Re-Post: 4Wall Lighting Lounge – Three Fixtures I’m Dying to Use In 2016

Have you heard of the Lighting Lounge over on UsedLighting.com?  4Wall Lighting started a blog a while ago that focuses on different aspects of the industry along with some industry news.  They recently asked me to write a blog post about three fixtures I am looking forward to using in 2016.  Here are some excerpts from the original post which you can find here.

Aryton MagicDot-R

Ayrton Lighting has made a huge impact in the entertainment lighting industry.  The company has been around for years. It was just four short years ago that Ayrton made a re-insurgence into the industry with the introduction of the MagicPanel 602, a moving head fixture with 36 individually controllable 15 watt RGBW LED array. The 6 x 6 LED may be impressive, but the continuous and unlimited pan and tilt of the fixture is what made the industry take note.

Robe Lighting VIVA

In the past couple of years Robe Lighting has stepped up their R&D in LEDs and has released some fairly impressive LED based moving heads.  The latest LED based moving head from the Czech company is the VIVA.  It’s a lightweight moving head that uses a 270W white light LED engine.

ETC Source 4WRD

In mid-January, ETC released yet another bombshell on the industry with the introduction of their latest LED product, the Source 4WRD.  Professionals at every level of the business took notice of ETC’s latest offering as it has a large impact on a segment of the market that wants LEDs but maybe cannot afford new technologies.

To read the entire post and my thoughts about these new products and why I look forward to using them, visit the UsedLighting.com Lighting Lounge.  Share your thoughts on these three new devices as well as new products that you are looking forward to using.

What’s on Your iPhone?

We all love out little friend the iPhone and iPod touch.  Why, because it makes our lives so much easier… sometimes! When Apple opened up third Party applications on the iPhone, our favorite personal communicator became even more powerful and useful in the entertainment industry.  Lighting applications started to show up quick and have been increasing in numbers over time. Not only can our little friend help us calculate DMX dips switches now, it has the ability to talk to some of the major lighting lighting consoles out there such as the ETC line of consoles, the grandMA and Whole Hog but it can also act as a lighting console over an artnet system with Luminare.

In our world, the iPhone has also given us, iSquint, the ability to bring you more information with connecting to our server and writing post, keeping track of friends over twitter with Twitterrific and site info with Analytics.  Then of course there is the down time with playing any number of games we have installed.

So our question is, What is on your iPhone/iPod Touch?

We have started the iSquint Flickr Pool – What’s on Your iPhone, where you can upload screen grabs like the one we have done and put notes on the image within Flickr to help illustrate what apps you have. Visit Flickr.com to see our notes on our iPhone screen grab.

Don’t know how to do a screen grab on your iPhone, HowTo Screen Grab on an iPhone via Gizmodo.  Then use an image app like photoshop to bring all of the images together.

Creative Stage Lighting Open Houses: Fall 2009

Looking to expand your knowledge and understanding of Compulite Lighting Consoles, Color Kinetics LEDs, JB Lighting moving lights and Wireless Solutions wireless DMX?

Creative Stage Lighting has organized Open Houses accross the US during the Fall of 2009 to help you get a feeling for these product lines. Starting on the 18th of September, CSL kicks off their Open Houses at Freeman Events in Las Vegas Nevada.  The Open Houses are a great opportunity to learn about new entertainment lighting equipment and technologies.

Visit Creative Stage Lighting’s website, www.creativestagelighting.com to view the schedule and find an Open House near you as well as register to attend.

Ushio Synergy LED MR-16 Lamp

Synergy: The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.

The Ushio Synergy MR-16 LED lamp is a culmination of breakthrough combination of patented optical technology, LED packaging techniques, unique electronics and superior thermal management.

The Synergy lamp uses 3 -4w LED’s with 4 color temperatures available, Daylight(DL) at 6,500k, Neutral White(NW) at 4,200k, Warm White(WW) at 3,100k and by special order, Daylight White(DW) at 5,600k.  As most LED’s, their rated for over 50,000 lamp hours which is 10 times as long as any standard MR-16 lamp on the market.  What is also interesting to note is that the  Synergy lamp is the first LED MR-16 lamp to meet the efficiency requirements of California’s stringent Title 24 regulations.

