LOL! Not bad for a 20 year old, eh? I swear one day I'm road tripping to Utah (I think) for a day and throwing down some stuff with Curtis Judd, heading through Colorado for a day and shooting some stuff with Dave Dug, and heading down to (Arizona, right?) and shooting some rediculosity with you. It's on my bucket list. :)
See man, this is why your content is so amazing. I always find myself coming back to this channel over and over because of how much useful information is here. Thanks again!
"Look, if you're afraid to ask easy questions, either come to this channel and ask them, send me an email, or just stay stupid forever, your choice." Legend.
Although I love all your videos, this is easily the best one I’ve ever seen. Seriously, this is amazing, very well scripted, and taught me more in 30 minutes than 2 years of film school. Thank you!
hands down most informative video on lighting, wish I saw this video before spending money on useless lights. If you haven't done one yet, can you do a vid on flash photography lights?
I'll send the amateurs that don't want to pay me for an education to your channel. Thanks for the great and accurate videos. My students will love you.
Very helpful, BFM! I am a high school teacher who just started a film program. Thinking through what kind of equipment we need has proven more difficult than I thought it would. This video helps. Thank you!
Are the students buying? If so, I'd start them off with some Home Depot $6 lamps, some diffusion, and a bunch of different K color lights and some gels. They'd learn a lot doing that. For school use, tough one. I'd have to say maybe some film lights that they could get used to, so they a familiar with them. I can make suggestions with links if you want.
You’re frikkin awesome! Most older guys I watch for filmmaking tips are boring and just blabber on a lot. But you, noooo. You taught me sooo much and were so entertaining. Audio was amazing and editing was very enjoyable. I can tell you put a lot of work into these videos. I subbed! :) I’m looking into getting my first soliddd light. I got cheaper Color Temp. Adjustable youngnuo lights for 60 bucks with Sony npf batteries and they worked well for me but I am wanting to upgrade. Battery powered, travel friendly, quick set up time, and ease of use is most important for me. I do video production including weddings, testimonials, interviews, small business videos, and so on. What light or light kit would you recommend? The Aputure mini20d’s look nice.
The Mini-20s are awesome, my only complain is the fans which can kick on and if they're close to the mic, it's not good. If you keep them away from the mic, they are awesome. So far, my favorite lights are the Tri-8 kit. Expensive, but I love them. amzn.to/2SSHQkd
@@BasicFilmmaker I looked into them more and they seem like a lot of people have poor viewpoints on them. 7000k doesn't seem good, and battery isn't attached..ehhhh
True. Batter isn't attached to the 120s, but I like that, as when you attach them high, they're light. Like I said, the Tri-8s would be a better choice.
It is well deserved. Back in my days in community cable TV I had to teach these things to volunteers. (Prior to any mastery of the skills on my own part). And it can be really difficult. Now you have people who are trying to be one man bands on the internet. They need a functional understanding of lighting, cameras, tripods, audio systems, presentations and so much more. The entire profession is demeaned if well intentioned people go out and produce back media. If they're going to do it (or we're going to do it) let's give them the skills to do it well.
No kidding Sean. It amazes me what we can do now a days, and more so, how much skill and knowledge is needed by the one man band filmmaker to create decent videos.
Once again thank you very much for a superb video and for confirming my purchases, bought a tri 8C and a 120 d genuine Aputure because fortunately they have a dealer here in Thailand. Only wish I had found your site earlier; it would have saved me many, many hours on the Internet checking out stuff.
Boss video. There's so much quality information here that I just feel like I attended a cinematography class. Thanks I will be watching it a few times.
Excellent! You really keep things interesting, I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I'm about to go check my lights now. Glad that I Subscribed to your channel. Be well, stay encouraged, and an Encourager!
HA HA HA - what a great video. I'm definitely going to subscribe. Not only was it easy to listen to and broken down into basic 'Englich' for beginners to understand, it was entertaining and informative too! I caught myself rewinding several times because I missed what you said next since I was still laughing at the last piece of humour I just caught up with! I'm a smarter person than I was 20 minutes ago (or at least more knowledgeable maybe?? :))
I've been a photographer for YEARS and at one point was looking at RIT but changed gears. Anyway, your video filled in the gaps that I'd hope I'd learn in school. ANYWAY,... Thanks.
Fantastic summary of everything about lighting. This could have been a lesson at Basic Filmmaker University. By the way I think CRI stands for Color Rendering Index.
Yeah, I almost went there, but decided it was time for a chunky video on this channel. And yeah, I put the mistake on CRI on a card that should have popped up and in the description. Did it not show up for you?
I went back and saw the CRI card on the upper right. I was busy (slowly) reading the big text on the left side of the frame. Can you put those cards anywhere in the frame or at least on the left side? That would make it harder to miss like I did.
Actually, TH-cam removed annotations in videos in lieu of CARDS which work across browsers and smart devices. No way I was going to re-edit and re-render this thing, so I gamed the TH-cam cards (that card is actually a POLL - if you click on it, it has some questions) to designate the mistake. I have no control of where they appear, only when. Bummer huh. :)
Love your videos :) you are like a stand up comedian, very funny and entertaining, and lets not forget, your videos are filled with knowledge :) and a genious way to put it all together. Thank you. :)
I'm definitely a fan. You're looking around for advice and bam, suddenly there's #basicfilmmaker with all sorts practical advice an indie can appreciate, in one channel. One-stop spot. Nerd trivia: the numbers in this Kelvin scale correspond to black body (i.e., non-reflected) radiation. Or to put it simply: a star with a surface temperature of that many Kelvin degrees (= centrigrades + 273) will have that color giving us that "white point". Our sun just happens to have a surface temperature around 6000° K, pretty close to neutral white. Contrary to intuition, the hottest stars (spectral classes A, B, and O) shine blue, and a lot more brightly than white stars. Overcast is a tad bluish because we're getting _comparably_ more atmospherically-scattered light. Blue light is higher-energy frequency and that means more likely to survive scattering before being absorbed and turned into heat. (How is that useful? Well, knowing reasons for things makes learning them easier. Also, it will serve you if you plan to do a short that takes place in, say, a world under a star of different spectral class than our sun.)
Hope it’s okay with you that I shared a link to this video at the “Wedding Film School” group on Facebook. Nice job. Lots of valuable information for filmmakers.
