2012 Feb 15

Litepanels Ships Croma Variable Color-Temperature LED Lighting Fixtures

Van Nuys, California: February 14, 2012 – Litepanels, a Vitec Group brand, announces that the Croma on-camera LED lighting fixture, capable of generating variable color temperature illumination, is now shipping.

The Croma provides Litepanels hallmark soft light with the addition of variable color temperature output ranging from daylight (5600°K) to tungsten (3200°K). It is a versatile solution for run-and-gun news shooters, event videographers or still photographers who move rapidly from one light environment to the next, with no time to change lighting equipment or add gels. Delivering powerful performance in a small package, this self-contained light can be a secret weapon on any set or location, wherever an extra kick or soft fill is needed.

Croma provides infinite control of both color temperature and lighting intensity via two ergonomic on-fixture dials. One offers the ability to dim from 100% to zero with no noticeable color shift. The second lets the user dial-in the fill light to any point between daylight (5600°K) and tungsten (3200°K) to precisely match the ambient light.

The Croma draws just 9W, and provides the equivalent luminance output of 40W – 90W traditional fixtures. To power the fixture, the user has the choice of AA batteries or optional AC adapter. Six 1.5V AA batteries install within the Croma to provide power from 1.5 to 6 hours, depending on battery type.

The compact Croma weighs just 12 oz. (.4 kg) and measures 6” x 4” x 2” (54mm H x 36mm W x 102mm D).

“Our new Croma is an on-camera color-temperature versatile LED lighting fixture that can match the ambient light with a quick turn of a knob, making it the go to light for any environment,” said Chris Marchitelli, Litepanels VP of Global Marketing. “Videographers and DSLR shooters alike will wonder how they ever managed without it.”

For more information on Litepanels LED lighting, contact Litepanels, Inc. 16152 Saticoy Street, Van Nuys, CA 91406, Email: info@litepanels.com www.litepanels.com

About Litepanels

Litepanels was founded in 2001 by 5 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.

Backed by the Vitec Group’s legacy of 100+ years in the broadcast and production industry, 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 practically pay for themselves with power savings and long life, setting a new standard in professional lighting. Along with other leading brands in the broadcast and professional videographer industry, Litepanels is part of Vitec Videocom, a Vitec Group company. For more information on Litepanels, visit www.litepanels.com

About Vitec Videocom

Vitec Videocom brings together some of the most respected, most innovative and most sought-after brands in the industry: Anton/Bauer, Autoscript, Litepanels, OConnor, Petrol, Sachtler, Vinten and Vinten Radamec. It acts as an endorsing brand for these market-leading broadcast, film and pro video products, encouraging multi-brand system sales and simplifying the way that customers worldwide do business.

Vitec Videocom is an operating division within the Vitec Group, an international business serving customers in the broadcast, photographic and military aerospace and government markets. Vitec is based on strong, well known, premium brands on which its customers rely on worldwide.

Vitec Videocom – innovative products around the camera.

2012 Feb 2

Litepanels® Lights Slick Videos for YouTube Channel

To produce “Video Game High School”, the latest feature length web series to air on Freddie Wong and Brandon Laatsch’s YouTube channel, the team needed solid, mobile and efficient lighting. “That’s exactly what Litepanels® LED lights gives us for our latest feature as well as our weekly YouTube videos,” says Wong.

Wong, Laatsch and show runner/writer Matthew Arnold discovered Litepanels, a Vitec Group brand last year when they took a 1×1 on a 10,000-mile road trip project, making videos with their fans. “We’re tech geeks at heart,” Wong admits. “So I had been following the development of LED lighting closely for some time. When it came time to equip ourselves, Litepanels LED lights were at the top of our list. We are now using an array of Bi-Color and daylight 1×1s, a Sola 6 Fresnel, MicroPro on-camera light, as well as the new Hilio on our projects.”

Wong and team were drawn to Litepanels lights because their shooting schedule and style requires them to move extremely fast in order to make their days. “The 1×1s and Sola 6 Fresnel were ideal for allowing us to light in the cramped spaces of classrooms and hallways, as well as to move as quickly as we needed to,” Wong explains. “In many cases, despite having other lights on the set, our DP Jon Salmon elected to go with Litepanels boomed out on C-stands because they gave a significantly faster speed of deployment. Often the last step before we shot was to grab a Litepanels fixture for a bit of fill or an eyelight.”

On the last day of their recent shoot, the trio was out in the desert and ran out of sunlight. Not a problem, “We simply took a battery operated MicroPro, bounced it into a bounce board and used that as a keylight. That combined with the low light sensitivity of the Sony F3, allowed us to get the last few shots we needed.”

After this experience, Wong and team are sold on Litepanels lights. “It’s clear that the weight and output of these lights make them ideal soft sources, especially when combined with cameras that are now becoming more sensitive in low light situations,” Wong says. “You don’t need to blast your actors anymore and make everyone on set sweat – you can move quickly and efficiently while keeping the on-camera talent happy.”

As with their other projects, “Video Game High School” will run on the company’s YouTube channel as well as their upcoming portal site http://rocketjump.com. Wong’s freddiew and freddiew2 have 2.6 million subscribers and have over half a billion video views to date.

For more information on Litepanels LED lighting, contact Litepanels, Inc., 16152 Saticoy Street, Van Nuys, CA 91406, Email: info@litepanels.com www.litepanels.com