Continuous Lights for vlogging

[astroNikon]

okay, straying from still photography.
Anyone do any vlogging with continuous lights?

I'm looking for some high quality but, of course, low cost continuous lighting for some youtube vlogging. I've used some standard lights, first Direct, then reflective but I'm not getting good results.

So Adorama, amazon, BH or any other vendor.
Price ... hmm .. under $200 I guess. I don't know what is good continuous lights price-wise or not.

The setup is in my basement. So other than maybe some daylight light through small basement windows there is only artificial lighting. So I can basically control all the light.

The "camera" is the basic camera that is on my computer .. which is 8 years old.
I just upgraded to an external microphone and will probably get an external camera too.
I'm going to test my d750 on video just to see what the lighting is compared to the computer for comparison but I still need some "real" continuous lights anyways.
Thanks

 

[nokk]

if i were looking to do something like this on the cheap i'd go to lowe's/home depot/menard's and get some led light bars. but i'm not a fan of lighting, video or people in general so hopefully someone else can help you out.

 

[weepete]

My daughter just started streaming on twitch, I got her a Neweer ring light that's pretty decent. @Space Face suggested some continuous lighting panels that looked pretty good and are on the list, but for a single light setup that was cheap (ish) controllable and decent I went with this:

Neewer Advanced 2.4G Remote 18-inch LED Ring Light Support Manual Touch Control with LCD Screen (Black)

It's worked great so far.

 

[astroNikon]

My daughter just started streaming on twitch, I got her a Neweer ring light that's pretty decent. @Space Face suggested some continuous lighting panels that looked pretty good and are on the list, but for a single light setup that was cheap (ish) controllable and decent I went with this:

Neewer Advanced 2.4G Remote 18-inch LED Ring Light Support Manual Touch Control with LCD Screen (Black)

It's worked great so far.

That's interesting. I've paid attention in many videos and see a circular light in the eyes/glasses. And doing macro in the past with the ring light I was thinking that. In checking now I see those rings with space for a cell phone.
Does your daughter use a cell phone with her large ring light?
Ring light looks good but I'm currently using a laptop's built in camera.

I was thinking of trying to use my Nikon D750 for video. But I realize I have to manual focus it. But I'm going to guess the video is going to be far better but I switch from video to charts and stuff which I single recording in Zoom I would have to do more slicing and dicing if I use my D750 plus Zoom for everything else.

I've also seen this looking at your Neewer ring
https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Dimma...1&keywords=video+lights&qid=1612167945&sr=8-4
Which are two really small LED squares. I'm actually using something similar - for my sleeping problem my son had this LED light square thing which I ended up pointing it to a white board for reflection as the light spill even on low just was too much for the camera on my laptop.

 

[weepete]

That's interesting. I've paid attention in many videos and see a circular light in the eyes/glasses. And doing macro in the past with the ring light I was thinking that. In checking now I see those rings with space for a cell phone.
Does your daughter use a cell phone with her large ring light?
Ring light looks good but I'm currently using a laptop's built in camera.

I was thinking of trying to use my Nikon D750 for video. But I realize I have to manual focus it. But I'm going to guess the video is going to be far better but I switch from video to charts and stuff which I single recording in Zoom I would have to do more slicing and dicing if I use my D750 plus Zoom for everything else.

I've also seen this looking at your Neewer ring
https://www.amazon.com/Neewer-Dimma...1&keywords=video+lights&qid=1612167945&sr=8-4
Which are two really small LED squares. I'm actually using something similar - for my sleeping problem my son had this LED light square thing which I ended up pointing it to a white board for reflection as the light spill even on low just was too much for the camera on my laptop.

No cell phone, I got her a Sony Alpha A5100 to sit on top as it's still one of the best streaming cameras, has really good AF, a flip screen and clean HDMI out.

Ring lights are pretty popular among streamers as they can sit behind your screen and are easy, fairly even lighting. The one I got you can turn the bottom half off and just use the top, though I think tabletop versions are avalible as well.

I've got a couple of square lights on the list of stuff to get her, just for a bit of flexibility (and possibly to use as hair or background lighting.

I'm not sure what you mean about light spill on your webcam being too much, I'd have thought it shouldn't be a big deal as you can control what's in shot but I'm probably misunderstanding what you mean.

I think you might be able to set your camera up to act as a webcam, so as long as you have enough DOF switching to and from it in teams should just be a matter of screen sharing. Though it may take some extra hardware as a battery pass through (to prevent the sensor overheating) and a capture card may be needed (though both Canon and Sony have an app for it now)

 

[JBPhotog]

Get yourself a Godox SL60W for @$150. It takes Bowens mount modifiers or slip a cheap umbrella on it and you will get more light than anything in an LED panel. The CRI is pretty good but if you want better, the SL150W II is the way to go.

Being daylight balanced, they will mix nicely with your strobes should you want to do some motion blur shots.

 

[astroNikon]

I've forgotten so much the last several years

now 'ya guys are starting to spend my money ....
1 - get a better camera more suited to this (I figured that was coming)
2 - get a light more suited to streaming that can also use my beauty dish/diffuser with an adapter.

