LED at CBC
Hello all.
I happened upon this forum from Google searches on led lighting and noticed the post relating to our work at CBC with LED lighting. We have many studios across Canada, and cover the wide range of Productions from News, Drama, Variety, Sports, Awards shows etc. We also have a Radio division. Our lighting inventory covers tungsten fixtures, HMI fixtures, florescent fixtures and many automated fixtures.
I agree with many of the posts here as LED lighting is another tool that has its own qualities. There really is a wide variety of LED fixtures and I agree our voice needs to be heard to get units that fit our needs.
At CBC we currently have approx 6 studios that are lit all LED, while our two main news studios sets, in Toronto, are currently lit with all led. We will be converting our on air host lighting to LED fixtures in these studios.
We have been using the IW LED unit from color kinetics for allot of our on air host lighting. It is a variable color temperature unit. Here is a link to a YouTube video I posted showing how it looks on a DSC labs chart on a vector scope. I used an EX 3 camera to shoot the video not one of our 900 units but the video gives and idea of the IW LED unit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N9Mxqh7KGQ
I don't use the frosted lens on the unit I use the clear lens and put diffusion on the barn doors to spread the light as I desire. In regards to throw distance the IW LED unit has great throw with a clear lens much like a red head at full spot. Yes there is punch from this unit with a clear lens.
There are also holographic lenses that allow for specific spread of the light but I just go with the diffusion. I have also had these units in a Chimera to get a wider softer look. I used the Tota lite ring to mount the IW LED unit into the Chimera. It would be nice for Chimera to make a specific ring for these units. City Theatrical makes barn doors etc for the IW LED unit.
In regards to a controlled unit there is now an LED leko style of fixture by Robert Juliat called the ALEDIN unit. It is a profile spot unit that allows shutter cuts and zoom and is an 85 watt unit coming in two color temps.
When I first started to light people with LEDs, many years ago, I was using RGB units that had the same vectors as the RGB of the camera. So I simply did a color mix on the vector scope to match the light I wanted to match with. I moved to the IW LED as they came out but the RGB or RGBA works also. We have one studio lighting on air talent with RGBA units.
I have also tried out the Chauvet Colorado VW unit in one studio as the VW unit is a self contained unit with power supply built in.
For us the move to LED makes a great cost savings for our applications and in many instances the savings pay for the units in a few years.
Our EFP unit is getting some custom IW LED units for their specific needs.
With such a large group of companies making led units, you need to do a lot of on camera testing. I agree that many manufacturers are not making products that really meet our needs and this has been what I have been telling them for years. Demand will make them change. We need to educate the manufacturers about our needs and they need to understand how the camera sees light.
I know changes are happening with LED units and the profile LED unit from Robert Juliat is a good example considering I have wanted a profile LED units for a while and now it exists. It’s not an LED versus everything else, LED is another lighting tool. You choose your fixture based on needs of the look and the limitations of the shoot. LEDs give another option to meet those needs. I am not endorsing one fixture over another I am saying what we have used up to now but I am always looking at new fixtures. I want fixtures that work well on camera.