Basic Filmmaker shortly after sharing your video I got banned from the closed group without any explanation. Guess sharing it was not okay. Oh well. My guess is the group owner Matt WhoIsMatt Johnson is also a TH-camr and didn’t want other educational videos he didn’t make. But I can be sure. :-(
WHAT!!!??? Yeah, that could be, but I would think he would remove the video and maybe warn you, rather than remove YOU! Wow. Let's get back at him and do this... HERE'S A VIDEO FROM MATT WHOISMATT JOHNSON entitled, "A Wedding Filmmaker's Review Of The Panasonic GH5." th-cam.com/video/XfUOeHBksoI/w-d-xo.html Ha! That'll show 'em! :)
Basic Filmmaker - thanks. In the Facebook group, Matt is actually a fan of the Sony A7Sii due to its low light capabilities. I’ve filmed weddings. One thing about wedding filmmaking is receptions are often in low light areas. Adding lights damages the mood. The Sony A7Sii does about as good of a job in low light as a wedding filmmaker could afford. At least that’s what most of the wedding filmmakers state at that group. That being said, you can see my one and only wedding film, shot with my iPhone, on my channel. That one video has led to me being asking to shoot other weddings. I passed on the opportunity. Doing it for a friend was fine, but really not looking at doing weddings as a business. Again, I’m not sure he is the one who banned me from the Wedding Film School on Facebook. The other administrator Kraig Adams isn’t all that active in the group. Adam also has a couple of channels focused around wedding filmmaking.
Nice video Doug. No frickin way I would ever shoot a wedding. There's no re-takes, lighting usually sucks, and you hold in your hands what the client "thinks" the video should be, which is almost never what they think it is. Nope, nope, and nope. LOL!
Thanks Levi. It was really a LOT of work, and really nice you recognize it. The editing was fun. There's alot of stuff going on in there that a lot of people might not see. Did you see the smoke coming off the HMI? :)
Great fun, and informative as usual. Your vids are really helping me to turn my crappy videos into slightly less crappy ones. Thanks for your down to earth encouragement.
I have a question: When I use a certain gel to replicate moonlight, but then set the cameras WB to get it to a natural look, whats the point of setting up that gel? Because then the blue is gone again, right?
Thanks for putting this together I enjoyed the approach to all the concepts - particularly interested in your upcoming review and impressions of the Aputure Mini 20 fresnel lights as I have been dithering for months over those rather than LED Panels but perhaps oyu might propose where those could be of benefit? Also considering the similar Boltzen fresnels and the Calibre fresnels all around the same pricing. Thus far Im put off by reports of noisy multispeed fans in the aputures and veering towards the Boltzen 30W !!
I love these little mini-20 dudes. The fans can be noisy, but really, they're SO powerful that you can keep them away from the sound recording and never hear it.
That was awesome video. Can you tell me what lighting should I use when I shoot video a seminar even if it’s in a small room or big hall. Thanks in advance
Thanks! For a seminar type video, you'll need lots of lighting, probably away from the speaker and up out of the way of the audience, as well as some spots on the speaker and background. If the room has lights, it's easiest to use the lighting in the space and make sure your white balance and ISO are set properly. Without seeing the room, size, number of people, arrangement, it's hard for me to say exactly.
Thanks for your fast reply. the room size is about 4m.× 5 m. should i stand in the back center and use only one lighting spot on the speaker, and can i use a strobe 300W or 300 led for lighting. thanks again in advance.
Ah. That could totally work in a room that size. One light will work but you'll have to play with that and the room lights. I usually use someone as a stand-in and play around with it until it looks right. You can try in room lights on and off to see what happens, but you'll have to balance the spot with the room lights so you get a good color balance.
Have you had any problems at all with aputure lights? A lot of reviews state the light cutting off for not apparent reason. I really want to buy the 300 watt. I currently have visionsmith relamps in my arri 650's and want more power.
I haven't had a problem with the Aputures, but my lights are pretty stationary now. The Tri-8's are a beats though, but nto sure if that's enough power for you. Arri's are pretty sweet.
Great video! I'm looking forward to the review of the LS Mini 20! I'm still doubting between buying the Aputure 672S as main light diffused or buying a LS Mini 20 (3 light kit). I'm also very interested what the light effect you can create using the 3 mini lights without diffusion because I like film noir/lighting from the 40's but I need to be able to provide soft lighting as well
XLR- Should we already look for lights which support xlr cables? because if they don't, they may not work, at least not efficiently at long distances. ??
Also as I get further into the video you mention that one led puts out 140,000 lux and the other was 50,000 (or whatever you said), well it all depends how far away you are right? The moon is probably 20000000lux if your standing on it but only 1 by the time it reaches us. I’m confused
Got it. You watch agin. What thet manufacturer is SUPPOSED to report is that the light spec is XXXXXX at 1 foot away. They may say XXXXXXX at 1/2 foot away. So you would need to pay attention to this, do the math, and you would be able to see which is the brighter output light.
I do not. I've settled on (at least for the studio) the Aputure Tri-8s ( I have 4), and some other various lights. I "think" it's getting to a point where many of these lights are the same, and it's more about company support, build quality and features.
@@BasicFilmmaker Yeah I'm thinking of just getting one and trying out it before dumping money and getting 3. There's also obviously the issue since Im just a student who still lives at home with 9 other people lol
I would go with what you need, and CHEAP. You can play, figure it out, adjust, see what pisses you off, what you like, and so on. Then you'll be in the know of what you do need and don't before you dump a bunch of money. Or, maybe you already know that.
I grabbed the 3x Mini 20d and one 120d by Aputure. Maybe I should of gone with the 300 instead of the 120. Great video by the way! Quick question. Is there any book you’ll recommend about lighting? Thanks!
Wow! What a fantastic video. I learned more in 30 minutes than I did in 3 days of Internet research. Thank you so much for posting it. If you have some time, I'd really appreciate your advice. I'm getting ready to shoot a series of client videos with two cameras. Camera one will be Canon 80D (main) and camera two will be a Canon 70D (closeup.) I know I need to purchase some external lights, but there are so many choices that I'm totally perplexed. Each video will be 3-5 minutes in length and will be a conversational interview format with two people in the frame. The location is a small 12' x 14' conference room with an 8' ceiling and one standard window. What combination of lights do you recommend for this setup? And yes, I most definitely hit the Subscribe button. :) Thanks again for your help.
