Ceiling Lights

[mike]

I’m working on a project to make a workbench for myself at home, and I’m trying to get it to have some nice lighting.

At the same time, I’d like the option to record what I’m doing, so I’m hoping for some lights that are compatible with filming.

Does anyone have a suggestion for in-ceiling lights that would fit my requirement? I’m happy to augment my filming with additional lights, but I don’t want the sort of lights that you end up turning off while you film.

[Gavitron]

I’m no expert here, but the reasons I’ve heard for turning lights off during filming seem to reduce to one of Electrical or Audio noise from ballasts or drivers, or the light flickering at a coincident frequency of the camera’s shutter speed, due either to AC waveform, and/or driver design.

You might be better off picking a light source first, then applying these filters?

[mike]

Yeah, I’m hoping for a full-rectification LED driver to remove any AC flickering. Ideally something with its own frequency generation. I only need a couple lights so I don’t mind if they are a bit more expensive than your average light.

Since they are overhead lights, I’m hoping for something with a large diffused area rather than point lights.

[Gavitron]

in my last home office, I installed a cheapie LED ceiling fixture (this one I think: https://www.homedepot.ca/product/feit-electric-11-inch-white-integrated-led-round-edge-flushmount-light-fixture-energy-star-/1000832690) and never had an issue with flicker on webcam or 24fps dslr, on the few occasions that I filmed anything.

[mike]

Thanks!

I’ve seen those in the store before, not sure why I didn’t think of them! I do kinda laugh, though, at how bad the photoshop job is for the product page :).

You think for a lighting product, they’d at least try to get the lighting right :).

[Janet]

Ha ha I have a fancy artist desk lamp that is full spectrum. It’s really great for colour but it flickers like hell when I film. It’s a two-parter with a regular bulb as well as a circular tube. I have to turn off the tube when I film.

Interested to see what you end up setting up.

[Jarrett]

Philips Hue or the Ikea smartbulbs should have a frequency of 500 or 1000Hz. That should be fine for your home filming, depending on the camera you’re using. Something you’ll put in a theatre would require a little faster PWM, but reshoots will not be that expensive for you, I suspect.

“Dumb” LED bulbs will usually just be rectified AC, and not a good solution for you.

I have… A fairly large amount of domain knowledge in this field, so feel free to send me a message if you have specific questions.

TMYK:
LEDs don’t just emit light - They also work in reverse, and convert light to current.