Litepanels®, a Vitec Group brand and premier provider of LED lighting for the broadcast and production industries, has announced the release of its new ASTRA 1×1 Bi-Color panel. Building on the legacy of the company's original 1×1 fixture, which revolutionized the lighting industry, the ASTRA 1×1 sets a new standard for the form and function of professional LED panels. Following the Litepanels tradition of a one square foot form factor, the ASTRA 1×1 Bi-Color offers a light output that is up to four times brighter than the company's traditional 1×1 Bi-Color fixture, high CRI (Color Rendering Index), and user selectable active or passive cooling modes.
The innovative daylight to tungsten tunable color model is the first in the company's new ASTRA line of panels, with additional fixtures in the series set to debut later this year. While the original Litepanels' 1×1 series was often imitated by competitors, its quality and performance has never been duplicated. In keeping with that tradition of excellence, the development of the next generation ASTRA product line was years in the making and every design element was meticulously crafted.
"The original Litepanels 1×1 has been used on thousands of sets and shoots worldwide since hitting the marketplace," noted Chris Marchitelli, Vice President of Marketing for Litepanels. "We've always known that our next generation panel would need to push the performance envelope, so we approached our new ASTRA line very thoughtfully. We took our time, drew from our wealth of experience building professional LED fixtures, and accessed the wonderful feedback we've gotten from our loyal customers. The time, effort, research and development we put into the ASTRA series has produced an LED panel that is truly astounding, yet highly affordable. When you put your hands on this light, you'll see that we exceeded our own expectations."
The ASTRA 1×1 Bi-Color panels are designed with select premium quality surface mount LEDs that are paired with custom designed TIR (total internal reflection) optics. The fixtures offer a tunable Bi-Color output, allowing users to adjust color from daylight to tungsten as needed. The high CRI LEDs have also been formulated to consistently deliver accurate color temperatures and visually pleasing color reproduction. Tightly binned LEDs and fine-tuned optics provide the new ASTRA 1×1 with higher intensity, a longer throw, and a wider effective beam spread than the company's original 1×1 fixture. This allows the panel to compete with strong exterior light sources or illuminate a large area effectively with a single fixture.
Proper thermal management is the key to maintaining the long life and color accuracy of LED fixtures. To meet these demands, Litepanels' ASTRA 1×1 offers both passive and active cooling modes. The passive cooling mode provides a completely silent operation, while the active cooling mode enables an ultra-quiet fan module and double light output. An internal microprocessor monitors the temperature, minimizes fan speed, delivers smooth dimming from 100 percent to zero with no noticeable color shift, and ensures a completely flicker-free performance at any frame rate or shutter angle. With the addition of an optional communications module, the brightness, color temperature and cooling mode of the fixtures are all controllable via DMX512 protocol.
Redefining the look of LED panels, the ASTRA series employs a modern, modular design. The modular-based ASTRA system currently includes a field replaceable fan module and the optional RJ45 DMX module with an LCD menu and function display. Additional wired and wireless communication modules are currently in development and will continue to be introduced to future proof the fixtures as new technologies become available. The unit's manual controls are ergonomically designed for ease of use in the field, ensuring ready identification of dimming controls, color controls, and power status.
The new panels are produced with aluminum I-beam core construction to provide maximum durability and superior thermal management, and also feature strong, integrated aluminum accessory mounting points and lens/filter rails. The high impact, durable resin end caps feature downward angled exhaust vents carefully designed to direct air flow away from the fixture, minimizing obstructions and helping to prevent foreign materials from entering the panel.
"The ASTRA line is a very exciting addition to the Litepanels family of products," commented Marchitelli. "We are always striving to set new standards and deliver the best in LED technology to our customers. We've done that with the ASTRA 1×1, which is likely the most versatile LED panel ever built. It's both sturdy and lightweight, flexible and strong, and provides a higher output and better color than has ever been seen before. We're especially pleased to be introducing this product at the Cine Gear Expo, as Los Angeles is where Litepanels got its start."
The ASTRA 1×1's extensive list of features continues in the curved yoke design with a wide tilt range, dual integrated cable guides, and a combination yoke mounted power supply with a 3-pin XLR locking power connector and optional Gold Mount(r) or V-Mount battery plates. The yoke also features a removable TVMP connector and additional 1/4-20 mounting points.
The ASTRA 1×1 Bi-Color panel will be available worldwide in the summer of 2014. For more information, visit Litepanels at www.litepanels.com or follow us on Facebook.
About Litepanels
Litepanels, a Vitec Group brand, was founded in 2001 by five professional gaffers and engineers who saw the future and pioneered LED (light emitting diode) lighting for motion pictures, television, and the audio-visual industry. Their Emmy® award-winning technology has now been used on thousands of productions worldwide and is trusted by the world's leading broadcast organizations. Litepanels continues to expand its suite of flicker-free, color accurate, fully-dimmable soft lights that talent and lighting directors admire. These environmentally friendly fixtures can pay for themselves with power savings and long life, setting a new standard in professional lighting. More information can be found at www.Litepanels.com
About the Vitec Group
Capture the moment™
For over 100 years, through every innovation in photography, film and digital image-making, Vitec businesses have developed a powerful portfolio of brand and products that have enabled some of the most amazing moments to be captured under some of the most challenging conditions. Vitec is an international Group principally serving customers in the broadcast photographic and military aerospace and government (MAG) markets. Vitec is based on strong, well-known premium brands on which its customers worldwide rely. Vitec is organized in three divisions: Videocom, Imaging and Services. Videocom designs and distributes systems and products used in broadcasting and live entertainment, film and video production and MAG. Imaging designs, manufactures and distributes equipment and accessories for photography, video and events. Services provides equipment rental, workflow design and technical support for camera, video, audio, fiber optic and wireless technology used by TV production and film crews. More information can be found at www.vitecgroup.com.
