Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Lighting in 2021: Orbiter, SkyPanel, Daylight, Tungsten, trends, and new solutions

22/04/2021

For MACCAM, based in Los Angeles, California, catering specifically to gaffers, COVID-19 has been a roller coaster. In March, we had to scale down because we didn't know what the future would hold, says Michael McDonald, Maccam's President. But thankfully in June, commercials started to pick up for us, and by Q4, business was back to its pre-COVID numbers; 2021 is shaping up to be even better.

Orbiter at On Our Way indie film set. DP Alex Salahi

The latest ARRI fixture, Orbiter, drove demand for lights at the end of 2020. Everyone was chomping at the bit, says McDonald. My customers absolutely love the color science and the technology that a small matrix of LEDs opens up; it offers so many optic solutions. He continues, we'd love to see smaller and bigger optics sizes adding that his customers are especially looking forward to more accessories like the Projection optics.

Even though the demand for LED sources is booming, HMI and Tungsten-especially the larger units, like ARRI's M40 and T12, remain essential. HMIs and large Tungsten won't go away any time soon, assures McDonald.

The gaffers his company supports, all of whom are involved in top studio projects, are looking for versatile fixtures that can replace two or more units from their trucks as they scale to five tons and sprinters. If you can get a fixture like the Orbiter that can lower your footprint, that's ergonomic. When asked what trends he might see for 2021, McDonald comments, The biggest trends for new fixtures coming to the market are harder light and more optics-and our customers are delighted. New fun and creative projects will be coming soon!

At Pacific Backlot, a subsidiary of Vancouver Film Studios, General Manager Derek Hall reports his company serves the many clients that come through the studios' 12 stages, facilitating lighting and grip needs. Last March, when COVID-19 hit, production came to a halt at

Vancouver Film Studios and Pacific Backlot. During that period, we used the time to improve the facilities, Hall remembers. In October, productions came roaring back. We're a 40-show town, he says, referring to Vancouver. He continues: In October, 60 productions started up. We had more work the last three months of the year than we've ever had. With the number of simultaneous productions, the demand for lights was quite high. I brought in gear from other places to help facilitate the needs of our customers. Hall also notes changes in the lighting world: The demand for LEDs is growing year by year. It's not a trend anymore-it's becoming the norm.

At Pacific Backlot, Hall reports that they have purchased ARRI LED and Tungsten fixtures over the years to meet the lighting needs on Vancouver Film Studios' stages. This year, we diversified, he says. We want to be able to serve our customers off the lot, when they go on location. To do that, we additionally purchased a lot of HMIs last year and this year and we'll be purchasing more. Another fixture that will go out on location is the ARRI Orbiter. It's a versatile light, says Hall. One of the main features we all want is the Leko adapter. With that, we see it as an LED joker light.

ARRI HMIs at Pacific Backlot

With the growing popularity of LEDs, Hall sees Tungsten lights as dying dinosaurs. Three years ago, they were a no-brainer, he says. That's changed. But Tungsten will always be needed, especially the bigger fixtures-just not in the same quantities.

Today, all 12 operating stages at Vancouver Film Studios are full of productions from Apple, Warner Bros., and Freeform Disney. Hall predicts that productions will continue to follow COVID-19 safety protocols. But it isn't a big hassle anymore, he says. There was a learning curve and the productions have it dialed in now. It's not going to stop anything in Vancouver.

Social distance video production setup in an office building

According to General Manager Michel Suissa, The Studio at B&H largely serves institutional, non-traditional productions, from a wide range of sectors. Everyone is bringing production inhouse, from internal communications to training the sales force, he comments. Non-traditional spaces are being turned into studios, like transforming a conference room into an insert stage. With regard to lighting, anything that enables remote control is big. We've seen new markets emerge in ways we haven't seen in the past because the opportunity and the need were presented to these communities due to the pandemic.

Production Sales Engineer Danielo Garcia reports that at the beginning of 2020, some projects went cold, but B&H was able to continue to work remotely: After the first dip, dormant projects came back on and new projects we weren't expecting came online. We needed more equipment and more locations to make things happen, and that drove a boom in lighting. Suissa reveals that virtual production has been a new development in the industry-and it calls for LED lighting. It's a good alternative to green screen and it means that lighting on set becomes more sophisticated, he says. It's been driving a renewed request for lighting in general.