Thanks Kelly! I would need to know how much money you intend to spend. This can be done with sheets and $12 can lights from home depot, all the way up to a crap ton of money. I am pretty jazzed about the Aputure lights.
I'd like to spend $600 or less for the whole setup. I've been looking at two possible solutions-CFL or LED. Since I'll be initially doing five videos, the convenience and easy setup of LEDs would be great, but I'm not sure I can adequately light the space with LEDs and a $600 budget. I may be better off (for the time being) with a really good CFL setup. What do you think? Thanks in advance for your help.
OMG, I just saw your Aputure 672 video and it looks like I'm going to have to increase my budget. I noticed you can get the kit in a variety of configurations. For my intended use, do you think the (2) daylight spots and (1) bi-color flood is a good choice for me or would you suggest a different configuration?
I hadn't thought of those. How do they compare to the Aputure 672s in terms of light output? And perhaps I'm too caught up on the light output thing, but I figure more is better than less, like most American men. :) Also, what type of lighting are you using in your studio these days? Thanks!
Excellent video. I'm looking to make my first investment in some pro level lighting after many years of using cheap fluorescent kits, and a local guy is offering a complete Lowel DP 3-light tungsten kit for $330. The price is really tempting but I'm torn on whether to go tungsten given the obvious downsides and recent impressive offerings in the LED realm from the likes of Aputure. The LS-mini20 kit looks killer but would cost me more than twice as much and I would still be lacking a really solid key light. Any advice? (I do mostly interviews and green screen stuff in my tiny studio and a lot of run n gun shooting outside of the studio.)
That was very educational and entertaining. You remind me of an awesome middle school teacher I had (that's a good thing). I'm in the market for lights and I don't know whether to purchase LED's or Soft-boxes. I'm a realtor and my goal is to make instructional TH-cam videos and occasionally set up at different on-site locations and interview services too. I currently have a $200 budget, would you have any recommendations or could you point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance..
$200 is not a lot for lights. You could get softboxes, but I must admit, they can be a pain to carry around and transport, and move from one room to another. I think about the cheapest you'll get away with is a kit from Aputure - you can look at this one (amzn.to/2JLgwjB) which has 3 lights, the cool things is you can put them on light stand or clamp them anywhere. Probably more than you are looking for, but that's my suggestion for build quality, light output, and having something that will last a long time.
Thank you for your response and for the direction. I know my budget is not ideal, but I will have to find another alternative. Just to clarify if you had to pick, you would choose soft boxes over LED lights (with diffuser), correct?
I do not know what your opinion of requests is, but I am going to make a request. Would you be willing to make an updated video on colour correction? Thanks!
For sure. I can't say I am near a color correction dude like some others, but I certainly could make a basic one. Is there something in particular you're look at needing on this? Some problem you're running into?
Basic Filmmaker Yes. I am having troubles understanding the colour correction tools in Premiere Pro. Mainly getting the skin tones correct with masking tools.
OK thanks. I can certainly cover this, and maybe include my friend Dave over at The Post Color Blog channel. He knows a lot about this, I'll just have to figure out how to explain it simply.
Your show helps out alot....!! Im learning now staring out with my Android Phone shoot HDR..... learning the basics... Im planing on buy a Panasonic G85. has IBIS good lighting ( not Great but Good) (maybe one day I may be able to get a GH5 or A7sii and I can learning my lighting techniques with it. ... Sound??? I have a Zoom H4N, & Tascam DR 60D mkii Mics Audio Techn AT875R Vid-pro XM88 a mic blimp and boom pole.... manfrotto fluid head Proaim slider and an ipad editing in Luma Fusion. I think ill start there. Thanks for all your help.
would it be worth it to spend thousands of dollars on an Arri L-Series Fresnel for the simple benefit of having a bigger source of light compared to the smaller 300d regardless of brightness differences.
Depends on money in your budget, what you are lighting, etc. Arri lights are just simply awesome, and you won't go wrong with them. The 300D will light quite a large area, but if you're lighting the outside of a building, you're going to need a lot light. Not really an answer, but there's a lot more data to consider. Of course, since these Arri's cost around $3500, you could get quite a few 300D's for that.
great lighting video! so sorry I didn't watched this a week ago....I guess youtube search don't want to help us find what we need but rather spend more time in watching.
You said that companies are sometimes cheating with the LUX by not measuring them at 1m, but the LUX of the Aputure lights that you are mentioning are also measured at 05,m right? (40.000 LUX for the Aputure lightstorm mini20d for example is @ 0,5m) That is wat the specs say. Why are you using the 0,5m here? And should we just take the half of it for the real LUX ? (so 20.000 for the mini20d?) or is there any other formula?
The Lux measurements for legit companies (like Aputure) are correct. In this day and age, companies don't cheat these as they are usually called out on them now. Lux isn't linear measurement as the further away you get you get more diffusion. Simply compare the manufacturers specs with another's and if there's any question, contact or DM the company and they'll let you know. In 8 years I can tell you I've never gone wrong with some of the major light makers, Aputure is amongst the top.
@@BasicFilmmaker Thanks but I see in the specs that Aputure is measuring at 0,5m while others measure at 1m (like you said in the video) , but how do you compare these?
To be honest with you & honest with myself I'd like to work with Lee Daniels, and Tyler Perry I refused to work with Sylvester Stallone because I didn't like what he said about Barack Obama Because I'm a Obama Fan & I will never make a Trump Supporter a star I'm not a Donald Trump Fan & I don't support Trump so My mind is on acting & making money this is my dream I want to work with my favorite celebrities I always wanna go to Los Angeles, NYC, Atlanta where the celebrities go
Hmmm OK I get that you didn't intend to cover every facet of lighting... but since you touched on CTB and CTO gels you might consider talking about the difference between Light Balancing (LB) gels/filters (used to change light on the color temperature Kelvin scale), and Color Correction (CC) gels/filters (used to change light the green-magenta scale). Oh, and MIREDs.
