Astera, a leading developer of innovative light solutions for film, event and TV markets, will be using their attendance at IBC2024 (Booth 12.F55) to showcase their extensive – and ever-growing – portfolio of LED-based lights. Front-and-centre will be the presentation of their recently awarded LunaBulb, an innovative new product which externally replicates the appearance of a conventional lightbulb, but internally is driven by Astera’s TitanLED engine, thus providing fine full-colour and wireless control across a range of creative and practical applications.
Being the only LED-based bulb with inbuilt CRMX, together with Astera’s NYXBulb, the brand-new LunaBulb is available with an E26, E27 and B22 fitting and, like a conventional bulb, screws directly into an AC-wired bulb socket. A spring-loaded clip allows the light to be converted from a slimline shape to a conventional bulb, granting it both aesthetic and practical value on sets both indoors and outdoors (since the bulbs maintain the same weatherproofness of an IP44 socket). With fully adjustable white levels (1,750 – 20,000K) and extensive colour mixing (RGB, Mint and Amber, with RGB, HIS, XY and Filter Gel colour selection options), the LunaBulb provides beautiful, flicker free lighting in a variety of settings, and because of its underpinning TitanLED engine, can be coordinated seamlessly with the wider Astera ecosystem using Astera’s intuitive app, their series of White and FX remotes, BTB link or wireless CRMX. Configuration is achieved using either the Astera battery-powered PrepCase or PrepInlay for LunaBulb, which hold up to eight bulbs and allow for quick and efficient configuration, blue mode activation and DMX address assignment on the move.
The LunaBulb – which has received significant praise from a number of cinematographers, gaffers and rental owners due to its practical design and exceptional skin tones – joins Astera’s wider range of innovative slighting solutions, which include the battery-powered PlutoFresnel and LeoFresnel: versatile and portable LED lights that can work both as a high-quality 15º to 60º Fresnel or an accurate Profile Spotlight with 16º to 36º zoom, gobo projection and individually-controllable blades. Drawing just 80W and 250W respectively, PlutoFresnel and LeoFresnel are equivalent to traditional 300W and 1000W tungsten-based Fresnels, but with all the advantages of wireless operation, CRMX and RGBMA color mixing.
The flexible LeoFresnel and PlutoFresnel and their precise projection optics join Astera’s established selection of 100% wireless LED luminaires such as LightDrop, PixelPAR, PowerPAR, PixelBar, the well-known family of Helios, Titan and Hyperion tube lights, and HydraPanel. The latter – a compact and also battery-powered 1300 lumen light that fits in the palm of your hand – is one of Astera’s core offerings: watertight, easy to use and weighing just 600g, the HydraPanel can be mounted anywhere and is especially useful to emulate streetlight for nighttime scenes or to generate accents in the background. With six magnetic light modifiers, up to four HydraPanels can be combined together with a DoPchoice’s Snapbag.
The whole Astera light portfolio – alongside accessories such as the RuntimeExtender battery plate – is designed to operate as a holistic ecosystem, providing lighting professionals their full lighting need. Regardless of the desired application, Astera’s range offers lower power draw, higher output strength, precise colour control, lightweight profile and full installation/application flexibility – whilst still providing lighting crews and rentals with the specific creative qualities associated of both traditional and innovative lighting fixtures.
Speaking of their attendance, Ben Díaz, Head of Product Management for Astera, said: “Our attendance at IBC goes from strength to strength each year, and this year’s booth is set to be a must-visit for broadcast lighting engineers, particularly in light of the reception the LunaBulb has received so far; at trade shows, in the press and in testimonials from some of the industry’s leading filmmakers and event providers. We’ll be able to talk with potential customers at IBC about the broad range of ways Astera lighting – and now, the LunaBulb – has been used in film and television, on some of the biggest motion-picture films and TV shows in the last ten years. We have some exciting broadcast case studies to share”.
He continued: “LunaBulb is getting a lot of attention and excellent reviews but it is only part of the picture. Our focus will be on demonstrating to visitors how Astera luminaires can be combined to make the life of fast-paced broadcasting and film crews much easier, since we manufacture lighting tools to streamline their setup times while granting precision, colour excellence and unrivalled wireless controls. We understand how important these qualities are on broadcast sets, where margins are often razor thin, both in terms of time and resources”.