FEATURE | L IGHT I NG SPEC I AL
CREAMSOURCE Creamsource’s SpaceX is a smaller, lighter device than its previous spacelight driver, the Sky. SpaceX is designed to work with or without a skirt – there’s a 50º reflector option for more directional punch. It’s a six-emitter design which achieves very respectable results in terms of both price ($5.40 per watt, according to the company) and weight. It’s a mere 18kg for a light which, at 1200W, approaches the overall power of the Sonara, albeit in a very different package. The Star Trek looks of Creamsource’s product line make it a particularly eye-catching option, but the power-to-weight ratio is probably the big win. The benefit of these big, high-power area-lighting LEDs is often in set-up time. Configuring a studio with tungsten-halogen spacelights, often at 6kW apiece, can be a multi-day, multi-crew, multi-vehicle operation involving huge power distribution set-ups. Doing it with lights that can be plugged into any wall socket can mean far less bulk of gear, less crew, and critically much less time. LITEGEAR To push for even more portability, Litegear’s Litemat Spectrum is a comparatively featherweight softlight, though given its svelte profile it’s naturally much less powerful than the big metal options. The Spectrum version adds four colour emitters to the pre-existing Litemat design for saturated colour effects, with five size options. The largest, Litemat Spectrum 1, measures 292x300mm, which puts it in a class with a lot of other 1x2ft devices. It’s a mere 23mm thick and weighs just 1.2kg. As with any colour- tuneable light, absolute power varies with different colours selected, but the nameplate rating is 50W. CINEO Some of what we’ve seen so far in this lighting special has provided high power over a large area softlight. Packing high power into a hardlight is tricky because all the light must be in one place, and power density means heat density. into a hardlight is tricky as all the light must be in one place, meaning heat density Packing high power
IMAGES Top, Litegear’s Litemat Spectrum and below, Creamsource’s SpaceX with green lenses
32 DEF I N I T ION | MARCH 2020
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