I was taking my lights with a thru umbrella, then a reflective umbrella. made things a bit better but I started thinking my laptop camera really stinks for this.

 

[astroNikon]

.....
I've got a couple of square lights on the list of stuff to get her, just for a bit of flexibility (and possibly to use as hair or background lighting.

I'm not sure what you mean about light spill on your webcam being too much, I'd have thought it shouldn't be a big deal as you can control what's in shot but I'm probably misunderstanding what you mean.

I think I'll just go look at the a6100. I was impressed with it back in the day when it was new. But I may look at the Canon M200 to0 (have to look into the StarEater problem SONY had).

But I decided for now (as I don't have the $1000 for the a6100 right now) to use my D750 for Zoom video. It's not LIVE streaming, and I break it into parts anyways so I should be okay until I save up for the a6100 / Canon M200.

My integrated webcam is on my 2013 Dell Inspiron 15 laptop.
It ... is .. well .. bad as I'm just testing it.
I tried a $100 Aluratek Ultra 2K HD webcam from bestbuy .. it was better but not by too much.

Get yourself a Godox SL60W for @$150. It takes Bowens mount modifiers or slip a cheap umbrella on it and you will get more light than anything in an LED panel. The CRI is pretty good but if you want better, the SL150W II is the way to go.

Being daylight balanced, they will mix nicely with your strobes should you want to do some motion blur shots.

I have a big beauty dish with a diffuser for it .. I might just get the Godox or something similar for lighting. Thanks for the idea.

 

[JBPhotog]

For streaming or blogs why not go with a DJI Osmo Pocket 2? It's half the price of the Sony a6100 and specifically designed for this type of work and comes with a wi-fi mic. You'll need a mic with the Sony too once you get more than a few feet away from the camera.
https://www.amazon.com/DJI-Pocket-C...words=dji+osmo+pocket+2&qid=1612317641&sr=8-2

Here's a blog shot with the Osmo,

 

[astroNikon]

For streaming or blogs why not go with a DJI Osmo Pocket 2? It's half the price of the Sony a6100 and specifically designed for this type of work and comes with a wi-fi mic. You'll need a mic with the Sony too once you get more than a few feet away from the camera.
https://www.amazon.com/DJI-Pocket-C...words=dji+osmo+pocket+2&qid=1612317641&sr=8-2

Here's a blog shot with the Osmo,

That looks like an electric razor with a shaving cream brush

The a6100/Canon can double on my telescope. So it would have other uses.
I already have an external boomed microphone too. And It has to be connected to the computer as I swap from video to charts/ graphs/ pictures.

Looking at this it appears only to be standalone handheld and isn't currently compatible to a computer connect for Zoom type software.

 

[Space Face]

My daughter just started streaming on twitch, I got her a Neweer ring light that's pretty decent. @Space Face suggested some continuous lighting panels that looked pretty good and are on the list, but for a single light setup that was cheap (ish) controllable and decent I went with this:

Neewer Advanced 2.4G Remote 18-inch LED Ring Light Support Manual Touch Control with LCD Screen (Black)

It's worked great so far.

Yeah, that was the Neweer 7" panel. It's fine for close to the subject stuff. I don't vlog but used it for some portraits. The reason I bought it tho was to use as a general light to help me focus while photographing bugs in the wild. Haven't done that yet. Waiting for warmer climes

 

[weepete]

Just saying that A5100's are a between 100-200 bucks on the used market, as I was also looking at getting myself one for different reasons. The one I got for my daughter was new, and I had to go direct to Sony for that as they are end of life, but if I was buying for myself I'd buy used and cheap.

No need for the latest model if you are just going to be using it as a webcam

 

[astroNikon]

For now I decided to use my Nikon D750 for streaming video.
I'm using a USB cable to my computer for the streaming using Zoom.
The HDMI apparently is not for streaming but for still pictures. Yup, I tried and tried .. but the USB immediately works.

As for lighting, the D750 really improves dramatically the picture quality from the 2 computers I tested their onboard camera and the external streaming camera I bought.

So next step is to get 1 or 2 of those Godox or equivalent lights. Right now I'm using a multi-light lamp and a shoot through umbrella. Does pretty good as all the bulbs are LED projection.

Then after that upgrade the camera as I also want a APS-C to connect to my telescope.
Of course, I also just found out how to use video with my D750 on the telescope. I always tried using the HDMI cable in the past which never worked .. live and learn.

But either way, I'll be working on content on my YouTube channel. Now that it looks halfway decent.

 

[weepete]

Might need a capture card for the HDMI, but if the just USB works then fair play.

It's worth reading up on it a bit, as if you are recording full res to the card in the camera you can run in to heat problems with the sensor (like long exposure noise due to heat build up). I think most cameras auto shut off after about 30mins to avoid permanent damage to the sensor. HDMI seems to avoid this though I don't know why.

 

[JBPhotog]

Just to add to this but a bit OT, the 29':59" video limit is not due to sensor heat capacity limitations. It is actually a licensing issue imposed by the EU on all DLSR and Mirrorless cameras that would impose a higher tax as they would be classified as video cameras.