LED fixtures have comprised the majority of professional lighting systems shown at NAB for the past decade or so—and continue to build their share. But a couple of longtime LED holdouts have improved upon their fluorescent and HMI products, eating away at some of LED fixtures advantages.
LIGHTING
Anna Robertson of Cineo Lighting shares a laugh with Mitch Aunger of Planed 5D over the Cineo Matchbox light.AADYNTECH unveiled The Hurricane Jr., designed to be completely weatherproof and capable of AC or battery operation. The Junior weighs less than five pounds, and at full power puts out 650 foot-candles at 10 feet.
ARRI premiered its SkyPanel line of LED fixtures. SkyPanels are compact, ultra-bright and high-quality LED soft lights with a design focused on form, color, beam field and output. The launch models are the S60 and its smaller sibling, the S30. Both models are available in fully color tune-able and remote phosphor versions.
BBS LIGHTING presented its Pipeline series, remote phosphor cylindrical Pipes in one-, two-three-and four-foot lengths, daylight or tungsten, that can be deployed singly or in light banks. The Reporter Kit uses a pair of one-foot pipes on a desktop to light online bloggers without power cables or light stands.
CHIMERA LIGHTING debuted its RingMAXX ring lighting soft box, with a still-camera version designed for strobes and a film/video version designed for higher heat constant sources. It can be mounted on a pair of C-stands or from a custom designed optional yoke.
CHROMA-Q displayed its Studio Force white LED fixtures in a choice of daylight white and variable white models featuring laboratory calibrated 3200°K and 5600°K presets. Also on display was the new Studio Force Phosphor range, designed to provide a soft edge equivalent to a fluorescent fixture.
Stephanie Hall of BBS Lighting learns the details about a Kino Flo LED panel from Frieder Hochheim of Kino Flo.CINEO showcased its Matchbox, a portable Remote Phosphor lighting fixture for motion picture and television production. At 3.25x5.25x1.5 inches and weighing 15 ounces, the Matchbox provides a large amount of high-quality light at a variety of accurate interchangeable color temperatures.
COOL-LUX demonstrated its PRO Studio LED Panel Series of lighting fixtures, in a variety of models in fixed daylight and tungsten versions, as well as Bi-Color control.
DESISTI introduced its Super Series LED Fresnels, which utilizes increased wattage to the high-power Chip on Board LED array, along with new improvements in the optical lensing. The company also showed its LED Softlight Series.
GENERALLINK INTERNATIONAL unveiled a half-dozen new LED fixtures, including the GL-CSJ100WB LED Fresnel portable spot light. Also making its debut was the GL-LED256AS video studio bi-color ice light.
FREZZI unveiled its SkyLight V2, engineered to provide higher output and light quality. This brings a 20-percent increase in brightness to the portable and weatherproof LED SkyLight. Also new for the Sky-Light is a two-leaf barn door with flip up CTO and flip down diffuser/spreader.
F&V introduced its Z720 UltraColor highdefinition light ring, with a 290mm center rings to accommodate even large diameter lenses. The fixture is available in 5600K color temperature, or with bi-color variability from 3200 to 5600K.
HASSELBLADBRON introduced its broncolor FT lighting system, a para reflector system with high light output, flexibility and simplicity of operation. There are four Para reflectors available: a choice of 1600W daylight or 2000W halogen lamps or HMI lamps.
HIVE LIGHTING unveiled its Wasp Plasma Par, a versatile light source that utilizes a plasma bulb for a small point-source of light in a fixture that can be configured as a Par, Leko Spot and a Maxi, as well as a four-point softbox or umbrella reflector. It provides adjustable color temperature between 4600-7000K.
IKAN showcased its Piatto line of lights, designed as accent lights particularly well suited for creating eyelight. The Piattos come in several sizes, including 6-inch diameter (PL60), 9-inch diameter (PL90), 7x4 inch (PL74), and 10x3 inch (PL103).
K5600 featured its Evolution Kits, which allow customers to mix and match two of the company’s HMI fixtures—either the Joker 200 and/or the Alpha 200—with a case along with compact ballasts and stands. K5600 also showed its tungsten balance discharge lamps, to bring the same HMI efficiency to 3200K light.
KINO FLO debuted an entirely new line of ballasts for its fluorescent fixtures, which are power factor-corrected so they draw just half the power of standard fluorescents, putting them close to neck and neck with LED fixtures. They allow universal power input, so they can operate in both 110 and 220V environments.
