27.08.2021 | Elation broadcast lighting for Imagen Televisión Olympic Games studio

Much of the world tuned in July 23 to August 8 to watch The Games of the XXXII Olympiad play out in Tokyo, Japan. In Mexico, National television network Imagen Televisión acquired a package of Elation broadcast-optimized lighting and employed the gear in a contemporary studio in Mexico City where coverage of the Tokyo Summer Olympics took place.

The Imagen Televisión team transmitted some 180 hours of Olympic broadcasting coverage from the space over the 16-day period. The studio, which consisted of two sections, a corner set with stylized scenography and an adjacent green screen area, was evenly lit using Elation KL Fresnel 8 FC™, KL Panel™ and TVL Softlight DW™ luminaires.

In charge of studio lighting was Abel Guillermo León López, lighting manager at Imagen Televisión, assisted by Raúl García Padilla and Alan Daniel Espinosa Pineda. "For this studio set, we were looking for LED source luminaries that could provide soft lighting with a good beam angle since the studio grid is specially designed for this type of lighting," stated López. "We chose the KL Fresnel 8 FC because it met the requirements for this type of luminaire (Fresnel) but with an LED source. One of the most important characteristics of this fixture for us is its excellent color temperature control." Optimized for the specific requirements of broadcast, the KL Fresnel 8 FC can adjust for light that shifts away from pure white towards green or magenta through a green-magenta shift adjustment and a virtual gel library. Capable of matching the white balance for camera, users can easily shift the color temperature without the use of plus/minus green gels and filters. Lopez adds, "Also important were the fact that its RGBMA LED engine gives us full-spectrum color, it has a great lumen output of 18,000 and has a good aperture angle."

Broadcast-quality KL Panel™ LED softlights, a full-color-spectrum and color temperature-adjustable light panel, was chosen "for its excellent reflector that gives us a very soft and bright light," states Lopez. "It is excellent and precise on color temperature and also the color mixing is fantastic. It is really ideal for what we do on the TV chroma set." He says the TVL Softlight DW, a dynamic white, soft light luminaire with >95CRI, was chosen for many of the same reasons - its soft LED light, excellent temperature control (3,200K - 5,600K) and beam angle (130-degrees).

"Thanks to our friend and sales executive Miguel Licona, who recommended the lighting equipment, we were able to satisfy the needs of the Tokyo 2020 project," Lopez concludes.

Photos: Carlos Alvar