SEATTLE—COVID 19 upset the market for lighting equipment, the same as it did for other broadcast and motion picture gear. But though vendors were unable to push their new offerings in-person at trade shows and traveling road shows, they have been able to introduce products already in the pipeline.

Although the emphasis in recent months has been on remote production—which in the early days of the pandemic forced a number of stations to bypass their studios—the market for studio lighting is still expected to be healthy as broadcasters return to their facilities. Nevertheless, with the lines starting to blur between what defines lighting for studios and remote production, vendors are also stepping up their efforts to add features for IP-based remote control for the professional facility as well as for those broadcasters still working from home.

SET UP AND LEAVE

Last month, ARRI announced that its new Orbiter, a single-point source, six-color light engine, will be shipping soon. The new light is “very versatile,” according to ARRI systems engineer Patrick Schulze.

“The Quick Lighting Mount [QLM] in Orbiter allows for optics with vastly different properties to be connected to the fixture,” he said. “These include open face, 15, 25 and 35 degree projection lenses, fabric sphere for omnidirectional light and softboxes.”

Orbiter features ARRI’s new Lighting Operating System (LiOS) programmed into the fixtures. LiOS includes features from ARRI’s Skypanel and other lights.

Schulze added, “We’ve been working on ways to control fixtures remotely through the internet. Our Skypanel series and Orbiter have a lot of IT-based technology in them. Basically they’re computers that put out light.”

Schulze says COVID-19 has really driven development for new features for its fixtures.

“All of our new lights are going to be IP-controllable,” he said. “They’ll have DMX control, local control, but we’re really working more toward IP connectivity.” In the pandemic workflow television production and motion picture studios are forced to work under, “you can’t have 12 people in the studio at once. The lighting people will set it up and then go somewhere else to control it.”

IN THE PIPELINE

BB&S Lighting’s co-owner Tobi Sali said the company is finding a lot of customers for its Pipeline Reflect System lighting fixtures in studios that are putting in video walls.

“When people put in video walls, they have to go to daylight,” he said. “Then you get your true blacks out of it, and you get real good color separation. That gives you real usable wall. If you use tungsten, you don’t get good color separation.”

The original Pipelines were 1-inch diameter tubes that used remote phosphor technology to provide high-quality 95 TLCI color rendering, according to Sali.

“The Reflect Series is the Pipeline in a wedge with a special reflective aluminum material on both sides,” he said. “This allows a Reflect fixture to provide 150% the output of the original Pipeline for the same power draw.” The Reflects are available in 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 6- and 8-foot lengths, and a choice of 3200-degree K, 4300-degree K or 5600-degree K color temperatures.

When the anchor from home revolution hit the television industry, BB&S had a ready solution in its “Reporter Kit,” a ready-to-go two Pipeline arrangement complete with stands and a dimmer that had been developed for webcam correspondents.

A VARIETY OF USES

After virus-caused delays, Cineo Lighting has started delivering its R15 1500W hard LED lighting fixture, according to Rich Pierceall, vice president of operations for NBC Universal, parent company of Cineo.

“We’ve explored a lot of new and patented a lot of new technologies with the Reflex series, specifically with immersion cooling,” he said.

The R15 is a high-output, focusable-beam, fully dimmable hard light. The beam angle adjustment from 15 to 75 degrees is accomplished without mechanical movement, making it remotely adjustable. The reflector can be easily removed and replaced with a variety of soft accessories. A 500W R5 “little brother” is in the works.

Being part of NBC Universal has given Pierceall a perch with quite a view.

“There’s such a diversity of different productions going on, broadcast and streaming, and feature film, what new techniques are being considered to help production get underway,” he said. “And ‘virtual’ is top of mind for just about everybody.

“To be honest with you, we don’t see any dividing line between lighting and virtual lighting, between LED light sources and LED walls,” Pierceall added. “It’s all kind of one environment for us.”

COLOR TEMPERATURE

As far as color temperature is concerned, Ing. Jose Maria Noriega C.A.S, chief revenue and marketing officer at Fluotec in Laredo, Texas, said the studios they’re lighting are falling more or less equally between fixed daylight, fixed tungsten and tunable.

“Though there are customers who want the color temperature tunable feature for their studio lighting, there are studios around the United States that are specifically designed for either tungsten or daylight,” he said. “We have sold thousands of daylight fixtures, and thousands of tungsten.”

Noriega adds that they’re finding a lot of demand for sky lighting, as well.

“We have met that demand with the CineLight line,” he said. “That’s the kind of light they need to light the whole studio.”

