The CHEAPEST Lantern Setup For Filmmakers
Lanterns are a great tool for create soft and omnidirectional sources for your film’s lighting! The globe shape of a lantern offers soft 360 degree lighting, they can help add general light to spaces, and they create really round catch lights in the talent’s eye, which always looks beautiful! Plus they are able to be used as part of your set’s design as a practical light source that is visually appealing. And best of all, you can make your own lantern kit for cheap, perfect for micro budget cinematography needs!
For the purpose of this guide, I wanted to get the lantern setup as cheap as possible, so I chose my parts with a roughly $35 budget.
- A decorative paper lantern that is 24 inches across, you can get them bigger or smaller to fit your needs. Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3O2Z9OW (20 inch model)
- An E26 bulb to outlet cable, sometimes called a hanging lantern extension. Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/41sAR3U
- A E26 bulb – incandescent or LED bulb. if you’re using the latter, watch out for your CRI. Affiliate links: LED – https://amzn.to/3O2iGPb Incandescent – https://amzn.to/3I3zlyl (If you want better color results, the Aputure B7c is a socket LED with RGBWW and high CRI. Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3BgIfEy )
You can get pre-packaged kits, but I usually prefer customizing to my needs. This entire setup will cost around $35, but depending on your sources and scale, could be even less per lantern setup!
Now to assemble and set it up:
- Open the lantern, the come flat.
- Fully expanded the lantern by using the wireframe. Try to not puncture the paper.
- Attach your bulb of choice to the socket cable.
- Finally, thread the bulb on the cable into the middle of the lantern and use the cable clamp to hold the cable in place. These clamps are flimsy, I usually actually hold it with a clothes pin of other small spring clamp.
- Now you’re ready to hang it on a C-stand or attack it overhead in some other way. BE SURE TO USE A SAFETY CABLE! Make sure to also weigh your stand, or use appropriate tiedowns and safety tools for however it is attached, especially if it is above people!
This entire setup will cost you around $35 and takes about 3 minutes to assemble. It is cheap and quick, and it can be thrown into a light kit in case you need just a little more exposure and a practical source can provide it for your shot.
The cons of this setup are:
- Paper can rip, easily.
- The bulb can be tricky to get into the exact center.
- You’re limited to the output of a single bulb, unless you use something like a bulb splitter, but that can change the light’s shape.
- With a single bulb the light falls off quite quickly. When compared to the Aputure Lantern and a GVM P80s lamp, this setup has 10% of the light output, making it less good for keying, but excellent for production design.
All together, the cost, flexibility, and the benefits of being able to use it as a practical as well make this not only the CHEAPEST lantern setup, but also something I think that is easy to have in your lighting kit to pull out when you need it.
Watch the video for examples of the paper lantern used for various lighting configurations, and keep an eye out for an upcoming video about my FAVORITE lantern setup that is relatively affordable and very convenient!
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AFFILIATE LINKS TO PRODUCTS DISCUSSED & THAT I USE:
- Paper Lantern Multi-Size Pack: https://amzn.to/42uyRcH
- Paper Lantern 20 Inch 3 Pack: https://amzn.to/3O2Z9OW
- Hanging Lantern Socket Cable 2 Pack: https://amzn.to/41sAR3U
- 90+ CRI LED Bulbs: https://amzn.to/3O2iGPb
- Aputure B7C LED RGBWW Socket Bulb Replacement: https://amzn.to/3BgIfEy
- Dimmable Incandescent Bulbs: https://amzn.to/3I3zlyl
- GVM 80 LED Monolight: https://amzn.to/3Kh8AGv
- Aputure Fesnel: https://amzn.to/3BgvPgb (My Thoughts: youtube.com/watch?v=NV_d8avKE70)
- Get Yourself A Light Meter!: https://amzn.to/3AKa1tG
- Color Checker For Consistent Shots: https://amzn.to/3AjuJPK
- Affordable Softbox I Love – https://amzn.to/3AMLrIY
- Impact Safety Cables – https://amzn.to/3TfGKhF
- Ursa Mini Pro: https://amzn.to/3PLwquT
- Rokinon Cine 35mm AF – https://amzn.to/41sg6VR
- Impact C-stands – https://amzn.to/3Ao1bjR
- Core Batteries: https://amzn.to/3TgHsLS