DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Use these $15 LED lights to add a rainbow of color to your shots

Jul 5, 2018 by Dunja Djudjic 3 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

If you’re looking for a super-cheap RGB setup for your photos and videos, here’s an interesting video for you. Caleb Pike of DSLR Video Shooter has found a set of DJ lights for only $15 per piece. They produce a wide range of colors, they’re dimmable and you can also use a controller to set the colors and the brightness. Check out the video to see them in action.

Caleb paid $15 for each of the lights as he bought four of them for $60. The cheapest price for a single light is $18, which is still ridiculously cheap.

With low price come some quirks – and one of them is that these lights have switches instead of dials. Different combinations will give you different colors and brightness. There’s even an option for the light to hear the beats of music and then flash to the beats, but I doubt you’ll find that useful in photography or video. You can try it out when you throw a party, though.

As you turn the switches on and off, the colors will change, and you can experiment with the switches and see what you’ll get. But here are the basic combinations to get red, green and blue:

You can attach the light to the ceiling or use a Rapid Baby Adapter to mount it to a standard light stand. This way you can set it up at whichever angle you want.

The lights come with DMX inputs and outputs, which means you can use a cheap controller to control them. This gives you a lot more options and allows fine tuning of brightness and colors. Make sure to watch the video to see how it works and what it looks like. You can get a controller for around $50 if you don’t already own one, but if you want to keep the setup cheap, then you can just go with the switches.

Keep in mind that mixing two colors won’t give you the perfectly mixed third color. For example, if you turn on the blue and the red lights, both colors will be visible if the light is close to the surface. But adding some diffusion in front of the light should deal with this and give you the purple light.

Although these lights aren’t the highest-quality ones you can find, they still give you plenty of options for both photography and video. If you’re on a tight budget, I believe this can be a great solution for creating a cheap, yet effective RGB setup.

[$15 RGB LED Light for Videos and photos! | DSLR Video Shooter]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Use coloured LED lights instead of gels to add vibrant colour to your shots Use Color Burn and Color Dodge to quickly add color and contrast to your photos Westcott’s new Flex Cine lights add full RGB colour to their flexible LED lighting range Easily Add DIY Rainbow-Colored Flames to Your Next Shoot with Simple Household Products

Filed Under: Gear Tagged With: Caleb Pike, cheap, diy lighting, DSLR Video Shooter, LED Light, lights, rgb

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« The basics of tilt-shift lenses and how you can use them in your photography
Become a drone flying master with these 5 simple tips »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Sony’s ZV-E1 is a cut-down FX3 in a vlogging form factor
  • Watch: How good (or bad) is an $8.50 tripod?
  • How to light and photograph Lego building interiors
  • Lighting Setup: How to light your portraits with £50 LED tubes
  • Review: Insta360 announces its first gimbal – The AI-tracking Insta360 Flow

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy