3 Reasons Why Lighting is More Important than your camera - Amaran 200d
Starting out in video, it’s easy to feel discouraged because you lack the nicest gear. Each year Sony, Canon, and many other brands release their new and improved cameras, and the need for lenses and microphones only keep the price climbing higher and higher. You do not need the nicest camera to start creating videos. The one you currently have is probably good enough. The following video was shot on an iPhone 12 Pro Max with good lighting. I hope it encourages you to start making videos with what camera you already have and to improve your lighting before you buy a new camera. Improving your lighting will make your videos better in so many ways.
1. Flexibility
Having the ability of adding and controlling lots of light in your scene gives you the flexibility of choosing the appropriate shutter speed and frame rate for your video. Capturing this shot of the flying fruit, required me to shoot at 240 FPS to be able to slow it down. To have the most realistic movement with motion blur you need to set your shutter speed to twice your frame rate. In this case that’s 1/480. That makes the scene really dark, so I had to add a lot of light to compensate.
2. Film Anywhere Anytime
Filming indoors can present a constant challenge due to lack of light. If you find your videos and pictures often look grainy indoors, it’s because you do not have enough light. Our living room doesn’t receive sunlight during the winter months, this made filming difficult until I got my first studio light. We are now able to put the light outside and shine it through the window to imitate the soft natural sunlight we usually get during the summer. Now we can film day or night. This encourages me to film more in the evening after I get home from work.
3. Make Your Subject Look Good
Whether you are filming an interview or a YouTube video, you need to make sure that the subject looks their best. Since there is always a subject in every video, having a quality light is super important.
The Perfect Light for Any Budget
Amaran 200d by Aputure
Aputure makes some of the best lights and accessories for Cinematographers and now YouTubers. Until last month studio quality lighting cost close to $1,000 and was out of reach for most content creators, especially those just starting out. Aputure just released their new Amaran series of lights which start at $199 for the Amaran 100d and $299 for the Amaran 200d. I bought the 200d and it exceeds all my expectations. The light is super bright, it’s easily controlled over a Bluetooth mesh network using an app on your phone. The Amaran 100d is more than enough light for anyone’s first light, however if you want to light a large space you might want to spend the extra $100 for the 200d. Early reviewers complained that the fan was to loud for recording interviews or YouTube videos in the same room and worst would cycle on and off as it got hot. However, before the official launch, Aputure’s engineers updated the firmware with a new silent constant fan mode. I can confirm that the new fan mode is really quiet and won’t cause any problems with sound in your videos. I could barely see the waveform of the fan noise in Adobe Audition, let alone here it. Any subtle fan noise that you might be able to hear could be easily removed in post processing. For podcasters or other creators that have spent lots of time and money sound proofing their studios, they might think it’s too loud. In any normal environment you won’t find the fan in the 200d to be an issue. I’d recommend this light to anyone starting out in video. You cannot get a better light, experience, and support at this price point. Lighting is the most important element in filmmaking! Make sure you buy some quality lights before you spend thousands of dollars upgrading your camera, you won’t regret it.