Plasma. It's the most common form of matter in the universe. Yet, many of us
don't see it in consumer products, unless it's in fluorescent lights, neon
signs, or those little lightning ball knickknacks you can get in the mall. But
what exactly is this stuff? Well, plasma is similar to ordinary gas, but the
difference is it's been ionized, meaning that the individual atoms or molecules
in the gas have been given an electrical charge by applying an outside energy
source to it, such as heat or electromagnetic radiation. Because
plasmas are energized in this way, their atoms can emit light by a similar
process to lasers. You can learn more about how energized atoms give off light
in this video. But unlike laser light, which relies on additional equipment to
form a narrow beam, many plasma light sources are useful for illuminating
large areas. Whether it's a warehouse filled with fluorescent lights, a city
lit by a lightning bolt, or even the entire Earth, since the sun also uses
plasma to produce light. But a new crop of plasma lamps has opened up a whole
new use for plasma light and is stealing headlines in the photography world. For
someone like me, proper lighting is extremely important. Whether I'm
shooting an episode of Linus Tech Tips or still photos of our team members in
the office. And getting my lighting setup exactly right can be a bit tricky.
Plasma lamps though are trying to mitigate problems that have faced photographers and cinematographers for
years. One big issue that we regularly contend with is flicker. You see, all
artificial light sources flicker to some degree, including popular HMI flood
lights widely used in the film industry, often due to the alternating current
that powers them when you plug them into a wall. And even though a typical
flicker rate of 120 times per second or
120 hertz is imperceptible to the naked eye, it can be a huge problem when
shooting in slow motion or at a very high frame rate, as the camera will
easily make this flicker visible. Plasma lamps though attempt to solve this
problem by converting argon gas into a plasma. Because of argon's chemical
properties, it flickers at such a high rate, hundreds of millions of times per
second, that the light it produces is flicker-free for video shoots in absurd
frame rates that can expose flickering in other light sources like LEDs. Plasma
lamps are also more neutral in color than many other kinds of bulbs, not
unlike direct sunlight, which tends to illuminate everything without giving any
noticeable color shift. Although lights like CFLs and LEDs often give objects a
slightly green or magenta shift, plasma lamps are full spectrum so that the
colors can be filmed very accurately. And because plasma lamps use radio waves
instead of heat to produce their light, they're also very power efficient,
especially important since many kinds of professional lights are notorious energy
hogs. So, if you are serious about shooting video or even stills, plasma
lamps might be a good idea for you, especially if you don't want your boss
to freak out about the power bill. Speaking of plasma lighting, Hive
Lighting, they're a leading plasma lighting manufacturer based out of the
US for all your production needs. They have three different fixtures that can
be used in many versatile ways, from theater production on stage to the
lighting we used for this video. The Loss, which is our fixture of choice, is
one of the most low power draw lights I've ever used, coming in at a mere 273
watts and giving me the output of an incandescent light that could easily
draw six times more power, which makes it nice on the office power when I
accidentally leave lights
on. Is this thing on? That's actually still not okay. I don't care how
efficient it is. So, thank you guys for watching. And if
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a like. And while you're at it, check out the Channel Super Fun video where
Taran was pranked for nearly a year. It's really funny. Comment down below if
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