Thank you for your video. My wife is just learning about LEDs and has been looking for how-to vids. Your presentation is very thorough and informative- she likes it!
Brilliant run down. Considering how easy it is to build your own extremely powerful LEP lighting I am shocked the "professional" lighting manufacturers haven't significantly cut their markup.
Watched quite a few DIY bank light videos tonight, but this is easily the cheapest and most straight forward guide for LED light strips I've come across. Definitely looking into this for lighting in tight areas.
very cool video, the explanation of construction and applications are great, now i'll try to make my lights. Thx what color of lights u used? (links of lights and dimmer are fallen, could you please re-post)
I really like the cake pan idea, I think I'll give that a try, except I'll put the strips directly on the metal, which will help dissipate the heat better. I'll be careful with the connections to be sure nothing shorts out.
las vegas video production service Parts are on order from China, Already picked up cookie sheets from the dollar store. I'll post the results in a few weeks.
Hi, these look great. Could you comment on any Flicker issues please? Also, is it possible to give an idea on how bright the lights are - like an approx. f-stop reading at a certain distance? Many thanks
Great video. I'm about to make these long ones to replace my 2 softbox/six clamp light chroma background lighting. My green screen is 8 x 8 feet. I'm.worried that the led strips will be too forward because I read that they've only a 30 degree forward beam. Do you think if I made two of these left and right 4 feet back from the screen would be enough?
+Ayoola Ekunboyejo there just stage par light clamps, you can get at Guitar Center of DJ store, or ebay.. Here's a link to some on ebay: www.ebay.com/itm/Heavy-Duty-DJ-Lighting-Clamp-C-Clamp-for-Up-To-2-Truss-/391121273954?hash=item5b10a50462:g:sO8AAOSwpDdVNlgX
I built 2 panels from all the parts you listed. I used the wire clips instead of soldering. To prevent voltage drop I also got a DC female to 4 male power splitter and used the female connections that were provided with reels. It took about 3 reel per panel so I have and extra male connector open so I can daisy chain the panels together. My only problem is the lights are very cool in color and we having a difficult time white balancing. It's very rough on skin tones. Any advice?
+David W. Ryan Gels For Color & Brightness Control or even paper like a softbox and just use a little gaff tape to hold it in place, go to this link and at the bottom of the page look for Colour Temperature, and Gels For Colour & Brightness Control, you can go to taps plastic or google shop "light gel roll" gel rolls are like $3-$10+ www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar11/articles/light-fantastic.htm#Top hope that helps :)
+Matthew Mawson I used Par can clams that you can get at guitar century for like $6, then the power and pig tailed them with old Mic cords I had here at the house, but really you get better light if they all have there own power I have found out
You refer to the bracket used to mount your LED light box (4' long) to your light stand. You describe the cost between $4-$5 at Home Depot. I cannot find this bracket. Any chance you can clarify it's description or include a link to it? Otherwise, very helpful DIY. Thanks.
could you tell us about the controller options too, I'm guessing there are a lot of people like me looking at this stuff for stsge lighting for a band...
If I were to connect 4 of these rolls together, it looks like I would need to get the 12V 10A Power Supply. I'm not an electrician, is there any danger to feeding too many amps into the LED lights if they don't consume it all?
+Bobby Dragulescu , I'm not sure, I use a 12V 3.2A and a also us a 1200Ma universal ac adapter that works best, I also found that 12V laptop power supply works
You mentioned that you sometime use it for close-up shots. Purely video or dlsr shot as well? What is the throw distance and if you have used them for like headshots, any change of seeing the quality?
Does this dimmer cause flickering? Especially when dimming the light down? I can't really tell if it's a PWM or a voltage based dimmer by the description in Amazon. Thanks awesome video by the way just a bit too harsch on audio editing.
las vegas video production service Thanks. This helps me out a lot. I was already worried about a complicated circuit I would have to build do avoid flickering :)
***** If you use a voltage regulator in your circuit, it will stop the flickering all together. Then you can still add a dimmer to achieve different light values.
Best DIY led light panel video out there. Thank you. I was thinking about making 6 foot panels instead of 4 foot. Do I need 3 strips per panel then and how does that change with the power supply? Do I need more or is 5 amp still enough? Any help is much appreciated.
ya you can get something like this www.eledlights.com/led-lamps-by-type/led-drop-ceiling-panel-lights/led-panel-lights-ceiling-lighting-panels/dimmable-2x4-led-panel-light-high-lumen.html?AdWords&Shopping&Regular&gclid=CLi_75HT3tMCFYJnfgodH24D6Q#.WQ-HT1KZOi4
Yeah probably for that one is cheaper made by myself. BTW thx for the link, I found the same price on AliExpress. And you have awesome explanation that Chromakey is should be lighting as well as "item"... in Russia video reviews not anybody said about lighting chromakey.
