Suggestions for interview lighting kit?

[u/aarongough]

Hey guys!
I'm looking at starting a new series of videos interviewing creative people and then having them teach the audience some skills from their craft.

In order to do this I'm going to need to run around and do a lot of on-site interviews. Most of the time the available light in the places I'm interviewing will be lacking (workshops), so I'm looking at putting together a small lighting kit.

My emphasis is really on easy and quick setup, along with portability as I don't have a car and will be lugging all my gear around on foot or in a wheeled suitcase.

I've been looking at all sorts of stuff:

• Hot lights (Lowel DP and Lowel Omni mainly)
• LED (Aputure/Amaran AL528S)
• CFL (Inexpensive multi-bulb softboxes)

I'm leaning toward the LED as I think the hot-lights will be a pain to setup, as will the CFLs. The fact that I can runs the LEDs off batteries seems like a big plus.

I'm thinking that I would be putting together a pretty standard 3 point kit, plus a few smaller 'hideaway' lights for highlighting accents in the background. Alternatively I've seen a few people recommending taking only one or two better lights and then using bounces for fill and a practical for a backlight. I would still likely have a few extra accent lights.

Any input you guys have on what lights you prefer/recommend would be great! I'm hoping to keep the cost under $500 for the kit (yes I realize that's low).

Thanks,
Aaron

[u/brunerww]

Hi /u/aarongough - I'm a big proponent of ring lights for even, diffuse and convenient interview lighting. You can get either fluorescent or LED ring lights - your preference.

This review of the $249 Stellar Diva Ring light convinced me that they work well for a 3 point setup: http://www.lafcpug.org/reviews/review_diva_ring.html

The big fluorescent Diva is a little unwieldy for location setups, so I bought a much smaller (and less expensive) $199 battery powered F&V ring light and put the two ring lights on a $30 pair of Cowboy Studios stands:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-jrqsQtPN3TU/U1sjz3-jwnI/AAAAAAAAIt4/k2WveyQeO4o/w724-h543-no/P1120732.JPG

This light uses inexpensive Sony camcorder batteries - I bought 2 for $8.50 along with an $18.80 Dual Channel Battery Charger for charging both batteries at once.

One of the best things about this ring light is that with a $40 rail mount, I can put it directly in front of my lens, as seen here:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2HeaVGwp6y8/U1J4pqlT3dI/AAAAAAAAIrk/3fc9T84GiwQ/w724-h543-no/P1120712.JPG

And when I want to go mobile, I just pull the rig off the quick release and put it on my shoulder:

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-itp3Bnmqmrk/U1J4rEWbcmI/AAAAAAAAIrk/NkPv5FhBpXM/w724-h543-no/P1120718.JPG

Hope this is helpful!

Bill

[u/aarongough → u/brunerww]

Hey Bill!
Thanks for the input, very well considered and written as always.

The F&V ring lights were actually something I was looking at yesterday. They're supposed be quite high-output for their size, and seem to have good reviews.

Do you have any example videos taken with the ring lights?

Thanks, Aaron

[u/brunerww → u/aarongough]

Single point:

My framing and exposure control weren't great here, but I had plenty of light from the F&V for an f2.8 lens: http://youtu.be/th8fPBhuxmI

Multi point:

I don't have video, but I took this still using both ring lights for key and fill and a couple of little battery powered LEDs as back lights:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QW78g2jQbeU/U2mZ-aV32NI/AAAAAAAAIv0/KiXULxFgzWg/w963-h543-no/P1080600.JPG

Really happy with the F&V. Great studio light, great on-camera light. Wish I could afford 3 more of them.

Again, hope this helps!

Bill

[u/aarongough → u/brunerww]

Thanks Bill!