Lighting design for multi-location livestream with remote lighting control via Cine Miranda, lighting rental provided by Kinetic Lighting. Photo credit: Lighting Designer Andrew Schmedake

In terms of trends in lighting, both Suissa and Garcia say that LED is the flavor. That's where everyone wants to go, says Garcia. There's still going to be a need for HMI, but people are gravitating to the ARRI SkyPanel and Orbiter. Suissa says that customer feedback on the Orbiter is slowly coming to us-It's still relatively new, he adds. Lots of people are still figuring out what applications it's best for. It&
LINK: https://www.arri.com/en/company/arri-news/news-stories/news-stories-20...
See more stories from arri

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

21/04/2026

Diversified Appoints Tyler Affolter Chief Revenue Officer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/04/2026

TV Azteca to Bring Dolby Atmos to Free-To-Air TV in Mexico

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/04/2026

Maxon Announces Free Tools and Mobile Expansion of ZBrush...

Cinema 4D brings professional 3D workflows to iPad. The return of Autograph now free for individual users. ZBrush expands to Windows on Arm. See it all at NAB...

21/04/2026

Bitfocus improves availability, security and user managem...

Software version 1.6 extends enterprise functionality to place Buttons at the heart of media operations at any scale Bitfocus, the Norwegian software develope...

21/04/2026

Cobalt Digital Announces Launch of blueCORE at NAB Show 2...

Cobalt Digital Announces Launch of blueCORE at NAB Show 2026: Compact Powerhouse Signal Processors for SDI and ST 2110 Workflows Compact, multi-function stan...

21/04/2026

Applications open for 2026 AISF and Screen Australia Writer/Director Virtual Sessions

Applications open for 2026 AISF and Screen Australia Writer/Director Virtual Ses...

20/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Sonys Hugo Gaggioni Highlights HDR Advances, Software-Defined Workflows

At the 2026 NAB Show, Sony is showcasing a broad slate of innovations across liv...

20/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Fujinons Stosh Durbacz on Expanding the 4K Broadcast Lens Lineup With New Portable Zooms, 94x Box Lens

Fujifilm is sharpening its focus on core broadcast production with a new wave of...

20/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Rock-It Sports' John Walberg on Powering Logistics, Shipping for the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup

This upcoming summer in North America is going to be a busy one. The 2026 FIFA M...

20/04/2026

NAB 2026: Glookast outlines product updates including Media Producer UX, connectors and Premiere Pro panel

Glookast (Booth W1661) announced a series of product updates at NAB Show 2026, c...

20/04/2026

NAB 2026: Matrox Video and Amagi collaborate on cloud-based broadcast workflows using ORIGIN framework

Matrox Video and Amagi announced a collaboration to integrate the Matrox ORIGIN ...

20/04/2026

NAB 2026: Riedel SimplyLive supports expanded centralised VAR system for Argentina football league

Riedel Communications (Booth C4908) announced that the Asociaci n del F tbol Arg...

20/04/2026

NAB 2026: Ikegami introduces VFE-P07D OLED viewfinder with integrated LCD monitor

Ikegami (Booth C3819) announced the VFE-P07D monocular OLED viewfinder at NAB Sh...

20/04/2026

NAB 2026: IABM rebrands as IAMT and launches AI discovery platform and global alliance

International Association of MediaTech (IAMT), formerly known as IABM, announced...

20/04/2026

NAB 2026: Harmonic supports DIRECTV DTH platform upgrade with VOS Media Software

Harmonic (Booth W2831) announced that DIRECTV is updating its US direct-to-home (DTH) video platform using Harmonic's VOS Media Software. The deployment is...

20/04/2026

NAB 2026: Wasabi Technologies acquires Seagate Lyve Cloud business

Wasabi Technologies announced that it has acquired the Lyve Cloud business from Seagate Technology. As part of the agreement, Seagate received equity in Wasabi ...

20/04/2026

NAB 2026: EVS introduces Choreon robotics orchestration platform for unified production control

EVS (Booth N1841) has launched Choreon, a robotics controller for media producti...