Good one Tom. Will have to make that some time. I always have to cut off how much info I include i a video, otherwise these suckers would be hours long. :)
Kelvin didn't specifically create his scale for measuring light, it measures actual temperature and its mostly used by scientistss as a more accurate and consistent scale than Celsius and Fahrenheit; it just evolved into a lighting measurement because tungsten needs to be heated to 3200k to produce the correct brightness and colour, but as with any other metal if its heated more it becomes white, then blue etc, but if its heated less it will eventually go from orange to red. Note: this is a correction for those who are interested, I know Basic Filmmaker will probably know this.
I wanted to add a very similar correction. One tiny addition: Tungsten does not need to be heated to 3200K to produce the correct brightness and color. That is way too hot, and tungsten would actually melt just a little above that temperature. It just glows at a color temperature of around 3200K. In the early days, people liked to use tungsten for light bulbs because of its very high melting point and therefore longer life span. The color temperature itself was defined by a very smart dude, Max Planck, as the temperature at which a perfectly black body would emit this sort of light (black body radiation). It is independent of any material and a really theoretical physics definition that you do not need to couple with real-world temperature. Just don't make people heat up anything to 3200K, they could burn themselves badly. :-)
Geeshh! Smart brains here. I once heated up a light bulb in boiling water and it blew up, no where near 3200k. Explain that!!! (this is a joke - please don't try and explain it). :)
I checked out your channel. Your thumbnails are great. Very consistent branding and good quality videos also. I just set all my videos to unlisted because i'm changing the focus of my channel a little. anyway keep it up man.
@DIYCameraGuy. Thank you. I've been there. I did the same. Kept a couple of my older ones that people seemed to like, but other than that, fresh start. Sometimes it just has to be done, especially if you completely change the direction of your channel. :) @BFM - Well, I guess you have two types of subscriber... Those who want to learn, and those who want to complain. ;)
As usual. Super thorough Basic!
Thanks D!
Of course. I love your hustle!
LOL! Not bad for a 20 year old, eh? I swear one day I'm road tripping to Utah (I think) for a day and throwing down some stuff with Curtis Judd, heading through Colorado for a day and shooting some stuff with Dave Dug, and heading down to (Arizona, right?) and shooting some rediculosity with you. It's on my bucket list. :)
I'd be down. Sounds like a plan!
Totally. Do you do NAB? I've missed many years on pressing projects. Hoping for once to make it happen. I know Curtis and Dave usually do.
You are more a writer, director and an entertainment maker than a lighting expertise. Love you to be a teacher.
Thank you.
See man, this is why your content is so amazing. I always find myself coming back to this channel over and over because of how much useful information is here. Thanks again!
I appreciate that! Thank you!!
Great Work Sir .. Thanks For The Video . Hope More Like This .. ❣🙏
Thank you!!!
Love your teaching style. It’s all bite size and easy to understand, yet still fast enough to keep me engaged.
Thank you!!!
"Look, if you're afraid to ask easy questions, either come to this channel and ask them, send me an email, or just stay stupid forever, your choice." Legend.
😎😎😎 👍
No cap, immediately subscribed after that comment! well said
i needed this!!!! thanks!!!!
Thanks DR LA ROSA!
This is such a helpful refresh. Your style is fresh and humorous. I really appreciate this.
Thank you so much!
Thanks Timothy,
You and Curtis are the only ones currently worth paying attention to. Well, and me, of course ;)
Great info!
Thanks Andin! And yeah, I'll pay attention to ya - whatcha got?
Although I love all your videos, this is easily the best one I’ve ever seen. Seriously, this is amazing, very well scripted, and taught me more in 30 minutes than 2 years of film school. Thank you!
Wow Matt! Thanks a bunch. This one was a beast, and I really appreciate the kind comment!
hands down most informative video on lighting, wish I saw this video before spending money on useless lights. If you haven't done one yet, can you do a vid on flash photography lights?
Thank you Lu. I am soooo NOT a photographer, and flash photog is not in my wheelhouse at all, but thanks for asking!
I'll send the amateurs that don't want to pay me for an education to your channel.
Thanks for the great and accurate videos. My students will love you.
LOL! Thanks!
Very helpful, BFM! I am a high school teacher who just started a film program. Thinking through what kind of equipment we need has proven more difficult than I thought it would. This video helps. Thank you!
Thanks, and kudos for being a teacher and starting a film program!
What kind of lighting kit and brand would you recommend for students? Doesn't have to be pro level, but something durable that will last.
Are the students buying? If so, I'd start them off with some Home Depot $6 lamps, some diffusion, and a bunch of different K color lights and some gels. They'd learn a lot doing that. For school use, tough one. I'd have to say maybe some film lights that they could get used to, so they a familiar with them. I can make suggestions with links if you want.
Really enjoy your tutorials. They all have a great blend of pace, information and tongue in cheek wit!
Thank lots GbatB!
Possibly the best video I've seen for noobies. Huge thanks for posting. You unscrambled my brain on a lot of these things
Thanks sooo much James!
You’re frikkin awesome! Most older guys I watch for filmmaking tips are boring and just blabber on a lot. But you, noooo. You taught me sooo much and were so entertaining. Audio was amazing and editing was very enjoyable. I can tell you put a lot of work into these videos. I subbed! :)
I’m looking into getting my first soliddd light. I got cheaper Color Temp. Adjustable youngnuo lights for 60 bucks with Sony npf batteries and they worked well for me but I am wanting to upgrade. Battery powered, travel friendly, quick set up time, and ease of use is most important for me. I do video production including weddings, testimonials, interviews, small business videos, and so on. What light or light kit would you recommend? The Aputure mini20d’s look nice.
The Mini-20s are awesome, my only complain is the fans which can kick on and if they're close to the mic, it's not good. If you keep them away from the mic, they are awesome. So far, my favorite lights are the Tri-8 kit. Expensive, but I love them. amzn.to/2SSHQkd
@@BasicFilmmaker I looked into them more and they seem like a lot of people have poor viewpoints on them. 7000k doesn't seem good, and battery isn't attached..ehhhh
True. Batter isn't attached to the 120s, but I like that, as when you attach them high, they're light. Like I said, the Tri-8s would be a better choice.
get the 120D ii or 300D
The best video about lighting i have watched here. Thank you!
Wow, thank you!
Good work BFM!
