June 2014
www.tvbeurope.com
TVBEurope 41 Camera and Lighting Focus
ARRI’s new Fresnal LEDs include the LoCaster 2 Plus and BroadCaster 2 Plus, both boasting more than 35 per cent increased luminance over previous releases. Weighing 2lbs, the Locaster 2 Plus ($1,535) serves mobile applications and features the ability to continuously adjust the CCT from 2,600-6,500K and full plus or minus green correction. The BroadCaster 2 Plus ($1,490) is targeted at lighting tight spots in small and medium- sized studios. ARRI also has a L5 LED in Fresnel format which it says is 45 per cent brighter than a 300W tungsten Fresnel but consumes just 115W. Spying a market demand for medium- sized LED Fresnels, Litepanels has debuted the nine-inch Sola 9 (daylight balanced) and Inca 9 (tungsten balanced) units. They draw 189W and deliver a stronger and brighter output than a traditional 1K fresnel, both with DMX control. Rotolight’s Anova V2 Ecoflood LEDs deliver up to 350 per cent higher brightness output than previous models with enhanced colour rendering at CRI 95. The Anova SOLO Single Colour Flood lights are now available in 5,600K (Daylight) or 3,200K (tungsten) and in either 110˚ or 50˚ beam angles. The former version is used as the main fill light on Coronation Street.
standard LEDs.” The technology is favoured by US talent shows America’s Got Talent, US Idol, Dancing With Stars and The X Factor. The reason? “Our large fixtures are very bright in daylight,” says Pierceall.
“You can get upwards of 4,000W running on just 400W. It’s just really punchy and because of the very soft nature of phosphor we don’t have to diffuse the source so we get all the brightness.”
Cineo’s Maverick
delivers a volume of light equal to a traditional 1K soft source
create special lighting effects.” The firm’s Miro Cube is DMX-addressable and packs 3,400 lumens of white light in a four-inch square unit weighing less than 3lb. It is tunable, ranging from 2,800K-6,500K. Beam angles of 20˚ to 60˚ can be achieved via diffusing lenses, included with the product. Just three components comprise the VHO Pro LiteRibbon, a low-output LED emitter from Litegear prized for control of daylight or tungsten balanced light in very tight areas of the set, prop or wardrobe. DoP Matthew Libatique
“We’ve entered a new age of LED technology which is no longer about certain specialised niche applications”
Rotolight hints that other TV studios will follow suit. ITV’s head of lighting, Chris Chisnall, says the lights “make balancing easy by being able to match the prevailing colour temperature without having to resort to a selection of gels. In addition, the ability to run off (V-lock) batteries, even in a studio, make them a dream for fast rigging in awkward areas of the set where we would usually have to hide cables.”
The new Rotolight Anova Bi Colour V2 Flood can be electronically set to accurately reproduce any colour of white light from candlelight through to full daylight in 10˚ Kelvin steps 3,150K – 6,300K maintaining perfect colour temperature across the whole dimming range. Individual lights are hand calibrated for colour accuracy. In addition, all Rotolights fixtures can be controlled wirelessly by the MagicEye app for iPhone and iPad. The app includes patented features including Single View Control for realtime adjustments such as colour temp and brightness, and a fader.
Rosco’s new LitePad is a thin profile, extremely lightweight unit yielding a “beautiful soft light”, according to Jack Burwick, product manager. “The broad portfolio of sizes allow LitePad to be used in numerous locations throughout the studio to eliminate shadows or to
Cineo’s flagship TruColor HS “is basically replacing ARRI 2K soft sources worldwide,” claims Pierceall, while new portable variant, Maverick, is weatherproof for outdoors work and delivers a volume of light equal to a traditional 1K soft source. Gaining most attention at NAB were Matchstix, compact units co-designed with Litegear. Matchstix come in 6-inch and 12-inch models, in one of four colours (2,700K, 3,200K, 4,300K, or 5,600K) and because the light balance comes from a phosphorous plate rather than the bulb, you can purchase different colour panels to change out the balance. Cineo is sold in the UK by Lights Camera Action and available from rental outfits Shoot Blue and Visual Impact among others. Other fluorescent lighting fixtures include the Kino Flo
Diva-Lite 401, a portable unit with 2-lamp/4-lamp switching for fast-moving video production of all kinds and the Westcott Spiderlite TD6. This fixture accepts optional tungsten halogen (3,200K) lamps up to 1,200W maximum as well as fluorescents (3,200-6,000K) and screw-mount flash. Three separate controls allow multiple combinations of bulbs together with no colour shift.
Is plasma the future?
Plasma lighting is another new source of energy efficient light which, Jon Miller, founder of LA-based specialist Hive Lighting, says is the next generation of LED. “We think it’s the future of high output lighting. It uses 50-90 per cent less energy than Tungsten and HMI to get the same amount of light [a CRI of 94].”
For most end users LED is considered innovative, but Miller says LED development is pretty mature. To stand out in a crowded marketplace, Hive is “taking a stab at making plasma work” and believes it won’t be alone in the long run. “There are some electrical and optical challenges,” he admits. “You can’t just take plasma and plug it into existing fixtures.” Nor does plasma lend itself to being powered by industry standard
Ali Ahmadi, Litepanels
requested a bespoke solution consisting of 15 VHO PROs programmed with a firelight flicker effect to create the Tzohar, a supernatural light source in Noah.
Remote Phosphor
Not in itself a new technology (it’s used in CRT found in legacy television sets) Remote Phosphor (RP) is unique in the way San Francisco-based Cineo packages it. RP relies on a separate phosphor substrate to emit light when excited by high-frequency wavelengths like blue LEDs (unlike fluorescent lights which use mercury vapour). The result is a very stable high-CRI white light. “We can do it very predictably too,” says Pierceall. “Colour temp remains consistent throughout the lifetime of the fixture, because the phosphors are not subject to heat degradation, unlike white LEDs. Colour consistency is also guaranteed, because it’s easier to accurately coat the phosphor ‘recipe’ onto a substrate instead of directly onto a diode.”
Cineo embed RP in a polycarbonate material which is claimed to endure for 100,000 hours and won’t break. “That’s the real core of its value,” says Pierceall. “A very high CRI and accurate colour temperature from fixture to fixture make it easier to scale than
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