1. ru.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-SMD5050-12V-flexible-light-60-leds-m-LED-strips-5m-lot-White-Blue-Green/1599651146.html?spm=2114.10010208.1000014.4.4VLUSz&traffic_analysisId=recommend_3035_null_null_null&scm=1007.13338.79672.000000000000000&pvid=6058572e-508d-440f-85d6-e0c02a16e700&tpp=1 found that one. You attached them on the Wood is it okay? ps: I checked review from the buyers looks good. (I'll choose no waterproof) 2. So I'm 192 cm tall for whole chroma key lighting I need 2 m cases. I'll buy 20m of leds strip of Cold White color right? 3. Where did you get Aluminum cases? )
Again...love, love, love the video. Great job. Just one more question...how did you mount the lights vertical onto the stands? Did you mount a bracket on the back? I didn't see anything in the video. Thank you again for putting up the video and any suggestions or help.
im 4 minutes into the video and writing this comment. Its intended as constructive feedback so hopefully this helps. first thing is the sound. it seems the mic is switching off and on all the time causing a weird effect when you stop and start talking, maybe increase the mic sensitivity or use it in a "always on" mode will probably help with that. links in the description and prices are really helpful so, please keep up that information, just let us know what's the time of shooting so the viewers get an idea how long ago the prices you mention were correct. Usually i find intros very helpful and its true that the intro of this video is helpful, but it feels like it drags on a bit too long. its 8 minutes now and im still waiting to see some footage showing "how to" finally a small suggestion for others making this build, or a future attempt. the dimmer is pretty cool, however i personally use PWM analogue modules which allow me to have very fine control over the light intensity, feel free to comment if you disagree with some of the suggestions or if you got any more ideas, I am working on using LED strips to make lighting for my car repair videos, so anything i can learn from other youtubers is always helpful.
my husband is a sparky so no issue building it. but could you a put a foggy colour perspex over the top to soften the light like a soft box for photography.
I found the light to be very harsh and pretty much unusable without some sort of diffusing. Also the amount of LEDs used in your lights appear to be way more than what your suggested transformer can support, when I did it, the LEDs strobe by themselves.
Thank you for your video. My wife is just learning about LEDs and has been looking for how-to vids. Your presentation is very thorough and informative- she likes it!
Thank you sir. Almost bought expensive led panels. You saved my life.
+Andrew Chin Gr8 man! Thanks for taking the time to check out my Video :)
Brilliant run down. Considering how easy it is to build your own extremely powerful LEP lighting I am shocked the "professional" lighting manufacturers haven't significantly cut their markup.
Watched quite a few DIY bank light videos tonight, but this is easily the cheapest and most straight forward guide for LED light strips I've come across. Definitely looking into this for lighting in tight areas.
You just gave me a heck of an idea. I am going to build me 4 of these next week. Thanks for the video!
Nice idea with the cake tin, I'll be trying out a smaller version using those high power leds I think. Thanks for the video!
+Edd Cordero Sweet!
Nice. I will try your method. I like the 50/50 connector option
+Michael Jeter Sweet!
Starts at 6:34
Thanks for the info bro- Gotta get to amazon asap
hey great video! do you have a link for the clamps you are using? thank you!
I don't, I just had the here at the house. I took them off old lights Sorry :)
Criss angel?
lol I get that a lot here in Vegas :)
Really good tutorial!
+Nicole MW Just checked out some more of your Vids! Gr8 stuff!! one of my favs ruclips.net/video/qvbizGtAm7I/видео.html
Thank you!
:)
very cool video, the explanation of construction and applications are great, now i'll try to make my lights. Thx
what color of lights u used? (links of lights and dimmer are fallen, could you please re-post)
I used daylight color :) I also fixed the links in the description for the lights, hope that helps :)
Thanks, so much !
I really like the cake pan idea, I think I'll give that a try, except I'll put the strips directly on the metal, which will help dissipate the heat better. I'll be careful with the connections to be sure nothing shorts out.
Jim Matthews NICE! post a video for us to see it :)
las vegas video production service Parts are on order from China, Already picked up cookie sheets from the dollar store. I'll post the results in a few weeks.
Jim Matthews Awesome, very cool!
I haven't had a chance to complete it yet, give me another week or so.
this is awesome!
Thank you !
This is a good solution for long LED lights. Works on long pieces of reclaimed wood with plexiglass as diffuser.
still using them in 2021 :)
Do you know if they make the LED lights that will match a tungsten color temp?
+Big Family Homestead They do, the ones that just say white or soft white are basically tungsten, day light is white white :)
Very nice, my friend! But you did not explain how you conected the dimmer to the lamp.
