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Introduction |
| ***GUIDE AUTHORS NOTE: DISREGARD THE "DIFFICULTY" RATING; IT DOES NOT APPLY TO THIS GUIDE BUT I CANNOT GET RID OF IT. I AM LEAVING THE DIFFICULTY AT THE DEFAULT SETTING. Ideally, I would delete this altogether (or fully strip it out) as it has no relevance to this guide, but I cannot do so.*** | | ***PLEASE READ: this guide is not meant to cover all possibilities for photo lighting; mainly surplus studio grade panels like Genaray lights or new SmallRig panels. In addition do not bother with the many, many "low-cost" panel LEDs from Amazon which are not worth buying (unless they come with good tripods and the lights can be discarded). The reason for this is these low-cost LED array panels are only good when you spend ~$50-60/panel for a proper set from a quality brand. The reason for the choice of light is this guide is based around a tradeoff: While many, many "low cost" studio style lights are too dim to be effective or you need 4 which comes out to the price of 2-3 big panels, a good pair of LEDs will also not be perfect but will be much better overall.*** | | ***PLEASE READ: this guide is not meant to cover all possibilities for photo lighting; mainly using proper panel lighting by companies like Meiki or SmallRig as well surplus studio-grade panels. These are the only way panels are viable; the problem with low-cost $20-30 panel sets as most of these hover ~700-1000 lumens which is not bright enough. There are two workarounds that make these a horrible option:*** | | ***This method coexists as a happy medium: it is not expensive yet will be decently good compared to cheap LED panels (when high-CRI bulbs are used), but not quite up there with professional lighting either (which is fine for most people). DO NOT EXPECT professional results from a pair of proper LED bulbs like you get out of a purpose built panel from SmallRig.*** | | ***The use of high-CRI LED bulbs is a tradeoff in itself: it is generally not as good as a professional panel setup but for the price you will generally get better overall results as a whole.*** | | * ***This can be worked around by using 4, but by the time you get to this point, the cost is the same as a quality pair of panels which only need two to work. These are NOT worth your time unless you are getting quality tripods and are just going to discard the lights.*** | | * ***The 2nd option commonly used is to get a pair of quality panels that are very bright but these come out to cost ~$50-60 or more per panel from a good brand with a high brightness rating. This is just flat-out expensive unless you use the panels where you can justify the cost or secure a good price on surplus lighting from a photo studio going out of business selling old lights (or upgrading to better ones) for cheap. However, this takes time and is not something you will see every day.*** | | ***As a result of these two major deal-breaking flaws with budget LED panels commonly found online like Amazon, this guide is based around an equally as low-cost tradeoff, but far more effective: While many, many "low cost" studio style lights are too dim to be effective or you need 4 (and you end up buying 4 cheap panels at the price of two good high-end panels), a good pair of LEDs will also not be perfect but will be much better overall. This is a "happy medium" method that works well if you are on a budget but WILL NOT OUTPERFORM PROPER STUDIO LIGHTING in terms of overall CRI performance, lighting quality, or overall brightness in many cases. However; what it DOES offer is a far better overall light output that while cheap will be far more cost-effective per dollar (when used in conjunction with high-CRI >90+ bulbs). The downside is it will not be up to par with professional lighting but I do not expect this to matter for the audience I am targeting; I am not targeting professionals with high-end cameras, lenses, and studio setups. This setup is intended for beginners looking to upgrade from garbage Amazon LED "lights" on a budget.*** |
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