Lighting choices from major manufacturers continue to expand with ARRI marketing new tungsten fixtures and developing LEDs and Kino Flo announcing the debut of its unique Kelvin Tile LED.
Kino Flo Continues to Innovate
The newest lightweight, thin profile softlight fom Kino Flo is called the BarFly, a cosmetic source, and a fluorescent that is part of the company’s True Match® line. It can display both daylight and tungsten with the change out of Kino Flo color correct lamps, which range between 2900 Kelvin tungsten and 5500 Kelvin daylight.
In constant demand on television production sets and feature film stages, the BarFly fills a lighting niche for a very thin, compact hi-lumen portable softlight that puts out as much light as the larger four-foot long soft sources known as 4Banks, Doubles and Singles that are the backbone of the lighting production community.
Kino Flo President Frieder Hochheim, a former gaffer on Hollywood features, invented something in the market that didn’t exist – fluorescent lighting designed for film production, which resulted in the company receiving a Scientific and Technical Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
“The BarFly 400, 200 and 100 lighting systems feature a thin fixture profile and a bright, even beam of soft light ideal for key lights, fill sources and set practicals,” Hochheim says.
“It’s a flat panel that puts out a very broad, soft light quality,” he says. “It’s in heavy use for interiors on and around cameras, as well as inside moving vehicles,” and it employs the Kino Flo proprietary True Match® lamp technology.
Kino Flo designed the new True Match® 55-watt QFL lamp in daylight and tungsten balanced versions. The lamps fit in a narrow two-inch deep aluminum fixture with built-in head extension and removable twist-on center mounting plate. Bright, soft and lightweight, the BarFly luminaires are very energy efficient. For example, the popular BarFly 200 is brighter than a 500-watt tungsten softlight, while drawing only 2 amps of power on 120VAC.
In keeping with the small, compact and bright BarFly is Kino Flo's Vista Single, the latest in the company's Vista family of products. Available for sale or lease since NAB 2008, Vista Single provides more brightness, more shadow quality and more focus in a portable, Kino Flo-style fixture.
"There was a lot of demand from cinematographers, gaffers and electricians for a long, soft source," notes Scott Stueckle, Kino Flo marketing and public relations. "We have four-foot single and four-foot double Kino Flos, but a lot of times people need more light in a smaller space such as over doorways and in hallways which are about three feet wide."
So Kino Flo married its hi-lumen 96-watt lamp with an intensifying parabolic reflector to produce Vista Single, a three-foot portable fixture with a soft beam that's twice as bright as the four-foot single system but consumes less than 2 amps of power.
"You can pull out the lamp and install it in a [fixed] fluorescent fixture for built-in architectural lighting," Stueckle reports. "Or you can use the Vista Single complete with its parabolic reflector and honeycomb louvers for more beam control. Vista Single furthers our goal to provide customers with more lighting tools to work with."
ARRI Introduces New Tungsten Fixtures; LEDs in Development
According to John Gresch, vice president of ARRI Inc.’s lighting division, the company has taken its traditional existing technology and improved it by designing a new line of fixtures for the tungsten lamp.
“Even with new lighting technologies, people still use tungsten fixtures simply because there is no substitute for the quality of light from a tungsten lamp – especially in color rendition and the way it produces the full color spectrum,” he says.
Therefore, ARRI launched a new set of fixtures that makes the lamps easier to handle and simpler to use, as well as more functional in a greater range of environments.
Today, the company offers True Blue Tungsten lights in six different fixtures with two lens sizes in three wattage classes. The fixture is available in large studio sizes, like the ST1 (1K), ST2 (2K) and ST5 (5K); and smaller configurations which include the T1 (1K), T2 (2K) and the T5 (5K).
While these enhancements have been ARRI’s focus during the past six months, Gresch says more improvements are on the way, including continuing enhancements to the company’s HMI and LED product range.
On the LED side, a series of products are “in extensive development” but the industry will have to “wait a bit” before they’re unveiled, he notes.
ARRI continues to provide a large range of HMIs, from a 125w Pocket PAR up to the largest 18K, the Arrimax, which is used for lighting expansive areas. “Large lighting fixtures are still needed,” Gresch says, adding that “when a single shadow in a large area of coverage needs to be reproduced, the DP is still looking to replicate sunlight.
“The Arrimax 18/12 has two different reflector technologies. One is used for a 15- to 50-degree beam spread and the spot reflector is from 5- to 15- degrees,” he continues. The latter is brighter than the midday sun at 60 feet.
“Obviously, if you’re doing a wide shot, you’ll need to get the camera back from the subject area or use a wide lens. In order to keep the lights out of frame, large, powerful lighting units are required.”
Gresch is quick to stress that ARRI “is always looking for new lighting technologies to bring to market. However, we work to introduce new products that are viable for many years of production use.
“Keep in mind that digital technology changes rapidly and products can become obsolete in a short time,” he reminds us. “In contrast, our equipment for film production is repairable and designed for longevity. We service ARRI products that have been in production for up to 20 and 30 years.”
It is this longevity and durability, with ARRI’s after sale service, which are key to the company’s offerings. “We’re in a business where lighting equipment is often used throughout the careers of the users. For that reason, we pay particular attention to the needs of professional filmmakers.”
