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HI, today is the 2 of September
and again there is a sunny day in Berlin.
My name is Ricardo and in this video
I'm going to make a portable LED light.
Lighting is a fundamental aspect of video production.
Without light there is no image
and with poor light the image has too much noise.
The main natural source of light is the sun.
And outdoor shots in sunny or
cloudy days always have a good range of light.
Indoor we need to use artificial lighting.
This allows to get better details,
add lights and shades,
and have a better control over the aspect of the image
Usually, the lights for video are big, costly,
and need connection to the electricity
This portable light is small, light,
and doesn't need a power point.
It is easy to make
and its parts can be found
in any local hardware store.
OK, that's enough introduction
now Hands-on!
To make this lamp
we need the following parts:
one 9V battery with snap connector and cables
24 white LED of 5mm
4 resistors calculated for 9V and type of LED we are using.
one small switch
5 sections of wire, 3 of 15cm and 2 of 35cm
2 Velcro points
3 sections of double-sided tape
one standard 1/4" nut
7 sections of aluminium foil
insulating tape
one transparent container that will serve
as casing for the LEDs.
If you change the battery for
one of 1.5 or 3V, you should calculate again the resistors.
In this website you can find out the one you need.
In this case I'm going to use
one with the colour code:
gold, brown, grey, blue.
All parts should'n cost more than €10.
Now, the tools:
one rotary tool
one electric welding station
one utility knife
a pair of pliers
one permanent marker.
With everything ready, we can start making the light.
1. Draw on the casing a 6x4 grid
to locate our 24 LEDS
2. Stick inside of the casing the sections of aluminium foil
to reflect the back light of the LEDs
3. Peel the plastic sheathing from the wires
and prepare 5 short copper wires and 4 long wires.
4. Drill the casing with a bit of the same diameter than the legs of the LEDs
and make the holes for the resitors.
5. Assemble the first line of LEDs and their resitor.
The longest leg of a LED is positive
and its location should coincide with the resistor.
The resistor has also to be assembled correctly.
The gold-side leg will be connected to the LED
and the blue-side leg to the battery.
6. Wire together all the positive legs and the resitor with the short copper wires
and all the negative legs with the long copper wires.
7. Weld all the joins.
8. Trim off the ends of the LEDs.
9. Repeat the process from step 5 on to the other three LEDs lines.
The hardest part of the job is done!
Now we need to assemble the switch and the battery to complete the circuit.
10. Stick the switch on the casing.
and wire one leg to all the blue-side legs of the resistors.
11. Stick the velcro points to the battery and the casing.
12. Connect the positive terminal of the battery to the switch
and the negative terminal to the negative leg of the LEDs
13. Finally, I made a 1/4" hole to
assemble the light to any tripod or light stand using the nut.
Great! We are ready with our light,
now it is time to test it.
For these tests I'm going to use
the camera of a Sony Xperia mini pro and three lights.
Until next time