Top 7 Best Lighting Equipment For YouTube Videos and Vlogs

Making sure you have the best lighting equipment for YouTube video is vital if you want people to watch your videos and retain those viewers.

In filmmaking or YouTube video creation, lighting is the be-all and end-all of everything there is to the process. Without good lighting, you will not retain YouTube viewers.

In this article, we’re going to talk about what to look for when buying your lights, YouTube advantages, and the best video lights to buy for your filmmaking and vlogs.

What to Consider When Buying Lighting Equipment for YouTube Videos

We used these features when selecting the lights featured in this list. If that doesn’t interest you, click on this link and it will take you to the list.

For rest, here are the 4 most important aspects to have in mind when buying video lights for your film project:

Color temperature

Making sure to shoot under a stable light is an important parameter for shooting videos. Most lights will have very cool to very warm settings (2700K to 5500K)

The best solution is to use a light source that comes with variable color temperature.

If your lights are mismatched, then the shot will look weird or unnatural. Which can ruin the scene.

Color + Brightness

Having the right wattage and brightness is very important. If you shoot big scenes indoors or outdoors, you probably need a powerful light. If you are just shooting products or yourself, you don’t need as much light.

You can have full RGB in some lights which gives a lot of colorful versatility.

Also, most lights have dimming capabilities. (0-100%)

Cooling

When your light gets too hot, bad things can happen. Make sure you have ample power and equipment to handle these heavy and hot lights.

Power Source

We have considered lights that have both AC adapter and DC power source compatibility. That means you can use these lights in a studio environment when you have access to an AC connection as well as take them outdoors where you can use them on battery power.

Some lights are portable with the use of V-Mount batteries, which are great if you are vlogging and need that extra brightness.

---

Now that we know what we’re looking for, let’s jump to our best best video lighting kit of 2022.

The 7 Best Lighting Equipment for YouTube Video and Vlogs 2022

Here’s the quick for those in a hurry:

1. Neewer Bi-Color LED Video Light
2. G1S Portable Vlog Light
3. Aputure 300D
4. Aputure Nova P300C
5. Genaray Torpedo
6. Zylight Go-Panel Bi-Color LED Light
7. Litepanels Sola 6+

---

The Neweer 2 Pack Bi Color 660 LED Video Lights are extremely useful and reliable lights. These are best used for sit down style videos but can also be used for vlog lighting in new indoor areas.

The lights are not wireless but are fairly portable. The tripod extension and carrying bag make it a lot easier to carrying them on-the-go for vlogs and videos.

They are lightweight and fairly sturdy, which help them not topple over if they are pushed over or tripped on. Though, you should still secure a sandbag to the bottom in the case of an accident.

• Dimmable
• Adjustable Vertical Positions
• Doesn’t get too hot

The G1S portable video light is powerful and small video light. It is perfect for vlog light since you can recharge it with a USB C port. It’s also super cheap!

It comes with a small adjustable stand and hotshoe fastener that can move 360 degrees when mounted.

It has full RGB color which means you can adjust the light to anything you’d like.

This is an amazing light for vlogging and YouTube videos where you don’t need that much light. Most personal YouTubers and channels are filmed in a small indoor space, so this light will give you a quality light output.

3. Aputure 300D: Best Standalone Heavy Duty Video Light

The Aputure 300D is one of the best lighting equipment for YouTube video in the market. For the price, (under $1000), you get an amazing V-Mount light source that is bright enough and offers a lot of versatility.

Specs

• 350W Power
• 8 Lighting Effects
• 5500K +-200K
• Active cooling
• 0-100% dimming

Review

This portable light comes with a very nice amount of power and is suitable for both indoor and outdoor lighting. It won’t give you movie studio quality brightness but a very nice look when used correctly.

As a continuous lighting source, the 300D offers you vivid light. When pairing with a V-mount softbox, you can get soft light perfect for talking videos, product shots or other YouTube creations.

This Bluetooth-enabled light is versatile and not overly heavy. This is perfect for today’s creator. Lighting is often neglected, so define your style consistently by always having a good lighting source.

This Bluetooth-enabled versatile and not overly heavy light is perfect for todays creator. Lighting is often neglected , so define your style consistently by always having a good lighting source.

4. Aputure Nova P300C

Specs

• Color temperature 2000 to 10,000 kelvin
• Full RGB Tuning
• Color Accuracy Standard CRI/ TLCI 95/95
• Total 1690 LEDs
• Works with AC power as well as DC input.

Review

The biggest USP of the Aputure Nova P300C is the large color temperature range. It goes from 2000 to 10,000 degrees Kelvin giving you a lot of room to play with.

