On-Camera Lights

On-camera lights are a must for interviews, and now-affordable LED lighting, which runs cool and is easy on the eyes, is the obvious choice. At the low end, I’m recommending the Bescor LED-60K 60W LED kit ($84.95), which is unrated at Amazon but garnered an average 4.5 rating from 12 reviewers at B&H. When you buy an LED kit, you want to make sure that you get variable light control, jells for diffusion and matching incandescent light temperatures, and an articulating arm that supports forward and backward tilts and swiveling.

The LED-60K supplies all these basics but doesn’t swivel, though Bescor sells a $15 mount that does, and the unit comes in a convenient case. It’s powered by a dedicated 6 volt rechargeable battery, which saves battery costs and gets three hours on a single charge, but could leave you hanging if you run out of juice during the shoot. Speaking of hanging, the battery doesn’t fit behind the unit, so you’ll have to hang it on your belt or tripod while shooting.

The more expensive Litepanels LP Micro Compact LED ($259) runs on easily swappable AA batteries that fit behind the unit, which is more self-contained. Like the Bescor, the native light temperature is around 5600 K which approximates daylight, and the unit includes a 3200 Tungsten converter that matches incandescent lighting, plus a 1/4 warming and diffusion filter for softening the light. You can see the dimmer knob at the top of the unit.

Besides compact operation, the Litepanels unit also includes a number of attractive options, like camcorder battery adapters, so if you have spare rechargeable camcorder batteries available, you can use these to extend lighting time. Or, you can purchase a separate power supply. There’s also a separate base plate for mounting the lights on any flat surface, which could work extremely well with webcams. However, the light kit doesn’t come with a protective case. This unit averaged a 4-star rating at Amazon (with 11 reviewers), and also a 4 at B&H with 177 reviews.

Cases
Speaking of cases, if you buy a light kit and microphone you’re going to need one to carry everything, plus your camcorder, of course. My favorite bag vendor is unabashedly Kata, which has roots in protective products developed for the Israeli special forces. The cases are designed for durability and maximum protection, and the one that I have is nearly indestructible.

For your small camera kit, I like the Kata D-Light Capsule-181 DL Case ($69.95), which averaged a perfect five-star rating on B&H with four reviewers. For the bigger camera, I like the Kata OMB-72, which retails for $175, but can often be found on special at much lower prices. This model averaged 4.5 on B&H with 8 reviewers: neither model was reviewed on Amazon.

So, there you are. At the low end, where the kit ended up costing around $1,250, I tried to find the lowest cost option that offered solid performance and usability. If you step up to the Rode microphone and the Litepanels light kit, you’re at about $1500, which should leave some spare changes for cables, connectors, and the like. At the high end, we came closer to the target, but you still should have enough left over for incidentals.

Since I haven’t tested all of these products, I’d love to hear any feedback from those that have, even (gulp) if you disagree with my recommendation. So don’t be shy: leave a comment and let us know what you think!

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