Top 7 Best Streaming Lights in 2022

The best streaming lights

Have troubles with the coloring of your stream? Improve your streaming quality with lighting setups.

When creating the perfect stream arrangement, the lighting aspect is often overlooked. The truth is that lighting plays a crucial part in ensuring a stable and professional-quality stream. Without the proper lighting, your streaming is likely to suffer. The online streaming experience is enjoyable and doesn’t need expensive equipment to make it fun. However, having the proper lighting for streaming definitely helps.

If you’re considering starting live streaming or are an existent streamer via Twitch, Facebook, YouTube, or any other platform, including gaming, having a dedicated lighting system for streaming is essential. Lighting is among the critical elements needed for the success of live streaming. Even if you have plenty of natural light within the recording studio, you must put money into lighting devices. If you’re lacking lighting, your stream could be a bit off-color since your camera or webcam struggle to use the light available.

In the end, no amount of light can make a camera look great. But, obtaining the right lights for streaming is a sure way to ensure the best performance from your camera. So look no further! We have sorted that out for you. In this article, we have selected our top picks for the best streaming lights to help make your streaming experience better.

Best overall

Elgato Key Light Air is an excellent choice for close-range illumination as it is designed to be mounted on a desk. It also allows to alter color temperature between 2900K and 7000K, and the highest output is around 1,400 lumens.

You can control the Elgato key via WiFi using your smartphone. You can control the device individually using iOS and Android or your Mac or PC desktop. In addition to your Control Center software or smartphone, Key Light Air is also compatible with Elgato’s Stream Deck.

Although you can connect multiple light sources with the identical control, what’s not available is the ability to save your profiles across apps like Mac, PC, and smartphone applications, which could be helpful to deal with various lighting conditions.

Best under $200

Elgato Key Light is a top-quality light that any streamer needs as part of their setup. It’s one of the most efficient lights concerning performance and versatility. The light comes with a power supply and a steel desk mount. It’s ideal for streaming because it’s simple to control with your phone or laptop.

Elgato stream light allows you to alter the color temperature between 2900K and 7000K with a maximum output of 2,800 lumens.

Opal’s glass surface provides even lighting, which means that you won’t have to worry about reflections in your video. It comprises 160n OSRAM premium LEDs with multi-layer diffusion technology that provides impressive light.

The panel height can be adjusted to suit your preference. It ranges from 26 inches to 38-inch. You can also put it on your desk and utilize the numerous close-range lighting customization options available.

You’ll need Elgato’s Control Center software or the Elgato Stream Deck application for your phone to control the streaming light. You can also get the Physical version Elgato Stream Deck. If you own one, it will be possible to change the Key Light on and off at the touch of one button.

Best for game streaming

Dazzne D50 is a desk mount video light with a 15.4 inches super-lighting panel with a 120° beam angle, extremely bright and customizable color temperature ranges of 3000K to 8000K, 45W high-quality bulbs; and adjustable brightness from 0% to 100%.

Each light comes with a light mounting, a long-extending light stand, as well as an electrical brick that plugs directly into the wall socket. The stand that comes together with Dazzne’s D50 lighting needs a couple of inches of space between desks and walls, which is essential to note. If you’re limited in space in your home, this might be a problem. 

Each light comes with a 2.5″ screen to the rear, clearly showing the current setting. Under the screen, there are several buttons and an adjustable knob. These buttons let you adjust the channel, group, and control mode. They also allow quick brightness adjustment. 

The one thing that we encountered during our testing was the Dazzne D50 light sometimes fail to turn on when you first start them up. Even when the selected setting is saved and displayed on the screen, the lights are less bright than they ought to be. For the settings to be correctly applied, you need to adjust the brightness setting to another value then change back to the preferred amount.

Best affordable

Ruyilam’s LED ring light comes with 48 LED chips within the light. It offers three different colors of light: Cool White, Warm Natural, and White. The color temperature range is between 3200K to 6500K, giving you the most beautiful skin tones in the video.

This ring light can be adjusted to 10 distinct bright levels without shadow and no glare, making it an ideal option for video conference, distance learning, online conference or reading a book throughout your day.