If you are using this light outdoors, it will work as a fill light while matching the ambient color temperature at any time of the day.

Did you know that the Aputure Nova P300C comes with an RGB mode? This mode allows you to take advantage of more than a million colors. In other words, you can choose from a full 360-degree color wheel for a full tuning.

TLCI rating is marginally lower than the Zylight but that should not be a huge deal-breaker.

The system consumes a maximum of 360W power. It works with both an AC adapter when you have access to an AC mains indoors and DC power via a battery pack when you are working outdoors. 

5. Genaray Torpedo – Budget Option to Aputure

One thing we love more than a powerful Fresnel light is an inexpensive Fresnel light! 

For those of you who know how powerful and cost-effective these lights can be, you will appreciate what we just wrote.

An inexpensive Fresnel light gives you all the power to illuminate a scene without the big bucks that you normally have to spend.

Specs

• Small compact size measuring 8 x 3.7-inch
• Dimmable from 1 to 100%.
• Adjustable focus 75 degrees to 15 degrees.
• The color temperature of 5600 degrees Kelvin (daylight).
• CRI/TLCI rating is 95/96
• Power output is equivalent to a 300W tungsten fixture

Review

Among the many benefits of this light, there is one disadvantage: the color temperature of the light is fixed at 5600 degrees kelvin.

Sure, you can use CTO or CTB gels to tweak the light, but the process isn’t as smooth as with some of the other lights that I have discussed here.

Remember, this is a Fresnel light, so the lens offers some flexibility when it comes to focusing. You can focus the light from 75 degrees to 15 degrees.

If you want to further narrow down the light, you can use the barn doors to further narrow down the beam.

There is a bi-color version of this light too, which offers two preset color temperatures: 3200 degrees Kelvin and 5600 degrees Kelvin.

This lightweight system is designed so that you can use it in any conditions possible:

• You can run it on 7.4V NP-F batteries, outdoors. Alternatively, you can also use it with a V-mount battery using the D-Tap cable provided in the pack.
• You can run it on AC mains using the AC adapter provided, when indoors.

Prices

• USA – $ 238.00
• UK – £ 168.18
• EUR – € 195.40
• INDIA – ₹ 17,346.36
• CAD – $ 287.22

6. Zylight Go-Panel Bi-Color LED Light

The Zylight is a compact square LED light that measures 11.2-inch by 11.2-inch. Let’s look at the main features of this light.

Specs

• 26-degree narrow throw
• IP 65 rating 
• Works on both DC and AC power
• CRI/TLCI rating of 94/96
• Color temperature variable between 3100 to 6200 degrees Kelvin

Review

This portable light comes with a decent amount of power and is suitable for both indoor and outdoor lighting requirements.

The 26-degree throw angle of the beam ensures that the light travels a longer distance – but keep in mind that the light throw is very narrow.

The color temperature of the light can be varied between 3100 degrees kelvin to 6200 degrees kelvin. This allows the light to blend easily with natural light at different times of the day.

Also, you can use this light with other lights that may not be as easily adjustable as the Zylight. You can at least adjust the color temperature of the Zylight to match with such a light.

The light comes with an IP65 rating, meaning it has decent weather sealing.

The CRI (Color Rating Index) and TLCI (Television Lighting Consistency Index) rating is pretty high. At 94/96 it is pretty accurate.

This light works via AC and DC power units. In a studio setup, you can use an AC supply and in an outdoor setup, you can use a 14.4 V battery to power the unit.

Prices

• USA – $ 1,575.00
• UK – £ 1,112.84 
• EUR – € 1,293.00 
• INDIA – ₹ 1 114,829.37
• CAD – $ 1,900.44

7. Litepanels Sola 6+

These are daylight-balanced 6-inch LED Fresnel lights with Beam Control options.

Fresnel (pronounced as Fray-nel with a silent S) is the product of a brainwave that occurred in the head of French engineer Augustin-Jean Fresnel whose immediate impact was in improving the light quality of Lighthouses.

These lights are lighter for the amount of concentrated light beam that they can produce and therefore give more bang for your buck.

There are other simpler applications of these lights but I leave those out for some other time perhaps.

Specs

• 5600K LED source
• Uses the phosphor mix research that the company has done.
• 16 to 67 degrees beam control.
• Consumes only 104 watts of power.
• Dimmable from 100% to 0%.
• Useful 8-way barn doors for greater control of light throw

Review

The Sola 6+ is a slightly more powerful source of light when compared with the older Sola.

