Some unsolicited thoughts on lighting and balance (just ignore if unwanted): Re color balance, you can setup the G7 to tune the light balance to match your source lighting. Perhaps never "perfect" but unoticable to most. Love to see you video(s) just with the G7 properly setup as your main cam. Re cheap lighting panels, you can setup a 2x3' piece of white foam core and just shine a 100w tungsten bulb (with reflector) at it. We do that in photo shoots when a proper "soft box" is not available or can't be afforded for a give shoot. Fast to setup. Dirt cheap. Plus, a camera like the G7 can be set to convert the smooth (though very warm) tungsten spectrum. Alternatively, you can group 4-50w "Chromolux bulbs (also used as grow lights) to increase output with a spectrum much closer to daylight. Very easy to balance. Re alternatives. One can also get RGB LED light strips and place them around your monitor. more like a "soft strip" rather than a box. Re dimness of the G7. With a wide open aperture it should be brighter than in your video unless you're using the F3.5 mini zoom. Could install an F1.8 prime lens for on the G7 for a fixed setup. Again, thanks for all your effort in the videos. Much appreciated.
My main takeaway from this video was that the reason my Brio was locked to MJPEG was because I was recording at 1080p60. I had no idea that YUY2 would be available if I dropped to 30fps. You just drastically improved the visual quality of my webcam. Thank you!
Nice review. I have been doing theatrical lighting for over 30 years and you just cannot beat large color accurate lighting for the best images. I'm putting a new setup together for Virtual D&D, etc. with 2 Elgato Key Lights, a Stream Deck and the Elgato Facecam. This is going to be fun!
The way I fixed the C920 was, turn the exposure down to -5, and the gain up to 255, I think that's the number, and I don't have the lighting issues you have as far as the camera wanting to do it's own thing.
The Brio does 2 things when you set the exposure in Auto: it changes the exposure AND the gain. It seems something is bugged out and if setting the exposure to manual, the Gain gets set to a value that is not the one set manually, and right at the moment of changing it, it shows the actual gain, and thats when you can play with the exposure+gain to get exactly what you want.
as someone who has a proper vlog channel with cinematic content i am well versed in DSLR stuff, i stream with the technicolor cinestyle preset applied, bought some neewer lights, their mic was the best bang for buck mic i've found, doesn't sound irritably basey like your mic (seriously please add more treble) i'll update how those lights turn out with possibly a review link when i get them
I took the plunge and picked up 2 of these lights. The handicap of not having manual control and discovering that the app needed to control the lights will not work with Mac OS High Sierra made me do a quick U Turn to return them.
This is very helpful. Ever since COVID I have been really conscious of my lighting during Zoom and Teams presentations. So I have been looking for some nice lighting. But I don't have a clue what to buy. I have a C920 Camera. This gives me some stuff think about. Thanks.
i got a 20$ desk lamp with a defuser in it, use with a c920. has been working well for me. i have a hard time making a switch from it even after watching this vid.
@@splash4890 www.amazon.com/Lite-Source-LS-105BLK-Black-Shades/dp/B000KNBEDO/ref=asc_df_B000KNBEDO/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=193988463246&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1173124702374600075&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9023746&hvtargid=pla-314750171165&psc=1 this lamp with a nice light bulb position it right behind your cam
@@scottxxvonline8956 what kind of bulb you using? I was thinking of putting LED bulbs like this www.amazon.com/GE-Lighting-93100205-Replacement-Spectrum/dp/B07WC324HZ/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=light+bulb+a19+led+remote+GE&qid=1609555784&sr=8-2
Thanks for the video. Very helpful! I have the C920 webcam and a few LED light panels that I use for talking head videos with a black or white background. The C920 doesn't seem to handle dynamic range very well and often overexposes my forehead when everything else in the scene is exposed properly (which you also had an issue with in your video). I do have a mirrorless camera but that setup is too large and not always practical when recording at my desk. May just pick up the Brio camera. Seemed to perform very well under a wide array of lighting situations.
I have wrestled with the idea of getting a Key light because of the price, but the more I look at it, the more I think something like that would be a good addition to my overall setup, especially since I have a pair of stream decks now. If anything, this answered the bigger question, and that was the regular Key Light or the smaller Air. I think the regular one better suits what I'm doing primarily at this point in time.
Due to budget I am currently limited to a webcam, and the logitech ones now do indeed keep their settings with G-hub. Haven't had issues in the past year.
I wish I could afford better lights. Currently I have 2 10” ring lights for lighting my green screen and a 8” ring light for my key light with my C920s. It works ok, and was definitely cheaper, but the quality is not as good for sure. Since I am using a green screen, I think I have a little more wiggle room with the cheaper lights, but if I was to get rid of the green screen I would certainly need better lights and a better camera.
For lighting your green screen... just use whatever! I used a $5 walmart chick warmer light which worked great to give a nice even broadcast across the green screen. For lighting yourself.... yeah, you'll want something better.
@@thestreamreader Yes. It has the large built in reflector, and just put a normal light bulb in it. www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/producers-pride-brooder-lamp-6-ft-cord
Thanks for your video. I have Canon DSLRs and do photography and video so I understand the importance of good lighting. For the peeps who say a cheap $20 light from Amazon is just as good as a better 95+ CRI rated light, they are probably the same peeps who claim a box office movie can be shot with a smartphone. So it's no use arguing with these people, let them continue on their ways. For myself, I use a Godox SL60W LED light ($135) plus a 32" Phottix Raja octagonal softbox with honeycomb grid ($140) for my video lighting. Works well for me.