But there’s still a healthy market for Fresnel fixtures. Fluotec’s Fresnels avoid color shift between the center and the edge of the beam utilizes the company’s NEBULA technology to emit powerful, high-quality, full-spectrum white light beams, according to Noriega.

TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION 

Kino-Flo has just activated the RDM (remote device management) control communication protocol to enable two-way communication in their lighting fixtures.

“Existing DMX lighting control is one-way,” said Scott Stueckle, Kino-Flo sales manager. “DMX only allows sending instructions to the light, but you can’t see all the settings on the light. With RDM you have two-way communication between the fixture and the control board, which is important.

“With DMX, if you want to change a setting for, say, ‘special effects,’ you have to go to ‘special effects’ on the fixture and adjust the ‘special effects’ setting,” Stoeckle added. “But with RDM, through the control board you can just hit a button on the control board and change the menu setting to whatever you want. That’s really a big deal for board operators.”

The computer chip that runs RDM is built into existing Kino-Flo LED fixtures, but if you just turn it on, “chaos” could ensue, he said.

“So what we did was spend all this time reconfiguring all of our software so that when RDM did come out it’s very intuitive, user-friendly, and with as few bugs as possible. And it will work with our older software as well.”

MORE PUNCH

Pete Challenger, who manages U.S. business development for Italian light maker Lupo says he’s spoken with a number of customers who want a full color panel light that’s also got some “punch” to it. In response, last year Lupo launched the Superpanel Soft Full Color 60 RGBW LED Panel.

“Most panel lights have a kind of ‘soft, wraparound’ type of light output to them,” he said. “If you are needing to use the light particularly close in, it can be quite attractive. The problem with it is getting that level of softness with massive amounts of light.

“So what we’ve done with the Superpanel Full Color 60 is to put a lens over each cluster of LEDs,” he continued. “That gives you a powerful, color flat panel with a 40-degree beam angle.

“If the light is working close to the subject, the effect can be harsh unless diffusion is applied,” Challenger added. “But in most cases in a really big studio, you want some throw. And in that case, having more raw power to start with gives you more flexibility.”

The lighting in news studios is designed to achieve a nondramatic look without needing to make adjustments. Talent on camera should be able to move around freely; and cameras should be able to capture a variety of angles on each set once lighting is in place. For this reason, long trusses are positioned among an expansive overhead grid with countless mounting points for lights. Not only is the number of available mounting points greater this way, but there are also no stands to avoid on the ground. The goal is not only to have subjects lit for every setup, but to have backgrounds lit and ready to go as well. Because news is not a dramatic lighting look, having several lights installed to fill the space is also reason for a large grid.

MANAGING THE SPREAD

Typically, lights are set across trusses for backdrops to evenly light green or blue screen behind a news desk setup. The lights are set back from the backdrop about half the height of the backdrop so as to spread the light without having any darker spots. For the best keying job, you want as evenly a spread as possible. Lighting in newsrooms usually is also preferred to be softer and this can apply to the backgrounds as well. The larger the source, the more you can soften without losing too much intensity or throw. The backdrops are not always a chroma key background—now a lot of high-resolution screens are the actual background elements. This makes spot reading essential so as to avoid any hot screens behind your subjects when exposing on camera.

In front of the set lights, toward camera, there are backlights for the subjects. These can be a little harder as they separate your subjects from the background. Finally, you have soft key lights. You may find an array of lighting fixtures up in the grid.

To maintain control and direction of specific lights, specifically key lights, some lighting designers choose fresnel units. These have lenses that help directionality, usually equipped with barn doors, and you can narrow or widen the beam. Some of the more common fresnels found in a newsroom are those from ARRI, Fluotec and Mole LEDs. Other sets go all panels—ARRI Skypanels, Litepanels, etc. That way they’re using all soft lights and fixtures that can have chimeras built on top to avoid having to rig up diffusers.

It is usually preferred to rig as little to the grid as possible while still meeting all the lighting needs. Besides mounting a few solids to separate sources and control spill, all that should be up there are the units themselves. Being able to attach soft boxes to them helps keep the amount of hardware above to a minimum. A lot of panels are naturally soft lights, so being able to add on a soft box with a variety of diffusion options gets the light quality to an ideal place quite easily.

NEW TOOLS

Tools available in lighting now save a tremendous amount of time and energy in the news space. LED technology makes these sets much cooler and draw less power. They also offer flexibility with color temperature and intensity, all easily adjustable through DMX. Sure, you could connect everything to a dimmer board years ago, but now you can dial in even more in terms of hue, saturation, etc.

