What is the Best Lighting for Streaming?

Editor’s Choice

Best Lighting for Streaming
  • It’s heavy-duty and sturdy. 
  • It’s easy to set up and pack away. 
  • There is a boom option on one of the light stands.

Best Overall

Best Lighting for Streaming
  • These lights are durable and long-lasting. 
  • Each light has an outlet on the back, and you can daisy-chain them for power. 
  • The lights are very lightweight. 

Budget-Friendly

Best Lighting for Streaming
  • The system is straightforward to set up and has easy-to-understand instructions. 
  • It’s an excellent system for beginners and small performances. 
  • The stands and trusses are versatile and lightweight.

If you are in a hurry and just want to find out what the best lighting for streaming is, then I’d recommend the CHAUVET DJ Par 56 8 Light System as the best one.

Are you a content creator who loves to stream your videos or games, and you’re looking for the best lighting for streaming? Or do you want to start your streaming channel, and you want to invest in the best gear or equipment? Great lighting would be an essential factor in your content. Let’s look at the information and details you need to get the best quality tools for your lighting system.  

Here are the Best Lightings for Streaming we will be reviewing:

What is the Best Lighting for Streaming?

What type of light is best for streaming?

Understanding the details of different kinds of lights for your streaming might help you choose the right one. Each has its benefits and disadvantages. You just need to pick the ideal one that best suits your needs and preferences. 

Softbox Lighting

Softbox lights are big and bulky studio lights, and they use bulbs instead of LEDs to produce or diffuse soft light. They come in a tall stand, and these softbox lights have a large surface area. They have an umbrella reflector that serves as their second layer of reflection. The bulb encloses the reflector, and a metallic fabric cover lines it outside. The light bounces off these umbrellas and is diffused, producing soft light. 

Desktop Lighting

Desktop lights can be placed on a desk or fixed and mounted on a webcam. They can be a real space-saver if your working area is small.  

LED Lights 

LED lights or LED panels commonly have a two to three-light configuration. This setup allows you to pop out from the background. LED panels have several tiny LED bulbs spread across the whole board. They work very much like ring lights. The difference is that they sometimes come with detachable diffusers or filters that can further soften the light. 

Ring Light

Ring lights are also LED lights that come in a circular form. They have a hollow center where you can place your camera. Their circular design allows the light to fall evenly on your face. The camera placement and angle enable it to capture and keep a natural look. Some ring lights also come with the option to change the color and temperature of the light. 

Things needed for the best lighting for streaming

You can always use just one light for your streaming to fit your budget and still produce a good-quality video. However, you can also invest in a more extensive setup for the best lighting for streaming if you want to achieve high-quality output. Here are some of the things you need for a good lighting setup:

Key Light

The key light is your primary light source, and you should place it behind the camera.

Fill Light

Using the key light alone can create glares and shadows. You will use the fill light to fill out these shadows produced by the key light. If you’re working on a limited budget, a clip-on table lamp will do, or you can use a more professional setup. You can also try a low-power light to create softer lighting for the fill. 

Additional Light Source

You may want to opt for a third source of light if you’re creating the commonly used three-point lighting setup. It somehow depends on your space or room settings: the amount of natural light that enters your space or if you want to highlight your background.

Lighting Accessories

You might need additional lighting accessories to create a more advanced lighting setting and have a space for it. You can set up a photography studio with many lights. To minimize glare and prevent shadows, you can invest in an umbrella or softbox to diffuse light. 

Advantages of Using the Best Lighting for Streaming

The advantages of lighting for streaming come in different forms. Lighting plays a significant role in creating a professional and high-quality stream setup. Good lighting can make an inexpensive webcam look good, and bad lighting can make even a high-quality camera look bad. Suffice to say having the best lighting for streaming allows you to get the best out of your camera

The best lighting for streaming can also add color and texture to otherwise dull scenes and environments. Proper lighting can change how objects and people appear in a set. It plays a big part in setting the mood for your video streaming. 