Godox SL60W LED lighting www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1341997-REG/godox_sl60w_5600k_60w_white.html/?ap=y&ap=y&smp=y&smp=y&lsft=BI%3A514&gclid=Cj0KCQjw17n1BRDEARIsAFDHFexJHsLeiPN-LjhOels1RV3XoEKChoy8jEJsKIZgo4z-S8Tw-OjcBhwaAhHKEALw_wcB Phottix Raja softbox www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1399544-REG/phottix_ph82722_raja_quick_folding_softbox_41.html/?ap=y&ap=y&smp=y&smp=y&lsft=BI%3A514&gclid=Cj0KCQjw17n1BRDEARIsAFDHFezfl1TvMySzkrRvkJ-ey5aZ4Hi_-SS7UwAWuiADACnNDgyx3pTqWJkaAp9PEALw_wcB
I have two cheap LED panels by Neewer. They're USB version. They're cheap lighting, but they're definitely better than what I used to have (just a generic worklight that was 100% yellow and therefore had a tendency to warm up the colors). And they have no PC controls, and they have a wired remote (nothing wireless). One day, a lighting upgrade may come in handy, but right now, I cannot afford one.
My keylight was worth every penny. With darker skin those cheap ring lights wash out my skin and make me look white. While the keylight brings out my natural color.
I use a set of 75 dollar diffused LED key lights that have a remote that allows me to adjust brightness and warmth to cool. It does it just fine, just as good with Elgato. They are the same size as Elgato. Don't really have any complaints. I mean if you want to control lights through your Streamdeck then yeah go Elgato, but The Elgato Key lights alone are not worth that price, compared to a nice set of LED sqauare key lights from 75 to 100 bucks. You are paying for inconvenience for it to go to Stream Deck and the Desk mounts I have a feeling that preference goes to Elgato simply because of name recognition. Elgato does make a decent product, and they sure are proud of them lol. Personally, I would save the money go with a pair of 75 to 100 dollar lights that are good and use that money left over to upgrade to an entry level camera like a Sony A5100.
C920 is the web cam I use because it was the only one I could afford on a budget lol I'm so glad you did this testing using the same camera as me, now I have an idea what things will look like! Thank you so much, even though I'm a year late
If you know anything about light or study light, and have been into photography at all with studio lighting, yes you can do lighting for very very cheap - DIY
Epos: As an educator, I often use analogies to express the point. For lighting, It's like having a car rated at "capable of 100 MPH" Fact: most cars are rated but only a few have the "power" to achieve this and even fewer can achieve this outside of ideal conditions. Therefore, a car rated higher allows you the flexibility to achieve the desired goal in "other conditions". As you nicely displayed throughout this video, with lighting sources the flexibility comes in the ability to adapt and adjust for YOUR lighting requirements. Too many people merely look at the price. Those people are in the aforementioned group of "auto-focus-web-cam" w/ Green screens and single computer streaming. Yes! 20$ can buy you a light on Amazon. 20$ can also buy you a crate of light bulbs at Lowes Hardware. jus saying . . . You need to pair your lighting needs with your budget constraints. (these don't always match up) but the point is to try. Your videos often help me achieve this balance (pun not intended) Great job bud! . . . on to the next
I was kind of hoping for a dual dazzne d50 setup and not a single light vs key + fill light, but oh well.. This didn't really convince me, that 2 elgato key lights are better in any way then the 3 dazzne lights for almost the price of 1 elgato key light. Thank you for the video, really appreciate the content.
Thanks for this helpful video. I *really* like how the G7 looks in good lighting conditions. Wich lens are you using in this setup? Would you recommand it in 2021 or is there a better "value for money" model available to achieve this result?
I have a small room. white walls. Not enough space for a little studio. Should I go with a Key Light Air or the big one? Or any suggestions? I have some space on my desktop :P
How were you able to change the low light compensation? Obs removed the option from the properties tab and I didn’t see it anywhere in the brios settings Thanks!
The C920 at the start with no additional light looks pretty darn decent for beginners, couldn't believe there wasn't any other source than the window in the start. @eposvox what are your thoughts about C930e? or for anyone who is just starting to create content(live or recorded) with minimum budget? Please correct me and advise me; after a lot of research I think one can start with a webcam like C920 or C930e, with the room lit like yours giving a good background with RGB led strips may be and a natural source light from a window or ring light/led light to lit up the face, a reasonable mic like (as per your suggestion Samson Q2U) and can't think of anything else... @EposVox please advise
Maybe I am just new to this but couldn't you fix some of the problems you showcased with the cheaper flights with a LUT? I am new to LUTs but I think you could possibly get most of the way there and then use a LUT to get the rest of the way to color accuracy. Correct me if I am wrong I am still learning this stuffs.
I'm trying to find a video about using a webcam vs a external camera with a capture card. I already have a sony a6300 with a nice lens, but no webcam nor capture card. Would it be better to get a capture card and use the clean 4k/30 output of the sony or buy a webcam for livestreaming?
Rodri Mora I use an elgato camlink 4k, my "webcam" is a sony a6100. So essentially what I do is plug in the camlink into my computer (which is technically a capture card but it's strong suit is converting DSLRs to webcams) via mini hdmi to hdmi connect it to the camera, and now it will show up as a source in obs. And yes it defaults to 4k30p for me!
There are other options out there, including using NDI but honest to God I had it up and running in 2-3 minutes. For the convenience of it and streaming with it for 4 months now. I know it will always work. Just a heads up, you made need to activate/deactivate it in streamlabs/obs as sometimes it will fail to read the camlink and clicking deactivate/activate again fixes it in 5 seconds or less
To the contrary - when people say "the cheapo amazon lights", they don't mean a lamp. What they mean is the $50-$60 softbox lights (or even $40-$50 umbrella lights), which often times even come with white light bulbs. Those *do* work just as well as any Elgato keylight. The only real difference is streamdeck control and form factor, and the cheaper ones come with *two* fixtures. The keylights are absolutely overpriced. I'd even recommend people get the Neewer LED light panels (the large ones, not the ones you listed) over those. They're $140, but you get two of them, and just as sufficient lighting and a comparable form factor.
Most streamers don't even begin to have the space for big soft boxes or umbrella diffusers, and the bulbs in them (usually cast a green color cast if cheap too) get way hotter than led But no, the people I'm responding to specify cheap led panels
great to see you do all kinds of reviews (which i really like!) but with the help of histograms would make you reviews more objective so you can prove a picture is green or purple. :-)
Like the tut, and i'm just starting to learn how to stream, but i am color blind, red/green. I do see red and green under bright light, but once the light gets a little dim, for get about it.
The tiny bit of extra exposure on the Brio that you get with auto exposure is actually gain. Notice the gain slider stop working just like the exposure slider does, if you enable auto exposure.
I don't understand... How does your Brio look crystal clear and mine looks grainy as hell? No matter what I do, no matter what my lighting is, I ALWAYS have grain on my cam. It's driving me insane.
I just got the full size Elgato Keylight. I had the air. For me the mounts make all the difference. It's hard to get simple, cheap and good mounts all in one. I just wish I could get a grid for the Keylight.
Quick question regarding the G7, assuming you're using manual focus: Does manual focus stay set across power cycles of the camera, or do you set focus everytime you power on the camera?
Do you need WiFi to use the keylight Air? Can you move it to another location that doesn't have WiFi after you set it up once? I would hate to only be able to use the light when tethered to WiFi.
It's weird, there's almost twenty minutes of footage here, supposedly comparing cheap vs expensive lights, but throughout you're still pretty much just asking us to take your word for it. You have the opportunity to show not tell, to prove you're not biased, but you're not taking it. I don't doubt you have solid experience and information... but then your video could've literally just been the intro part where you give your opinion in an honest way.
Would be cool if at the end of the video, where you talked about the different colour casts of your older videos and the comments you got on them, you'd showcase some comparisons from those old videos compared to how it looks today with the big Aputure lights
Why is the scaling on the Brio so much worse than the C920? Specifically looking at the moiré patterning on your chair. Is it just that the Brio is sharper than the C920?
Thanks for the video I am sure it will be useful to some. For me and I am sure many as you elude to at the end those of us who are on a budget and are starting out a cheap Amazon light will be good enough and almost certainly better than not having one at all. A streaming setup is always a work in progress as you get more money and or want to lift your game to the next level you will for sure want better stuff but we all have to start somewhere too. In reality, even these lights you are using are still only semi-professional at best and if you want real professional lighting you will be paying a lot more but also likely need a studio etc. I know I still need to work on my lighting more as my monitor seems to still be doing a lot of my face lighting and so when it is showing darker content it gets a lot darker and when showing green and with certain lighter shirts it can trip my chromakey. Strangely I would have said your G7 image, in general, seemed to have given your skin a greenish cast still so you may want to look at its white balance as it didn't look as good as it normally does or the webcams.
Any thoughts on ring lights? You didn't mention any but other videos seem to be mostly positive and prices are good compared to Elgato key lights but haven't found any direct comparisons.
Question : I have two key lights. (High left and right positioning down at a slight angle) but find myself wanting more brightness and evenness. I’m thinking about buying to key light airs to put more of a distance apart left and right. And have them angles in at half the height. Worth it?
Is there a reason you didn't use the G7's capture output as your prime camera? It look sharp, well balance - just heavily underexposed because of the foreground object that is near the lens. Frankly, the webcams in this video look absolutely terrible! Very poor color, washed out highs, smeary looking. I'd position the G7 as your key cam with proper exp adjust and framing. Perhaps you were just showing how bad the webcams are? If so, position the G7 correctly will show the webcam issues even more! Like your effort though. Thanks for all the work you put in. Much appreciated.
Elgato is clearly capitalizing on a market that has nearly no other competitor at the moment. What bugs me is that they just went full luxury on both the Keylight and the Air by adding wifi and stream deck support. Like yourself, I'd rather they released a version without all that fancy stuff because it adds nothing to my production. I spend at least 10-15 min pre-stream setting up and turning on my three lights takes less than 20 seconds out of that and I don't see any use cases where toning down the brightness on the fly is necessary (feel free to correct me here).
@@keatondepron Planning to to buy one to replace my Logitech Brio as a webcam. I am a teacher and with Covid-19 keeping everyone out of the classroom, I wanted to improve my video feed with a better lens, shallow depth of field, and better color science. However, after performing some test with my Nikon D7500 plugged into a Blackmagic capture card, the camera overheats after a while and shuts down. So I'm thinking about getting an affordable Sony A series camera and an Elgato Camlink. I'm just concerned about how long I can run it until it shuts down. Any recommendation would be great. Remember, the only purpose for this camera is to replace a webcam for live streaming... I'll never use it for shooting stills or making videos, so things like codecs, mic inputs, v-log, etcetera is truly not important at the moment.
You can also really see the focus problems with the webcams. You're blurry at lots of points. In the video when you say "I have no other lights on" you have tons of lights on (that cat figurine is quite bright + you have some purple and blue/aqua lights -- I assume none of that is from your monitor).
@@EposVox Thank you for the quick reply. The review helped me set my mind on buying 2 Elgato Key light Air, but i'm having issues to pair them with my PC i installed the software, made sure my Router was on 2.4GHz and my wifi dongle. But I was having the same "unexpected error" message, i'm able to pair it with my android phone, if you have some advice i would apreciate it :)
@@EposVox Yes, i installed the app on my second phone the keylights where automaticly paired. But not on my pc, and i just noticed something.. My pc is connected directly to the modem. And i don't have a router. Maybe that's the issue here?
Acctually I think the Logitech C920 was the best of all 3 before You even lit any light. The background in Your room felt like it was cozy and had some atmosphere with various colour lights and stuff. Your face had some shadows making it look thinner. I did not like all lit up and totally bright. It kills atmosphere in the room. Compared to like trying to have candles lit in full daylight kinda vs having candles lit in the evening (cozy). Only if doing green screen (removing the room/background) MAYBE being all lit up could be ok'ish, as then You don't have the background and room in the picture anyway. However still having no shadows makes any face looks fatter, while shadows make it look thinner. I personally think the shadows makes most people look better and more depth, rather than an all lit up face. To me shadows is not an issue. Kind of how Jimi Hendrix did not view distorted guitar sounds as an issue to get rid of, but instead started playing with distorted sounds and using it to it's advantage and made guitar play evolve. Note that of course I'm not talking graininess or HD resolution and such here, purely from a perspective of facial beauty and atmosphere. Being that much lit up often requires hours of make up artist on news casters and actors to make a face look "natural", the way it would look in ordinary light. As a content creators and especailly as men we rarely know how to do that, nor have the time and patience. Plus make-up and lotions is never good for anyones skin in the long run (alot of chemicals that makes your skin get wrinkles and look old alot faster, kind of being forced to always have make-up on later in life or look 10-15 years older than you are), so I rather have less light, look natural and be without having to use any make-up or lotion that might add moisture for a short period but over time dries up your skin even more.
I do wonder if there are any good resources out there for darker and dark skin tones in the streaming space. I get the feeling that some of those cheaper options straight up wouldn't work properly for black and brown skin. A quick search. Seems to return a lot of make-up videos.
I've often wondered about that too. Obviously I'm not one to test, but I can recognize the problem. I face the opposite issue: I'm so pale that any color cast ruins my skin.
I don’t have any experience with lighting darker skin for a stream per say, but I do have a lot of experience photographing people of various skin tones, and experience with product photography. Depending on the look you’re going for, the biggest tip I can give you is to get a lot of light, as close as possible to the subject, from the biggest panel or softbox you can find, at a price you find reasonable. The other tip is that darker skin absolutely requires more light, and camera sensors, auto exposure settings, lightmeters, grey cards, or any exposure related tech is 100% biased towards light skin. The closer the light is to you, and the further away it is from the background, the better chance you have at getting a traditional “stream look”, because each time you double the distance from the light, it’s one full stop of exposure darker (in this video, that’s what he’s referring to when he says -5, -6, etc. on the camera settings). So knowing that rule (the inverse square law), look at your setup. If you’re 4 feet from the light and your background is 8 feet from the light, there’s only one stop of exposure difference. That means with dark skin and light walls, your background might be exposed properly and you might still be too dark (or your lighting is good, but the background is blown out). BUT, if you can move the light just 1 foot closer, you will be much better lit, and the background light will be nearly 3x darker than the light on your face. So with that said, you’re absolutely right. A light that isn’t bright enough for @eposvox certainly won’t work for darker skin. I have one elgato keylight though, and I can confidently say it’s bright enough for anyone as a main light source for a stream. It’s also pretty color accurate, better than some of my $400+ kits. I hope some of this makes sense and doesn’t sound too ignorant. If you have any questions I’m happy to answer them, and maybe explain myself a little better. Side note, make-up really can make a big difference in how a camera will pick up your skin tones. It changes the way light reflects off of our skin, so dry powders typically make our skin look more even, and moisturizers will usually create more contrast (brighter highlights, darker shadows).
![Elgato Key Light vs Key Light Air [Review and Comparison]](/img/n.gif)
It doesnt matter what kind of streaming-equipment review im looking for, i'll always end up here! Amazing review man
Some unsolicited thoughts on lighting and balance (just ignore if unwanted):
Re color balance, you can setup the G7 to tune the light balance to match your source lighting. Perhaps never "perfect" but unoticable to most.
Love to see you video(s) just with the G7 properly setup as your main cam.
Re cheap lighting panels, you can setup a 2x3' piece of white foam core and just shine a 100w tungsten bulb (with reflector) at it. We do that in photo shoots when a proper "soft box" is not available or can't be afforded for a give shoot. Fast to setup. Dirt cheap. Plus, a camera like the G7 can be set to convert the smooth (though very warm) tungsten spectrum. Alternatively, you can group 4-50w "Chromolux bulbs (also used as grow lights) to increase output with a spectrum much closer to daylight. Very easy to balance.
Re alternatives. One can also get RGB LED light strips and place them around your monitor. more like a "soft strip" rather than a box.
Re dimness of the G7. With a wide open aperture it should be brighter than in your video unless you're using the F3.5 mini zoom. Could install an F1.8 prime lens for on the G7 for a fixed setup.
Again, thanks for all your effort in the videos. Much appreciated.
"I've been known as a web cam guy" lol XD
☻
🤣🤣🤣
Ah the webcam guy. Everyone knows him! :D As always a good, informative video. Thank you! :)
"I'm the reason you should put tape on your laptop webcam"
My main takeaway from this video was that the reason my Brio was locked to MJPEG was because I was recording at 1080p60. I had no idea that YUY2 would be available if I dropped to 30fps.
You just drastically improved the visual quality of my webcam. Thank you!
Nice review. I have been doing theatrical lighting for over 30 years and you just cannot beat large color accurate lighting for the best images. I'm putting a new setup together for Virtual D&D, etc. with 2 Elgato Key Lights, a Stream Deck and the Elgato Facecam. This is going to be fun!
Great video.. But is there some reason why there are so many objects in front of the G7?
The way I fixed the C920 was, turn the exposure down to -5, and the gain up to 255, I think that's the number, and I don't have the lighting issues you have as far as the camera wanting to do it's own thing.
The Brio does 2 things when you set the exposure in Auto: it changes the exposure AND the gain. It seems something is bugged out and if setting the exposure to manual, the Gain gets set to a value that is not the one set manually, and right at the moment of changing it, it shows the actual gain, and thats when you can play with the exposure+gain to get exactly what you want.
literally love my key light air, made all the difference in the world on my stream.