You can control the beam between 16 to 67 degrees depending on the kind of mood you want to create for your video. Needless to say that at 16 degrees the light source is very narrow.

Sola has done a lot of research in phosphor mix and a result of that is the superb Sola 12. The Sola 6+ also encompasses the same technology producing 5400K LED light. 

Yet, when you touch the set, it feels barely warm. This has the important advantage of eliminating any discomfort to the talent and eradicating a few safety issues.

One of the things we love about LED lights is that they are remotely operable. It can be dimmed or brightened using a remote (you can also do this using the physical dials) from 0 to 100.

There are two power options on the Solo 6+. You can either use it on 120-240 Volts AC, which is ideal for studio shoots or if you are outdoors and have no AC mains accessible, you can simply hook it on to a 14-28 Volt DC battery source.

The eight-way barn doors are extremely useful for controlling the throw of the light.

Prices

• USA – $ 2,151.75
• UK – £ 1,515.99
• EUR – € 1,765.84
• INDIA – ₹ 156,788.77
• CAD – $ 2,591.87

---

Different Types Of Best Lighting Equipment for YouTube Videos

Before we can dive into the best lighting equipment for Youtube video, I first will explain the terminology and meanings of some of the most used lighting equipment for video production and YouTube videos.

Different types of lights are used in YouTube videos and vlogs depending on the type of show, setting, number of subjects, and what mood you want to set. Here, we’ll discuss the three kinds of lighting options that ultimately result in highlighting different areas and setting different moods. Although there are many lighting options, you can also comfortably combine them for even better lighting!

Continuous Lighting with Softbox

A Softbox can be thought of as a natural light emulator that tries to duplicate the natural light coming from a window. It diffuses the lighting from the source by transmitting it through a diffusion panel.

There are all kinds of shapes & sizes available for these Softboxes, e.g. rectangular, octagonal, square, etc. By using a Softbox you can reduce the strain on your flash for obtaining the same lens aperture. Softboxes are generally the cheap lighting for youtube videos options when compared to other artificial lighting sources which makes them great picks.

Umbrella Lights

Umbrella lighting is highly portable while also being an affordable lighting source, which provides a videographer/YouTuber with a soft light source. These lights are great if you just need that extra bit of controlled light for a polished look.

However, unlike softboxes that provide directional control, umbrellas have a more unrestricted type of lighting. There are majorly two types of umbrellas, reflective and shoot-through. You can read my full guide to the best umbrella lights. also be evened out with the use of an umbrella light.

Ring Lights

A ring light is a multi-use tool built for all kinds of shooting environments. They emit uniform amount of light that comes right out of a camera’s point of view, making them great for shooting sharp videos with vibrant consistent light. Ring lights are go to for many YouTubers such as Casey Neistat, PewDiePie and almost every make up artist. (They are also excellent for making Tik Tok’s).

Plus, it eliminates most shadows, and only a halo is left if this is the only light source being used. To learn more, read my roundup of the best ring lights for makeup, zoom and YouTube.

---

 

---

 

Important Features a Good Lighting Setup Should Have

In addition to knowing the types of lights available, you should be aware of the top features to look for within a studio light:

• Adjustable Beam Spread: The light you purchase should allow you to adjust the beam spread, as well as the direction of propagation.
• Stand Height: The light stand that comes within the kit should be durable and adjustable so that it can be used within multiple environments and for a variety of shoots.
• Portability: How portable do you want it to be? If you plan on shooting indoors then portability won’t be an issue however if your videos will have a different setting every single time, then this has to be considered.

We’ve shortlisted the best lighting equipment for YouTube video just for you. Let’s take a look below.

How A Simple Change in Your Light Setup Can Better Your YouTube Videos

After using a set of lighting equipment while shooting, have you ever wondered how they can elevate your video to the next level? 

•  Balanced and good lighting makes a good impression. You or your subject will look more professional under proper light. If the light is not appropriate, your subject will not only be unclear, but this will diminish the appeal of the content. 
• If your video focuses more on color and texture (remember that little differences of color can change perception), you should use proper light to clearly show these facets of the video to your viewers.
• Differences in light can convey the mood of the scene. With clever use of light, you can make your viewers feel any emotions you want.
• Light, as we all know, is used to highlight a subject. You can use the power of light to make your viewers stand up and notice the subtle changes in a scene. Remember, they will turn their attention to where the light is!

---

 

Conclusion

These are the best lights for YouTubers looking to transform his/her video arsenal into something substantial & professional. You can learn more about what type of cameras YouTubers use here if you’re looking to make your footage more crisp, sharp and colorful.

Leave a comment and tell us what best lighting equipment for Youtube video you use!