# Vacant House, no power: How to light it up to Record Video?



## elderlu (Sep 5, 2012)

Don't rag on my camera too bad  but I use a simple point and shoot Canon PowerShot ELPH 500 HS to create video tours of houses I sell. It works really well, as long as the power is on in the house! However, many times these homes are empty and the electricity is off or the light fixtures are missing altogether so there is no light aside from what comes in from outside. Hence I end up with a very dark room thus making it difficult to see much in the video. 


To compensate I currently carry my handy dandy Cooper Lighting Might-D-Light 80 LED 15-Watt Folding Work Light around the house with me to light up each room as I shoot the video. It lights pretty consistently and evenly but only in a small area so I wonder if there is something better I can use?


I need something battery powered, handheld, and BRIGHT. I'd like to light up the entire room with whatever I get so that it appears that I'm filming a house with power on if that's even possible--LED i presume is the way to go, but I don't know what type of light to get.


Any suggestions?


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## Big Mike (Sep 5, 2012)

Welcome to the forum.

One way would be to have the light at the camera position, maybe even attached, so that whatever the camera is pointed at, is illuminated by the light.  It won't look very natural but it should show the details of the house.

Another way, would be to get a very powerful flashlight and point it to spots where a lamp or light fixture might be.  In other words, bound the light off of the ceiling and/or wall.  It should give the room a similar light to actually having the lights on.  Of course, many rooms have more than one light source, so you may need more than one flashlight.
A quick search turned up this Blue Max Marine 2 Million Candlepower Rechargeable Spotlight: Camping : Walmart.com

You could also get a generator or a battery with an inverter and just bring along some lamps.  You can find cheap lamps at Wal-mart or IKEA.


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## elderlu (Sep 5, 2012)

That's good advice for what I wrote, but I misspoke so let me clarify: I don't want the "lamp" look. I want the "this room is full of light wherever I go" look.  I also have a spotlight like the one you suggested but it just puts a large SUPER bright blob on the wall that the camera doesn't know what to do with. I shine it to the side a bit and it works but it just doesn't look nice.

It would be great to have the same affect that a Flash would, but with video.  Is this even remotely possible?

It also needs to be portable with a battery--no generators or car batteries please.  Wouldn't an LED light work fine for this?

Lastly, the camera-mounted option isn't possible because I use a steadicam that isn't cable of handling any additional weight.

Thanks!


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## elderlu (Oct 14, 2015)

elderlu said:


> That's good advice for what I wrote, but I misspoke so let me clarify: I don't want the "lamp" look. I want the "this room is full of light wherever I go" look.  I also have a spotlight like the one you suggested but it just puts a large SUPER bright blob on the wall that the camera doesn't know what to do with. I shine it to the side a bit and it works but it just doesn't look nice.
> 
> It would be great to have the same affect that a Flash would, but with video.  Is this even remotely possible?
> 
> ...



It's been 3 years since my original post and I'm still searching for a good answer on this.  I want to evenly disburse the light in the room as I walk around.  Maybe there's something I can place in front of my LED Spotlight I've purchased to make the light distribute more evenly?


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## tirediron (Oct 14, 2015)

The only way I can think to that would be to use a portable generator to power something like a series of Kino Flo light banks.  Expensive, but it will do what you want.


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## elderlu (Oct 15, 2015)

tirediron said:


> The only way I can think to that would be to use a portable generator to power something like a series of Kino Flo light banks.  Expensive, but it will do what you want.



Is there anything that could maybe fit over the light to make the light spread out more evenly? It doesn't have to be perfect,, just a brighter room rather than a spot light effect.


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## tirediron (Oct 15, 2015)

You can make almost any size diffusion panel you want using PVC pipe & fittings and white ripstop nylon.  Cheap & cheerful.


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## MartinCrabtree (Oct 15, 2015)

2 lamps bounced off large white posterboard for diffusion placed strategically.


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