The air looks harsh to me imo the other is better
This seems to be more of a video for the C920 camera than worrying about lighting. Made my mind up! Thanks
as someone who has a proper vlog channel with cinematic content i am well versed in DSLR stuff, i stream with the technicolor cinestyle preset applied, bought some neewer lights, their mic was the best bang for buck mic i've found, doesn't sound irritably basey like your mic (seriously please add more treble) i'll update how those lights turn out with possibly a review link when i get them
I took the plunge and picked up 2 of these lights. The handicap of not having manual control and discovering that the app needed to control the lights will not work with Mac OS High Sierra made me do a quick U Turn to return them.
C920 looks better than Brio IMO, I hate the green tint the brio gives
Could be the color balance, but looks oversaturated to me
The Brio looks pink to me, it's the C90 that appears green!
@@TheDanielShepherd same
This is very helpful. Ever since COVID I have been really conscious of my lighting during Zoom and Teams presentations. So I have been looking for some nice lighting. But I don't have a clue what to buy. I have a C920 Camera. This gives me some stuff think about. Thanks.
i got a 20$ desk lamp with a defuser in it, use with a c920. has been working well for me. i have a hard time making a switch from it even after watching this vid.
can u lmk what lamp it is?
@@splash4890 www.amazon.com/Lite-Source-LS-105BLK-Black-Shades/dp/B000KNBEDO/ref=asc_df_B000KNBEDO/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=193988463246&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1173124702374600075&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9023746&hvtargid=pla-314750171165&psc=1 this lamp with a nice light bulb position it right behind your cam
@@scottxxvonline8956 what kind of bulb you using? I was thinking of putting LED bulbs like this
www.amazon.com/GE-Lighting-93100205-Replacement-Spectrum/dp/B07WC324HZ/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=light+bulb+a19+led+remote+GE&qid=1609555784&sr=8-2
Thanks for the video. Very helpful! I have the C920 webcam and a few LED light panels that I use for talking head videos with a black or white background. The C920 doesn't seem to handle dynamic range very well and often overexposes my forehead when everything else in the scene is exposed properly (which you also had an issue with in your video). I do have a mirrorless camera but that setup is too large and not always practical when recording at my desk. May just pick up the Brio camera. Seemed to perform very well under a wide array of lighting situations.
I have wrestled with the idea of getting a Key light because of the price, but the more I look at it, the more I think something like that would be a good addition to my overall setup, especially since I have a pair of stream decks now. If anything, this answered the bigger question, and that was the regular Key Light or the smaller Air. I think the regular one better suits what I'm doing primarily at this point in time.
Great Job and thanks. I've been on the fence between Elgato and cheaper soft lights on Amazon you answered my question Elgato it is!
Due to budget I am currently limited to a webcam, and the logitech ones now do indeed keep their settings with G-hub. Haven't had issues in the past year.
I wish I could afford better lights. Currently I have 2 10” ring lights for lighting my green screen and a 8” ring light for my key light with my C920s. It works ok, and was definitely cheaper, but the quality is not as good for sure. Since I am using a green screen, I think I have a little more wiggle room with the cheaper lights, but if I was to get rid of the green screen I would certainly need better lights and a better camera.
For lighting your green screen... just use whatever! I used a $5 walmart chick warmer light which worked great to give a nice even broadcast across the green screen. For lighting yourself.... yeah, you'll want something better.
@@raizt1596 A warmer light for chickens??
@@thestreamreader Yes. It has the large built in reflector, and just put a normal light bulb in it.
www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/producers-pride-brooder-lamp-6-ft-cord
Thanks for your video. I have Canon DSLRs and do photography and video so I understand the importance of good lighting. For the peeps who say a cheap $20 light from Amazon is just as good as a better 95+ CRI rated light, they are probably the same peeps who claim a box office movie can be shot with a smartphone. So it's no use arguing with these people, let them continue on their ways. For myself, I use a Godox SL60W LED light ($135) plus a 32" Phottix Raja octagonal softbox with honeycomb grid ($140) for my video lighting. Works well for me.
Godox SL60W LED lighting
www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1341997-REG/godox_sl60w_5600k_60w_white.html/?ap=y&ap=y&smp=y&smp=y&lsft=BI%3A514&gclid=Cj0KCQjw17n1BRDEARIsAFDHFexJHsLeiPN-LjhOels1RV3XoEKChoy8jEJsKIZgo4z-S8Tw-OjcBhwaAhHKEALw_wcB
Phottix Raja softbox
www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1399544-REG/phottix_ph82722_raja_quick_folding_softbox_41.html/?ap=y&ap=y&smp=y&smp=y&lsft=BI%3A514&gclid=Cj0KCQjw17n1BRDEARIsAFDHFezfl1TvMySzkrRvkJ-ey5aZ4Hi_-SS7UwAWuiADACnNDgyx3pTqWJkaAp9PEALw_wcB
I have two cheap LED panels by Neewer. They're USB version. They're cheap lighting, but they're definitely better than what I used to have (just a generic worklight that was 100% yellow and therefore had a tendency to warm up the colors). And they have no PC controls, and they have a wired remote (nothing wireless). One day, a lighting upgrade may come in handy, but right now, I cannot afford one.
Very informative. Definitely learning myself how rough bad lighting can be. Thank you always for the great content!
Why is this comment 1 week ako??? Wtf?
@@ResayDota LMAO, WTF.
How did that get here?!
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My keylight was worth every penny. With darker skin those cheap ring lights wash out my skin and make me look white. While the keylight brings out my natural color.
I use a set of 75 dollar diffused LED key lights that have a remote that allows me to adjust brightness and warmth to cool. It does it just fine, just as good with Elgato. They are the same size as Elgato. Don't really have any complaints. I mean if you want to control lights through your Streamdeck then yeah go Elgato, but The Elgato Key lights alone are not worth that price, compared to a nice set of LED sqauare key lights from 75 to 100 bucks. You are paying for inconvenience for it to go to Stream Deck and the Desk mounts I have a feeling that preference goes to Elgato simply because of name recognition. Elgato does make a decent product, and they sure are proud of them lol. Personally, I would save the money go with a pair of 75 to 100 dollar lights that are good and use that money left over to upgrade to an entry level camera like a Sony A5100.
