UPSB v4
Off-topic / Home Studio Lighting
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Date: Thu, Mar 29 2012 00:30:31
Does anyone here know anything about studio lighting? I need to set up a home studio to film professional-quality videos. I'm trying to figure out what I need to buy to set it up correctly.
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Date: Thu, Mar 29 2012 04:13:43
Depending on what you're filming, you generally should have at least 2 lamps (one for foreground, one for background), preferably incandescent tungsten ones. Tungsten is the most commonly used light in studios since its ridiculously cheap, produces the most amount of light compared to led, or fluorescent lights, and its very versatile but a HUGEEEEE drawback is the massive amounts of heat it produces Now, you're going to need some things to control your light. The only accessory that i think you absolutely need are either softboxes or umbrellas, which both help soften light. umbrellas produce an indirect and very broad light, but the light is usually less intense than using a softbox. how you set up an umbrella is that you point your light AWAY from the thing/person you're filming, and you mount the umbrella so that the light reflects onto the person. With a softbox, it's just basically a diffuser you mount onto the actual lamp. with a softbox, you get a light thats a little more intense, and it has a bit of direction to it, so its not as broad as an umbrella oh, and get light stands and cables, those are needed too
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Date: Thu, Mar 29 2012 04:20:58
LEDs EVERYWHERE!
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Date: Thu, Mar 29 2012 04:27:54
Loanshark wrote: Depending on what you're filming, you generally should have at least 2 lamps (one for foreground, one for background), preferably incandescent tungsten ones. Tungsten is the most commonly used light in studios since its ridiculously cheap, produces the most amount of light compared to led, or fluorescent lights, and its very versatile but a HUGEEEEE drawback is the massive amounts of heat it produces Now, you're going to need some things to control your light. The only accessory that i think you absolutely need are either softboxes or umbrellas, which both help soften light. umbrellas produce an indirect and very broad light, but the light is usually less intense than using a softbox. how you set up an umbrella is that you point your light AWAY from the thing/person you're filming, and you mount the umbrella so that the light reflects onto the person. With a softbox, it's just basically a diffuser you mount onto the actual lamp. with a softbox, you get a light thats a little more intense, and it has a bit of direction to it, so its not as broad as an umbrella oh, and get light stands and cables, those are needed too
Cool, thanks for the info. It's going to be a static camera setup if that helps. I need to just film one person from the waist up, so it's not a huge set-up, but not small either. I need to start making a list of equipment that I need. You're saying I want at minimum, 3 lamps and a softbox? -
Date: Thu, Mar 29 2012 05:04:41
l2 harness power of sun
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Date: Thu, Mar 29 2012 13:22:44
kaku;187463]LEDs EVERYWHERE![/QUOTE] lol no, dont get leds, they're so damn expensive [QUOTE=strat1227 wrote: Cool, thanks for the info. It's going to be a static camera setup if that helps. I need to just film one person from the waist up, so it's not a huge set-up, but not small either. I need to start making a list of equipment that I need. You're saying I want at minimum, 3 lamps and a softbox?
