In Broadcast - October 2014 - 62

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 36 - OCTOBER 2014

N E W S

InGEAR

PhotonBeam 80 Floodlight
Provides LED Enlightenment
A

t IBC2014, Photon Beard
introduced its PhotonBeam
80 LED Floodlight to the European
market, which offers many beneﬁts
for applications like ENG because
of the ﬁxtures' solid state stability
and toughness, low weight, and
ability to be battery powered.
In the recent past, some argued
that LED lighting can have
drawbacks, most prevalent being
that some LED products can be
quite 'spiky', meaning that if you
look at the spectrum of the visible
light produced you will ﬁnd that there
are a number of signiﬁcant peaks
and troughs at certain points, which
means that the light is inconsistent.
This can be a nightmare for
many applications and has been a
difﬁcult issue to resolve. However,
the route that Photon Beard has
chosen with the PhotonBeam 80
has produced excellent results
through the exploitation of 'remote
phosphor' technology.
Remote phosphor, which

62

utilises phosphor mixes applied
to a transparent surface and lit
from behind by blue LEDs, offers
important advantages in terms of
spectral content, consistency and
overall efﬁciency. Phosphor mixes
specially developed for Photon
Beard enables the PhotonBeam 80
to provide spectral consistency and
overall source efﬁciency, including
daylight 5600K or tungsten 3000K
colour temperatures. Moreover, it
enables the PhotonBeam 80 to
provide about the same quantity
of light (lumens) as a 300W
tungsten lamp.
Although it's fair to say that
in recent years there has been a
tendency to ignore fluorescent
lighting and totally dismiss tungsten
solutions for broadcast quality TV
studio installation in favour of LED
lights, Photon Beard challenge
the notion that we should all "go
LED" immediately.
Although it is understandable
that many within the industry

are keen to embrace the latest
technology, they need to fully
understand the implications of
making ill-informed decisions on
their lighting choices. Lighting
technologies may be perceived as
being little changed over the years,
but that's not necessarily the case
- signiﬁcant advances have been
made recently. For example, not
long ago ﬂuorescent lighting for
broadcast applications was seen
to be more efﬁcient than LED. It
is now accurate to say that some
LED lighting ﬁxtures, such as the
PhotonBeam 80, are more efﬁcient
than ﬂuorescent, and will provide
more high quality light.
However, while cost efﬁciency is
important, it shouldn't be the only
consideration. It costs a lot more to
get it wrong that it does to invest in
getting it right.
What's crucial about lighting
is consistency. Lighting that is
consistent and - just as important
- predictable can eliminate a lot of

guesswork, and save money.
PhotonBeam 80 claims gets it
spot on, but judge for yourself, it
will be an enlightening experience.

The PhotonBeam 80 LED Floodlight
offers beneﬁts for various uses

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In Broadcast - October 2014

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