The ring light is equipped with a small clip and sturdy tripod; the clip is light and does not cause harm to your monitors. It’s ideal for use on smaller than 0.6-inch screens, including laptops. You can also use an adjustable tripod for help if you want. It is possible to mount the light on the tripod, place it in a close or far position, or set it on a non-smooth or smooth surface. 

You can also alter the light settings using the wire controller. The USB cable’s length is up to 2m/6.56ft. The video conference lighting kit comes with one video light, one clip mount, 1tripod, one user guide.

Best ring light

UBeesize LED Ring Light offers  30 lighting options, adjustable brightness from 1 to 100%, and warm or cool white color light mode.

The ring light comes with the most recent design with an LCD touchpad on the front that lets you select the setting and a 50” expandable tripod stand to create the ideal angle. In addition, you can remotely take selfies or record videos with your Bluetooth control. Note that it can’t be powered by a USB cable.

The package contains one 10-inch ring light, one universal mount clamp, one AC/DC adapter, one tripod stand,  one Bluetooth remote, and one smartphone holder.

Best light kit

The LED panel light comes with an up/down button, 1/4 universal ball head that can be adjusted 180% to meet your various needs for shooting angles, and cable control brightness from 10 to 100%.

It is appropriate for YouTube videos such as video conferences, product photography, and online classes. It’s the perfect lighting kit for studios and lighting for photos +video, utilized in conjunction with various desktop studios’ basic lighting kits for photography and video production.  

UBeesize LED video light for desktop mounted on a tripod is equipped with color filters: red, orange, white, and blue. 

All USB ports can provide power to the task light that can offer continuous illumination for your subject in various situations. It is possible to plug it into the desktop computer, move the plug around, etc.

Best premium

The video light offers eight different lighting effects and two output options: the first is in which the color temperature ranges between 3200K to 5600K. The second option lets you alter the hue output and saturation of blue, green, and red from 0 to 100%. 

It comprises  84 RGB beads and 168 LED beads, made to work with by the American Chip, and has an estimated lifespan of 100000 hours. It is designed using aerospace aluminum alloy casing to allow the LED light to disperse heat better. LED Panel light has two different modes of power. You can utilize an AC adapter and Sony F750/970 batteries (not provided) to control the light outdoor or indoors.

It allows you to adapt to the current environment using a knob quickly. You can also use its  Mobile App control function and download the GVM app from the most popular store for apps (such as Apple Store/ Google Play. Etc. ). This way, you can easily control the precise temperature and color you want. However, only limited actions can be performed in the GVM app because it’s based on a single connection Bluetooth which means that trying to control multiple lights with the app is impossible. It is necessary to disconnect one light and then manually pair the app to another light.

What to look for in a good streaming light

While many people instantly think of gamers who play on PS4 or PC when they think of streaming, there are different types of streaming, like makeup tutorials, ASMR enthusiasts, Nintendo Switch streaming, and a lot more. Many artists are using streams to show their creativity.

The possibilities of streaming media are limitless. The most innovative streaming media is experimenting with many kinds of streaming to find the perfect fit. Of course, each stream requires completely different lighting configurations. Although the players are usually focused on the game, some live broadcasters need the viewers to be focused on the whole live stream.

In such cases, streamers could think about employing professional photographic lighting equipment instead of the traditional LED bulbs, or Ring lights favored by most game streamers.

Good lighting is crucial for the stream to appear professional. Don’t simply choose the first light you find. Instead, you should look for streaming lights that meet your requirements.

But how do you tell what to be looking for?

We’ve got you covered. Here’s a checklist of things to consider when choosing the best lights for your stream:

Types of stream lights

There are two kinds of light sources: softbox and desktop lighting. The fundamental principle of the softbox‘s function is to confine the light from LED bulbs within a sealed space and then release it via at least one diffuse material. When light from LED bulbs enters the transparent material, it scatters across a vast area.

The application of a softbox can be separated into two categories, one being Key Light as the primary light source. Fill light to provide a second light source to decrease contrast. You can use any light source to the fill or key, but filling it with intense light will result in poor results. However, softboxes work well for filling light as they do not create sharp shadows. Softboxes are currently made from light materials and come in various sizes.

Size is the main difference between a light source for a softbox and desk lighting. Typically the softbox lights are utilized for taking photographs and consume a significant amount of space in a studio. In contrast, Desktop lighting is simple to place on the desk as it is a ring-shaped LED or fixed on webcams. For example, if you are working in a smaller space, softbox lighting can help save lots of money and make it easier to set up.

