Help for choosing lightkit

[Magnus Over-Rein]

Hi

 

I was thinking of buying a 3x650W tungsten kit for mostly indoor videointerview situations on different locations. Will this be sufficient? I am thinking of buying this reflectorscreen for diffusing the light. Will this cause too much lightloss due to reflection?

 

I also have the possibility of buying these LED-lights. Will they be a better choice?

 

[Phil Rhodes]

It depends entirely on what you're intending to do, but three 650s would be a pretty normal kit for interviews, yes.

 

It's a good idea to have a reflector, as the light from a tungsten fresnel will otherwise be very hard. They can also be used, if they have a zip-on black cover, for flagging light, and some of them zip down to become a diffusion panel as well. Yes, reflection or diffusion does absorb a certain amount of light, but that's normal enough if you want a more diffuse light source.

 

LED lighting is more efficient, although in most parts of the world you should be able to run two of your 650s from a single household outlet. LED is also more expensive, though, and you won't get as much output from those LEDs as from a 650W tungsten fresnel (which will be far cheaper). There's also the issue of colour rendering, although for simple interviews this is unlikely to be a dealbreaker. One side advantage of LED is that it doesn't make the room too hot!

 

P

[jeff woods]

The LEDs you linked are daylight, whereas the 650's are tungsten, so consider your interview locations when deciding.

 

You said they are primarily indoor interviews, so as long as you aren't having to deal with windows, the 650's might be the better choice.

 

-j

[Darryl Shaun Palapuz]

Take a look into redhead video lights. I bought two of these. They are warmer so it's easier to find locations where you can use it. It also comes with a dimmer. The only downside to it is that the cord length is short so you may want to buy an extension for it. Before having these video lights, we used to have a ring light. It's great for evening shoot but only good for close-ups and it's heavy with the camera body and lens combined.