I was fortunate enough to demo the new ARRI Orbiter, which I think will be another major player in studio lighting, with even better color and offering hard light with a variety of mountable lenses. It seemed like a hybrid of a Skypanel and a little like the company’s L-series. I think more and more of these will start appearing—lights that become all you need in terms of color, hard and soft light, with a range of attachments to easily mount on the unit.

News is climbing in visual sophistication along with every other format and lighting technology is what is helping make it all possible. Lighting is used to create depth, execute color cues and light a variety of stages and subjects like never before. As LED lighting technology becomes even more versatile, the job of lighting a studio will only become easier, with more lighting tools and capabilities at our fingertips.

Julia Swain is a cinematographer based in California, whose narrative films include “Killing Animals,” “Jilted” and “Cassidy Red.” She continues to shoot on a variety of formats, seeking to create compelling visuals for every story and brand. She can be contacted through TV Technology.

SEATTLE—When a news photographer jumps out of a vehicle to cover a breaking news story, the last thing they need is a science project when putting together the video gear. Makers of camera support, portable lighting and battery packs go to great lengths to make their gear on the go quick and easy to deploy.

CAMERA SUPPORT

Tripods have always been important for steadying the camera shot, but they’re even more important now to support the camera while the video journalist also reports the liveshot.

Miller Camera Support addressed the need for one-handed tripod deployment with its Sprinter tripod. “We have a dual, independent locking system with two levers that are side-by-side at the top,” said Miller Regional Manager Gus Harilaou. “That allows opening the tripod with one flip of the lever, and it deploys both the bottom and the top stages of the tripod. The tripod is opened in a few seconds.”

The Sprinter tripod is paired with Miller’s Compass X18 fluid head. “This is basically for any newsgathering where guys have little cameras, whether that would be handheld or full-blown shoulder-mount cameras,” Harilaou said. “CX18 has a capacity range to take any payload from zero to 35 pounds.”

Vitec brands Vinten and Sachtler co-developed the flowtech tripod family designed for fast moving news coverage. “What makes it so appealing to the news folks is the speed of deployment, which can determine whether you get a shot or not on a breaking news story,” said Tobias Keuthen, director of global product marketing management.

Keuthen noted that the flowtech’s unique clamping mechanism was placed on top of the tripod where the head fits, helping news photogs deploy more quickly. “You don’t have to bend over; you can open the braking clamps for all three legs from the top of the tripod and extend the legs easily,” he said. “You can close the clamps also without bending over, and you can adjust the legs for working on stairs or uneven ground.” The company just added a 100mm bowl version of the flowtech for larger payloads.

Several years ago, Libec launched its Hands Free Monopod (HFMP) designed for free stand operation, according to Jose Larios, manager of sales and marketing for the company. “Our monopod is different by the fact that the base is wide, and it allows the user to put it into a vertical position just by simply stepping on the base,” he said.

The HFMP can stand on its own on the wide base to allow a oneman- band photojournalist to securely position the monopod then step in front of the camera for a liveshot standup. Libec conducted some focus groups to determine what users wanted from a monopod, Larios said. “And when we found out what were the best features, applications and benefits that are going to our product, we put that into place when designing the Hands Free Monopod.” This included placing a fluid head on the top.

Shotoku found that stringers and news departments at smaller stations were turning to lower cost camcorders and even DSLRs to capture video, which opened its market to lower cost, simpler tripod systems. “Our tripods for these customers vary from the SD 20 with really basic level features like fixed drag and counterbalance,” said Graham Ramsey sales director, manual and robotic products for Shotoku.

Two slightly higher level versions—SD 80 and SD 150—can handle higher payloads of 8 kilos and 15 kilos, respectively, and feature a step counterbalance system, and step drag system. To keep things simple for working faster, “with the SD 20 you can leave the balance and drag settings exactly where they are,” Ramsey added. “You don’t have to change anything, take off tensions or lower drag settings, or anything like that.”

LIGHTING

Lighting equipment has come a long way since the introduction of LED fixtures, with time-saving features like dimming without color shifts and the ability to dial in a desired color temperature.

Video journalists are not necessarily lighting experts, according to Kevin Crawford, vice president of engineering at Frezzi in Hawthorne, N.J. “A lot of these people don’t really know about how to light up a scene, so our Skylight product provides a wide, flat, optical field,” he said. “This thing is brain-dead simple to use, and throws a lot of light.”