OK. When Curtis Judd, the king of sound and lighting videos, says I've done good, I'm liking, hearting, and pinning this comment. :)
He is the wizard.
It is well deserved. Back in my days in community cable TV I had to teach these things to volunteers. (Prior to any mastery of the skills on my own part). And it can be really difficult. Now you have people who are trying to be one man bands on the internet. They need a functional understanding of lighting, cameras, tripods, audio systems, presentations and so much more. The entire profession is demeaned if well intentioned people go out and produce back media. If they're going to do it (or we're going to do it) let's give them the skills to do it well.
Totally on Curtis Sean
No kidding Sean. It amazes me what we can do now a days, and more so, how much skill and knowledge is needed by the one man band filmmaker to create decent videos.
Nice video! Well organized and thorough.
Thanks!
Once again thank you very much for a superb video and for confirming my purchases, bought a tri 8C and a 120 d genuine Aputure because fortunately they have a dealer here in Thailand. Only wish I had found your site earlier; it would have saved me many, many hours on the Internet checking out stuff.
Thanks Howell and Happy New Year!
Boss video. There's so much quality information here that I just feel like I attended a cinematography class. Thanks I will be watching it a few times.
Thanks Vik!
Excellent! You really keep things interesting, I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I'm about to go check my lights now. Glad that I Subscribed to your channel. Be well, stay encouraged, and an Encourager!
Thanks Jacob! Appreciate the sub and the feedback!
I just watched your film Broken. you did a great job of telling the story visually.
Wait. Huh? Broken? Do tell.
HA HA HA - what a great video. I'm definitely going to subscribe. Not only was it easy to listen to and broken down into basic 'Englich' for beginners to understand, it was entertaining and informative too! I caught myself rewinding several times because I missed what you said next since I was still laughing at the last piece of humour I just caught up with! I'm a smarter person than I was 20 minutes ago (or at least more knowledgeable maybe?? :))
Thanks V King. It takes a lot to make these types of videos, and kind comments are most appreciated.
till date the best ever video on youtube for a beginner... love it
Thank you!
Been binge watch soo much video tutorials. Thanks for this video. Notification is on because you are as bright as a bulb.
Nice. Thanks Alfie!
The best channel in youtube!!
Wow! Thanks Po!
And he's back! Pretty great stuff!
Thanks! Wait...did I go somewhere? :)
Thank You! Tremendously well done, you are my new favorite instructor. Lots of wisdom well condensed into this video. Love it.
I appreciate it Josh!
I've been a photographer for YEARS and at one point was looking at RIT but changed gears. Anyway, your video filled in the gaps that I'd hope I'd learn in school. ANYWAY,...
Thanks.
Thank you for the nice comment!
I was a wainting for this tutorial! Simple and objective. Top class. Thanks!
Thank you Catarina!
Fantastic summary of everything about lighting. This could have been a lesson at Basic Filmmaker University.
By the way I think CRI stands for Color Rendering Index.
Yeah, I almost went there, but decided it was time for a chunky video on this channel. And yeah, I put the mistake on CRI on a card that should have popped up and in the description. Did it not show up for you?
I went back and saw the CRI card on the upper right. I was busy (slowly) reading the big text on the left side of the frame. Can you put those cards anywhere in the frame or at least on the left side? That would make it harder to miss like I did.
Actually, TH-cam removed annotations in videos in lieu of CARDS which work across browsers and smart devices. No way I was going to re-edit and re-render this thing, so I gamed the TH-cam cards (that card is actually a POLL - if you click on it, it has some questions) to designate the mistake. I have no control of where they appear, only when. Bummer huh. :)
Love your videos :) you are like a stand up comedian, very funny and entertaining, and lets not forget, your videos are filled with knowledge :) and a genious way to put it all together. Thank you. :)
Thanks so much Nick. Reading kind comments always makes my day! 👍
This is great! As someone just getting started, this video answered a whole lot of questions. Thanks so much!
Thanks Mitch!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I am so glad I've found your channel. Super thorough, but not a cumbersome instructional.
hanks James. Glad it is useful, and that makes me want to make more. Happy Holidays!
Brilliantly made video with enlightening knowledge!
Thank you Devalah!
I'm definitely a fan. You're looking around for advice and bam, suddenly there's #basicfilmmaker with all sorts practical advice an indie can appreciate, in one channel. One-stop spot.
Nerd trivia: the numbers in this Kelvin scale correspond to black body (i.e., non-reflected) radiation. Or to put it simply: a star with a surface temperature of that many Kelvin degrees (= centrigrades + 273) will have that color giving us that "white point". Our sun just happens to have a surface temperature around 6000° K, pretty close to neutral white. Contrary to intuition, the hottest stars (spectral classes A, B, and O) shine blue, and a lot more brightly than white stars.
Overcast is a tad bluish because we're getting _comparably_ more atmospherically-scattered light. Blue light is higher-energy frequency and that means more likely to survive scattering before being absorbed and turned into heat.
(How is that useful? Well, knowing reasons for things makes learning them easier. Also, it will serve you if you plan to do a short that takes place in, say, a world under a star of different spectral class than our sun.)
Awesome add Alexander! Thank you!
Hope it’s okay with you that I shared a link to this video at the “Wedding Film School” group on Facebook.
Nice job. Lots of valuable information for filmmakers.
Heck yeah Doug! Share away! Is there a way for me to see the post and at least say THANKS!? Closed group?
Basic Filmmaker shortly after sharing your video I got banned from the closed group without any explanation. Guess sharing it was not okay. Oh well.
My guess is the group owner Matt WhoIsMatt Johnson is also a TH-camr and didn’t want other educational videos he didn’t make. But I can be sure. :-(
WHAT!!!??? Yeah, that could be, but I would think he would remove the video and maybe warn you, rather than remove YOU! Wow. Let's get back at him and do this... HERE'S A VIDEO FROM MATT WHOISMATT JOHNSON entitled, "A Wedding Filmmaker's Review Of The Panasonic GH5." th-cam.com/video/XfUOeHBksoI/w-d-xo.html Ha! That'll show 'em! :)
Basic Filmmaker - thanks.
