Raising Awareness Productions Blog

Lighting technology is changing and fast!  Video/film lighting is becoming so much more affordable compared to production equipment from even just three years ago.  The new lighting becoming favoured by production experts is LED lighting (light-emitting diode) or Fluorescent Lighting.

LED Lighting has many advantages over traditional film/video studio lighting…

• Lower Energy Consumption
• Bulbs have a longer lifetime
• Improve robustness, smaller in size
• Faster switching on
• Greater durability and reliability…
• LED lighting is cool lighting… this means your actors, subject or presenter does not get hot and cooked anymore!  It makes the working conditions in the studio or on location much more pleasurable for both the film crew and anyone involved in-front of the cameras.
• The quality of the light projected has less glare, so it is better for video production

Fluorescent Lighting

Fluorescent lighting requires very little power, so it is more cost effective to use in the long run, but more importantly for production value fluorescent lighting is a diffuse source, so there is a complete absence of glare, so your shots are more flattering and presenters are more comfortable.

This means that switching to fluorescent lighting is a must… and I can tell you is giving us new possibilities to produce better video content for our clients.

I invested in some new lighting because I knew switching to LED or Fluorescent Lighting was a step forward everyone in the industry is making, and its been a painless and worthwhile shift.

I purchased x2 F-Light 6 fluorescent lights from Datavision.  They are bank selectable so I can turn off several of the lights when they are not needed.  I mixed tungsten with daylight tubes half and half and have to tell you these lights have been fantastic out on location and in the studio.

I did a couple of tests today to check filming for NTSC (30fps) as I film almost all my productions is PAL (25fps) living in the UK.  On some camera angles a pulse did appear so I shot in PAL and converting the footage to NTSC in post which removed the pulsing problem.  This is as a result of the lighting rate emitted from the lights being more compatible with 25fps than 30fps.  The pulsing issue can also be rectified turning the lights (if possible for the shot) from the subject at a 45 degree angle.  This method also removed pulsing from the footage in post while filming in NTSC.

I shopped around, both in the UK and USA to find some good competitive fluorescent studio/location lighting because like everybody else I want to do my best for my clients.

I found this company – Datavision – www.datavision.co.uk

and purchased x2 F-Light 6’s from them (they are similar to kino flow panel lighting which are great lights I’ve used in the past).  I gave Datavision a chance as they really worked hard to look after and take care of me as a client.  The lights I purchased are fantastic and a fraction of the cost of other lighting that I had looked at.  I’m now looking at other products from these guys because they are forward thinking and want to meet my needs in a changing and very competitive marketplace – my needs as a busy producer, director and cameraman for Sky and also freelance will always be hard to meet.  I’m not on commission – I’d recommend giving them a try.  They really helped me out by shipping some lights to me when I had to film in the January snow!  Great lights and check out the iprompter –  www.iprompter.co.uk too!

Thanks Datavision

Video on the web signing out!