Charlie Collias of Zylight demonstrates the company’s Newz on-camera light to Barbara Colwell of TBC & Sons.LITEPANELS introduced its ASTRA LED panel family by presenting seven new fixtures. They are more powerful and higher light quality versions of Litepanels’ 1x1s, capable of longer throw and a wider beam spread. They utilize larger, 5mm LEDs than original 1x1s. Options include DMX communication modules and Gold mount or Vlock battery plates.
LOWEL featured its LED lighting line, including the Lowel PRO Power LED, a runand-gun location lighting fixture providing powerful output, a wide focusing range and true Fresnel-lensed light. Also featured in the Lowel booth was the Prime LED, with powerful output and a wide 50-degree beam angle.
MOLE RICHARDSON showed seven new LED fixtures, including Fresnels, softlights, and 900W spacelights with yokes for mounting.
NILA introduced the Arina Deluxe Kit, the most powerful of its LED lighting fixtures and designed for demanding shoots. Available in daylight or tungsten models, the Arina is comparable to a 2500W HMI fixture, yet draws just 800W at maximum output.
PAG showed its Paglite on-camera lighting fixture, known for its ability to use interchangeable lamp modules to change its illumination source from LED to HMI to tungsten in a matter of seconds.
PELICAN, long known for its hard shell cases with custom foam interiors, showed off its remote area lighting systems, twohead and four-head LED lighting fixtures transported in a Pelican case, and mounted on adjustable arms deployed from the case and supported by it.
PHOTON BEARD has re-lamped one of its long-time favorite lighting fixtures, the open-faced Redhead. The Photonbeam 80 is a remote phosphor fixture in the formfactor of the company’s 800W tungsten Redhead. The daylight remote phosphor translucent panel can be changed out with a tungsten model.
PRIMETIME unveiled its GUS 51 LED Fresnel, designed for broadcast and production studios, entertainment venues and worship facilities. The Fresnel fixture was designed specifically for its LED lighting engine.
VIDESSENCE premiered its VIDNEL Series VN080 adjustable beam Fresnel fixture, available in daylight or tungsten color balance. The 80W light provides a manual slide bar to adjust the beam and lock in place, and a touchpad on the side to allow easy programming for DMX control and dimming. VISIO debuted its ZOOM 6 LED focusable light fixture, a daylight source focusable from 15 to 60 degrees and creating a single shadow. It powers off NP batteries, a D-tap cable or optional AC/DC adapter. Power consumption is 6W, and the fixture is fully dimmable.
ZYLIGHT introduced the Newz, a small camera-top LED light designed for television news run-and-gun shooting. The fixture provides variable brightness settings and ranges in color temperature from tungsten to daylight. It features a 60-degree beam spread at full width half maximum (FWHM).
BATTERIES
Battery makers have had to increase the capacity and power output of their wares as 4K cameras require more energy, and cameramen find themselves running their lights, prompters and live transmission equipment off batteries.
ANTON/BAUER focused attention on its Digital Battery Series, which allows batteries to communicate data to all Anton/Bauer chargers and select a charge routine specifically designed for that battery’s cell chemistry. This communication system maximizes the reliability, performance, safety and service life of the battery.
ATOMOS has entered the power supply market with its Power Station, which delivers power for up to five devices using the company’s patent pending Continuous Power dual battery system in a footprint not much larger than two batteries. This allows users to hot swap batteries on the fly without interrupting power to their devices.
FREZZI showcased its FLC-4 Quad Channel Li-Ion Simultaneous Battery Charger, an advanced four-channel fast charger designed for all Frezzi Li-Ion batteries. Its backlit LCD display shows charging status of each channel, instantaneous voltage, charge current, and the capacity that has been delivered to each battery.
IDX presented the latest iteration of its Endura V-mount battery pack, the E-HL10DS. The 96W lithium ion battery can handle loads up to 10A at 120W. The under-2 pound battery features a built-in D-tap connector for up to 50W of accessories.
PAG took some weight and girth off its L90 battery pack, named the L90 slim. It weighs just over a pound, but is rated at 6.1 Ah, plenty to power higher-current draw cameras along with lights and other accessories. Its 90Wh capacity is under the 100Wh limit for carrying aboard some airlines.
