.
Collapsible reflectors might more often be seen on photo shoots, but videographers can get just as much use out of them, using them to reflect back light into darker parts of the image, even shading it a certain hue. Many of them also include semi-translucent options to soften the light, or black surfaces to use them more like a flag. Just make sure you have a stand or a willing assistant to hold them in place. Speaking of stands, you’ll definitely want to use C-Stands and sandbags for heavier lights or extreme conditions. Smaller, traditional light stands can work in controlled environments or with smaller fixtures but also can benefit from an added sandbag or two. As you build out your lighting kit, it’s worth diving more into different types of diffusion, reflectors, and mounting equipment, but the ideas above should be a great place to start. Oh, and if you might be traveling, don’t forget your cases!
What light have you used the most in your video work? What makes it such a great tool? Let us know in the comments section, below.