C920 is the web cam I use because it was the only one I could afford on a budget lol I'm so glad you did this testing using the same camera as me, now I have an idea what things will look like! Thank you so much, even though I'm a year late
If you know anything about light or study light, and have been into photography at all with studio lighting, yes you can do lighting for very very cheap - DIY
Epos: As an educator, I often use analogies to express the point. For lighting, It's like having a car rated at "capable of 100 MPH" Fact: most cars are rated but only a few have the "power" to achieve this and even fewer can achieve this outside of ideal conditions. Therefore, a car rated higher allows you the flexibility to achieve the desired goal in "other conditions".
As you nicely displayed throughout this video, with lighting sources the flexibility comes in the ability to adapt and adjust for YOUR lighting requirements. Too many people merely look at the price. Those people are in the aforementioned group of "auto-focus-web-cam" w/ Green screens and single computer streaming.
Yes! 20$ can buy you a light on Amazon. 20$ can also buy you a crate of light bulbs at Lowes Hardware. jus saying . . .
You need to pair your lighting needs with your budget constraints. (these don't always match up) but the point is to try.
Your videos often help me achieve this balance (pun not intended)
Great job bud! . . . on to the next
Didn't see much on the Key Light Air vs the standard Key Light or other products. Is there a more focused review?
This is why you’re called the Stream Dok-ta. You explained this perfectly. Thanks for the info. 👍
Can't wait for the streamcam video.
How would the larger Neewer / GVM panels (480 all the way up to 800 LEDs) stack up in this kind of comparison I wonder?
Does your opinion of the Dazzne still stand, one rank below the Elgoto?
I was kind of hoping for a dual dazzne d50 setup and not a single light vs key + fill light, but oh well.. This didn't really convince me, that 2 elgato key lights are better in any way then the 3 dazzne lights for almost the price of 1 elgato key light. Thank you for the video, really appreciate the content.
Thanks for this helpful video.
I *really* like how the G7 looks in good lighting conditions.
Wich lens are you using in this setup?
Would you recommand it in 2021 or is there a better "value for money" model available to achieve this result?
For videography, webcam use, and taking pictures, the G7 is still the best bang for your buck
I have a small room. white walls. Not enough space for a little studio. Should I go with a Key Light Air or the big one?
Or any suggestions? I have some space on my desktop :P
How were you able to change the low light compensation? Obs removed the option from the properties tab and I didn’t see it anywhere in the brios settings
Thanks!
The C920 at the start with no additional light looks pretty darn decent for beginners, couldn't believe there wasn't any other source than the window in the start. @eposvox what are your thoughts about C930e? or for anyone who is just starting to create content(live or recorded) with minimum budget? Please correct me and advise me; after a lot of research I think one can start with a webcam like C920 or C930e, with the room lit like yours giving a good background with RGB led strips may be and a natural source light from a window or ring light/led light to lit up the face, a reasonable mic like (as per your suggestion Samson Q2U) and can't think of anything else... @EposVox please advise
that's an fire intro you've got mr vox
Stream got way better with keylights!
What lights can I get that I can mount on my monitor arms or wall mount?
Maybe I am just new to this but couldn't you fix some of the problems you showcased with the cheaper flights with a LUT? I am new to LUTs but I think you could possibly get most of the way there and then use a LUT to get the rest of the way to color accuracy. Correct me if I am wrong I am still learning this stuffs.
I'm trying to find a video about using a webcam vs a external camera with a capture card. I already have a sony a6300 with a nice lens, but no webcam nor capture card. Would it be better to get a capture card and use the clean 4k/30 output of the sony or buy a webcam for livestreaming?
Rodri Mora I use an elgato camlink 4k, my "webcam" is a sony a6100. So essentially what I do is plug in the camlink into my computer (which is technically a capture card but it's strong suit is converting DSLRs to webcams) via mini hdmi to hdmi connect it to the camera, and now it will show up as a source in obs. And yes it defaults to 4k30p for me!
There are other options out there, including using NDI but honest to God I had it up and running in 2-3 minutes. For the convenience of it and streaming with it for 4 months now. I know it will always work. Just a heads up, you made need to activate/deactivate it in streamlabs/obs as sometimes it will fail to read the camlink and clicking deactivate/activate again fixes it in 5 seconds or less
Should I get a G7 or G85 for multipurpose use. I'll use it as a webcam and also do cinematic shots.
No physical controls? I would never buy a $200 light that requires a separate device to operate it.
To the contrary - when people say "the cheapo amazon lights", they don't mean a lamp. What they mean is the $50-$60 softbox lights (or even $40-$50 umbrella lights), which often times even come with white light bulbs. Those *do* work just as well as any Elgato keylight. The only real difference is streamdeck control and form factor, and the cheaper ones come with *two* fixtures. The keylights are absolutely overpriced. I'd even recommend people get the Neewer LED light panels (the large ones, not the ones you listed) over those. They're $140, but you get two of them, and just as sufficient lighting and a comparable form factor.
Most streamers don't even begin to have the space for big soft boxes or umbrella diffusers, and the bulbs in them (usually cast a green color cast if cheap too) get way hotter than led
But no, the people I'm responding to specify cheap led panels
great to see you do all kinds of reviews (which i really like!) but with the help of histograms would make you reviews more objective so you can prove a picture is green or purple. :-)
Like the tut, and i'm just starting to learn how to stream, but i am color blind, red/green.
I do see red and green under bright light, but once the light gets a little dim, for get about it.
Would you recommend the Elgato Key Light or the Key Light Air?