In the Facebook group, Matt is actually a fan of the Sony A7Sii due to its low light capabilities. I’ve filmed weddings. One thing about wedding filmmaking is receptions are often in low light areas. Adding lights damages the mood. The Sony A7Sii does about as good of a job in low light as a wedding filmmaker could afford. At least that’s what most of the wedding filmmakers state at that group. That being said, you can see my one and only wedding film, shot with my iPhone, on my channel. That one video has led to me being asking to shoot other weddings. I passed on the opportunity. Doing it for a friend was fine, but really not looking at doing weddings as a business.
Again, I’m not sure he is the one who banned me from the Wedding Film School on Facebook. The other administrator Kraig Adams isn’t all that active in the group. Adam also has a couple of channels focused around wedding filmmaking.
Nice video Doug. No frickin way I would ever shoot a wedding. There's no re-takes, lighting usually sucks, and you hold in your hands what the client "thinks" the video should be, which is almost never what they think it is. Nope, nope, and nope. LOL!
Best lighting video ever!
Thank you Marcelo!
What a great video. Thank you again Mr. Basic Filmmaker 👍
Thank you for watching and commenting!
Great job! I bet this took some time not only filming, but in the editing chair. Well done.
Thanks Levi. It was really a LOT of work, and really nice you recognize it. The editing was fun. There's alot of stuff going on in there that a lot of people might not see. Did you see the smoke coming off the HMI? :)
Absolutely everything I wanted to know about lighting! Excellent video
Thanks a bunch! Appreciate the comment!
I just clicked the bell... so that makes me awesome. :) Great video... keep up the great work.
Thanks Ruben. That's the magic of the Basic FIlmmaker bell. Click it, and things get awesome. Wait for it...... :)
Can't wait for the tri8s review!
Working on it! :)
this video is just epic!! thank you so much for the simple and clear information
Thanks Elie!!
Thank you very much! Handy tips and useful information!
Thanks Johnny!
Great tutorial. Did you explane Tri 8 aputure light kit ?
I will be doing a reviews of this kit soon. Thanks!
+Rade Ceranic Need to do a review of those. Had them for years.
Great fun, and informative as usual. Your vids are really helping me to turn my crappy videos into slightly less crappy ones. Thanks for your down to earth encouragement.
LOL! Thanks Graham! No video made is crappy. Only the ones no one had the guts to make. :)
wow. you are a wholesome person. i love you. thankyou
👍👍👍
I have a question: When I use a certain gel to replicate moonlight, but then set the cameras WB to get it to a natural look, whats the point of setting up that gel? Because then the blue is gone again, right?
Correct. You can set the camera to a natural light and use the gel. Where to get that moonlight look set the cameras white balance to reflect that.
This is awesome! :) Thank you :)
You are most welcome!
Learned a lot! Awesome content. Thank you.
Thanks Homer!!
Thanks for putting this together I enjoyed the approach to all the concepts - particularly interested in your upcoming review and impressions of the Aputure Mini 20 fresnel lights as I have been dithering for months over those rather than LED Panels but perhaps oyu might propose where those could be of benefit? Also considering the similar Boltzen fresnels and the Calibre fresnels all around the same pricing. Thus far Im put off by reports of noisy multispeed fans in the aputures and veering towards the Boltzen 30W !!
I love these little mini-20 dudes. The fans can be noisy, but really, they're SO powerful that you can keep them away from the sound recording and never hear it.
I'm going to have to re-watch this a few more times. Thanks.
Thanks Lycan Visuals!
So much respect and admiration for you, really educational in plain English, love all your content 🎥🎥👌💪
Thanks sooo much!
That was awesome video. Can you tell me what lighting should I use when I shoot video a seminar even if it’s in a small room or big hall. Thanks in advance
Thanks! For a seminar type video, you'll need lots of lighting, probably away from the speaker and up out of the way of the audience, as well as some spots on the speaker and background. If the room has lights, it's easiest to use the lighting in the space and make sure your white balance and ISO are set properly. Without seeing the room, size, number of people, arrangement, it's hard for me to say exactly.
Thanks for your fast reply. the room size is about 4m.× 5 m. should i stand in the back center and use only one lighting spot on the speaker, and can i use a strobe 300W or 300 led for lighting. thanks again in advance.
Ah. That could totally work in a room that size. One light will work but you'll have to play with that and the room lights. I usually use someone as a stand-in and play around with it until it looks right. You can try in room lights on and off to see what happens, but you'll have to balance the spot with the room lights so you get a good color balance.
@@BasicFilmmaker that was very helpful . many thanks to you.
You bet Shirin A.!
Great episode! Good stuff! Will be re-watching this tonight. :)
Thanks man!
Great presentation!
Thanks George!
Have you had any problems at all with aputure lights? A lot of reviews state the light cutting off for not apparent reason. I really want to buy the 300 watt. I currently have visionsmith relamps in my arri 650's and want more power.
I haven't had a problem with the Aputures, but my lights are pretty stationary now. The Tri-8's are a beats though, but nto sure if that's enough power for you. Arri's are pretty sweet.
Great video, as always :D
👍
Just what I needed, thanks for the tutorial!
Thank you Kim-Da!
Very helpful... as usual! Thanks!!
Thanks Dennis!
Great video! I'm looking forward to the review of the LS Mini 20! I'm still doubting between buying the Aputure 672S as main light diffused or buying a LS Mini 20 (3 light kit). I'm also very interested what the light effect you can create using the 3 mini lights without diffusion because I like film noir/lighting from the 40's but I need to be able to provide soft lighting as well
I'm pretty sold on the Mini 20s. Caleb Pike also did a review of the Mini 20s.
THIS IS EXTREMELY HELPFUL THANKS VERY MUCH
Excellent and thank you!!
5 minutes in and I had to say....this is awesome. Thanks!
Thanks Kevin! Great name. Yeah - me too. :)
XLR- Should we already look for lights which support xlr cables? because if they don't, they may not work, at least not efficiently at long distances. ??
For sure. A LOT has happened since I made this video. Those types of cables are great for lung runs and controller boards.
Great video ... as always ... with plenty of info. Thanks.
And...as always...thank you Ken for the nice feedback.
