By Tati Taylor 20 days ago, Lighting & Studio
Find your light kit for YouTube video recording with stunning quality.
If you are going to become the owner of an aesthetic YouTube channel, then you cannot do without the best lighting for YouTube videos. Paying close attention to the quality of your lighting will give all your clips a single, sophisticated look.
By installing the right lighting kit, you can no longer take into account natural light to capture bright, saturated colors in your frame without ruining your footage with flicker.
The modern market offers you many types of light, depending on the theme of your videos and the amount you are going to invest. Even those who are not ready to spend a lot at once can find decent equipment starting from $100. More advanced models reach $2000 price tags.
The best YouTube lighting is a combination of parameters that fully meets your needs. Pay attention to brightness, color rendering level, dimming options, and color temperature. Don’t forget about personal peculiarities such as control settings, portability, the type of video you want to create, and so on.
Brightness: 31,000 Lux | Color temperature: 5600K | Dimmable: Yes | CRI: 96
Being one of the universal studio lights for YouTube, Godox ML60 is a good choice for both home recording and remote work with its light assembly. The benefits of this model of strobe lights for photography and videography are brightness, accurate color reproduction, and ease of use.
When recording small scenes, it’s great as a key light, and when working with larger scenes, it will come in handy as a fill or background light.
The gear is compatible with Sony NP-F550/F970 batteries, allowing you to use the camera remotely. I like its comfortable grip, which makes recording on the go a breeze.
The resulting footage, taken on the go, will surprise you with its decent quality, even without the use of video editors for YouTube.
Brightness: 3360 Lux | Color temperature: 3200-5600K | Dimmable: Yes | CRI: 96
If you are looking for a reliable YouTuber light and LED light for photography, Neewer LED Panel will cover all your lighting needs by providing realistic lighting that does not distort the complexion, which is very important for video bloggers.
The color accuracy and brightness of the light that it emits is at a decent level, and by adjusting the color temperature and using the diffusion filter, you will achieve a super stunning effect on your face.
The manufacturers built Neewer with user-friendliness in mind, adding a metal U-bracket so you can aim the light at an angle with no effort. The package doesn’t offer a stand, but it makes up for it with full compatibility with all standard floor stands and table mounts, meaning it’s easy to set up just the way you want it.
Brightness: 2000 Lux | Color temperature: 3150-6300K | Dimmable: Yes | CRI: 96
Rotolight NEO 2 has every chance of becoming your best lighting for YouTube videos, as you can easily adapt it to the necessary recording conditions, whether to mount it on a camera on a shooting stage or attach it to a stand in a studio.
This pro-level gear can be paired with most video cameras for YouTube, and the lack of wires gives you an amazingly comfortable user experience.
If you’re both a photographer and a videographer, then the NEO 2 is the perfect choice for you as it comes in handy as a super-fast sync modeling flash in combination with the Elinchrom HSS transmitter.
The manufacturers took care of creativity for your YouTube content, including a suite of diffusion filters so that you can diversify your content.
Brightness: 1500 Lux | Color temperature: 2500-8500K | Dimmable: Yes | CRI: 97
Being compact yet powerful, G1s RGB is a worthy contender for the title of best light kit for YouTube video for many users. It comes with a built-in USB C port, a small adjustable stand, and a 360-degree hot-shoe clasp for installation, making it extremely easy and convenient to use.
When shooting their videos, vloggers often prefer this option as a black background lighting.
With the G1s RGB installed, you can benefit from a full RGB palette and light customization for whatever you need. Since shooting vlogs and broadcasts on video hosting platforms takes place in small studios and does not require too much light, this model will cover all your needs for light for streaming, giving you pleasant, soft, top-grade lighting.
Brightness: 90,000 Lux | Color temperature: 5500K | Dimmable: Yes | CRI: 96
The Aputure 300D is a real find for pro-grade vloggers as this COB light offers the kind of lighting power that can handle both small and large studios.
It comes with several stunning lighting effects to choose from to inspire you on implementing the wildest YouTube video ideas.
If you’re going to use this top-notch YouTube lighting as a continuous light source, you’ll get a bright, saturated light. Pair it with a V-mount softbox for the nice soft light that product reviews, conversational vlogs, and other YouTube formats need.
Brightness: 10,000 Lux | Color temperature: 5600K | Dimmable: Yes | CRI: 95-96
This affordable and newbie-friendly gear offers excellent quality and performance for general shooting conditions. With built-in 7.4V NP-F batteries, V-mount battery, and D-Tap cable, it’s perfect for beginners as a reliable outdoor and studio lights for YouTube video recording.
The hallmark of the Genaray Torpedo is its super quiet heat-activated fan, which, in addition to not ruining your sound even when recording with sound-sensitive microphones for YouTube, will also protect all electronic components of the device and extend the service life of the LEDs.
The light also offers several compelling filters with which you can make the bright light softer and reduce its power.
