Why is video lighting important? Proper lighting is one of those things that can quickly improve the quality of your video. You don’t have to spend a fortune to see that improvement. Portable diffuse lights are affordable battery power and the first style making them a reliable budget-friendly option for beginners and professionals.
Photo by KAL VISUALS on Unsplash
Nighttime or low light shooting is perhaps the best reason to get one of those portable diffuse lights, but they’re much more versatile than froggers that can pop off the screen by attaching one of these slides to their camera.
They can also work as background light to draw attention to a specific object or create depth by spiriting the background from the subject. Those who already have a key light can still have the advantage of portable light by using it as a fill or background light, and it’s also good to have an emergency.
Just one possible light can improve the quality of your video. It can even make a difference between looking amateurish and looking professional.
Top 5 Small Video Lighting
The first video light on this list is the aperture al-m9.
Aperture is a well-known brand that makes lighting solutions for filmmakers. Although the aperture market and many of its products are too professional. They also have a line of relatively affordable lights.
One such is the Aputure al-m9, an absolute workhorse of light that sells for only about 40 dollars. It is by far the aperture’s more affordable light.
This tiny light is equipped with nine SMD led powerful enough to light any subject from a few feet away. You can adjust brightness and its maximum battery life is 1.75 hours at the highest brightness setting.
At first look, the m9 doesn’t look like much but after testing it out, it’s now a dependable part of my shooting setup.
On video calls, this light perfectly looks like a camera that is twice the price and also works great for vlogging at 45 dollars. The al-m9 doesn’t have every feature I want but it comes close. I wish this light had an adjustable colour temperature. It’s understandable at this price Point.
Apertures make up for it by including several gels that change the temperatures from daylight to a cooler warmer view. This is a perfect situation when daylight isn’t appropriate, so the second light on this list is the Bigsofti similar to the aperture m9.
The Bigsofti is a possible diffuse light but this kick-started light has some additional features that make it more appealing while the project was fully backed. In July, the project raised about 419 000. dollars from 6000 backers on Kickstarter.
It’s still available for pre-order from Indiegogo. Those who pre-order can get the big softie and one accessory for 65 dollars the adjustable colours and temperatures setting on the Big Softi. Why is this light best for getting daylight mode?
It is useful for night times and some outdoor shooting whereas the tungsten modes give out warm yellowish light for indoor scenes. A third colour mode called clean white mix is somewhere between the two.
The next is the aperture al-mx if the al-m9 is for beginners then the AL-MX is a heavier, brighter, better matte light for professionals essentially.
This light is the al-m9 for all grown-ups. It houses 128 SMD-led boost mode that temporarily outputs more light plus. It is made up of aircraft-grade aluminium. The AL-MX is a little comparable in size to its predecessor.
It weighs much more than 278 kilograms, not kilograms per gram; it also gets hot enough that the entire back side of the light is a heat spreader.
While it’s not surprising that an upgraded version of the al-m9 should cost more. An al mx is three times more costly so it may be an option only for professional or serious devotees. How light looks doesn’t affect performance. However, it can help but think about the aesthetic of this light.
The red and black colour combination is paired with an industrial design that uses aircraft aluminium despite the heat to scream functionally which is in itself gorgeous as a fan of function over aesthetic. I heartily praise when a product not only manages to be functional but also good-looking.
There’s not much more to say about al-m9 except that it’s a great choice, especially for those who want the light. Perhaps it’s too much money for light or probably it is the only good light you’ll ever need to carry in your bag.
So the fourth light is the Neewer led light for around 55 dollars. These affordable lights from newer are solid pickup for budget studio lighting newer no Apertures,
but they are one of the finest brands in the lighting space on amazon with several lighting solutions at affordable prices. These lights come in a 2-pack along with a two-tripod and a set of colour filters. A more expensive softbox and the light combination provide better lighting.
These newer lights do just fine in a pinch and they are small and light to carry around. Although these lights are small, they are not exactly possible; their lack of integrated batteries also means that they are not easily mountable on a camera.
Neewer recommends plugging these USB power lights into a wall socket via power brick which they do not include. The last or the fifth light on this list is the Rx-80 similar to the new lights above the rx80 by falcon eyes is made for studio Lighting.
The rx80 sets out for one major reason: it’s foldable, and when it’s used without a softbox you can bend the line any way you like to narrow or whiten the light.
This makes it versatile and variable. If you want to light a particular object or subject at 75 dollars just one rx80 is more expensive than the two neewer lights above but it’s more powerful.
It has more uses and it comes with a decent softbox and a standard diffuser. Overall, the rx80 makes an impact at an affordable price. This one of these slides pointed at the subject can make a huge difference in how they appear on cameras. Those are lists of 5 small lights for your video shoot. What do you think about them?
Is there any light that you want to recommend? Let me know in the comment section. See you in the next article.