For working fast in the field, the Skylight can be powered by a broadcast brick battery pack or off AC. It provides high CRI single source 5600K daylight light without pixelation or color fringing.

Fluotec’s StarMaker color-tunable panel fixture has found a home in ENG vans for a number of years, and the company’s upgrade to the StarMaker HP model will make it even more desirable to news crews said Fluotec Chief Marketing Officer Jose Maria Noriega.

“The StarMaker HP now has the same technology as our Cine Light, so it has a much better CRI of 97.7, and it now delivers an output of 37 percent more light than the previous version,” he said. “Incorporating our NEBULA Diffusion Chamber Technology makes a 70 degree throw and softer light than when it’s used without this attachment. And this allows you to use barn doors. Although most panel manufacturers put the barn doors on the light, but they throw a multi-shadow on the background. Our diffusor attachment behaves as a single source point of light, which is very controllable by barn doors.”

With the built-in battery attachment, there’s no need to run cables.

Litepanel’s most popular ENG light is its Astra Bi-Color, according to Byron Brown, program product manager for parent company Vitec Videocom. “It can be easily hand held or put on a stand, it can be installed with a battery adapter, you slip the battery on it and you’re ready to go.”

The color agility of the Astra Bi-Color is another feature that allows for working fast, Brown added. “What we find oftentimes is that guys out in the field will start off with the light dialed in to daylight, and then warm it up to taste,” he said. “The color temperature dial on the Astra also has color temperature readings, so if you know your favorite reading is 4500K, you just dial it to that number and you’re there.”

For situations where a photographer needs a longer throw of light, Litepanels also has the Astra Bi-Focus, with lenses to narrow and intensify the light.

Tama Berkeljon, managing director at Outsight in Australia, said its most popular light for ENG shooters is the bicolor Creamsource Micro. “It’s punchier, and you’ve got more options for diffusing it or softening it back,” he said. “It’s extremely flexible and can be deployed in seconds with a battery attached.”

Accessories include diffusion and lensing, Berkeljon added. “Dropping in lenses changes the beam angle from 30 to 60 to 100 degrees,” he said. “Unlike most bi-color fixtures, the Micro maintains constant power output across the whole CCT range, so users always get the unit’s full potential. There is no reason to have to choose between a bi-color or daylight system. And because of the Micro’s wide 10-32V operating voltage, users can power the fixture from a single 90WH battery, or directly from a car.”

Zylight spotlights its F8 200 LED Fresnel as its most popular with ENG camera crews for its durability and outdoor IP protection. Charlie Collias, director of fixture sales for the Cypress, Calif.-based company.

It’s also very quick to deploy when breaking news is happening. “Its 5 inches thick and packs into a milk crate, pelican case or in padded travel cases we sell,” Collias said. “In other words, the F8 200 is easy to find space for in a van to bring it along, and doesn’t take up much room. The camera person can pull it right out of the bag, place it on a stand and throw a camera battery on the rear and it’s good to go.”

BB&S Lighting recommends a pair of fixtures for speedy ENG work, one for closer work and a second when some throw is needed. “Our Reflect 1-foot or 2-foot wedge-shaped LED fixtures feature an internal reflector system that spreads a 160 degree beam angle,” said Toby Sali, partner in BB&S. “They can be used singly or ganged up in banks. They give you instant and soft lighting.”

Where the subject is some distance away, he points to their Compact Beam Light. “the front is 6 inches, and it’s 5 inches across. It is a 40W draw, like the other one, and it is a 7 degree, 11 degree, 14 degree or 17 degree beam light. So it isn’t a hard light. It doesn’t give you a ridge like a LEKO ellipsoidal profile light. It’s got 15 percent roll-off on the edges.”

During the fluorescent lighting era, Kino Flo sold a lot of its Diva lighting fixtures to news shooters who liked the soft modeling light it produced. “As LEDs took over, we developed a fixture called the Diva Light 21, which is the latest version of our LED Diva Light,” said Scott Stueckle, who handles sales and public relations for the Burbank, Calif.-based company. “It’s lighter weight from any other Diva Light we’ve had. It still has all the functionality. You can pull it out of the case and you can run full daylight and tungsten.”

One high-end feature of the latest firmware for the Diva 21 is the ability to color match the light to a particular camera. “Cameras have different sensors, different spectral curves that they use to see light—they don’t all see light the same way,” Stueckle said. “We’ve pulled out all those spectral sensitivity curves of those cameras, and we’ve downloaded them onto our software profiles. You can also go in and pull up a Panavision or Panasonic or Sony or Canon camera, and lock those color profiles in.” If a news shooter has to change cameras, it’s easy to change the Kino Flo fixture’s color properties to match, Stueckle added.