Fantastic review. Everything I needed to know
The tiny bit of extra exposure on the Brio that you get with auto exposure is actually gain. Notice the gain slider stop working just like the exposure slider does, if you enable auto exposure.
I get the color temp having a pretty gnarly effect on cameras, but to be fair, panasonic's color science is meh to begin with
just looked for a video for the keylight air, thank you :))
Thanks for watching!
I don't understand... How does your Brio look crystal clear and mine looks grainy as hell? No matter what I do, no matter what my lighting is, I ALWAYS have grain on my cam. It's driving me insane.
I use a couple of Boling BL-P1 lights that I use for videoing other things and they work a treat. But, not the cheap option...
Keep shining King. You are a light on this platform.....pun =)
Thank you
Just an FYI I just got the brio and added it to the 2 920's in the podcast and the Brio settings hold after PC shutdown , the 920's do not Weird :)
You know just how to light up a room. ;)
I just got the full size Elgato Keylight. I had the air. For me the mounts make all the difference. It's hard to get simple, cheap and good mounts all in one. I just wish I could get a grid for the Keylight.
You can make your own grid for cheap
Quick question regarding the G7, assuming you're using manual focus: Does manual focus stay set across power cycles of the camera, or do you set focus everytime you power on the camera?
It stays.
Do you need WiFi to use the keylight Air? Can you move it to another location that doesn't have WiFi after you set it up once? I would hate to only be able to use the light when tethered to WiFi.
It needs WiFi to be controlled
It's weird, there's almost twenty minutes of footage here, supposedly comparing cheap vs expensive lights, but throughout you're still pretty much just asking us to take your word for it. You have the opportunity to show not tell, to prove you're not biased, but you're not taking it. I don't doubt you have solid experience and information... but then your video could've literally just been the intro part where you give your opinion in an honest way.
The whole video is showing.... What?!
Would be cool if at the end of the video, where you talked about the different colour casts of your older videos and the comments you got on them, you'd showcase some comparisons from those old videos compared to how it looks today with the big Aputure lights
That was the idea, but I ran out of time.
@@EposVox Ah, I see. Great video, still!
Why is the scaling on the Brio so much worse than the C920? Specifically looking at the moiré patterning on your chair. Is it just that the Brio is sharper than the C920?
Yep. There's just not an ounce of sharpness in the c920
Thanks for the video I am sure it will be useful to some. For me and I am sure many as you elude to at the end those of us who are on a budget and are starting out a cheap Amazon light will be good enough and almost certainly better than not having one at all. A streaming setup is always a work in progress as you get more money and or want to lift your game to the next level you will for sure want better stuff but we all have to start somewhere too. In reality, even these lights you are using are still only semi-professional at best and if you want real professional lighting you will be paying a lot more but also likely need a studio etc.
I know I still need to work on my lighting more as my monitor seems to still be doing a lot of my face lighting and so when it is showing darker content it gets a lot darker and when showing green and with certain lighter shirts it can trip my chromakey.
Strangely I would have said your G7 image, in general, seemed to have given your skin a greenish cast still so you may want to look at its white balance as it didn't look as good as it normally does or the webcams.
Can Elgato Key Light compete with that Aputure Tri-8?
Any thoughts on ring lights? You didn't mention any but other videos seem to be mostly positive and prices are good compared to Elgato key lights but haven't found any direct comparisons.
Personally I hate the look of them
@@EposVox that makes sense, they are pretty big so it's also a lot of something you don't like.
Question : I have two key lights. (High left and right positioning down at a slight angle) but find myself wanting more brightness and evenness. I’m thinking about buying to key light airs to put more of a distance apart left and right. And have them angles in at half the height. Worth it?
Can you recommend a webcam that is close to Brio in terms of quality but much more affordable? Doesnt have to be a well known brand.
does not exist
like better than C920?
I've been using two blank notepads on each half of my screen. I could come up with a better solution.
thats actually a pretty clever Idea
Is there a reason you didn't use the G7's capture output as your prime camera? It look sharp, well balance - just heavily underexposed because of the foreground object that is near the lens. Frankly, the webcams in this video look absolutely terrible! Very poor color, washed out highs, smeary looking. I'd position the G7 as your key cam with proper exp adjust and framing. Perhaps you were just showing how bad the webcams are? If so, position the G7 correctly will show the webcam issues even more!
Like your effort though. Thanks for all the work you put in. Much appreciated.
Elgato is clearly capitalizing on a market that has nearly no other competitor at the moment. What bugs me is that they just went full luxury on both the Keylight and the Air by adding wifi and stream deck support. Like yourself, I'd rather they released a version without all that fancy stuff because it adds nothing to my production. I spend at least 10-15 min pre-stream setting up and turning on my three lights takes less than 20 seconds out of that and I don't see any use cases where toning down the brightness on the fly is necessary (feel free to correct me here).
No competition? What about all the real light manufacturers that targeted actual videographers?
Hey man whats the setting of your podmic?
Why ND filter inside? To mute highlights? curious.
I got the Key Light and I can't get use to the bright light source in my face.
Keylight cant it be setup with streamdeck software ?
Yes
The brio looks pink, seems worse than the c920
20 D50? why :D
hi do i need to remove the power when im not using the key light? or just leave it
Just leave it
How long can you leave a mirrorless camera on before it shuts down (heat, firmware limitations, etc.)?
It's different for every camera. What are you using?
@@keatondepron Planning to to buy one to replace my Logitech Brio as a webcam. I am a teacher and with Covid-19 keeping everyone out of the classroom, I wanted to improve my video feed with a better lens, shallow depth of field, and better color science. However, after performing some test with my Nikon D7500 plugged into a Blackmagic capture card, the camera overheats after a while and shuts down. So I'm thinking about getting an affordable Sony A series camera and an Elgato Camlink. I'm just concerned about how long I can run it until it shuts down. Any recommendation would be great. Remember, the only purpose for this camera is to replace a webcam for live streaming... I'll never use it for shooting stills or making videos, so things like codecs, mic inputs, v-log, etcetera is truly not important at the moment.
this guy has the best audio quality i have ever heard
can I stream with a Sony Nex-7?
