1.1 WHAT IS LED? The basics of LED lights LED lights have been used since the 1950s in appliances or for Christmas lights, but in the last decade LEDs have become an option for home lighting, and, even more recently, for video production. So what are LEDs?

LED DEFINITION What does LED stand for? LED stands for light-emitting diode. An electric current passes through a diode (a current switch) to trigger a reaction that generates a near-heatless light known as electroluminescence. A luminescent layer of phosphor covers the entire LED.

What advantages do LEDs have? LEDs use very little energy.

LEDs output very little heat.

LEDs have the ability to be multi-color.

Pretty technical, right? Let's keep it technical, but break it down into more understandable layman's terms for you. Check out this quick video for an overview of how an LED light works:

A "light-speed" science lesson about LED lighting

So that's how the guts of the actual LED light provide illumination. While it's important to understand the inner-workings of the thing, you're here because you want to use the best LED video lights in your project. Now it's time to drill down into video lighting and colors.

1.2 VIDEO LIGHTING How does video lighting work? Video lighting is very different from photography lighting. You need continuous light to capture proper recordings. Lights that are not flicker free may look fine when being used for still photography, but they will have harmful effects on your video recordings. Light and color have an interesting relationship. Ever since cameras have captured images, two color models have interacted with each other in the "capture-to-print" workflow. One color model, known as the four-color process, or CMYK (for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black), is traditionally used for anything in print. This is referred to as a subtractive color model, as printed ink reduces light that would normally reflect off the surface. Meaning, the ink subtracts brightness from the white background:

The CMYK, or four-color, model

Another color model, RGB, stands for red, green, and blue. Today it's mostly used in digital design, as it represents the colors on computer, TV, and phone screens.



RGB is known as an additive color system. The colors are added together in different combinations to produce a wide spectrum. In the RGB model, light blends by superimposing red, green, and blue beams. At zero intensity, each of these colors appears black, while at full intensity they appear white. Most LED camera lights, and really any sources that emit light, rely on the RGB model:

The RGB color model

You will want to remember this whenever you light something because the color temperatures of your lights may not always be the same, and you will oftentimes have to light based on the sun or available light. Many of the LEDs on this list are bi-color, which means you can adjust the color of the lights via a knob on the back of the fixture. Say, from red to green.