Amsterdam – Last month saw television lighting director Paul Middleton turn to the sophisticated yet low-temperature and economical Philips Selecon PLcyc1 LED luminaire to light the patisserie-themed Panasonic Broadcast stand at major entertainment technology trade show IBC 2014.
For the launch of the new 4K Varicam camera, Panasonic held cake decorating demonstrations on the stand, with ‘Masterpiece of Cake’ founder Carol Boelhouwer showing off her skills over the course of the exhibition’s five days.
“There were two main requirements for the stand’s lighting design,” explains Middleton. “Firstly, that the fixtures were compact and low powered, and secondly that they delivered excellent colour reproduction whilst producing very little heat. We didn’t want Carol Boelhouwer’s creations melting under traditional tungsten lamps. After first using the PLcyc1 LED units two years ago, I knew they would fit the bill in all areas.”
The heat output from the Selecon PLcyc1’s RGBW LED beam is virtually non-existent, meaning the stand and cakes remained cool. In addition, the three Selecon units consumed a maximum power of just 150 Watts each compared to the 1500 Watts if a traditional three-cell 500W cyc unit had been used, which allowed the power consumption for the whole of the ‘kitchen’ set to be under 16 Amps. “This saved a huge amount on the budget as well as being eco-friendly,” says Middleton.
The back of the kitchen set featured a pen and ink style illustration of the outside of a traditional French Patisserie, with the PLcyc1 luminaires washing the wall in a range of pretty pastel colours throughout the show.
For the exhibition, the speed of rigging and the weight of the fixtures was also important. The powercon connectors allowed the Selecon units to be daisy chained quickly from just one power cable, avoiding the need for extra power distribution.
The IBC convention ran from Friday 12 September through to Tuesday 16 at the RAI Centre in Amsterdam.