POWER SUPPLIES

A news shooter can have everything else going fine, and when the power runs out the shoot rudely and quickly comes to an end. Battery makers have gone to great lengths to provide high-capacity battery packs that are also feature rich.

Anton/Bauer unveiled its Dionic XT battery family last year and it’s found a quick market for news photographers, according to Chris Gaughan, product manager for Vitec Videocom’s Anton/ Bauer brand, who said Dionic battery packs are designed to live on the back of a camcorder “and you’re ready to go at a moment’s notice. You pick up your camera, push a button, and it’s running.”

Another feature that assures the shooter isn’t chasing a news story with a nearly empty battery pack is a fuel gauge display. “When the battery’s not under load it tells you how much battery is left, gives you a percentage,” Gaughan said. “When the camera’s running, it gives you the run time you have left, based on the load. And by touching the back of the battery you can cycle through and see what kind of current you’re drawing and temperature of the cell pack.”

Jet-hopping news crews were the focus of IDX System Technology when it designed its Dual C 98 battery packs. “Because it’s at 98W—under 100W—you could carry 15, 20, 25 on the plane,” said Jun lshizekai, associate manager of marketing & regional west sales. “It features two D-taps and one for USB, so it has enough accessory ports to fill all of a camera guy’s needs.”

Dual Cs have a five LED fuel gauge on the side, and because the individual LED is either fully lit, blinking or dark, it actually indicates battery power remaining in 10 percent increments, lshizekai added. “There’s also an LED on the Vmount side, and if you’re in total dark and it’s hard to see to change batteries, you can turn this LED on. It stays on for 30 seconds to let you maneuver around when remounting a battery pack on the camera.”

PAG’s PAGlink batteries provide the ability to gang several battery packs together on the back of a camcorder, creating a number of advantages, according to John O’Keefe, marketing consultant for PAG. “Unlike the conventional Gold Mount batteries, a single battery with a single capacity, PAG makes 90Wh and 150Wh battery packs that can be linked together,” he said. “For most guys who are shooting news, they would probably want just two, and that would let them shoot for eight hours without having to change batteries.”

PAG’s Power Hub sandwiches between two battery packs, and will let the shooter power a light, wireless microphone, small monitor and similar accessories off the camera when both batteries are linked. “The battery closest to the camera acts as your hot swap and the camera drains from the rear battery,” O’Keefe added. “That power hub is in the middle, and you can remove the rear battery without interrupting power to the camera and accessories.”

Frezzi’s FLD 100 battery packs are 100 Wh capacity, the company’s largest legally transportable battery. “It’s got a push to test fuel gauge, so it doesn’t drain the battery when it’s not being used,” said Crawford.

“It’s weatherproof, fully sealed. It can be charged with our existing desktop chargers; and it has a small port that’s used with a portable power supply to charge it, like a small desktop charger, a single channel. So if you have a little go bag and you don’t want to bring a desktop charger, like a four position station, you could use this little power supply to charge it that way.”

SEATTLE—Light emitting diodes (LEDs) were invented in the early 1960s, and have been used in television and video lighting for about the past dozen years. Advances in LEDs have prompted the technology to go in a variety of new and interesting directions.

“What we’re seeing is definitely a move to RGBW [red, green, blue and white] LED lighting that allows for a fully tuneable fixture,” said Mike Wagner, senior product manager with the lighting division of ARRI.

ARRI has been making nothing but RGBW LED fixtures since they introduced their first LED light, the L7 in 2011. That and subsequent ARRI lights like the Skypanel not only are able to match ambient light temperature, “but also are able to set the magenta point or select vivid colors that will allow more versatility in the studio, whether that be different types of setups during their day, or one-time-only special events,” Wagner said.

Another trend Wagner sees is firmware updates for light fixtures. “These aren’t just updates that fix bugs or something like that,” he said. “We are adding new functionality to our lights. That has been our commitment to our customers.”

ARRI’s latest firmware provides the ability to create professional level lighting effects without the need of a lighting console, and adds different kinds of communications control as well.

DYNAMIC LIGHTING EFFECTS

Rich Pierceall, CEO of Cineo thinks the trend building color into LED fixtures is not going to go away. His company has built a number of fixtures that include both tuneable white light and saturated colors, including the Standard 410, just released at the recent Cine Gear Expo.