The Synergy’s state-of-the-art technology allows the lamp to be a direct replacement for 20-25w halogen MR-16’s.  Thus giving you the ability to use the LED MR-16 lamp in such applications as track lighting, recessed lighting, accent lighting, landscape & pathway lighting, display cases & cabinet lighting and of course art gallery and museum lighting.

There are quite a few choices in the 12v LED MR-16, from which color temperature, to the various degrees of spread of 12, 24, 34 and 50 degrees.  Pricing has not been made available just yet and a release date has not been set.  For more information on the Synergy LED MR-16 Lamp, visit Ushio’s website at www.ushio.com.  For pricing and availability, contact your local Ushio dealer.

Rumor Mill Update: Vari-Lite LED Fixture

Just a few weeks ago, we reported a rumor that Vari-lite is in the process of developing an LED moving head. Many of the top lighting designers and dealers were able to view the fixture in a private room at LDI this past year in Las Vegas, at half power (because of limitations of the off the shelf power supplies) and reports were that they were all blown away. Today we have learned more details of the mysterious LED fixture called VLX. The VLX is rumored to be about the same body shape and size of the current VL500 fixture with close to the same weight, 43 lbs. (19.5kg). The VLX is heard to be as bright if not brighter then the VL2500 wash unit with an output of about 13,000 lumens. The fixture does not look like an LED fixture or perform like one, it works and looks, even from the front, like a standard fixture except the colors really pop and are completely homogenized when mixed.   

While we were not able to determine what type of LEDs the VLX uses, it does use RGB (Red, Blue, Green) plus White LED’s. An amber LED may be added in at a later time, but as many people in the industry know, amber LEDs are not quite as bright yet. What is truly amazing about these LEDs is that they are developed exclusively for Vari-Lite and does not use Color Kinetics or Philips brand LEDs. The VLX will also utilize a 3:1 zoom lens (LED zoom?) without the use of any sort of frost diffusion.  

While information is scarce about the VLX right now, we can guesstimate that the fixture will be a little more than the price of a VL2500 Wash. Considering the cost of a moving light that still uses Metal Halide lamps and the VLX uses LED’s, the fixture housing may die long before the LEDs do. We haven’t heard anything about a release date, but chances are something will hit the market before the 2nd quarter of 2009. We also hear that the plan is to release an entire range of fixtures using this technology with par cans, cyc lights and exterior wash fixtures supposedly in the works.

To learn more about the entire line up of moving lights from Vari-Lite, visit their website at www.vari-lite.com.

Please note, the image in this post is a Photochop and NOT the actual image of the VLX.

iSquint Now on Facebook

We here at iSquint have added yet another feature to the site, a facebook page. Not only can you add iSquint as a friend, you can also follow us via an iSquint page through facebook. On our friends page through facebook, you will be able to be notified of new post added to the site as well as updates about what we have planned for the site.

We have added a facebook link on the site in the far right navigation at the top of the page for easy access to the iSquint page on facebook.

As always, if you have suggestions or recommendations for the iSquint site or any other technology we should implement, please pass along an email to info@isquint.net.

As always, thanks for reading!

Site Info: Twitter Feed Added

We have added a new feature to the iSquint blogeshpere. Not only can you track new post to the site via RSS, we have added a twitter feed that will announce any new post to the site. You can view the iSquint twitter feed by following www.twitter.com/isquint

As new technologies and services become available to help our readers access iSquint, we will try to implement them as early as possible. If you have suggestions or additions that you think may help view or accessing our site, please drop us an email at info@isquint.net.

Again, thanks for reading!

New DMX512-A Standard Now Available

The ESTA foundation recently released the new standard for DMX512-A or better known as ANSI E1.11-2008 Entertainment Technology – USITT DMX512-A, Asynchronous Serial Digital Data Transmission Standard for Controlling Lighting Equipment and Accessories.  The standard are available for purchase on The ESTA Foundation’s Publications website.