Also as I get further into the video you mention that one led puts out 140,000 lux and the other was 50,000 (or whatever you said), well it all depends how far away you are right? The moon is probably 20000000lux if your standing on it but only 1 by the time it reaches us. I’m confused
Got it. You watch agin. What thet manufacturer is SUPPOSED to report is that the light spec is XXXXXX at 1 foot away. They may say XXXXXXX at 1/2 foot away. So you would need to pay attention to this, do the math, and you would be able to see which is the brighter output light.
You have any experience with the Neewer Professional LED Bi Color or Viltrox L116T?
I do not. I've settled on (at least for the studio) the Aputure Tri-8s ( I have 4), and some other various lights. I "think" it's getting to a point where many of these lights are the same, and it's more about company support, build quality and features.
@@BasicFilmmaker Yeah I'm thinking of just getting one and trying out it before dumping money and getting 3. There's also obviously the issue since Im just a student who still lives at home with 9 other people lol
I would go with what you need, and CHEAP. You can play, figure it out, adjust, see what pisses you off, what you like, and so on. Then you'll be in the know of what you do need and don't before you dump a bunch of money. Or, maybe you already know that.
I grabbed the 3x Mini 20d and one 120d by Aputure. Maybe I should of gone with the 300 instead of the 120. Great video by the way! Quick question. Is there any book you’ll recommend about lighting? Thanks!
The 120 is great. Book? Not really. Are you subscribed to +CurtisJudd over at the +LearnLightAndSound channel? He’s a wealth of info about lighting.
Kevin . . I simply love your content. THKS!!
Wow! What a fantastic video. I learned more in 30 minutes than I did in 3 days of Internet research. Thank you so much for posting it. If you have some time, I'd really appreciate your advice.
I'm getting ready to shoot a series of client videos with two cameras. Camera one will be Canon 80D (main) and camera two will be a Canon 70D (closeup.) I know I need to purchase some external lights, but there are so many choices that I'm totally perplexed. Each video will be 3-5 minutes in length and will be a conversational interview format with two people in the frame. The location is a small 12' x 14' conference room with an 8' ceiling and one standard window. What combination of lights do you recommend for this setup?
And yes, I most definitely hit the Subscribe button. :) Thanks again for your help.
Thanks Kelly! I would need to know how much money you intend to spend. This can be done with sheets and $12 can lights from home depot, all the way up to a crap ton of money. I am pretty jazzed about the Aputure lights.
I'd like to spend $600 or less for the whole setup. I've been looking at two possible solutions-CFL or LED. Since I'll be initially doing five videos, the convenience and easy setup of LEDs would be great, but I'm not sure I can adequately light the space with LEDs and a $600 budget. I may be better off (for the time being) with a really good CFL setup. What do you think? Thanks in advance for your help.
OMG, I just saw your Aputure 672 video and it looks like I'm going to have to increase my budget. I noticed you can get the kit in a variety of configurations. For my intended use, do you think the (2) daylight spots and (1) bi-color flood is a good choice for me or would you suggest a different configuration?
Actually, you might want to take a look at the Mini20 kit, around the same price. Going to do a review of them, but reallu liking them a lot.
I hadn't thought of those. How do they compare to the Aputure 672s in terms of light output? And perhaps I'm too caught up on the light output thing, but I figure more is better than less, like most American men. :) Also, what type of lighting are you using in your studio these days? Thanks!
I wish I had teachers like you in school. I would have paid much closer attention!
LOL! Thanks. I sometimes think that too, then I remember used to be me. :)
Very well explained. Thanks!
Thank you Sujay!
Excellent video. I'm looking to make my first investment in some pro level lighting after many years of using cheap fluorescent kits, and a local guy is offering a complete Lowel DP 3-light tungsten kit for $330. The price is really tempting but I'm torn on whether to go tungsten given the obvious downsides and recent impressive offerings in the LED realm from the likes of Aputure. The LS-mini20 kit looks killer but would cost me more than twice as much and I would still be lacking a really solid key light. Any advice? (I do mostly interviews and green screen stuff in my tiny studio and a lot of run n gun shooting outside of the studio.)
I would go for it. Simply get some gels, and you can change these awesome deal lights into whatever color temp you want.
That was very educational and entertaining. You remind me of an awesome middle school teacher I had (that's a good thing). I'm in the market for lights and I don't know whether to purchase LED's or Soft-boxes. I'm a realtor and my goal is to make instructional TH-cam videos and occasionally set up at different on-site locations and interview services too. I currently have a $200 budget, would you have any recommendations or could you point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance..
$200 is not a lot for lights. You could get softboxes, but I must admit, they can be a pain to carry around and transport, and move from one room to another. I think about the cheapest you'll get away with is a kit from Aputure - you can look at this one (amzn.to/2JLgwjB) which has 3 lights, the cool things is you can put them on light stand or clamp them anywhere. Probably more than you are looking for, but that's my suggestion for build quality, light output, and having something that will last a long time.
Thank you for your response and for the direction. I know my budget is not ideal, but I will have to find another alternative. Just to clarify if you had to pick, you would choose soft boxes over LED lights (with diffuser), correct?
For the money you're looking at, definitely softboxes, and you'll love the soft light. Here's a full kit for $119: amzn.to/2HC4V5I
great video!!! very helpful
Thank you!
This was very helpful. Thank you!
Thank You Sotiri Michalatos!
I do not know what your opinion of requests is, but I am going to make a request.
Would you be willing to make an updated video on colour correction? Thanks!
For sure. I can't say I am near a color correction dude like some others, but I certainly could make a basic one. Is there something in particular you're look at needing on this? Some problem you're running into?
Basic Filmmaker Yes. I am having troubles understanding the colour correction tools in Premiere Pro. Mainly getting the skin tones correct with masking tools.
OK thanks. I can certainly cover this, and maybe include my friend Dave over at The Post Color Blog channel. He knows a lot about this, I'll just have to figure out how to explain it simply.
Basic Filmmaker Perfect. Thanks a million.
You bet!
hey Kevin,
you are so cool..
Im finished writing a short film and am about to shoot it soon. I could really use a mentor please......
That's GREAT man. I do mentor people, but I am juggling thousands at any given time. Go here and learn for free: www.basicfilmmakeruniversity.com/
@@BasicFilmmaker Thank you.. I visited there, and made an account..