How to Get the Best Lighting for Streaming

Once you have the proper gears, you also need to know where to position or place them to get the best lighting for streaming. 

Three-point Lighting

The standard three-point lighting is the most common setup for photography and live streaming. To obtain a balanced display or look without a sharp appearance and shadows, it needs lighting coming from three different angles. You can position the key light at a slight tilt. Since it will light directly, you can place your fill light below the key point. It will help lessen shadows. The backlight is usually at a tilted angle to form or create contours.

Loop Lighting

Loop lighting is a simple setup that commonly creates a flattering professional appearance. You have to position the key light slightly above eye level and place it only on the camera’s side. You need to use a fill light to reduce shadows. 

Backlight

One of your options for lighting is to use backlights along with your key light. If you have great collectibles or a beautiful background, you can light up the area for an engaging live-stream broadcast. You can also use RGB band lighting to create appealing sets like other streamers. 

Ring Light Setup

The ring light setup is just a single light setting. You only need to note that the ring light will show up on the glasses’ reflection if you wear glasses during streaming. It might become a distraction to your viewers. 

Key and Fill Light Setup

In this two-light setup, the key light provides the main lighting, and the fill light fills out the shadows cast by it. You may also use a ring light as your fill light. It makes you stand out from your background. To achieve this lighting setup, you can place the two lights behind the monitors. Either by using microphone boom arms or their stands or legs. 

How to Choose the Best Lighting for Streaming

Here are the key things you need to consider when choosing the best lighting for streaming:

Watts

Powerful devices are needed if you want good lighting for your streaming. There are no standards when it comes to your options for powerful lighting. When it comes to watts, they range from 50 to 10,000 and you don’t need the most intense available lights for your broadcast. An excellent way to begin is to pick anything between 500 and 1,000 watts. 

Lumens

While wattage measures how much energy the source of light consumes, lumens determine how bright the light is. So how do watts and lumen go together? Note that a regular incandescent light bulb of 60 watts equals 800 lumens. This comparison, though, is contained for general purposes only. It’s still best to check watts and lumens separately. 

Color Temperature

Your lighting can appear warm or cool in the video based on the type of bulb your light has. It is one of the essential things to consider when you’re building your lighting for the streaming setup. A Kelvin scale measures color temperature. 1000K is a dark orange tone, candlelight color, 4000K is the color of the regular incandescent household bulb, and 10,000K is sky blue. Many streamers use lights around 5000K, the direct sunlight’s color. 

Brightness

The best lights for streaming would commonly allow you to adjust the brightness to your preference. Since you can control and adjust the lights manually, these sets can help you create high-quality streaming broadcasts. 

Rotation

When building your lighting setup, you may want to choose a light that rotates. Not only is it easy to move around, but this also ensures that you can get the proper angle even in small spaces. Also, if you need to adjust your lighting during a live broadcast, you won’t have to move the whole setup around. You can rotate it quickly and then move on with your stream.

Stand

Stands come in different shapes and sizes, so you need to pick one that fits your lighting setup. Big lights may not be effective in small spaces, and sometimes, a webcam would be better. Some lights don’t come with a stand, so you’ll need to attach or mount them to something. Others have desk clamps. Think and decide how flexible the light stand should be before picking or buying one. 

Price

Also, one of the essential things to consider when buying a lighting set is to pick something that would help level up your streaming output, which also fits your budget. It’s a good thing that you can choose lights in all price ranges, and it’s not that challenging to find the gear that would fit your needs. Even if you’re working on a limited budget, you can still find quality equipment. All you need to do is check their info and specs. 

If you’re looking to get the best lighting for streaming anytime soon, here are some of the best ones. You can check these out, and you might find one that would fit your needs and preferences.

CHAUVET DJ Par 56 8 Light System

Best Lighting for Streaming

The CHAUVET DJ Par 56 8 Light System is a set of LED wash lights in a sleek and stylish black enclosure. There are 108  red, blue, and green LED bulbs that power each light. It can easily blend into any room or space decor, and you can customize your light shows in 7- or 3-DMX mode. It is an excellent choice if you want to achieve a flicker-free broadcast or video because of its high-frequency LED dimming. 

