Astera – a leading developer of innovative lighting solutions for film, event and TV markets – has announced the launch of their new ‘White Remote’; a pocket-sized tool that allows for instant point-and-click control of the full Astera lighting ecosystem.
The remote is designed to act as a counterpart to the existing IR ‘FX Remote’, which allows for colour, strobing and effect control at the click of a button. With both the FX and White Remote in-hand, a lighting engineer can execute precise lighting changes in seconds.
The White Remote can turn single or grouped sets of lights off and on instantly and from a distance, and can also be used to quickly add lights to a control group (initially configured through the app), which then allows for lighting changes to be disseminated over the full group simultaneously.
The remote has a number of preconfigured buttons for light temperature, running through 12 preset values from 2400 to 10,000 kelvin, allows for instant temperature transition, along with CCT +/- buttons to enable more precise, incremental control.
Similarly, five preset dimming parameters are present, and provide quick brightness adjustments, along with +/- dimming buttons for fine-tuning.
Max Runtime can also be enabled or disabled directly from the White Remote. This feature allows users to set a maximum duration for their lights – either directly on the light or through the Astera App, which is then toggled on and off on the remote – in order to ensure that their lights won’t run out of battery but will still deliver the maximum possible intensity within the set timing parameters.
BlueMode – Astera’s workflow for pairing lights with the Astera App – is also made simpler with use of the White Remote, and allows for a large number of lights to be paired in a matter of seconds.
A two-press process is used to ensure that the mode is not activated by accident, and the mode can also be disabled (either on the light directly, or through the Astera App) to ensure that access to BlueMode is reserved only for those with the required permissions.
Speaking of the newly launched White Remote, Sebastian Bückle, Sales & Marketing Director at Astera said: “Our aim at Astera is to develop a comprehensive lighting ecosystem that provides every creative solution a lighting engineer could desire, and does so in a way that maximises the efficiency and flexibility of the workflow.
“With an FX and White Remote in hand, a lighting engineer has instant control over every major lighting feature they might need on set”.
Bückle continued: “Crucially though, the IR-based FX and White Remotes are an option, not a necessity.
“They are designed to maximise the potential ways that professionals engage with Astera equipment, which also include an intuitive app with Bluetooth Bridge, CRMX Wireless DMX, or wired DMX control systems.
“When you combine that with our range of LED lights, including the Pluto and Leo Fresnels, Helion, Titan and Hyperion Tubes and the newly introduced HydraPanel – not to mention the extensive range of auxiliary accessories such as our RuntimeExtender battery pack – it really becomes clear that Astera products constitute a comprehensive lighting ecosystem that is unrivalled on the market”.