Pierceall thinks the next wave is dynamic lighting effects. “What’s now happening is that a lot of larger fixtures are made capable of being carved up into small fixtures,” he said. “In other words, I can actually get light movement across the face of the lighting fixture.”

Cineo has developed the LightBlade fixtures in partnership with NBCUniversal. The larger LightBlade fixtures utilize Cineo Zone Control technology, which provide for 10 zones within the fixture being independently controlled. This gives users the ability to change color and intensity between LightBlades simultaneously.

Another area to watch is lighting control. “People are going to be branching away from traditional DMX universes and getting into far more elegant, far more advanced control systems,” Pierceall said.

LIGHTING DESIGN

Not everybody is climbing aboard with RGBW light fixtures yet.

“I’m not too sure that trend is right,” said Ing. Jose Maria Noriega, chief marketing officer for Fluotec. “And as with every trend, sometimes it stays and sometimes it goes away.”

Noriega doesn’t think talent should be colorized. “You colorize the set, or you colorize the background, the stage,” he said.

And while he says it might be convenient having saturated color capability in every fixture, “I don’t know if all TV stations would be willing to just follow that trend, especially the cost, if they are going to use this feature 2 percent of the time they’re going to use it for pure white light. Can you imagine 30 years ago that you would look back on the television industry and say ‘Hey, let’s have some lights that cost $17,000?’”

There is one trend in professional lighting for broadcast that Noriega is noticing.

“Lighting designers for cinema are now getting into lighting design for television,” he said. “These people are asking for pure white light, they are asking for reliability, they are asking for power, and they are also asking for a good price.”

LESS POWER

Litepanels’ Gemini 2x1 soft panel fixtures provide RGBW capability in the fixture, and the company sees more of that in the future. In addition, LEDs are getting more power-efficient, according to Byron Brown, product manager for Litepanels.

“Our LED technology today is roughly 30 to 50 percent more efficient than it was even three or four years ago,” he said. “The technology advancement of LEDs gets us even more efficiencies and better brightness per Watt in the LED world, let alone compared to tungsten and other sources.”

Because the company’s first 1x1 LED panel lights were introduced 10 years ago, a direct efficiency comparison can be made to its current Astra 6X, which is 6x brighter than the original 1x1. Complicating the math in this comparison is the fact that the Astra 6X uses 50 percent more, so the efficiency itself is about double.

Brown also notes that although the Astra 6X fixture is 6x times brighter than the original 1x1, it sells for about half what original 1x1 did.

[Read: Despite The Hype, LEDs Haven’t Revolutionized Broadcasting]

“So it’s 6x brighter for even less money than we were selling the 1x version 10 years ago,” he said.

Brown credits a number of factors for the lower cost: “All manufacturers have needed to find better ways to manufacture the product more efficiently. I think the volumes have also gone up, not just in terms of components, but also manufacturing processes. The number of units we sell today is substantially higher than the original 1x1 panels as well, so I think volume, efficiencies, component costs, all of those have contributed to the lower prices. And obviously competition has played a part.”

MORE FEATURES

Similarly, Scott Stueckle, sales manager at Kino Flo Lighting Systems sees the industry pressing to offer more features in their lighting fixtures for less money.

Kino Flo is a pioneer in fluorescent television and motion picture lighting equipment. They’ve transitioned their fluorescent fixtures such as the Diva and Celeb into LED lights, retaining the features that made them popular.

“Kino Flo is still focused on the white space, shooting in the color space that cameras can see, the full color spectrum, trying to keep our color on the black body curve,” Stueckle said.

And just as the company worked with fluorescent tube makers to optimize color rendering for their original light products, they’ve done the same thing with its LEDs, working with LED suppliers on both the design and manufacturing process, so that the LEDs perform exactly as the company specifies. “And we have proprietary technology to actually apply a spectrometer that reads a camera’s color sensitivity,” Stueckle added.

Stueckle says the combination of software and hardware has changed the development of professional lighting technology.

“In the old days we just used to make lights,” he said. “We’re now basically designing and programming computers that have lights on them. And I think you’re seeing more of that, and more people are getting involved with that, and things are getting better and better and prices are dropping more over the next few years.”

Professional lighting manufacturers are betting their companies on their ability to chase the right trend.

LAS VEGAS—Here’s an extended preview of some of the products that will be on display from eight exhibitors:

Broadcast Pix

Take control anywhere with the BPswitch family of integrated production switchers. Broadcast Pix leads the industry with its control-over-IP capabilities. Produce your live programming from a traditional control room, or use a customizable browser-based interface on your mobile device.

