{"id":38421,"date":"2017-03-28T22:32:14","date_gmt":"2017-03-29T02:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=38421"},"modified":"2025-01-09T22:56:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T02:56:59","slug":"video-light-for-photography-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/video-light-for-photography-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Best LED video light for Photography & Video"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Best LED video light for Photography & Video<\/h1>\n

The use of video lights<\/a>\u00a0is a regular\u00a0theme on the Tangents blog. Specifically,\u00a0the best LED\u00a0video light is\u00a0a versatile must-have piece of gear in my camera bag. Not\u00a0only do I use it at weddings, I also use it on location shoots. For example, while photographing the interior of one of the largest hardware stores in Manhattan, I used an LED video light to bring up some detail\u00a0in the more shadowy areas in the shelves and corners. Easier to just point the hand-held video light than to set up off-camera lighting. Especially because the light is easier to blend\u00a0on-the-go with the existing light. So, a video light is a necessity for me.<\/p>\n

With this article I want to continue this discussion by looking at\u00a0what we should be considering when\u00a0buying a video light for photography or video.<\/p>\n

The photo above of Aleona, was taken during a workshop, using the\u00a0Lowel ID-Light<\/a>\u00a0(B&H<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0Amazon<\/a><\/em>). While I like this Incandescent light because of its power, it is quite bulky and you are limited by its fixed\u00a0Incandescent WB. So I favor it less these days.\u00a0I now often just use the modeling light of the Profoto B1 as my “video light” when photographing a couple in low light. For example:\u00a0Romantic wedding portraits with incandescent light<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In terms of an actual video light though, I much more prefer quality-brand LED video lights where you can continuously change the White Balance. No need for gels. And with the batteries in, or directly attached to the unit, there are no cables to make them clumsy to use.<\/p>\n

For an LED video light, I now use the\u00a0Celadon Pro LED video light<\/a> (Amazon<\/em>). It is powerful, flicker-free and has variable WB. Better still, it sport a very high CRI – one of the measures we use to determining\u00a0the quality of the color of a light source.<\/p>\n

But before we get to the discussion about the specific considerations\u00a0when buying a video light, I need to show you this:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This was the rig that\u00a0an “Uncle Bob” used at a wedding where I was the photographer. Three<\/strong>\u00a0cameras recording video, coupled with this cheap Chinese knock-off LED video light. How do I know it was a cheap piece of shit? \u00a0Because of the ugly green color cast it gave to any images where I had a slow shutter speed. As you already know, a\u00a0green tint to skin tones is not good! This limited my shutter speed settings, because I couldn’t drag my shutter speed to bring in more ambient – there would be too much green tint to anyone in my photograph if he had his light on them. So I had to drown out more of the ambient light by under-exposing the ambient (by taking my shutter speed higher), and letting my TTL flash dominate the exposure. This article will explain it more clearly if it isn’t making sense to you:\u00a0How do you meter for TTL flash & ambient light?<\/a><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I didn’t keep the original photograph. All I have now is\u00a0this back-of-my-camera shot that I took\u00a0with my iPhone to send to a friend so that he could commiserate with me. However, it will give you a good idea of the rig. But what is missing here is a sense of just how bad the color from this thing was.<\/p>\n

All this leads us into a list of things to consider when buying an LED video light for photography … which will also lead us to why I think the\u00a0Celadon Pro LED video light<\/a>\u00a0(Amazon<\/em>), is one of the best choices currently:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Features\u00a0to consider when buying an LED video light<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n