Lights! Camera! … and Action! Those words are indelibly inscribed on our collective memories as what movie makers say on Hollywood sets.
That saying highlights a vital aspect of video and movie making, the lighting. Lighting is important, so being able to find the best lighting kits for video is critical for video production. But first…
How can artificial lighting can help your videos?
Transitioning over to an artificial light source whether it be LED lights, umbrella lights or soft boxes opens up a whole new world of video recording possibilities while providing a pleasing and constant light source.
Another factor is the ability to place the light exactly where needed. We might want a completely balanced, virtually shadowless light. Or we may be going for some sort of modelling effect with light, shadow, and even differing intensities.
Different types of lighting kits
There is a wide range of lighting kits a videographer, photographer or YouTuber can get there hands on. While all these kits deliver outstanding light quality, they differ in subtle features depending on ones needs. Here you can see what kit might best suits your recording style.
- LED panel lights are a popular choice, as they offer high light output at lower power and with less heat, and many of them are very portable with battery options. A lot of the LED panel lights have variable power levels and even adjustable color temperature.
- Soft boxes and umbrellas can be used with different light sources and they give multiple options in how we videographers can modify whatever light we’re using. Several lower cost kits come with compact fluorescent light fixtures already built in.
- Rings lights are a viable alternative for anyone shooting video of close up subjects, including portrait style video shoots. They offer almost completely shadowless lighting.
- Boom lights can be added to give us even greater lighting control, especially with people or products. Some come in kits with other lights, but we can add a boom light to anything we already have on hand.
- High intensity photo floods are large, heavy, expensive, and get really hot. They are also a virtual necessity in large scale studio productions. I won’t include these on this particular list, but they are a mainstay in the Hollywood productions we mentioned at the start.
How I found the best lighting kits for video
- Size and weight. For many YouTubers and videographers, being portable is a key consideration. A light’s size and weight factor into that. For any camera mounted lights, being truly compact is a prime need.
- Power supply. Is it battery powered? That would make a video light extremely portable. AC power is used for many higher powered lights. Some can be powered either way.
- Brightness. Some are very bright, some are adjustable.
- Versatility. Can I use it for a variety of subjects? Kits tend to offer lots of versatility by including different items for different purposes.
- Price. While we aren’t opposed to spending for a quality product, we don’t want to waste money either. The best lighting kits for video provide a good balance of value.
Top 5 best lighting kits for video & YouTube
1. LimoStudio 800W 5500K Umbrella Softbox Lighting Video Kit (Best Tested)
First up on my list is a value packed studio outfit, including lights, modifiers, even a background system while still being reasonably priced.
As for the lights, this kit comes with 4 x 45W/6500 Kelvin CFL light bulbs which are seriously bright and are close to industry standard. All these lightbulbs can be easily interchanged with with the included 2 x lighting umbrellas and 2 x soft boxes.
The included soft boxes can be used either with or without the front diffusion screen attached for differing levels of light modification. (This is great for more precise lighting control). Also these soft boxes collapse into a very travel friendly footprint and are very quick set up.
A background system is also included in this kit and includes a 8 ½ foot by 10 foot adjustable stand and three different color 6×9’ backgrounds. Included colors are green, white, and black, all of muslin material. There is also a set of 8 clamps included which came in real handy for setting up the backdrops and was one less thing to buy!
As of transporting this kit, I found it was light enough to be considered portable and it all fits into the supplied bag. The bag seems a little lighter duty than I prefer, but it’s adequate for the job which was a nice touch from LimoStudio.
Overall this is a great kit which truly has everything you need straight out of the box. Highly recommended!
2. Neewer 14″ LED Ring Light Video Kit
Next up on my list of best lighting kits for video is the very budget friendly Neewer 14″ LED ring light kit which is perfect for DSLR’s, point & shoot cameras and even smartphones.
Personally I believe a ring light is one of the best lighting sources for video. In a nutshell, ring lights give virtually shadowless lighting for close up subjects which is great for a wide range of video recording situations.
But what makes the light from these lights so vibrant and consistent? Well for this particular model, it is the 240 arranged 55W LED bulbs which give off a 5500 kelvin. Not bad! Unlike the above model, this light can be dimmed from 1%-100% which is great for pin point accuracy light control.
