Five Fantastic Key Lights for Every Budget Now Available on the Market

Get ready to light up your world with our top five favorite key lights, complete with diffusion materials, for every budget range! As a cinematographer, mastering the key light is crucial, and with so many fixtures on the market, you can find the perfect one for your budget.

Starting with no budget, we have the sun with diffusion from a 5-in-1 reflector. It’s the brightest and most readily available light source, and it’s free! Need to diffuse it? No problem, just pull out the circular diffusion from your reflector kit and voila!

For an ultra-low budget option, we recommend the Dracast 1000 series of lights. They’re affordable, powerful, and easy to work with. We’ve had one in our kit for over four years and constantly use it as a key light.

Moving up to a low budget, we have the Aputure 300D or Astra 6x. These LED fixtures are surprisingly bright and efficient, and perfect for pushing through thicker diffusion materials. Bounce them into a reflective material like an ultrabounce to soften up the light.

For a mid-budget option, we’re excited about the Gemini 1×1. It’s a powerful light that travels well and doesn’t take up too much space in your baggage. Soften the appearance on talent’s faces by putting the light through a 4×4 frame of 250 diffusion.

Finally, for a full budget option, we recommend the ARRI SkyPanel S60. It’s our absolute favorite fixture for a key light, with an amazingly bright output and a wide range of features. Put it through a 6×6 frame of LT Grid for the most beautiful key light.

No matter your budget, there’s a key light out there for you. So light up your scene and make it shine!