USER REVI EW | SPACEX
If there was a prize for best looking light then the SpaceX would win – but its performance is even better LIGHT INDUSTRY PRICE €6027/$6500
WORDS PH I L RHODES / JAN I LEHTI NEN / PICTURES CREAMSOURCE
concerned. Unlike the little half-kilowatt hard lights, though, they’re also lightweight, and the reduced power consumption makes cabling and rigging vastly easier. That, in turn, makes power distribution smaller, lighter and cheaper, and requires fewer people over less time to set up. The driving force behind a lot of this is not just more efficient light.” JANI LEHTINEN Jani is a gaffer, and when he’s not on set he runs The Light House – the biggest rental company in Finland. Jani’s been in the business since 1993 (his credits include gaffering on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Helene ) and at The Light House for seven years. With a current production boom in the country from Finland’s tax incentive introductions in 2017, the company has grown to include studio space and camera packages. The Light House rented out Creamsource’s Sky light, which is very similar to the new SpaceX. Jani explains, “When the SpaceX came out we fell in love with it. It’s a very powerful source and very versatile, which nowadays – with the light’s lenses – is important. I’m really hoping that they can do the 30° lens, which I have been asking for, and I know some others have as well. “I’ve been using the SpaceX with and without the current lens, which offers 60° coverage. It’s versatile, especially with the Octagons and
IMAGES The SpaceX’s lenses are part of the standard shipped package
s Outsight, they made lights that helped DOP Greig Fraser make Rogue One one of the best
for fanless operation. The SpaceX is smaller and lighter at 18kg, thanks to active cooling. Our light reviewer, Phil Rhodes, summed up the light at last year’s IBC convention: “At 1200W, SpaceX is an absolute beast and, as with most high-power LED applications, it uses a cluster of six emitter modules. There’s full colour mixing, support for unique accessories such as the Flashbandit synchronisation device, and Creamsource’s traditionally sturdy and attractive approach to mechanical engineering. The control system offers CIE xy colour selection – and, importantly, it’s not a fortune: at $6500, the price per watt is hugely competitive. “LED space lights are efficient, sure, and that’s especially relevant where expensive studio power is
non-serial Star Wars films so far. He used the Creamsource Sky light to make the film an all-LED production, which at the time surprised the industry – especially for such a high-profile project. The new Creamsource SpaceX has obviously evolved from the Outsight Sky and shares many of the features (the other evolution, the company’s name change, was confirmed last year). The SpaceX is designed either to drive a conventional space light skirt or, with additional optics, to act as a ‘punch light’, to drive diffusion or provide a backlight, for example. The Creamsource Sky accepted a degree of bulk and 23kg weight in return
52 DEF I N I T ION | MARCH 2020
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