nah, you don't need 3 lamps. 2 will be fine: one as a main source of light to shine on the person's face, and the other set up behind/to the side of the person to help balance out the shadows cast by the main light. you will need 2 softboxes, 1 for each lamp, since a softbox is something you basically leave on the lamp forever after installing it. here is a great store where you can find everything you need, if you havent found one yet http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/browse/Lighting-Studio/ci/1161/N/4294551176 -
Date: Thu, Mar 29 2012 14:19:44
Loanshark wrote: lol no, dont get leds, they're so damn expensive nah, you don't need 3 lamps. 2 will be fine: one as a main source of light to shine on the person's face, and the other set up behind/to the side of the person to help balance out the shadows cast by the main light. you will need 2 softboxes, 1 for each lamp, since a softbox is something you basically leave on the lamp forever after installing it. here is a great store where you can find everything you need, if you havent found one yet http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/browse/Lighting-Studio/ci/1161/N/4294551176
Most of the Tungsten lights I see on that site either come with umbrellas or umbrella stands, I don't see anything with softboxes, should I use umbrellas instead? Maybe this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/308804-REG/Impact_401471_One_Floodlight_Umbrella_Kit.html Do I need both of them to have umbrella/softbox? Or just one? -
Date: Thu, Mar 29 2012 14:28:51
Maybe florescent is better, I don't need a whole lot of light, and I'll be filming in my room/apartment so if it gets really hot it's going to suck nuts ... Would I need to buy softboxes/umbrellas if I got this kit: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/479657-REG/Impact_VA_902_VA902_Three_Lamp_Fluorescent.html It says "The included 13" reflector provides a wide, even spread of light, and a diffusion panel (also included) can optionally be used for even softer portrait lighting." So it kinda sounds like I wouldn't need anything else, just this kit and I'm good to go
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Date: Thu, Mar 29 2012 19:09:02
with that product, the 13'' reflector it mentions is the metal cone you can see around the lights. it will do nothing to help soften the light. the diffusion panel is a sheet of cloth with a metal frame, so you're going to need someone else to hold in front of the light, since theres no way for you to attach it onto the lamp. also, that kit doesnt have a stand, so you're going to need to find a way to mount the lamp somewhere regarding the whole umbrella vs softbox decision, there are tonssss of things you can say about both of them and people argue about which is better all the time, but the tl;dr is basically umbrellas are for photos, softboxes are for video if you have the money, this actually looks perfect for you. has everything you need, 2 lights, softboxes, stands and all your cords in 1 kit. only thing it doesnt have is a bag to carry it all http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/404508-REG/Impact_EX100A_2KII_Two_Monolight_Kit_without.html
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Date: Thu, Mar 29 2012 21:56:11
Hmm I'm not looking to spend that much. I have $150 budgeted for the whole studio right now, that would include a backdrop and camera stand and mic stand and all that good stuff, so lighting alone would have to be about 100. If that goes up to 150 I can probably work with it but 200 really kills me Is there lower quality versions? Or is that the cheapest I can spend? @Loanshark
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Date: Thu, Mar 29 2012 23:15:48
oh, really sorry. the lights i suggested are the wrong lights. i didnt read the specs carefully. those are flash lights, which is not something you want. cheapest price on lights i could find. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/487997-REG/Impact_401486_Tungsten_Two_Floodlight_Kit_with.html even though they're tungsten and therefore produce a lot of heat, you can get 2 lights for about the price of 1 fluorescent light and here are the cheapest softboxes http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/500445-REG/Interfit_INT211_Softbox_for_EX150_EXD200.html all the things i've posted are the lowest quality lol. generally, a professional studio lighting setup runs around 1000-3000 in total lighting cost
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Date: Thu, Mar 29 2012 23:26:15
Sweet @Loanshark that looks awesome :D I've got to email them a proposal for camera + studio equip tonight ;stress: So if I get that 2 light kit + 2 softboxes, that's all I'll need for lighting? Then I can get a backdrop, camera stand, and mic stand and that should be it ... Hopefully
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Date: Thu, Mar 29 2012 23:54:13
how big of a mic stand do you need? i have a 1ft tall stand i can give you if you're willing to pay shipping
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Date: Fri, Mar 30 2012 03:24:38
Loanshark wrote: how big of a mic stand do you need? i have a 1ft tall stand i can give you if you're willing to pay shipping
Nice! That works. I'll PM you to let you know if I need it -
Date: Fri, Mar 30 2012 03:57:06
Here's the proposal I sent them. It comes out to $675, and then I said to tack on another $75 for misc things like a camera stand and maybe a backdrop, so in total it's a $750 proposal. This will be interesting because they didn't even give me a ballpark number to shoot for lol, so I'm curious what they say.
Camera: Canon Rebel T3 with lense ($500) Lighting: Tungsten two-light kit ($85), and two Softboxes ($50 total). I also already have 1 florescent light, so that would give me a 3-light setup. Mic: Condenser Mic ($40)
ehhh the email had hyperlinks to those things but it didn't copy. whatever -
Date: Fri, Mar 30 2012 13:25:55
O.o what kind of mic did you get?
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Date: Fri, Mar 30 2012 14:02:13
Loanshark wrote: O.o what kind of mic did you get?
