Wendy: There is so much that can happen in post-production... maybe it doesn't have to
if you could just have a more beautiful picture right from the beginning.
Jim: ETC is not new to the studio and film market.
We've been making products for that industry for over four decades,
whether it's lights, or consoles, networking, dimming,
But what we wanted to do with the ƒos/4 line was make products that were designed specifically
with that industry in mind.
We knew that we could make a fixture that would not have to sacrifice brightness for quality
or the other way around.
And so we've developed a series of panel lights that are truly tools for professionals.
Wendy: We started with the question "What is the best light for camera?"
ARG stands for the Advance Research Group.
Arg was formed in 2016. It was Fred's idea.
He specifically wanted a group that was focused on research.
He has always been passionate about the quality of light.
Gary: We try to identify problems that people are having
and then we go back into our offices and we think,
"how can we solve this problem?"
Bill: We can pick solutions that are not necessary economical
just to see if it can be done,
then at some point maybe in the future it becomes economical, then we can implement it.
Wendy: With the industry move to LED technology, one of the things that has been sacrificed
up until now has been these long wavelength Reds.
The Red that we have today looks red because all color is relative,
and it was next to things that were more Orange, shorter wavelengths
but we've still actually been missing all of these beautiful long wavelengths that we had with tungsten
until now
and now we have this Deep Red.
So the red we've been using and that the industry uses
the sort of standard red is around 635 nanometers
this new red is around 660 nanometers
and 25 doesn't maybe seem like very many...
but it's huge.
Gary: ARG had prototyped a set of fixtures
using the Deep Red because we thought that it might be useful.
and Fred and Wendy and a video camera got together and they noticed that
if you illuminate a subject with Deep Red the appearance on the video display was so dramatic
that Fred said we have to have this in our next fixtures.
Jim: the great thing about the ƒos/4 panels is that they
don't make you choose between brightness and quality.
We spent a long time developing these products
because we wanted to have a fixture that would give you both.
So what we've ended up with here is an incredibly bright fixture
that also has just the highest quality of light output that you can get.
All this comes together in our x8 color engine.
The Lustr array brings new depth to color mixing capabilities with a greater color gamut,
not only rich and saturated when you need that,
but also just clean and crisp when that's what you're looking for.
David: So in this product we have a Lustr, and a Daylight array.
The Lustr array: it's focused on saturated colors and warm white applications
and we have the Daylight HDR option
which is focused on tunable white light and specifically neutral white to cool white.
Jim: My favorite thing about the new panel lights is the user interface.
We have a brand new user interface that was designed specifically for this product line,
that includes backlit encoders that are color changing, so
they correspond to whatever you're manipulating on the screen itself
David: I'm excited by some of the features that make this fixture easy to use
things like the color picker,
things like the tuning parameter that let the user select the output from: brightes, best spectral,
or a hybrid combination of the two.
Jon: This being so interacted, constantly re-aimed by hand,
pulled out of a truck...
we needed to make sure that this was a tactile product
Zack: Jon and I were using 3D printing and different types of rapid prototyping
to address problems that we saw but also just show other engineers,
people in marketing, what they're headed towards.
Jon: In exploring those handles we are actually able to solve a lot of other problems at the same time
such as addressing fixture stability.
We looked at including an extrusion rail in the back
that we can mount any type of accessory to.
Zack: The utility in the Griprail is the fact that
it kind of pairs well with all the different little devices and all the little gadgets we have now.
And there's things like additional batteries, or putting tablets on,
even just the ability to
loop up a cord or a cable and actually put it on the back of your fixture really comes in handy.
Jim: We also have a lot of unique things as a company to offer to the
studio and television industry.
All of our fixtures are covered by a 5-year fixture warranty
and a 10 year warranty on the LED array itself.
We also have industry-leading support; we have technicians available 24/7, 365.
We started this process by asking "What's next?" and
"How can we help advance the artistry of lighting for camera?"
We've carried this question with us throughout the development process.
The ƒos/4 family is the culmination of that work,
as it delivers a panel light that is uncompromising in brightness and color quality.