Power Gems retrofit fluorescent fixtures for All Creatures Great and Small
All Creatures Great and Small has become the first TV production to use a broadcast-quality LED retrofit system developed by Power Gems to replace standard fluorescent tube fixtures for location filming.
Earlier this summer, GEMflo was used in the production of the second series of All Creatures Great and Small for Channel 5.
The GEMflo is a fixture for suspending from a rig or putting on a stand primarily for lighting blue or green screens, although as we saw with All Creatures, people realise it’s good enough for key light applications.
The GEMflo converts an 8×4 tube configuration to full LED. However, Phil explains that retrofitting to upgrade another manufacturer’s fluorescent light fitting for LED sources is more complicated than simply swapping the tubes for an array of LEDs:
“LEDs have impressive light efficiency figures, but it’s important to remember when designing them in that they don’t like the heat. If they are running too hot, then the light output rapidly declines. And what started as an impressive light fixture can become decidedly dull after a year or so of use”
“Getting the cooling right can be even harder in a retrofit application because you’re very much tied into the existing cooling paths. Although designing LED fixtures is relatively new to us, we have been working with power electronics for decades. So, keeping electronic devices cool is familiar territory, and we harnessed that knowledge to achieve the required light output whilst maintaining LED lifetime.”
Key features
- Superior colour rendering – high CRI >95
- Fully dimmable – no shift in colour temperature
- Manual and DMX control
- Versatile light for green screen applications
- Outperforms traditional fluorescent
Ban on fluorescent light bulbs
As you know, LEDs are energy-efficient, and can help save the environment in the long term. The GEMflo will help you improve efficiency, reduce costs and protect the environment.
Another compelling reason to switch to GEMflo is the phasing out of fluorescent lighting across Europe and the UK. In an effort to move towards more sustainable lighting products, the sale of halogen bulbs has been banned from September 2021, with fluorescent light bulbs to follow in September 2023.
Retrofitting: Why GEMflo
The GEMflo is a cost-effective way to replace the fluorescent lights you have from a well-known manufacturer
(as shown) . You know the ones we mean, the fluorescent lights designed explicitly for backlighting for blue and green screens. The GEMFlo, with excellent colour rendition and high CRI +95, is extremely versatile and can also be used for general-purpose broadcast specification set lighting.
The GEMflo has been used in other productions from All Creatures Great and Small, such as The School for Good & Evil, Dr Who, Inside Man and Devil’s Hour.
Interested but want advice? We can make the switch to GEMflo go smoothly – get in touch