ANSI E1.11 – 2008 is the most recent updating of the ubiquitous lighting control protocol that started with the USITT DMX512 standard in 1986. It corrects errors and clarifies text in the 2004 edition and adds functionality. An important clarification is the maximum update rate. The maximum rate is 44 Hz if 512 data slots are being sent, but it can be almost 20 times faster if a data packet contains fewer slots. This has been true ever since the original USITT DMX512, but some receiver manufacturers have missed or ignored this detail. The new edition also adds an Alternate START Code for UTF-8 transmission so that languages that can’t be rendered in ASCII can be used for sending diagnostic text messages. The 2004 edition only allows text messages encoded in the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), which only supports American English and a few other languages that use the simple Latin alphabet.

The 2004 edition is now obsolete. Anyone designing new DMX512 products is encouraged to use ANSI E1.11 – 2008 rather than the old 2004 edition. However, the 2004 edition will continue to be sold on The ESTA Foundation website as a service to people trying to understand the requirements of a contract or request for quotation that references it.

Happy Thanksgiving and the New Years Eve Ball

It is officially the start of the 2008 holiday season with this the day of thanksgiving in the United States.  We here at iSquint.net would like to wish each and everyone of our readers a Happy Thanksgiving, Festive Holidays and a Wonderful New Year.  We hope to see you back here for the rest of 2008 and the start of 2009.  We have many nex exciting things planned for you, our valued reader, so check back often.

Speaking of New Years… E:Cue Lights the New Years Eve Ball

One of the biggest lighting effects in recent years around the holiday season is the New Years Eve Ball that drops at Time Square in New York City.  In the past years the ball has been given a race lift with all Waterford crystal triangles covering it’s surface.  This being the 100th anniversary of the ball being drop, Philips Lighting and Waterford Crystal developed a new design just for this years ball drop.

2008’s edition is more than “twice as bright as the previous year’s ball…” The newest LED technology from Phillips along with enhanced color variation and control from the house of e:cue surpassed the expectations of everyone involved. 9576 Philips Luxeon LED’s (controlled per DMX512), provide the ball with a unique appearance, and a significant energy savings. Additionally, for this project e:cue developed a remarkable show- and patchfile which allows for a pixel-based mapping of the sphere. During the show, the patchfile could be modified in real-time thereby facilitating 360° video rendering both horizontally and vertically in an infinite number of positions.

To learn more about the new New Years Eve Ball, you have a couple of choices, see the live video report from CNN or from New York Post.  To read more about the Ball, visit the Times Square Alliance website, or MyFox News New York.

To learn more about the e;cue product line, visit their website at www.ecue.tv.

Osram and BASF Set Standards in OLEDs

Osram and BASF have made huge strides in maximizing the efficiency of energy-saving OLED lighting with more then 60 Lumens per watt.  What exactly does this mean?  Producing a bright source of light with huge energy savings in not only the way the light is produced, but how the light source, the OLED is made.

BASF and OSRAM Opto Semiconductors have developed a highly efficient white organic light-emitting diode (OLED): for the first time an OLED not only is able to achieve a light yield of over 60 lumens per watt (lm/W), but also, at the same time, meets the international Energy Star SSL Standard with regard to color requirements. Lighting efficiency on this scale had been achieved previously. Lighting efficiency describes the ratio of luminous flux given off by a lamp to the amount of power consumed; the greater the yield, the less energy is lost. However, up until now the color values of OLEDs have not been within the acceptable band for color coordinates around the Planck curve, as defined by the Energy Star SSL Standard. The color values of the new OLED are within this band – its light retains the white color at different levels of intensity.

Why is OLED important in the entertainment industry?  While to Federal Government continues to restrict the use of higher energy demanding light sources, such as tungsten based filaments. Entertainment industry professionals are looking for ways to help save our natural resources while not compromising the output of lumens of the light source.