20/04/2026

SportsTechBuzz at NAB 2026, Day 2: Live Reports From the Show Floor in Vegas

The NAB Show is in full swing, and the SVG and SVG Europe editorial teams are chasing down the hottest stories from all over the Las Vegas Convention Center. He...

20/04/2026

NAB 2026: Skyline Communications launches DataMiner packages on Grass Valley AMPP App Store

Skyline Communications announced the availability of its DataMiner xOps platform...

20/04/2026

NAB 2026: SNS launches Outpost, Trio and AI Suite for connected post-production workflows

Studio Network Solutions (Booth N1129) introduced a set of new products at NAB S...

20/04/2026

NAB 2026: Dell Technologies and NVIDIA present AI data platform for media workflows

Dell Technologies is showcasing its Dell AI Data Platform with NVIDIA at NAB Sho...

20/04/2026

NAB 2026: Blackmagic Design Announces Fairlight Live Software Audio Mixer

Blackmagic Design has announced Fairlight Live, a software-based live audio mixer with SMPTE 2110 support and spatial audio mixing. A public beta is available n...

20/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: Imagine Comms Jimbo Haneklau Talks Prismon, Hybrid IP/SDI Workflows, and Cloud Playout

At the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, Imagine Communications VP of Sales, Sports an...

20/04/2026

Live From NAB 2026: LiveUs Phillip Broaddus on LU900Q Launch, Nexus Cloud Platform, and REMI Growth

At the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas, LiveU Senior Director of Sales, Sports Philli...

20/04/2026

3 New Ways to Dive Deeper Into the Music You Love

A song that perfectly captures a moment is magic. But when you uncover the story behind it, who made it, what inspired it, and the meaning woven into the lyrics...

20/04/2026

Deity Microphones announce the PR-4

Ultra-compact 32-bit recorder set for launch Deity Microphones will soon be launching a new 32-bit six-track recorder that's been designed with producti...

20/04/2026

Lectrosonics preview the S1

Uncoming lightweight shotgun mic announced Production-sound experts Lectrosonics have recently announced the upcoming launch of a new lightweight shotgun mi...

20/04/2026

The story of Focusrite ISA

New 20-minute documentary explores iconic preamp In 2025, Focusrite commissioned a new short-form documentary with filmmaker Chris Mayes-Wright - the direct...

20/04/2026

Sampleson release Boomcha

Turn quick sketches into real drum grooves Sampleson have been experimenting with assitive production tools recently, and their latest creation aims to make...

20/04/2026

Rohde & Schwarz rolls out its full ARDRONIS counter UAS suite in a demonstration van at Counter UAS Technology Europe 2026

Rohde & Schwarz rolls out its full ARDRONIS counter UAS suite in a demonstration...

20/04/2026

Protecting America's Shores: L3Harris Keeps the Coast Guard Mission-Ready

L3Harris delivers integrated communications, navigation and C4ISR capabilities that empower the U.S. Coast Guard to protect Americas maritime interests and resp...

20/04/2026

Google Cloud Embraces the Rise of Agentic Production

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

Creators Go All in on AI, Niche Content

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

NBC Sports' Jon Miller: Broadcast Is Having a Moment'

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

Beyond the Lift and Shift': Cloud Migration's New Mandate

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

Virtual Production Finds Its Footing

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

Corporate Creators: All Companies Are Media Companies Now

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

IABM Rebrands as the International Association of MediaTech

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

CBS Detroit Debuts New AR/VR Technology-Driven Studio

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

Fox Sports Taps Appear X Platform for Remote Production

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/04/2026

CueScript and Lighting Design Group Expand Customer Oppor...

CueScript and Lighting Design Group Expand Customer Opportunities Through New Partnership Find both companies at 2026 NAB Show in CueScript Booth # C 4720 ...

20/04/2026

Layercake Deepens Bitmovin Integration to Power End-to-En...

[Sydney, NSW, 20 April 2026] - Layercake, the company behind the intelligent media orchestration platform Streamcake, today announced the formalisation of its i...

20/04/2026

FOX Sports selects Appear X Platform for next-generation...

Deployment spans FOX Sports' REMI infrastructure, IP production for a major global soccer event, and its Jewel Events production systems Appear, a global l...