Watts  

Powerful lights are an essential component of every streamer’s kit. You can purchase the cheapest lighting, but is that improving your existing lighting? Most likely not.

If you need good lighting, you require strong devices. To determine the lights that will enhance your video, look at two distinct segments: Watt and the lumen.

Let’s start by talking about watts.

There’s no standard when regards to how powerful the lighting options are. They can range between 50 and 10,000 Watts. Assuming you’re not attempting to recreate the sun’s light, then you won’t require the most powerful lights on the market. An excellent place to begin is searching for something between 500 and 1,000 watts.

Lumens  

Many new streamers don’t realize that watts aren’t the only factor that can indicate the brightness of the light source. Instead, it’s a measure of the amount of energy the light source is consuming.

If you’re asking what kind of measurement we’re looking for, then the answer is the lumen. It’s a term that you need to be aware of when you’re looking for lighting that will stream through your setup.

How do lumens and watts measure up?

Imagine it this way: A typical 60-watt incandescent light bulb is equivalent to 800 lumens.

Make sure to note the fact that this test is restricted to general use only. When you’re searching for a lighting option that streams and something different, be sure to check the watts and lumens separately.

Color temperature  

The lighting kits used for streaming video vary in many things. One of the main aspects to consider is the color temperature of the light. The light can appear cooler or warmer on the screen based on the bulb type. Human eyes can detect this difference as well.

Let’s take a look at an example. Compare cool fluorescent lights in a doctor’s workplace to an inviting living room. The former is more light blue or white tones, while the latter appears more yellowish. This is the concept behind color temperature measured on an incline of Kelvin. It’s one of the primary aspects to consider when designing your lighting setup to stream.

To provide you with an understanding of how various color temperatures function, let’s look at some of them below. Let’s begin with 1000K. This is a dark orange tone visible in the light of a candle. The next one is 4000K, the typical color of an incandescent bulb used in the home. A temperature of 10000K represents sky blue. The majority of streamers utilize close to 5000K, the color of direct sunlight.

Brightness  

The most effective lighting for streaming video usually allows you to alter the brightness to what you like. These devices can help elevate your streams to the next level by allowing you to adjust the brightness by hand.

Each product comes with different brightness levels, but generally, they range between 10 and 100 and can be changed by 10.

Rotation  

The majority of people stream in tiny spaces. Whether you stream in an office or living area, there is a good chance you could benefit from any additional space that you can get.

Therefore, it is likely that you won’t have enough room to move your lights around.

Additionally, it’s nearly impossible to adjust the light in a less than 90 degrees position and still achieve the angle you desire.

Exactly why, when you are building your space, you might prefer to search for a light that can rotate or is simple to move around. It’s the best method to ensure you’re getting the perfect angle, even in the smallest of spaces.

Additionally, if you have to change your lighting when you stream live, moving your entire setup is unnecessary. You can easily rotate it and continue to live stream.

Stand  

Stands are another aspect to think about when buying a light to stream.

They are available in different dimensions and designs, and choosing something compatible with your space is crucial. For instance, colossal lighting won’t work for streaming into a small area.

Sometimes, a smaller webcam light may be the best option based on the size of the space.

Some lights come without a stand, so you’ll have to connect the lights to something. Some come with the option of desk clamps. When deciding on the light, you’d like to buy, think about how flexible you want the light stand to become.

Price  

A good lighting system for streaming is essential to making the most of your YouTube and Twitch career. It’s crucial to select an affordable product that will improve your level.

The best part is that these bulbs are accessible in various price ranges.

Finding items that you’ll love shouldn’t be difficult if you’re willing to shell out $25 or $150.

If you decide that you don’t need to spend on a device, you should not just select any device within the price range. If you look at the specifications and other information, you’ll be able to determine the most affordable lighting kit to stream video out of the various options.

FAQ

Final verdict

Lighting is an excellent addition to any streaming video. You should choose something flexible, practical, and small enough to be compatible with your lighting setup. In today’s market, many reasonable and affordable lighting options are available. Like we said, each lighting option mentioned above can be the best choice for live streamer setup or video broadcasting. Our top pick is Elgato Key Light Air; you can select the one that meets your need.