So kind of you.. God bless you KEVIN
Your show helps out alot....!! Im learning now staring out with my Android Phone shoot HDR..... learning the basics... Im planing on buy a Panasonic G85. has IBIS good lighting ( not Great but Good) (maybe one day I may be able to get a GH5 or A7sii and I can learning my lighting techniques with it. ... Sound??? I have a Zoom H4N, & Tascam DR 60D mkii Mics Audio Techn AT875R Vid-pro XM88 a mic blimp and boom pole.... manfrotto fluid head Proaim slider and an ipad editing in Luma Fusion. I think ill start there. Thanks for all your help.
Yes Mychal! I love that you are using your phone to learn. Luma Fusion? Never heard of it. Thanks - I'm off to check it out. :)
Basic Filmmaker I think you'll find it remarkably wonderul.
Was just looking at it on the net. I think I'm buying tomorrow and checking it out. Thanks!
would it be worth it to spend thousands of dollars on an Arri L-Series Fresnel for the simple benefit of having a bigger source of light compared to the smaller 300d regardless of brightness differences.
Depends on money in your budget, what you are lighting, etc. Arri lights are just simply awesome, and you won't go wrong with them. The 300D will light quite a large area, but if you're lighting the outside of a building, you're going to need a lot light. Not really an answer, but there's a lot more data to consider. Of course, since these Arri's cost around $3500, you could get quite a few 300D's for that.
great lighting video! so sorry I didn't watched this a week ago....I guess youtube search don't want to help us find what we need but rather spend more time in watching.
Learning from you is fun.
Thank you Leonid!
Amazing video. Thank you!
You said that companies are sometimes cheating with the LUX by not measuring them at 1m, but the LUX of the Aputure lights that you are mentioning are also measured at 05,m right? (40.000 LUX for the Aputure lightstorm mini20d for example is @ 0,5m) That is wat the specs say. Why are you using the 0,5m here? And should we just take the half of it for the real LUX ? (so 20.000 for the mini20d?) or is there any other formula?
The Lux measurements for legit companies (like Aputure) are correct. In this day and age, companies don't cheat these as they are usually called out on them now. Lux isn't linear measurement as the further away you get you get more diffusion. Simply compare the manufacturers specs with another's and if there's any question, contact or DM the company and they'll let you know. In 8 years I can tell you I've never gone wrong with some of the major light makers, Aputure is amongst the top.
@@BasicFilmmaker Thanks but I see in the specs that Aputure is measuring at 0,5m while others measure at 1m (like you said in the video) , but how do you compare these?
Thanks. It was quite informative :)
You're welcome!
Came looking for LED light fittings for my bathroom, now I feel like I have a degree in Spielbergology.
😂
Have something against CFL's?
I do not Jerry. I just didn't have the time to add yet ANOTHER thing to this video, and had to slap myself. :)
Very Interesting sir Filmmaking is my dream I want to give it a shot
Do it Chrissy! I can’t say you’ll make a lot of money (or you might), but it is one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done. 👍
To be honest with you & honest with myself I'd like to work with Lee Daniels, and Tyler Perry I refused to work with Sylvester Stallone because I didn't like what he said about Barack Obama Because I'm a Obama Fan & I will never make a Trump Supporter a star I'm not a Donald Trump Fan & I don't support Trump so My mind is on acting & making money this is my dream I want to work with my favorite celebrities I always wanna go to Los Angeles, NYC, Atlanta where the celebrities go
Great video i needed this thanks
Thank you Joshua.
Excellent job! thank you
Thanks David!
Hmmm OK I get that you didn't intend to cover every facet of lighting... but since you touched on CTB and CTO gels you might consider talking about the difference between Light Balancing (LB) gels/filters (used to change light on the color temperature Kelvin scale), and Color Correction (CC) gels/filters (used to change light the green-magenta scale).
Oh, and MIREDs.
Good one Tom. Will have to make that some time. I always have to cut off how much info I include i a video, otherwise these suckers would be hours long. :)
Kelvin didn't specifically create his scale for measuring light, it measures actual temperature and its mostly used by scientistss as a more accurate and consistent scale than Celsius and Fahrenheit; it just evolved into a lighting measurement because tungsten needs to be heated to 3200k to produce the correct brightness and colour, but as with any other metal if its heated more it becomes white, then blue etc, but if its heated less it will eventually go from orange to red.
Note: this is a correction for those who are interested, I know Basic Filmmaker will probably know this.
Thanks for the clarification Connor!
I wanted to add a very similar correction. One tiny addition: Tungsten does not need to be heated to 3200K to produce the correct brightness and color. That is way too hot, and tungsten would actually melt just a little above that temperature. It just glows at a color temperature of around 3200K. In the early days, people liked to use tungsten for light bulbs because of its very high melting point and therefore longer life span.
The color temperature itself was defined by a very smart dude, Max Planck, as the temperature at which a perfectly black body would emit this sort of light (black body radiation). It is independent of any material and a really theoretical physics definition that you do not need to couple with real-world temperature. Just don't make people heat up anything to 3200K, they could burn themselves badly. :-)
Geeshh! Smart brains here. I once heated up a light bulb in boiling water and it blew up, no where near 3200k. Explain that!!! (this is a joke - please don't try and explain it). :)
Thanks for the great lesson!
Thank you Gabrielle!
Thanks! I knew some of this, but I learned a lot. Love your humor. "Stay stupid forever" had me laughing.
Thanks. I sometime get out of control. OK, I am out of control most of the time. :)
Very educational. Thank you!!
Thanks Christopher!
So much great info. Also, yay! Long video :)
Thanks John! And LOL! Can't wait for the other person who complains it was too log. :)
I checked out your channel. Your thumbnails are great. Very consistent branding and good quality videos also. I just set all my videos to unlisted because i'm changing the focus of my channel a little. anyway keep it up man.
Agreed, I subbed.
@DIYCameraGuy. Thank you. I've been there. I did the same. Kept a couple of my older ones that people seemed to like, but other than that, fresh start. Sometimes it just has to be done, especially if you completely change the direction of your channel. :)
@BFM - Well, I guess you have two types of subscriber... Those who want to learn, and those who want to complain. ;)
Yep. The majority like watching. Lucky to have very little complainers. :)
Extremely helpful
Thank you!
Outstanding. Thank you.
Thanks John!!
Thank you! Excellent.
Thanks Robin!