ARRI, one of the biggest name in professional filmmaking equipment, is releasing the next generation, professional level, LED light. The ARRI Orbiter, first announced at IBC 2019, will be lighting up most upcoming film sets once it is released, just like the SkyPanel before it.
Key Features of the ARRI Orbiter:
- Six color LED light engine for ultra-wide color gamut with extreme accuracy
- Perfect white performance and great color rendering from 2,000K to 20,000K
- Output greater than a 2K tungsten
- Quick lighting mount (QLM) for rapid changing of accessories
- Variety of accessories; open face optics of different beam angles, projection optics with gobos, soft boxes, and more
- Integrated color sensor reads ambient light color and levels
- Redesigned user interface and removable control panel
- Full suite of connectors; Built-in Wireless DMX, Ethernet Daisy chaining
- Weatherproof housing
While at an ARRI event at the Berlinale International Film Festival in February, I got the opportunity to take some pictures of and have a brief play with the ARRI Orbiter. This was a pre-production model of which there are currently only a handful in the world. I wasn’t able to test the Orbiter thoroughly as it was in the middle of an event full of people, but what I saw impressed me and I am definitely looking forward to working with this versatile light when it is released.
Ready for Film Production Work
The Orbiter is a 6-color channel LED light with great output, excellent color rendition, and an integrated power supply, so there is no separate ballast, which is extremely convenient. The unit has a very solidly build and will definitely hold up to tough film set usage. I wouldn’t have expected any less from ARRI. The Orbiter is not nearly as heavy as its size would lead you to believe, weighing in at around 33 pounds (about 15kg). Also, the casing is weatherproof, making it a true production workhorse than can handle any situation you throw at it.
The Orbiter is a point source light, so it can cast well defined, hard shadows. Many other LED fixtures either start out as a soft light or have an array of smaller LED’s, which can’t replicate the hard edges created by single point sources.
QLM and Accessories
The front of the Orbiter accepts different types of attachments using the proprietary Quick Lighting Mount (QLM), so you can take that hard source and modify it with different accessories. Some of the ones that are available are open faced optics which cut the beam angle to different degrees, projection optics with gobos for precise directing and cutting of the light, and soft boxes and domes for softening the light.
Brightness & Fan
The number one question I imagine people want to know is how bright is this light? Without thorough testing it is hard to say, but as an estimate I would put the full output at slightly brighter than a 2K tungsten light or somewhere between a 400W and an 800W HMI. I would want to break out a light meter, eliminate all other light sources, and run more thorough testing with side-by-side comparisons to figure that out more precisely.
Most powerful LED units have fan cooling and this light is no exception. When I first got to the unit it had been running at 37.3% power for at least an hour and I didn’t notice any fan noise. When I raised it to full power I did notice the fan, but it was certainly not loud. This is another item that I’d love to test under better conditions. In the menu system I did notice that there is a low-noise mode which is something that is great when you need to be close to the talent with the light.
User Interface and Control Panel
The user interface is a huge step up from the SkyPanel and borrows from the best of the SkyPanel UI as well as the Stellar lighting app from ARRI. The control unit pops out of the back of the light and you can connect it with a cable, giving you full control from a significant distance.
It uses a clickable dial and several buttons to navigate the menu with a very bright screen. The control panel’s ability to pop out seems like a simple thing, but it is that a serious improvement. I can’t tell you the number of times I wish I had the USB remote for the SkyPanel instead of having to climb a ladder to change the settings.
Connections
The ARRI Orbiter comes with both wired, as well as CRMX Wireless, DMX, Ethernet daisy chaining, USB-C, USB-A, and an SD card slot. All these ports, inputs, and outputs mean the Orbiter can work with other lighting units, as well as future-proofing through the ability to be updated. The wireless DMX feature is very exciting as it will work out of the box with a tablet for easy controlling of the light remotely.
Final Thoughts
This light will undoubtedly become a go-to on the market and on film sets. ARRI is a leader in the film lighting industry and they have a future hit on their hands.