Chauvet DJ designed the SlimPar 56 for any application that needs a compact wash light. Its low-profile component fits in most places that other lights cannot. It operates silently and has no moving parts, making it ideal for quiet settings. 

This light system allows you convenient access to static colors and RGB color mixing without DMX. Via the Master/Slave or DMX mode, you can produce eye-catching effects with built-in automated programs. This lighting set is versatile as it also has multiple user-configurable settings. 

You can also move and transport these lights with ease because of their compact design. It also comes with a three-channel DMX controller and all of the DMX cables that you’ll need for setting up your kit. Plus, this set also comes with stands and mounting hardware. 

Pros:

  • These lights are durable and long-lasting. 
  • Each light has an outlet on the back, and you can daisy-chain them for power. 
  • The lights are very lightweight. 
  • It’s easy to program.
  • They use less energy than conventional par cans.

Cons:

  • Some lights tend to have a fan noise that only disappears after a minute. 
  • Each light is only wide enough to shine on one person.

Lighting Stage Lighting System 1

Best Lighting for Streaming

The 8 PAR 38 Cans Elation Lighting Stage Pak Lighting Dimmer System consists of 8 PAR 38 Can lights, a stage setter-8 DMX controller, and a DP-415 dimmer. It comes with a truss lighting stand. 

The controller has three different operating modes. It has two banks of 8 channels, eight banks of 8 channels, and one bank of 16 channels. It also features four built-in programs and eight user-configurable programs. 

The controller also has a fog machine output control. It is compatible with Stallion, ADJ Vaporizer, MB-700, and more. It is MIDI compatible, has a standard DMX 512 protocol, and features an XLR polarity switch. 

The dimmer with this set has four channels, and 2×3-pong Edison plugs per channel. All in all, it has eight total plugs. It also has an on/off power switch and an XLR In/Out. 

The dimmer also has a 10-position dip switch configuration or settings to address DMX. It has LED “On” indicators and comes with a changeable hanging bracket to hang on a truss. 

Pros:

  • The system is straightforward to set up and has easy-to-understand instructions. 
  • It’s an excellent system for beginners and small performances. 
  • The stands and trusses are versatile and lightweight. 
  • They are also easy to take down and put away, just as they are easy to set up. 
  • They work great for lighting effects. 

Cons:

  • The controller needs a better manual because it doesn’t indicate all the functions. 
  • The DMX lights do not work well with the controller. 
  • The plastic clamps that the truss system came with broke quickly. 

Elgato Key Light Professional 2800 lumens Studio Light

Best Lighting for Streaming

The Professional 2800 Lumens Studio Key Light by Elgato is a space-saver and app-enabled lighting system. It is an excellent choice for high-end studio lighting. It allows you to adjust and configure the settings through your screen for accurate and precise real-time feedback. 

This Elgato key light has 160 OSRAM premium LED adjustable bulbs, is ultra-bright (2800 lumens), and is fully dimmable. It also has a versatile color temperature of 2900-7000K. It means it can produce a cold through warm white lighting. 

Another great feature of this key light is its glare-free light diffusion. Its opal glass surface ensures you have balanced lighting. It also has direct integrations for solid one-touch control that work well with the Elgato stream deck. 

This set comes with one key light, a power supply, a quick start guide, and an adjustable steel desk mount. It’s a flat panel and keeps the heat low compared to softboxes. 

Pros:

  • It’s exceptionally well-built and durable. 
  • The light it produces is diffused evenly and doesn’t leave sharp shadows. 
  • The vertical desk mounts it comes with are also solid-built and sturdy. 
  • You can control the light easily from your taskbar in Windows, including turning it off and on and adjusting the color and brightness. 
  • It is light enough that it’s easy to travel with it.