Hi, these look great.
Could you comment on any Flicker issues please?
Also, is it possible to give an idea on how bright the lights are - like an approx. f-stop reading at a certain distance?
Many thanks
+ishoot stock i useed $4.93 Wireless Remote Control Mini Dimmer, its basically a capacitor
goo.gl/txmNKr
Would you show some samples of these light panels in use? Also would a diffuse be helpful on them or even barn doors?
Great video. I'm about to make these long ones to replace my 2 softbox/six clamp light chroma background lighting. My green screen is 8 x 8 feet. I'm.worried that the led strips will be too forward because I read that they've only a 30 degree forward beam. Do you think if I made two of these left and right 4 feet back from the screen would be enough?
Kindly share the link to the clamp you used to mount the light to the stand.
+Ayoola Ekunboyejo there just stage par light clamps, you can get at Guitar Center of DJ store, or ebay.. Here's a link to some on ebay: www.ebay.com/itm/Heavy-Duty-DJ-Lighting-Clamp-C-Clamp-for-Up-To-2-Truss-/391121273954?hash=item5b10a50462:g:sO8AAOSwpDdVNlgX
I built 2 panels from all the parts you listed. I used the wire clips instead of soldering. To prevent voltage drop I also got a DC female to 4 male power splitter and used the female connections that were provided with reels. It took about 3 reel per panel so I have and extra male connector open so I can daisy chain the panels together. My only problem is the lights are very cool in color and we having a difficult time white balancing. It's very rough on skin tones. Any advice?
+David W. Ryan Gels For Color & Brightness Control or even paper like a softbox and just use a little gaff tape to hold it in place, go to this link and at the bottom of the page look for Colour Temperature, and Gels For Colour & Brightness Control, you can go to taps plastic or google shop "light gel roll" gel rolls are like $3-$10+
www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar11/articles/light-fantastic.htm#Top
hope that helps :)
thanks, looking to build a set for myself. Your video gave me some ideas.
gr8! let me know how it comes out!
How did you mount the wood light boxes to stands? And how do you use three on one power supply and dimmer
+Matthew Mawson I used Par can clams that you can get at guitar century for like $6, then the power and pig tailed them with old Mic cords I had here at the house, but really you get better light if they all have there own power I have found out
Nice! Thanks man!!
If you are willing to wait a few weeks you can order very cheap LED lighting from China. Great tutorial! Thank you.
Thanks for checking it out, Alina!
You refer to the bracket used to mount your LED light box (4' long) to your light stand. You describe the cost between $4-$5 at Home Depot. I cannot find this bracket. Any chance you can clarify it's description or include a link to it? Otherwise, very helpful DIY. Thanks.
could you tell us about the controller options too, I'm guessing there are a lot of people like me looking at this stuff for stsge lighting for a band...
If I were to connect 4 of these rolls together, it looks like I would need to get the 12V 10A Power Supply. I'm not an electrician, is there any danger to feeding too many amps into the LED lights if they don't consume it all?
+Bobby Dragulescu , I'm not sure, I use a 12V 3.2A and a also us a 1200Ma universal ac adapter that works best, I also found that 12V laptop power supply works
do you need a separate power supply and controller for each light box?
+TheBrothersCompound You don't have to, But the lights will start dimming
You mentioned that you sometime use it for close-up shots. Purely video or dlsr shot as well? What is the throw distance and if you have used them for like headshots, any change of seeing the quality?
the cover photo for band, I used those lights, but mostly to light my green screen now: vegaseventphotographers.com
well done
Does this dimmer cause flickering? Especially when dimming the light down?
I can't really tell if it's a PWM or a voltage based dimmer by the description in Amazon.
Thanks
awesome video by the way
just a bit too harsch on audio editing.
***** thanks for checking it out! Actually it makes the flickering stop. Works great to stop it at full capacity.
las vegas video production service Thanks. This helps me out a lot.
I was already worried about a complicated circuit I would have to build do avoid flickering :)
***** If you use a voltage regulator in your circuit, it will stop the flickering all together. Then you can still add a dimmer to achieve different light values.
+Rob Cartwright what is a voltage regulator how does it look and how does it work?
i wanna know hot to build that thanks
Nice video man. Would 5630 lights be better than 5050
Best DIY led light panel video out there. Thank you.
I was thinking about making 6 foot panels instead of 4 foot.
Do I need 3 strips per panel then and how does that change with the power supply? Do I need more or is 5 amp still enough?
Any help is much appreciated.
How much would it cost me or you charge me to build a couple for me I'm a photographer looking for powerful light weight portable light sources
Hard to believe you can make something that good for that price
U know, Right? :)
Hi. How long did the glue hold on those cheap led lights last or are you still using them?