To continue to read the Press Releae from Osram and BASF, visit Osram Opto Semiconductors website at www.osram-os.com.

Selador Paletta and Lustr LED Fixtures

Selador introduced two new LED color mixing lighting fixtures this year at LDI in Las Vegas the Lustr and the Paletta.  Just like the rest of Seldaor’s LED fixtures, Each fixture uses 7 color LED’s to mix any color you are looking for.  Red, Red-Orange, Amber, Green, Cyan, Blue, Indigo.

Selador Lustr

The first one is the Lustr which use Selador’s patent-pending seven-color LED mixing LED to produce extremely intense colors across the spectrum with natural-looking pastels and white light. What sets the Lustr apart from Selador’s other LED products is that it uses 40 Luxeon Rebel 3.5 watt LED’s with in each eleven inch length of the fixture. This means that the fixture is pushing out brighter light compared to the Selador X7 line with only 32 LED per eleven inches at 1 watt per LED.

The Lustr fixture is available in lengths of 11″ @ 2.1amps, 21″ @ 4.2amps, 42″ @ 8.4amps and 63″12.6amps.

Selador Paletta

The next fixture Selador introduced was the Paletta LED lighting fixture. Similar to the Lustr, The Paletta uses 40 Luxeon Rebel 3.5 watt LEDs per eleven inches of the fixture.  The Paletta fixture includes proprietary, internal diver system that actively smooth the standard 8-bit DMX input signal to 15-bit dimming resolution for dimming that is up to 128 times greater than other LED luminaries.  Dimming is compatible with all standard video cameras, with LEDs pulsing at frequencies of approximately 1.5KHz or greater.

The Paletta 3.5w fixture incorporate robust thermal-management components to protect the LEDs and prolong their life.  The Paletta like the entire LED line from Selador, are restricted to a max output of the LEDs to 85%-90% percent to also help extend the life of the LEDs.  Through the course of the LEDs life, they are expected to maintain at least 70% of their original light output even after 50,000 hours of typical operation under normal conditions.

The entire line of LED Fixtures from Selador feature 7 Colors to mix almost any color in the light spectrum.  Pictured below is the color spectrum’s from a standard RGB (Red, Blue, Green) LED fixture compared to  the seven colors that Selador LED fixtures use.  You will notice that with the seven colors to mix with the Selador, there is nearly a unlimited numbers of visible colors possible (72 thousand-trillion).

To fins out more about the full line of LED products from Selador, visit their website at www.selador.net.  To find a dealer near you, visit the dealer section of thier website here.

BRIGHT LED Flashlight UC3.400

Every good lighting Tech needs a reliable and BRIGHT flash light. While maglites are the good old stand bys and have been in use for YEARS in the industry. With LED technology improving by leaps and bounds ever year with brighter LEDs and much improved battery performance, it is a natural fit to use LED flash lights.

While the entertainment industry has a huge demand for a sturdy and reliable flash light, the law enforcement industry has a higher degree of standards in their flash lights. So it is a natural fit to use what the law enforcement industry has been perfecting, or at least trying to, when it comes to having light in your pocket.

5.11 Tactical has recently released a new product to their growing LED flashlight line up, the UC3.400. What truely makes this light unique in the flash light industry is that it can fully re-charge it’s battery in only 90 seconds from a dead flat charge. That is 160 times faster then any other manufacturer out there.

Features include:

• Made of durable polymer
• Impact, abrasion and water resistant
• Battery recharge in 90- seconds
• 3 LEDs rated for more than 50,000 hours

The retail price for the UC3.400 is $169.99 from 5.11 Tactical. While that is just a little more then a maglte, you never have to worry about replacing a lamp or battery for about 24 years with using the light for 40 hours a week. This light can be a large investment up front for a single flash light, but will provide light for years and years to come.

To find out more or to purchase the UC3.400, visit 5.11 Tacticals website, www.511tactical.com. Added bonus from 5.11 Tactical, at the time of print, they are offering FREE SHIPPING on orders of $35 or more.