Best Video Lighting for Beginners

On this video Mike Wilhelm from videomaker.com talks briefly about his recommendations for lighting kits for video shooters.

The first (and lets face it obvious) suggestion is to start with a reflector. Of course you will need a light source but a reflector will give you experience with working with light (it can just be working with sunlight/window light or even household lights.

Moving to some real lighting kits for video, Wilhelm has two suggestions:

  • Lowel DV creator light kits – a very extensive kit with 3 lights (these are tungsten lights and they run very hot) official price starts at just under $1200.
  • Sola ENG Fresnel Series – which allows you much more flexibility but at a higher cost (around $3300).

Here is a video demonstrating the Sola 4 Traveler Kit

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/90204398[/vimeo]

These are actually pretty expensive lights for a beginner in our opening and there are far cheaper options based on CFL lights which do not run hot and although might not have the same power as these kits might be enough to start with.

If you are more into stills lighting make sure you check out “The Big Studio Lighting Comparison” by Tony Northrup.

As for using different type of lights – make sure to watch our lighting section.

Iddo Genuth
Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.

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