You can also really see the focus problems with the webcams. You're blurry at lots of points.
In the video when you say "I have no other lights on" you have tons of lights on (that cat figurine is quite bright + you have some purple and blue/aqua lights -- I assume none of that is from your monitor).
None meaning none casting on my face.
How can you adjust the settings on the c920 webcam I have a Mac book air. Does Logitech have a software app where you can adjust the settings?
yeah logitech g hub
Wait.. Once you paired the keylight air one the phone app it connects to the software pc ?
Yes. It connects over your network and it’s easiest to set up with phone as it connects to the light’s WiFi then back to your WiFi to make that happen
@@EposVox Thank you for the quick reply. The review helped me set my mind on buying 2 Elgato Key light Air, but i'm having issues to pair them with my PC i installed the software, made sure my Router was on 2.4GHz and my wifi dongle. But I was having the same "unexpected error" message, i'm able to pair it with my android phone, if you have some advice i would apreciate it :)
I’ve never been able to pair from PC. As long as you add it to the app on mobile it will show up the desktop app
@@EposVox Yes, i installed the app on my second phone the keylights where automaticly paired. But not on my pc, and i just noticed something.. My pc is connected directly to the modem. And i don't have a router. Maybe that's the issue here?
Hey i love your intro clip!
Wait a second...so my desk lamp wrapped in a white tee probably isn’t good enough?
what lens are you using for the G7?
What mic are you using with the swing tool I need it
Is that an Electrovoice Microphone? Wowser
Acctually I think the Logitech C920 was the best of all 3 before You even lit any light. The background in Your room felt like it was cozy and had some atmosphere with various colour lights and stuff. Your face had some shadows making it look thinner. I did not like all lit up and totally bright. It kills atmosphere in the room. Compared to like trying to have candles lit in full daylight kinda vs having candles lit in the evening (cozy). Only if doing green screen (removing the room/background) MAYBE being all lit up could be ok'ish, as then You don't have the background and room in the picture anyway. However still having no shadows makes any face looks fatter, while shadows make it look thinner. I personally think the shadows makes most people look better and more depth, rather than an all lit up face. To me shadows is not an issue. Kind of how Jimi Hendrix did not view distorted guitar sounds as an issue to get rid of, but instead started playing with distorted sounds and using it to it's advantage and made guitar play evolve.
Note that of course I'm not talking graininess or HD resolution and such here, purely from a perspective of facial beauty and atmosphere. Being that much lit up often requires hours of make up artist on news casters and actors to make a face look "natural", the way it would look in ordinary light. As a content creators and especailly as men we rarely know how to do that, nor have the time and patience. Plus make-up and lotions is never good for anyones skin in the long run (alot of chemicals that makes your skin get wrinkles and look old alot faster, kind of being forced to always have make-up on later in life or look 10-15 years older than you are), so I rather have less light, look natural and be without having to use any make-up or lotion that might add moisture for a short period but over time dries up your skin even more.
A lot of waffling but can we have a light that’s affordable and is good and that I’m not forced to save up for months just for a bit of light.
You DEFINITELY don’t need to buy expensive lights.. It depends on where and how you using them.. 🤦🏾♂️ Respect tho!
sorry i ddidnt make it pass the 6 min mark 5:59 to be exact.
Do you know what's weird nobody try recording these cameras in flat and then color correct them
I mean, most people are streaming. Plus you're working with much less color grade-able footage from OBS than in-camera
What is the lense on the G7
I do wonder if there are any good resources out there for darker and dark skin tones in the streaming space. I get the feeling that some of those cheaper options straight up wouldn't work properly for black and brown skin.
A quick search. Seems to return a lot of make-up videos.
I've often wondered about that too. Obviously I'm not one to test, but I can recognize the problem.
I face the opposite issue: I'm so pale that any color cast ruins my skin.
I don’t have any experience with lighting darker skin for a stream per say, but I do have a lot of experience photographing people of various skin tones, and experience with product photography.
Depending on the look you’re going for, the biggest tip I can give you is to get a lot of light, as close as possible to the subject, from the biggest panel or softbox you can find, at a price you find reasonable.
The other tip is that darker skin absolutely requires more light, and camera sensors, auto exposure settings, lightmeters, grey cards, or any exposure related tech is 100% biased towards light skin.
The closer the light is to you, and the further away it is from the background, the better chance you have at getting a traditional “stream look”, because each time you double the distance from the light, it’s one full stop of exposure darker (in this video, that’s what he’s referring to when he says -5, -6, etc. on the camera settings).
So knowing that rule (the inverse square law), look at your setup. If you’re 4 feet from the light and your background is 8 feet from the light, there’s only one stop of exposure difference. That means with dark skin and light walls, your background might be exposed properly and you might still be too dark (or your lighting is good, but the background is blown out).
BUT, if you can move the light just 1 foot closer, you will be much better lit, and the background light will be nearly 3x darker than the light on your face.
So with that said, you’re absolutely right. A light that isn’t bright enough for @eposvox certainly won’t work for darker skin. I have one elgato keylight though, and I can confidently say it’s bright enough for anyone as a main light source for a stream. It’s also pretty color accurate, better than some of my $400+ kits.
I hope some of this makes sense and doesn’t sound too ignorant. If you have any questions I’m happy to answer them, and maybe explain myself a little better.
Side note, make-up really can make a big difference in how a camera will pick up your skin tones. It changes the way light reflects off of our skin, so dry powders typically make our skin look more even, and moisturizers will usually create more contrast (brighter highlights, darker shadows).
@@Piktro Thanks for this amazing reply!
Make time stamps thanks
Good job
Very informative.... I thought I was lietening to a Radio anchor.... Thanks for the video