Litepanels' Gemini LED Soft Panels Light Up Royal Wedding Coverage

Litepanels' new Gemini LED soft panels were used for international broadcast coverage of the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on 19 May.

Lighting Design Group (LDG) chose 12 Gemini panels to light the networks' temporary sets overlooking Windsor Castle in London.

"We have been using Litepanels products for years, and they've given us consistent and reliable service. We keep coming back to Litepanels products for a wide range of lighting applications," said Niel Galen, senior lighting designer, Lighting Design Group. "Gemini is a welcome addition to the world of LED soft lights. Its lighter weight and smaller form factor were big plusses for this shoot because we had very critical weight restrictions for the install given the age of the building."

Launched at IBC2017, Gemini delivers a wide, soft, and flicker-free light source in a highly portable 2x1 form factor. Gemini's flexible and precise colour adjustment removes the need for colour correction by offering full-spectrum white light that is ideal for lighting talent and rendering exceptional colour.

In London, LDG used the Gemini in a lighting solution for the networks' temporary broadcast booths, which were located directly adjacent to Windsor Castle. The Gemini soft panels worked in tandem with traditional HMI lighting to match daylight lighting conditions on the sets, from which the networks broadcast live morning shows and prime-time newscasts on 18th and 19th of May.

"In our lighting design for the wedding coverage, we were going for a very pleasing soft, but also sparkly, light," Mr Galen added. "The Geminis were an important component and performed beautifully. They provided a fantastic soft base with strong and consistent output, which can be difficult to find with other fixtures, and their comparatively low power consumption was a big help since we were running off generator power. We're always leery of using products that we have not field-tested, but the Geminis worked exactly as expected, with no surprises. And no one wants surprises during live network news coverage!"

Mr Galen has also highlighted the opportunity for Gemini to be used for on-location news coverage in the upcoming US midterm elections. "The lighting we've done in the past for political coverage, at events such as debates and town halls, involves slightly smaller platform configurations and fixed lighting that's closer to talent — with locations that usually involve covered stages with at least one wall open to the outside. There are also wide variations in lighting intensity since these events happen at all hours of the day and night. The Geminis will be the ideal solution for providing bright, soft illumination at any intensity, giving us the ability to maintain colour temperature and output without having to supplement with HMIs."

"As one of the world's premier lighting designers for broadcast, LDG is a valued customer — and their adoption of the Geminis for this high-profile media event, without much testing ahead of time, speaks volumes about their faith in our products," said Alan Ipakchian, technical sales manager, Litepanels. "We're looking forward to seeing what LDG will do with the Geminis moving forward, especially for election coverage and other national and international news broadcasts."

Litepanels.com