Cons:

  • It’s WiFi reliant and doesn’t have manual knobs or switches as a backup option. 
  • It’s pretty pricey for just a single light. 

Fovitec Spectra 2-Light LED Continuous Softbox Lighting Kit

Best Lighting for Streaming

The Spectra 2-Light LED Softbox Lighting Set by Fovitec makes an ideal addition to anyone’s streaming or image-capturing gears. This lighting kit will turn any dimly lit room or space into a bright studio for streaming, gaming, photography, or vlogging. A socket feature allows you to use five 25W LED lights to light up your space or room. These bulbs are both environmentally and cost-friendly. If you need to adjust the brightness, you can use the three toggle switches until you achieve the lighting that you prefer. 

Combine these lights with softboxes, and you get the best results for your lighting needs. These softboxes are essential lighting tools to achieve professional-quality streaming output. You just place them over the lamps to diffuse the light and achieve that natural-looking glow. This lighting can soften and diminish shadows, reduce washouts, and illuminate the face. The softboxes also come with an outer and inner diffuser to achieve excellent quality output.

This lighting set also comes with an all-metal compact stand. It allows you to position your lighting wherever you need or prefer it. This stand is adjustable and expands in three different places, from 19 inches to 6 feet and 2 inches. It is an excellent feature as it allows you to conform to the height you need for the best angle. It also features a locking tilt bracket which helps you position the light head properly along the Y-axis. 

Pros:

  • It’s heavy-duty and sturdy. 
  • It’s easy to set up and pack away. 
  • There is a boom option on one of the light stands. 
  • The softboxes distribute and tone down the light output. It diminishes the bright spots and blowouts. 
  • The light stands are also sturdy at fold up nicely when not in use. 

Cons:

  • There is no brightness adjustment for the single light. The multi-lights are the only ones controllable. 
  • The instructions for operations and assembly are not sufficient. 

Neewer 700W Professional Softbox Lighting Kit

Best Lighting for Streaming

The 700-Watt Professional Softbox with E27 Socket Light Lighting Set by Neewer includes 2 24×24 inches or 60×60 centimeters softboxes, two 85-Watts 5500K CFL light bulbs, two 88-inch or 224-centimeter light stands, and one carrying bag. Here is a professional kit perfect for advertising products, photography, streaming, and more. 

The softboxes diffuse light and give out even excellent lighting if you need to produce the best shots and streaming output. The E27 socket allows you to directly connect fluorescent lamps, slave flash, or light bulbs. 

The light bulbs that come with this kit have low operating temperatures. It means that they don’t get hot compared to the more common photo bulb options. These lamps also create a bright environment for your space or room. 

The kit also includes light stands of aluminum alloy, making them sturdy and reliable for heavy-duty work. These stands have quick single-action locks that allow fast and precise height adjustment. 

This kit is also great for traveling as it comes with a carrying bag for easy transport and equipment protection. 

Pros: 

  • The bulbs don’t get too hot. 
  • The light stands are sturdy and stable. 
  • When put together, the lights and softboxes give off plenty of very soft, natural light. 
  • The system’s design is excellent, and all the parts fit well. 
  • The stands adjust to a very high height with a great locking mechanism. 

Cons:

  • The light bulbs break down quickly. You might need to purchase a different bulb for backup. 

Conclusion

These are all excellent choices if you’re looking for the best lighting for streaming. However, if we were to choose only one, it would be the CHAUVET DJ Par 56 8 Light System. Firstly, the lights are durable, which means you are getting your money’s worth when you get it since it’s going to last long. The second reason is that each of the lights has an outlet on its backside that allows you to daisy-chain for power. Also, this system is straightforward to program, plus the lights also don’t consume much energy. It’s like it has all the essentials to start your lighting kit for your streaming needs. It provides ease of use and durability and even conserves energy. 

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Alex Shute
EDITOR
Alex Shute, MBA
Alex is a family man and entrepreneur based in Los Angeles. His passion is to serve the global Church and bring people of diverse backgrounds together to learn & grow.


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