With the BPNet IP ecosystem, powered through the ioGates cloud-based media management platform, BPswitch delivers secure, full-motion video and complete access to all your sources and workflow tools. And because it only requires a typical internet connection, BPswitch is a cost-effective solution for remote unmanned studios. Get up to 22 SDI inputs and 12 outputs, with eight channels for clips and graphics and four customizable BPview multi-view outputs.

Every BPswitch system includes NewBlueNTX 3D motion graphics with hundreds of title styles and templates, plus clip stores, device control, file-based macros, integrated streaming to Facebook Live and other CDNs, and more.

www.broadcastpix.com
Booth: SL8320

Comark

For over 45 years Comark has been a trusted partner of TV broadcasters. For NAB 2018, Comark is announcing the availability of the Parallax solid state liquid cooled DTV transmitter for VHF Band 1 (54-88MHz).

This new model is available to support RF power levels from 4.0 up to 41kW. The new Band 1 version of Parallax shares the common architecture (cabinet, distributed control system, user interface) with the UHF and VHF Band 3 models. It provides the highest reliability and efficiency, while keeping the cost of ownership low. Parallax is manufactured, serviced, and supported out of the company’s MA facility.

www.comarktv.com
Booth: C4309

Florical Systems

Florical introduces a new integrated playout solution called FéniX. The server features SDI and IP I/O options on the same box. Includes integrated MC switching, branding, and DVE effects. The FéniX is powered by Harmonic technology and Florical's enterprise automation suite creating the most comprehensive system on the market.

www.florical.com
Booth: N2524

Fluotec

Fluotec is an award-winning manufacturer of professional LED lighting for Television, Video, Photography and Digital & Film Cinema

For more than two decades the Fluotec vision has been to create precision luminaires that deliver pure white lighting. Fluotec’s sustainable and efficient LED technology has already saved millions of dollars in energy costs for hundreds of television studios around the world.

Fluotec presents “The CINELIGHT Studio Long Throw,” three Models of Constant Output Tunable LED Panels for use in high altitude studios.

These professional fixtures sport very High CRI & TLCI Indexes for accurate rendering of skin tones and stage colors and step-less Halodim 0-100 percent dimming for precise control in a studio lighting environment

Pure White Light = Energy & Cost Savings.

www.flutec.net
Booth: C161

IHSE USA

The Draco tera compact XV matrix for ultra-image 4K is offered in eight to 80 user-configurable I/O ports to support a full range of video formats up to 4096x2160@60Hz and 30bit 4:4:4 color depth. The matrix supports the full line of innovative draco ultra series KVM extenders using Fraunhofer’s Lici codec with low latency and perfect pixel-for-pixel performance. Using the 490 series DisplayPort extender units, users can either create a stretched desktop of 8192x2160 across two 4K displays or run in “clone” mode to show full 4K applications on two screens.

www.ihseusa.com - http://www.ihseusa.com/products/kvm-matrix-switch-compact-xv-fiber.html
Booth: SL10216

Myers

ProTrack empowers broadcast networks, affiliates and independent media companies to acquire, schedule, monetize and distribute content with greater efficiency than ever before. It consolidates all of the roles and responsibilities that go into linear and non-linear distribution, so media facilities can optimize their content and associated opportunities.

ProTrack is a proven solution that provides a single source for critical business data across multiple distributors, departments, technical systems and distribution channels. No matter how much disruption is occurring in the industry, our flexible, adaptable technology platform stays one step ahead—giving you the right data, at just the right time, from a single, centralized source.

ProTrack is built to keep pace with change, making it easier to scale up operations to cater to a growing customer base, cut costs, and monetize content.

For updates on all the Myers products coming to the NAB Show in April, please follow @MyersInVegas on Twitter.

www.myersinfosys.com
Booth: N3711

Primestream

At NAB 2018, Primestream will demonstrate new solutions to capture, edit and transcode live IP streams, a cloud-based review and approval system, robust 4K workflow, public APIs to easily integrate into the Xchange platform and a new centralized configuration management portal for quick and easy installations.

