WASHINGTON-Like almost every other part of our industry, suppliers of professional lighting have seen the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on manufacturing to customer support. And with industry trade shows cancelled for the foreseeable future, vendors are having to improvise the way they market, support and sell to their customers.
BB&STobi Sali with BB&S Lighting said that his company moved operations to employees' homes and worked hard to maintain a consistent and reliable point of contact and support for their customers.
I kept my office open two or three days a week. I was always available 24/7 on the phone and on the website, he said. And we were handling orders. Our warehouse in Las Vegas stayed open the whole time.
Since BB&S products are manufactured in Denmark, Sali said they took extra precautions when taking deliveries.
BB&S recently launched its new Compact BiColor Beamlight, available in single and 2x2 versions. (Image credit: BB&S Lighting) When we got a shipment in from Copenhagen, we would isolate it for four or five days before it ever got opened, he said. We added an additional week of it sitting there sprayed with alcohol to make sure that we didn't have any problems.
For the NAB Show, BB&S was going to debut its Compact Beamlight BiColor (CBL), a lighting unit that offers a range of 2,700 5,700 degrees K and 98 TLCI. The company has also upgraded its Area 96, adding a fan and upping the output, according to Sali.
It's about 10 15% more output than an ARRI 360 Sky Panel at less money, he said.
CINEOCineo had planned on launching the ReFlex, a production-oriented 15A, 125,000 lumen LED-based hard light, according to Rich Pierceall, vice president of LED operations for the NBCUniversal-owned company.
All productions have gone on hiatus so we've delayed the launch and instead we've been doing a series of beta tests to customers to basically try to get a more refined product, he said. So, that's how we've been spending the time in terms of that product that we were going to release at the NAB Show. And so we're anticipating releasing that product probably by the end of July when production comes back.
Although production may be on the way back, many installation projects have been put off for now, he added.
We found that most capital relighting projects have been postponed, he said. So, we anticipate fewer projects that were scheduled to be green-lit, even in the second half of 2020, to be pushed into 2021.
With trade shows cancelled for the foreseeable future, Pierceall said he personally thinks the dynamic of the events will be changed.
This is an interesting test period, how can we effectively market products without relying on trade shows, which is something that lighting people really rely on to bring out new products and to show people how things work, he said.
In terms of future product development, Pierceall says R&D continues to be an important focus for the company.
We've spent a considerable amount of time looking at things like VR, which is going to be a bigger thing in production than we've ever seen before, he said. And we're looking at how can we do more with less in terms of smaller crew sizes and automation and control.
ARRIBusiness has been steady for ARRI despite current events, according to Jason Inouye, technical sales representative for the company.
When the lockdown started, a lot of marketing executives reached out, telling me they needed to get cameras for marketing TV shows, commercials, but couldn't have anyone in front of talent because of social distancing, he said. So we developed this remote solution where we can bring in our ALEXA mini LF camera system, or any of our ALEXA AMIRA camera systems, and be allowed to use cellular network bonding to send a stream out from the camera and it could be recorded offsite somewhere. A remote start would trigger the camera as well from anywhere in the world.
Then people wanted to remotely control the lighting. And so you can use our camera through this box as an access point to actually put your SkyPanels through there as well, and then control the lighting system via IP, he added.
Integrating IP control capabilities to its cameras and lighting equipment has been standard for ARRI for a while now, according to Patrick Schulze, lighting systems application engineer.
What products are now most in demand for home studios? According to Schulze, it's ARRI's SkyPanel series. The S30 and the S60 would be the most popular version for home studios and remote locations where you don't want to have somebody in the space, he said. If it's in the talent's home, it could be something that could just be set up and all controlled remotely through IP.
KINO FLOKino Flo, which has a large presence in both film and television has had an up and down spring, according to Scott Stueckle, sales manager for the Los Angeles-based lighting provider.
More people are lighting themselves as they have migrated back to their homes or to office spaces that are depleted of crew people or lighting people, he said. We're still doing a number of two- and three-light kits for those markets. We're also doing a lot of work with CNN, QVC, HSN, all those types of companies, broadcast news, small web studios. We're still doing a fair amount of those in two ways, fulfilling old orders that were in the system, but also quoting a lot.
Stueckle says they've seen increased interest in the company's diva light series.
The diva light 21 is an LED version of our older, more established legacy diva light fluorescent systems. And it's being used quite a bit for studio, location and interviews, he said.
Kino Flo diva lite 21 (Image credit: Kino Flo)After the NAB Show was cancelled, Stueckle said it gave th
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
15/06/2026
Detach from Direct-Attached: How Remote Editing with EVO Keeps Creative Teams Mo...
14/06/2026
Library captures 1960s R&B/pop drum sound
Following on from their recent wave of plug-in effects, Iconic Instruments have just launched an all-new virtual d...
14/06/2026
HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65
Brie Clayton June 14, 2026
0 Comments
Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters.
Black...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
WASHINGTON-Like almost every other part of our industry, suppliers of professional lighting have seen the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on manufacturing to customer support. And with industry trade shows cancelled for the foreseeable future, vendors are having to improvise the way they market, support and sell to their customers. 
