best lighting incandescent, halogen or fluorescent?

[Electric Rider]

I use a logitech C510 webcam to make videos. I have been 'playing', learning to use it and the editing software. I need to make some serious videos for youtube and I want better lighting, on a tight budget.

I need lighting that works well with a greenscreen so two lights to the sides and slightly behind the camera and one for the backlight and help to erase shadows from the greenscreen.

I know people say incandescent is the worst.

What about halogen or fluorescent? How do they compare?

What about lights that provide True daylight or the new curly type lights?

I could go with halogen work lights and have two 500 watt on the sides and a 250 for the backlight - this would be plenty of light but I don't know if my condo can handle the power, so I need either incandescent or fluorescent for backup choices.

[budwzr]

The difference is called temperature, or "cool" to "warm", or red to blue, they all mean the same thing. The Temperature affects how white looks. So if you understand "white balance" and how to change it in the software, or on the camera, then it doesn't really matter, unless the lighting is part of an overall effect or look that you want to impart.

Incandescent = warm
Florescent = cool

[Electric Rider]

Thanks for the answer. Yeah I'm reading all I can about the white balance because some people say you must adjust the white balance manually for the good greenscreen effect. Er.. one of these guys also insists you need 1000 dollar software for the greenscreen, so I doubt he knows what he's talking about. He also insists you need 2000 watts of lighting. Hard to know who best to get advice from when people act flaky.

I could use flood lights then in clip on type utility lamps cus they are cheap and throw lots of light. Cheaper than the work lights with the 500 w halogen bulbs and better than small bulbs.

I was not impressed with the C510 software. I don't know if it has white balance features but I'm sure the camera itself can do it if I can find the right software.

[JimJohnD]

I've been moving more to fluorescent. Halogen gets hot to work with after a short period of time. They also take more power. If you go fluorescent you will want to make sure you get the same temp bulbs for all of your fixtures. Green-screen is all about even lighting. Most software allows you to use a color picker to actually choose what color is being keyed. Keeping everything even will help pull the best key because you are not killing edge details while trying to 'clean-up' poorly lit areas. For the green-screen you might consider using 4'ft bulbs in a dual-bulb fixture mounted vertically to a light stand on each side. The single curly bulbs create pools of light on all but the smallest screens. If you can fit one in your setup, a single curly placed above and behind the talent/object will help reduce green spill on your edges. Fluorescent bulbs have a softer light than halogen. Just remember that the farther away a light source is the harder the shadows become.

If you are using the same lighting setup you can use whatever white-balance looks best to you without needing any/too much post processing. Otherwise it is best to always use a custom WB each time the lighting changes. Even outdoors on a partly cloudy day the color temp of the sunlight will change. By making the custom WB all of your shots will look the same and can be cut together without jarring color shifts.

[julitomg]

First of all, halogen (and tungsten) is a kind of incandescent lighting. Also you don´t mention LED lighting (although most LED lamps for video are still expensive)
On a tight budget I find energy saving fluorescent light bulbs (the kind you can screw in a comon socket) quite acceptable. You can even find them in "warm" tone (as opposed to "white" or "daylight" )...the warm ones will not match exactly the usual tungsten color temp. (3200-3400) but at around 2900 or so, are actually "warmer" in hue.
If you choose the halogen worklights..I think you´re considering a rather higher wattage than needed, as you already have thought you could run into problems with your electric installation and most modern camcorders, digital cameras (and I suppose web cams even when I don´t have much experience using them the way yo want) don´t need that much. Also, such arrangement will surely produce lots of heat.
Try to learn as much as possible about pro lighting techniques. I see a lot of people around that buy the type of lamps you are considering thinking they´ll magically produce "pro" results, when the secret lies more in the way you control the light (instead of what kind of light you use), for example the use of barndoors, flags or surfaces to reflect light (search in youtube and you´ll find several DIY videos about making cheap custom barndoors for worklights for example, or softboxes, not to mention greenscreen techniques)

[redwudz]

Long tube fluorescents are the most economical for their light output. I use four eight foot bulbs in my garage and it's like daylight. You can get the longer fixtures and tubes at Home Depot or similar for about $35US for each two tube fixture and about $4 for each tube. Very even light output and long life.

[Electric Rider]

Thanks again folks. I'm reading and watching videos of anything I can get my hands on related to making good webcam videos. I have read other folks say how you place the lights for greenscreen can be more important than the type of lights used, as long as the lighting is even. I don't actually have the greenscreen yet, getting it this week sometime. The area that needs to be screened is just the small area in the background behind me as i'm sitting at a desk so the screen won't have to be very large. I do already have two clamp type lights with 90 watt halogen flood lights in them, and I'm going to try these to illuminate the screen first and see what results I get. It's funny what you find at the bottom of a closet you haven't cleaned in years. LOL

If these don't work out, I'll get some larger fluorescents on each side to try. I have no idea if i'm going to need or have reason to make use of reflectors yet.

For my key light I plan to use a 13 (60 w strength) size curly type with another for the fill, that's more defused than the key. Since they are going to be close and don't have to light up a large area, just my chest upwards, I think I can get away with the small bulbs. I haven't decided on my back light yet. This guy The Frugal Filmmaker uses small bulbs in clamp lights and it works well for him. http://www.youtube.com/user/thefrugalfilmmaker#p/u/19/d5uybmobdFY

I'm 43 years old and here I am learning about using makeup for men! (shiny spots) Boy is my wife gonna tease me about this hobby. If i'm lucky I can solve most of these shiny problems with good light positioning.

[pandy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_rendering_index