While setting up the light, I also noticed a bluetooth receiver remote which I didn’t even realise came with this kit! Upon reading the manual it seems this is only compatible with smartphones rather than the light itself. This may be useful for some, but I didn’t find to much use with it as I was recording with my DSLR.
However if you do plan on recording with a smrtphone, there is a holder that can fit almost any phone including iPhone 8/7/6 plus/6/5/5S, Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge/S6/S5, etc
After using this ring light kit for several videos, I have been very pleased with its performance and plan on using it for many upcoming YouTube videos! A video must have!
3. Neewer 2 x 160 LED Dimmable Panel Lighting Kit
Moving onto the next lighting kit on my list is another Neewer product which I found to be extremely versatile while also bing easy on the pocketbook.
For me what made this lighting kit standout was the battery powered LED lights which I used for a wide range of compositions and lighting styles.
The lighting panels themselves are about 5×7” and are powered by 2 x Sony NP-F530 lithium rechargeable batteries. While the batteries had some heft to them, they actually didn’t make the lighting panels that heavy. I even felt comfortable mounting one on top of my DSLR with the pivot head hot shoe mount to use for video lighting.
Both lights came with one, so you can double up on that light quality. Using one on camera and one on a stand afforded me lots of versatility in filming.
As for the lighting stands, they extended up to about 6 feet and seemed sturdy enough for me to thrust them alone on a level surface. Outside, you may want to sand bag a leg to keep the chance of being tilted over low. The tilting mounts fit easily to the stands as well as in a camera accessory shoe.
While Neewer is a somewhat young brand, their products really so speak for themselves and this ring light is a prime example of that! This isn’t the first Neewer product I’ve purchased, and I’m sure it wont be the last. A must have!
4. StudioFX 2400 Watt Softbox Continuous Lighting Kit
I think this three light kit would be more at home as a semi permanent set up in a home or office studio rather than being a portable kit. But it is able to be transported and set up in other locations.
What sets this reasonably priced kit apart from others is the boom light which makes it a little more difficult to transport, in my opinion.
At the heart of this lower to moderately priced kit are the four socket AC power lamp heads, 3 heads included in the kit. Also included are 3 soft boxes to use. I would leave the soft box attached to each light for virtually all lighting configurations. With four light sockets in each head, the brightness level can be very high, especially when all four bulbs at once or two at a time.
Once I got the boom properly balanced, which took some trial and error, it is a fairly simple task to position it to my desired location. That’s another reason why I would tend for this to be left set up. It gets unwieldy if not balanced right, and very strong air currents will catch the soft box like a sail, making it even more likely to move out of position.
Out of all the kits I used in this review, I would have to say this kit provided me with the most amount of light and would fit well into a larger studio or room. Highly recommended!
5. Neewer 800W 5500K Umbrella/Softbox Lighting Kit
Not another Neewer product!? What can I say… I really love their lights! This moderately priced kit from Neewer is a full studio outfit, with lights, umbrellas and softbox light modifiers, and a background system.
It comes with four lights. Two lights are mounted permanently inside a soft box, two are just sockets with mounts, which can be used as a bare bulb or with the supplied umbrellas. The lights mount onto four supplied extendable light stands that raise to about 7 feet each.
The soft boxes can be used either with or without the front diffusion screen attached for differing levels of light modification. The soft boxes collapse umbrella style for easy transport and very quick set up.
The background system included in this kit includes an 8 ½’ x 10 ‘ adjustable stand and three different color 6×9’ backgrounds. The colors are green, white, and black, all of muslin material. A set of clamps are included,
All the lights are AC power only, no battery option, and the kit includes 4 CFL daylight balanced bulbs. CFL run cooler than regular incandescent bulbs but not quite as cool as LEDs. I would still recommend allowing them to cool off a bit before transporting them to minimize breakage potential. The entire kit is portable and it all fits into the supplied bag.
Cut! Print! That’s a wrap, folks…
With the best lighting kits for video like these reasonably priced ones, our inner Cecil B DeMille can come out. Use them with confidence and enjoy making your video productions!