Brightness: 250 Lux | Color temperature: 2700-6500 K | Dimmable: Yes | CRI: 93
If you are looking for a reliable companion for your webcam for YouTube for live streaming, then Logitech’s Litra Glow is what you need. Combining compactness, lightweight, and low price, it’s the perfect YouTuber light for beginners and hobbyists.
The package includes a mount and a standard 1/4" tripod thread, making mounting to a monitor or laptop cover and installing on additional stands or tripods a no-brainer task.
It is not as bright as professional lighting fixtures, but when placed on a desktop, you will have enough light to make your face look well-lit with natural color in the frame. The gear diffuses the light properly, eliminating harsh “hot spots” so as not to strain the eyes during prolonged use.
Brightness: 9000 Lux | Color temperature: 2000-10,000 K | Dimmable: Yes | CRI: 95
For those who don’t know what kind of lighting gear can handle really big scenes and big video projects, I recommend taking a closer look at the Aputure Nova P300C. Featuring high power and a wide beam angle of the soft light source and step-less dimming from 0 to 100%, it’s sure to become your best lighting for YouTube videos.
I find it effective that this pro-grade studio lighting kit offers an RGB mode, giving you the ability to fine-tune the color by choosing the shade you want from over a million options across a full 360-degree color wheel.
You can also install it outdoors as a filling light. In this case, it will be consistent with the color temperature of the environment at any time of the day.
Brightness: 32,100 Lux | Color temperature: 5600 K | Dimmable: Yes | CRI: 96
If you are not ready to invest a lot of money yet, then Godox SL100D may well be your best light kit for YouTube video. It comes with a standard reflector that provides reliable focus. To use it as the main light source, it will be better to combine equipment with a modifier, such as the Godox QR-P120 parabolic softbox.
The SL100D is part of a line of new models, which means it comes with a smartphone light meter app, making it easy to control via Bluetooth. This makes it perfect for YouTubers and streamers, as controlling brightness or applying built-in effects becomes a breeze whether you’re in front of or behind the camera.
Brightness: 2500 Lux | Color temperature: 2900-7000 K | Dimmable: Yes | CRI: 94
Elgato Ring Light comes with LEDs mounted inside the frame, unlike many other ring lights with LEDs built into the front of the ring. Because of this, there are no harsh hotspots in this gear and your eyes will be less tired, making this a great YouTube lighting choice for streamers and video creators.
Users often choose it as a ring light for Tik Tok as it has a large diameter and provides a nice and soft light without harsh shadows. It comes with a handy app where you can seamlessly control lighting settings, making it a worthy ring light for iPhone, Android, iOS, and Windows.
| IMAGE | NAME | FEATURES | |
|---|---|---|---|
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Godox ML60
VERSATILE
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CHECK PRICE → | |
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Neewer LED Panel
BUDGET
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CHECK PRICE → | |
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Rotolight NEO 2
ACCURATE
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CHECK PRICE → |
It depends on many factors, primarily individual ones. Based on whether you’re shooting in the studio, outdoors, or on the go, you’ll need different equipment but look out for the following specs.
Type of lighting – according to the purposes. Depending on the types of videos and purposes, select the appropriate type of lighting fixture:
Softbox is a perfect option for illuminating a large area of the room and at the same time getting bright and soft light. If you are a beginner and are not yet ready to spend a lot of money on such gear, then you can try to make a DIY softbox.
Ring light is a frequent choice of beauty bloggers and talk video creators as it provides a soft, even light that hits your face and makes it look attractive. Thanks to the round shape, you can mount the camera right in the center to shoot through the ring and get even more pleasant light in the frame.
LED panels are what you need for filming while traveling, for example, if you run a traveling YouTube channel. They are portable, easy to assemble and install, and do not overheat.
3-point lighting (ring light + LED panels) is a great solution for pro YouTubers who shoot in large spacious studios. This type of lighting provides three basic lighting options – key light, fill light, and background light.
Color temperature – variable. Keeping your lighting stable is half the battle when shooting good video. As a rule, the temperature of YouTube lighting can be adjusted from very cold to very warm (2700K to 5500K). A device with a variable color temperature will be optimal.
The ability to adjust the temperature on your own will give you more room to experiment and choose the best options between hard light vs soft light.
Brightness – dimmable. For talking videos or product reviews, you don’t need a lot of light, while shooting in spacious studios or outdoors, the light needs to be powerful enough to illuminate everything around.
To understand how powerful your lamp is, look for the lumen value on the packaging. For a rough understanding, you are guided that 800 lumens are approximately equal to a 60W incandescent lightbulb in terms of power, and 1500 lumens is similar to a 100W bulb.
If you’re new to using professional lighting equipment, you can choose from presets for brightness and shading, then tweak the image with the YouTube recording software you use for shooting and video editing.
CRI rating – minimum 90. This parameter is responsible for the realistic color rendering under lighting, in other words, the color rendering index. Do not neglect it, because it depends on how natural your skin color will look in the frame. The higher the value, the better, but focus on studio lights for YouTube with a value of 90 and above.