I just looked, the video was uploaded in Jan 2015 and I am still using them today, I did have to Re-Solder a few times in the las 5 years :)
Is it possible to buy ready to go thats LED panel?
ya you can get something like this www.eledlights.com/led-lamps-by-type/led-drop-ceiling-panel-lights/led-panel-lights-ceiling-lighting-panels/dimmable-2x4-led-panel-light-high-lumen.html?AdWords&Shopping&Regular&gclid=CLi_75HT3tMCFYJnfgodH24D6Q#.WQ-HT1KZOi4
Yeah probably for that one is cheaper made by myself. BTW thx for the link, I found the same price on AliExpress.
And you have awesome explanation that Chromakey is should be lighting as well as "item"... in Russia video reviews not anybody said about lighting chromakey.
1. ru.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-SMD5050-12V-flexible-light-60-leds-m-LED-strips-5m-lot-White-Blue-Green/1599651146.html?spm=2114.10010208.1000014.4.4VLUSz&traffic_analysisId=recommend_3035_null_null_null&scm=1007.13338.79672.000000000000000&pvid=6058572e-508d-440f-85d6-e0c02a16e700&tpp=1
found that one. You attached them on the Wood is it okay?
ps: I checked review from the buyers looks good. (I'll choose no waterproof)
2. So I'm 192 cm tall for whole chroma key lighting I need 2 m cases. I'll buy 20m of leds strip of Cold White color right?
3. Where did you get Aluminum cases? )
Excellent!
Thank you Stephen!
Again...love, love, love the video. Great job. Just one more question...how did you mount the lights vertical onto the stands? Did you mount a bracket on the back? I didn't see anything in the video. Thank you again for putting up the video and any suggestions or help.
cool lights. - LIKE -
+Hoan Lee Thank Hoan :)
i like the cooking pot once
thanks
+Aron Gatt $1 store even :)
Amazing work! W.o.w
But have a confusion ! What material you used for the light panels! Is it wood?
The big ones are made out of wood, the small one at the end of the video was made out of a $3 cake pan from Wall-mart with would backing :)
thanks, this will help me!
+3DPrintingEverything Sweet!!
How big is that cake pan?>
that one was a 14" $.99 store or wall-mart store pan
I never thought Tommy Lee would teach me something about video production
LOL! I always get Criss Angel, That is my first Tommy Lee :) I am in a band though, Fans of Jimmy Century @FOJCtv on RUclips
ruclips.net/user/fojctv
Very helpful thanks...
My wife kicked my ass, when I drilled her cake pan)))
NICE!!!
Geat vid! Did you glu the led on or how did you get them to stay in place? :-)
they are self adhesive, just pull the back paper off :)
R these day lite balance
they are yes :)
I brought some l.e.d lights with a dimmer and they flicker when dimmed lower than a 100% on camera. :/ Anyone know how to resolve this?
+TheBrothersCompound Look at this video of @DIY Perks build of LED light box, I this he fixed it :)
ruclips.net/video/jLia59KfkSw/видео.htmlm8s
im 4 minutes into the video and writing this comment. Its intended as constructive feedback so hopefully this helps.
first thing is the sound. it seems the mic is switching off and on all the time causing a weird effect when you stop and start talking, maybe increase the mic sensitivity or use it in a "always on" mode will probably help with that.
links in the description and prices are really helpful so, please keep up that information, just let us know what's the time of shooting so the viewers get an idea how long ago the prices you mention were correct.
Usually i find intros very helpful and its true that the intro of this video is helpful, but it feels like it drags on a bit too long. its 8 minutes now and im still waiting to see some footage showing "how to"
finally a small suggestion for others making this build, or a future attempt.
the dimmer is pretty cool, however i personally use PWM analogue modules which allow me to have very fine control over the light intensity,
feel free to comment if you disagree with some of the suggestions or if you got any more ideas, I am working on using LED strips to make lighting for my car repair videos, so anything i can learn from other youtubers is always helpful.
Thanks Tuga2112! I love feedback and have taken note :)
cool
Thank you Andrey!
Not bad at all..
why 5050 and not 3014 or 5630 ?
it was my 1st build and the 50/50 were on sale :)
my husband is a sparky so no issue building it. but could you a put a foggy colour perspex over the top to soften the light like a soft box for photography.
+Jessica Clifton yes or ever paper, these light put out very little heat
I found the light to be very harsh and pretty much unusable without some sort of diffusing. Also the amount of LEDs used in your lights appear to be way more than what your suggested transformer can support, when I did it, the LEDs strobe by themselves.
play from 6:50. too much talk
Why do you say uhh and umm so much?
They are my fav :)