Primestream will also highlight VR/360 asset management, an updated Adobe Premiere Pro extension panel that features a new versioning system, as well as improvements to archival workflow with leading cloud and tape storage providers. The next generation Dynamic Media Management platform is built for ease-of-use with powerful features needed to manage the most complex sports, enterprise and broadcast workflow.

www.primestream.com/nab
Booth: SL12111

TSL Products

With over 1,000 global installations, TSL Product’s TallyMan Advanced Broadcast Control System provides broadcasters with reliable, user-oriented control and dynamic data display. TSL continues to enhance TallyMan’s capabilities with new features and protocols allowing operators to integrate a broad range of broadcast equipment into automated workflows. TallyMan now offers Ember+ protocol support, enabling engineers to intuitively integrate all Ember+ capable third-party devices.

TSL’s updated TallyMan Virtual Panel more effectively enhances operational workflow and flexibility for outside broadcast and transmission facilities with several new control features integrated into the panel’s customizable, drag-and-drop interface. New source selection architecture allows users to access presets at the touch of a button. Operators can also take advantage of improved sliders, rotary encoders and X-Y control to better steer robotic cameras, adjust gain on audio devices and tweak levels on color correctors.

www.tslproducts.com
Booth: N5615

MEXICO CITY—Imagen Televisión, owned by Grupo Imagen, is a national broadcast television network in Mexico that launched in October of 2016. The network provides family programming, with a focus on women. It produces general entertainment and original telenovelas, three weekday newscasts, magazine program “Sale El Sol,” and the “Adrenalina Sport Show.”

As head lighting designer for Imagen Televisión, I had to determine what lighting technology was needed for an ecological and sustainable network and the most comfortable studio environment for news, sports, economy and talk shows.

First we dropped legacy incandescent fixtures for LED lighting, meaning we needed lighting fixtures with high-end LED capabilities to provide unique looks for each program. Fluotec emerged as the choice.

INSTALLATION
Lighting starts with your own vision or concept. I approach the decision on how to light talent using the right fixtures for key, fill and back light. You need to know the capabilities of each lighting fixture. Specifically, I look for the quality of light with high CRI and TLCI indexes; I also consider the power and the “tune-ability” of the color temperature.

That’s why we chose a range of Fluotec lighting equipment to provide specific elements to the look of each program.

Fluotec gear installed in the new studio included the StudioLED and CineLight panels, VegaLux StudioLED fresnels, and ETC and ShowCo LED ellipsoidal and color pars.

Imagen Televisión installed Fluotec lights for its morning show, sports show and newscasts.SET DESIGN
Once the Fluotec lights were installed, I had to determine how to utilize the gear for the lighting design of each show. I wanted pure white light for the basic illumination of each set and to illuminate the anchors and talent; then use color lighting for ambience and backgrounds.

For “Sale el Sol,” I used the StudioLED panels and VegaLux StudioLED fresnels for high key, but the same gear provided low key for our talk show. I found the right ambiance for each show by mixing accessories, like 50-degree grids, barn doors, gel frames and soft boxes. I used the CineLight and StudioLED panels for “The Adrenalina” set as well.

Fill and base lighting is provided by the CineLight tunable panels, while the VegaLux fresnels and ShowCo color pars help separate the anchors from the back wall. Fresnel fixtures are also used for back and key lighting, and can control the VegaLux fixtures through a DMX motorized zoom in our lighting console.

There is no perfect lighting fixture; you must understand each one and use it to your advantage. I am aware of and have used many brands, but I like Fluotec, it delivers the tunable pure white light I need for my anchors and talent and it has impressive luminance power.

Manolo Toledo is the head lighting designer at Imagen TV. He can be reached atmanolotoledo@outlook.com.

For more information, please visitwww.fluotec.netor call 1-877-556-5554.

CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS—Mexican-based lighting manufacturer Fluotec has unveiled two new LED Fresnel fixtures for TV/filmmaking applications, the AuraLux Plus and VegaLux Plus.

The AuraLux Plus is a 5.5-inch LED Fresnel that uses 146W. It features a manual zoom—12-47degrees—and has Halodim technology to provide stable output across the complete intensity range with a Color Rendering Index of 90+. The fixture weighs 11.3 pounds and comes with an eight-way barn door, c-clamp, filter holder and power cord.

VegaLux Plus

The VegaLux Plus is a 7-inch Fresnel with a motorized zoom lens—13-47 degrees—that can be set remotely using DMX control. The light uses 185W and has DMX or local dimming control of the output. The Halodim firmware allows for smooth dimming with no color shifts. The unit’s Nebula diffusion chamber offers pure white output at CRI of 90+. The fixture weighs 14 pounds and features the same kit as the AuraLux Plus. Both fixtures are available in daylight and tungsten-balance color temperature versions.

Jerry Colmenero is in charge of the U.S. division of Fluotec and can be reached at 361-288-1775.