Just picked a random cheap-o one from that site you linked me to. Lol I woke up this morning and realized they might have just wanted me to go get a handycam and a few room lamps for 200 bucks hahah. I guess we'll see. They're super busy right now and said they'd look it over on monday -_- -
Date: Fri, Mar 30 2012 15:05:15
lol careful with the mic though. if you didnt get a USB mic and got an XLR one, you're going to need a pre amp or some other form of wave amplification (which is usually in the form of hardware, like Fast Track Pro) with USB, you can just plug it in your comp and you're good to go, but with XLR, the mic wont output at an amplitude you can work with so you would have to connect your mic to an amp, and then connect amp to computer downside to USB is that you're going to have lesser sound quality and maybe some latency issues. although, i dont think sound quality matters at all since you're not doing professional audio. and since youtube kills all sound quality
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Date: Fri, Mar 30 2012 15:25:18
Loanshark wrote: lol careful with the mic though. if you didnt get a USB mic and got an XLR one, you're going to need a pre amp or some other form of wave amplification (which is usually in the form of hardware, like Fast Track Pro) with USB, you can just plug it in your comp and you're good to go, but with XLR, the mic wont output at an amplitude you can work with so you would have to connect your mic to an amp, and then connect amp to computer downside to USB is that you're going to have lesser sound quality and maybe some latency issues. although, i dont think sound quality matters at all since you're not doing professional audio. and since youtube kills all sound quality
Sweet thanks for the info. The videos don't go to youtube though so sound quality will be retained -
Date: Sat, Mar 31 2012 05:26:33
fucking suspense man. They said they'd look at it in like 2 days D:
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Date: Mon, Apr 2 2012 14:00:06
ugh. They were at a microsoft/google convention/contest thing and won it so now they're really fucking busy with that. here's what he said: "awesome stuff man! we will get back to you very soon! I will be showing the team this over the next few days! sorry about the delay champ we are just in crazy mode atm after taking home the first prize :P haha talk soon Alex!"
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Date: Wed, Apr 4 2012 15:59:45
Ordered everything but the mic so far. I have 3 cameras right now lol, gonna try them all out and return the one I don't want. 2 camcorders and one DSLR. The DSLR takes amazing photos but the recording quality is meh, so I don't think I'll stick with that. We'll see what happens.
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Date: Wed, Apr 4 2012 23:44:47
what camcorders and what dslr? dslr is great if you know how to use it to its fullest potential
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Date: Thu, Apr 5 2012 02:18:58
Loanshark wrote: what camcorders and what dslr? dslr is great if you know how to use it to its fullest potential
The DSLR only shoots 720 and 30 fps ... In reality it was silly of me to think that something designed to take pictures and only does video as an afterthought would be better than a camcorder I had the Canon Rebel T3, returned it already. Now it's between the Panasonic HC-V500M and the Canon VIXIA m500 (which gets here tomorrow afternoon). A sample of the panasonic is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaisw0HMve8 will post a canon sample tomorrow -
Date: Thu, Apr 5 2012 03:48:26
I wonder what my "environment" should be for the tutorials ... Like WeezyWaiter and PhillyD and all them have a very recognizable background that they always shoot in front of. I could just use a plain white backdrop, or maybe a poster or something, I dunno
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Date: Thu, Apr 5 2012 22:17:41
@Loanshark help me compare picture quality vs
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Date: Thu, Apr 5 2012 22:27:56
I'm getting lighting equip on monday so I'll post more samples then, but what do you think under these conditions?
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Date: Thu, Apr 5 2012 22:54:36
go with the panasonic
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Date: Mon, Apr 9 2012 18:41:56
First one has a better integrated mic :P
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Date: Mon, Apr 9 2012 18:55:07
Haha yeah Im getting a mic either way though Lighting equip gets here today :woop:
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Date: Mon, Apr 9 2012 22:04:23
@Loanshark just got the softboxes and lights and they're not compatible together ....
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Date: Sat, Apr 14 2012 02:23:42
@Loanshark do you know where to find those like personal microphones that people clip to their shirt for videos? I can't find them but probably because i have no idea what they're called or how to search for them
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Date: Sat, Apr 14 2012 19:49:25
@strat1227 uhh, people usually just call them clip-on microphones or lavalier microphones "lavalier" mics tend to be more expensive and higher quality than "clip-on" ones, and the prices of both range from 10 bucks to 500